Lawless Kingdom: A Dark Romance (Reign & Ruin Book 1)
Page 4
I leaned down and removed my Gambit from my boot, hitting the button on the side to engage the blade.
Flipping my knife around, I gripped his shirt and cut it straight down the center. His entire body tensed, but that didn’t deter me. I made quick work of the tattoo on the right side of his chest, slicing into the smooth flesh to ensure every single fucking part of it came off. He’d never deserved the insignia to begin with.
His muffled screams only made the process easier. Blood ran down his torso, staining the tips of my gloves and the serrated edge of my blade.
“Hard to imagine that in a few weeks we’ll be in shitty ass electives,” Owen commented with heavy sarcasm.
“Trading one life for another,” Gavin said.
I tossed Dax’s thin piece of flesh onto the floor, leaving it to hit the plastic with a soft pop. He was moving so much I was surprised he hadn’t tipped yet.
“It’s our last year until college. We got this,” I spoke up.
School. A six-letter word that had an entirely different meaning to us than it did the average student. We attended because the diplomas and degrees were needed to blend in with everyday society and cover up the darker parts of our world.
It was bullshit but not anything we couldn’t handle. We were Academy Award-winning actors when it came to playing normal. No one had ever come close to the truth, not since the cheerleader incident my Sophomore year. Her naked body would have rotted to nothing by now, but the night of her death made the reality of who I was really settle in.
The people in Crudele didn’t have the slightest clue who any of us were—especially me. I was so much more than a wildly attractive prep-school asshole.
Well-mannered and civilized boys didn’t use a blowtorch to cauterize a wound in the middle of the night.
CHAPTER FIVE
Rhiannon
I knew where I was but not why.
I’d been staring up at the ceiling for a good thirty minutes. Unless I was relaxing at home, I was always out of bed as soon as I opened my eyes. My delay was an indication of how conflicted I was.
Not for the first time, I asked myself what the hell happened last night, from Dax’s strange and sporadic revelation to the gorgeous man who damn near followed us from the Barron house, carrying me into this one. I didn’t know what to make of any of it.
Pushing myself up onto one elbow, I shoved the duvet down and did a quick scan of my person. Everything was normal aside from the missing clothes.
But there wasn’t anything at all normal-like about what had happened last night. Whatever that was exactly.
Finally dragging myself from the mattress, I re-dressed quickly and then slipped out into the hall. I headed straight for Audrey’s room since she’d yet to make an appearance this morning. I felt guilty as hell for not rushing to her sooner. I wasn’t sure she was even okay.
I assumed since I was, she would be too. At the very least I hoped that if there was an altercation it would’ve broken through the fog my brain had been wrapped in. No way would she go down without a fight, even as out of her mind as she was. The girl looked like Barbie but was more relatable to Annabelle.
I flung her door open with so much force that it bounced off the wall, Audrey jumped twenty feet in the air. Her golden mane was all over her head and there was a line imprinted on her face from how’d she been lying.
“What’s wrong?” she yelled, untwisting her magenta comforter from around her body.
I smothered a laugh as she stumbled from the bed. Her entire right tit had managed to free itself from the tiny piece of fabric she still had on.
“Nothing. I mean, I don’t know. I needed to make sure you were okay.”
“Oh.” A loud breath of relief flew from her mouth. “Dammit, Rhia.” She took a few steps backward and sunk down onto the edge of her bed.
“I’m not even going to apologize. Two strange dudes carried us into your house and removed our clothing.”
Her head snapped up so fast I was concerned for her slender neck. Hazel eyes wide, she stared at me as if she were seeing a ghost.
“Oh, my god.”
“What?”
“Gavin Knight was in my room! He…” She groaned and covered her face with both hands. “They were both in my house.”
“Who was?” I waved my hands in frustration.
“Gavin Knight and Judas Barron. They were the last people I saw before... never mind. This is humiliating.”
Humiliating? This girl had me ready to slap her upside the head. “Audrey. Those assholes put something in our drinks, brought us here, took off our clothes, and left. I think them knowing the layout of your damn house is more concerning than them being inside it.”
She blinked once, twice, bringing my sensible bestie who didn’t act a fool for dick back to the surface.
“They drugged us?” Her voice lilted with anger and disgust.
“I mean…I think so.”
“And Dax?” she questioned.
I swallowed, lifting my shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know where he is or what’s going on. He went back inside, and I haven’t seen him since. No missed calls or texts either.”
Her expression changed again, this one more of concern. “Shit, Rhia.”
“Stop doing the one-two word thing and tell me what the hell is going on!”
“I don’t know what the hell is going on!” she yelled back. “If he pissed off one of them, nothing good.”
I pulled my lower lip between my teeth and gnawed on it. He’d certainly irritated the guy who’d followed us to the front door. Something about what she just said confused me even more, though.
“I thought those families were all noble citizens or whatever? Hearts of gold and all that bullshit.”
She ran a hand through her hair and sighed.
“There have been a few rumors over the years. Nothing solid but…” she trailed off again with a shake of her head.
Excellent. That gave me zero answers as to what was happening or going on with Dax. I put no stock in rumors. They went from one source to another, becoming more and more convoluted as they were spread because each person felt the need to add their own detailed assumptions.
“Does one of them have silver eyes?” I asked, realizing I still had no idea what these people looked like.
Audrey stared at me as if I’d grown a second head. “I’ve shown you their pictures on Facebook like nine hundred times.”
“Guess I wasn’t as committed to cyber stalking as you.”
“Not the point,” she retorted evenly. “If you asked anyone else what they looked like they’d think something was wrong with you for not knowing.”
“I think I love you even more for that.”
“And?” I urged, because I’d heard it hanging silently at the end.
“Judas has freakishly colored silver eyes. Like two brand new shiny quarters.”
I nodded to myself more than her. He was the one who’d followed us down the stairs. The one who’d given that weird as hell warning. And the one who’d practically threatened my now missing boyfriend.
But what did any of that mean?
And where was Dax?
Judas fucking Barron.
His name alone made him sound like an over-privileged asshole.
I was still thoroughly confused as to why he’d carried me into Audrey’s house or brought me there in the first place.
The last thing I could recall from the party was sitting in Audrey’s car and waiting for her to come out. Then, I was waking up in her guest bedroom, wearing nothing but a bra and thin, lacey thong.
There wasn’t a remedy to rid the memory of his hands on my body. It was such an odd and screwed up thing to fixate on, but I wasn’t entirely solid up top. I tried to reason that I’d imagined the whole thing. I mean, the twisted asshole drugged me, after all.
I think…
I didn’t have proof it was him, but who the hell else would do something like that? Regardless, I was ha
ving a hard time thinking of him as a pervert instead of a boundary crossing dickhead.
He hadn’t done anything but remove my clothes. While a major violation of privacy, I didn’t have a memory of him doing much else.
That’s not to say I wasn’t absolutely livid about how things went down. After having time to stew, I was ready to go at some necks. Occasionally, though, I had common sense. No rushing in half-cocked would occur this time around. Going all Jennifer’s Body on the most prominent males in town wouldn’t do me or my friends any good.
It’d probably land me in cuffs with a charge on my squeaky-clean record and my parents’ feet up my ass. Only when I thought about Dax did the idea of immediate retaliation seem worth it. I couldn’t stop the anger, and, if I was being honest, the hurt, from festering. He hadn’t answered any of my calls in two fucking days.
He sent one text last night saying everything was cool.
What did that even mean? From my end things certainly weren’t ‘cool.’
I wanted to know what the hell he’d gotten Audrey and me involved in.
If Dax told me someone did this to him, I’d be demanding every sordid detail so that I could kick their teeth in.
Instead, he was ignoring me.
My calls.
My Facebook IMs.
And my Snaps.
My phone began to play my latest ringtone, and I nearly broke my knees trying to get to it. Leaving the shower running, I scrambled out, snatching my towel up to dry my hands. I unlocked the screen, trying not to scream in frustration when I saw Audrey’s smiling contact photo.
“Hello?”
“Still nothing?” she asked, knowing all my problems since she insisted on sharing the burdens of them with me.
“Nope. Just the one from last night. He was active online two hours ago, Auds. I don’t get it. Why is he ignoring me?”
She cleared her throat, and something clinked in the background. “Not to dig his grave any deeper, but he was last active twenty-eight minutes ago. A picture was posted.”
“What the fuck?” my voice boomed in the enclosed bathroom.
“You okay, hun?” Mom yelled from somewhere in the house. I lifted the phone away from my mouth and called out that I was fine.
“A picture of what?” I asked Audrey, much quieter.
“The Manatee.”
“The Manatee? Where the boats are docked?”
“Yeah. There’s a party there tonight.”
Oh, hell no! My rage spiked for a minute, just to simmer the next second. This was all majorly messed up, but Dax was basically showing his true colors.
In a way it was a good thing this was happening now rather than later. Our relationship had never been ‘it’ for me. I knew I would never marry him or go off and have his babies.
We were two young people doing the dating thing because that’s what we were supposed to do. This wasn’t how I saw it ending, though: unresolved and weighed down by bitterness.
“Okay, Auds. Thanks,” I sighed.
“Wait. That’s it? We aren’t storming the area?”
I laughed lightly. “I don’t want to be at a party or on a boat. Screw him.” And the last six months! the angry, hurt girl inside me screamed silently.
“But—”
“Unless you want to relive the Titanic, we’re not going.”
“This time Jack would drown on purpose. He’d have two pissed off bitches holding him under,” she replied, catching my meaning without elaboration.
“I told my parents I’d be here for dinner.”
“Oh…right. Well, text me later, okay?”
“Course.” I hung up and looked at my reflection in the half-steamed mirror. I didn’t much look like a heartbroken girl, because I wasn’t. For six months I’d spent so much time with this one person, and suddenly they were gone without a word. No goodbye. Simply radio silence after a screwed-up night. That was what hurt—not losing a boy I should have let go of long ago.
But everything happens for a reason, right? Even things that fuck with your head and your heart.
CHAPTER SIX
Rhiannon
My mom may not have been any good at hiding her feelings, but the woman had a sixth sense when it came to mine.
Or maybe that was just a mom thing, which explained that the triple fudge cake she’d made wasn’t merely an over-indulgent dessert but something to make me feel better.
“What did he do?” Mom asked, placing a second slice in front of me and a fresh glass of milk.
“How do you know it was a him?”
She gave me a cheeky grin, causing her blue eyes to crinkle. “Because I know you, and I know the him in question.”
I shoved a disgustingly large portion of cake into my mouth and shrugged, savoring every last decadent crumb.
I wasn’t about to tell her what transpired at the party, or afterward. My parents trusted me, and I had enough leash to do my thing. Didn’t mean I would hang myself with it.
“I met Judas Barron. Dax and I broke up.”
Mom choked—like, fully gagged on her mouthful of cake. I didn’t think it was for dramatic effect, either. My fork, halfway to my mouth and loaded with another bite, came to a pause.
“You broke up?” she wheezed when she got herself together. “Why? You love that boy!”
Whoops. I should have told her this with more caution. I sometimes forgot how much she and Dad adored Dax. The cake settled in my gut like a heavy paperweight. I knew we hadn’t technically discussed the ending of our relationship, but at this point, it seemed rather obvious on both ends.
“That’s the problem, Mom. He’s a boy.” There was no mistaking the spite in my tone.
She sat back with a frown on her face. “Did he do something to you?”
Ironically, it was that question that made me want to cry. I wasn’t the kind of girl who needed a guy to protect her or stand up for her; I could do that myself. But damn if that wouldn’t have been nice. I wanted him to have my back at the very least.
“He didn’t do anything,” I replied quietly, leaving out that this was precisely the problem.
“You know, it’s almost time for school to start. No sense in spending the last couple of days sad. Why don’t you and Audrey go do something tonight. See a movie? Go to that Chinese buffet you like so much?”
“Mom,” I laughed, “I just ate.”
She gave me a look. “Since when has that mattered?”
“Touché.” We both knew I was a bottomless pit. Thank god for metabolism.
I waited for her to clear the plates away before I pulled my phone out and text Audrey that there was a change of plans.
Audrey found his car within four minutes. It was parked between a large pick-up and a small Fiat. This would have been grand if not for the fact that we were supposed to be on our way to the latest Guillermo del Toro movie.
“That asshole,” Audrey fumed.
“Audrey,” I snapped. “I knew you weren’t going the right way. Why did you bring me here?”
“For this.” She pointed to Dax’s car.
“I didn’t want to do this.”
She scanned the lot, looking for a spot to park, her lips turned down at the corners. “Why not?”
I groaned internally. When I wasn’t in the heat of a moment, I was surprisingly a private person. I didn’t want to have it out with Dax in front of a crowd or risk humiliation if he decided to be an asshole. I also wanted to self-heal the hurt at my own pace, but I was keeping that to myself.
“I really just wanna enjoy the last bit of my summer. Okay? If Dax wanted to talk or see me, he would have.”
“You’re right. This was impulsive. I’m sorry, Rhi,” Audrey murmured, passing two empty spots in a row.
I could tell not all the cars belonged to high schoolers. Most were the owners of the rigs in the water—their bumper stickers said so.
“Do you think we should be worried at all?” she asked, turning her car towards the exit.
“Seriously?”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I know that isn’t true. I would’ve grilled your ass for full-blown details by now. I’m just saying.”
I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, rubbing a hand over my temple. I’d considered that too, but what could Judas have said to him that’d warrant all this?
“Ugh. Screw it. Park the car, we’re going to get some answers.”
“Yess! That’s my girl.”
I hid my smile by dropping down the visor. I wasn’t dressed for a boat party and didn’t particularly care, either, but the hair on my head would.
It knew exactly how and when to frizz, and being near the ocean was a guarantee that it would. I pulled the long brown locks into a high ponytail and then smoothed down my sequined feather tank, glad I’d grabbed a hoodie.
Audrey claimed one of the two spots she’d passed minutes ago and cut the engine. Of course, she looked like she was ready for a party in a cute floral romper and gladiator sandals. But then she was the one who knew where we were heading all along. We got out at the same time and made our way to where the boats were docked, small at the front, big as hell at the back.
“Which one are we going to?”
“Gabby Dawson’s. Her daddy owns a few of them. We’re looking for something called ‘Mystikal.’”
I didn’t know who this person was, but if their father owned multiple boats out here, they had paper. Boys and their toys.
The boat was easy enough to find, big and all white with a pearl blue trim. Did I mention it was big?
We walked right on board with no issue. A few hellos were called to Audrey and me from a couple people who knew us, and that was it. I’d expected a doorman or something. I personally would have had some muscle manning the entryway.
There were two directions to go: left or right. And with maybe forty people on board, it wasn’t a massive crowd but large enough that I couldn’t instantly spot Dax.
“You go one way I go the other? Meet back here in ten if we don’t find him?”