“Take off your shirt and put pressure on Monster’s back,” I told him.
“But—”
I pressed the blade closer, tapping the sharp edge against his neck. Red streaked his skin. “Don’t question me right now. You were ready to leave me in a burning building. If he dies before we get out of here, I’ll do the same to you.”
Micah raised his hands. “Guess the Queen Bitch isn’t retired just yet.”
I offered him a sharp smile and he pulled his shirt off, moving in Monster’s direction. Not a minute too soon either. Because if I was being honest with myself? Monster wasn’t looking too good.
The thing was, I wasn’t interested in being honest right then.
Thinking too hard about what I would do if I actually lost him would cripple me just as surely as that possibility occurring. So while the two of them briefly bickered as Micah did his thing, I got to work on Mom’s bindings instead.
I was more careful cutting her wrists and ankles free, but I almost didn’t need to be. She wasn’t skittish like I expected. Her gaze was clear and alert while the ropes came off. And when I slowly pulled the tape from her mouth, I was greeted by the last thing I expected.
“You’ve been busy, Josephine.”
The knife nearly fell from useless fingers. My head jerked up, landing on a half-smile. Hardly breathing, I said, “Mom?”
She reached out and pinched my cheek. “Later, sweetie. I think we’ve got more pressing things to worry about.”
“But...you? Right now? I don’t understand…”
“Do you need to?” She pulled the rope around her ankles off completely and moved to Micah’s side. With her help, they tied a tourniquet around Monster’s thigh. “We need to get him up.”
She’s right. Worry about making sense of this miracle later. Get out of the burning building filled with people who want to kill you.
Mom and I both grabbed a leg while Micah tucked his arms beneath the larger man’s shoulders. Even with the three of us, getting him off the ground took a couple of tries. The sound of wood popping and buckling gave us a much-needed surge of adrenaline. At least it worked for me.
I could feel my heart beating through my fingertips as we finally got Monster balanced and headed towards the cellar. Coughing on smoke, I said, “There’s a bit of a walk, then this empties out onto the other side of the house.”
Micah grunted as we started descending the stairs. For a second I thought we were about to drop the man I was in love with.
Oh.
Oh.
“I know, sweetie,” said a soft voice. “We’ll all get through this. Don’t worry.”
Mom was still perfectly, impossibly lucid. And she was either reading my mind or I was talking out loud.
What the fuck was happening in my life?
“Although I have to say,” she continued. “A gang member? I thought we talked about this. No guys that wear leather, have tattoos, or drive anything on two wheels. Ever. You promised.”
We reached the bottom of the steps just in time for the room above us to collapse into a plume of smoke.
“Really?” I managed, breathing hard. “You want to get into this now?”
She blew the hair out of her face while we continued our slow shuffle. “If not now, when? You know how this goes, honey. Once the fog rolls in...”
You'll be lost at sea, I finished for her. Again.
A sledgehammer made of reality caved my chest in and breathing became almost impossible.
Why didn't I have the ability to stop time? I could make everything alright.
The foolish, brave man in my arms—whom I was going to put on a serious diet when we got out of here—would get the help he needed.
I wouldn't have to keep looking at Micah's bewildered face, forced to wonder what I’d ever seen in him.
I would have forever to sit and talk with Mom instead of the stranger who looked and sounded just like her.
“This isn't fair,” I muttered, speeding up as flames crept down the way we'd come from.
“Neither is how hard you’ve been working,” she said, and my head snapped her direction again. Mom smiled softly. “I know how difficult things have been. But what have I told you about life and fairness?”
I rolled my eyes, which also kept the tears at bay. “As long as you’re breathing,” I quoted. “Get back on your feet and make do with what you’ve got.”
“That’s harsh,” Micah added, face blotchy from carrying most of Monster’s weight. “I’m starting to see where the Queen Bitch got her start.”
“What did he just call you?”
“Mom, chill. That’s like...a whole thing.”
She glared at Micah anyway. “You’d do well to learn some manners, young man, along with some sense. Never call a woman that. Most importantly, never call her one to her face. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Good. By the way, there’s a spider on your shoulder.”
“What!?” Micah craned his head around. “Where?”
“Dude,” I said. “She’s fucking with you. Calm your tits.”
“I’m really not,” she continued, eyes dramatically wide. “You can’t feel it? It’s huge.”
Only she could joke in this situation.
The back of my heel hit the steps leading out of the cellar and I glanced over my shoulder. Gray smoke tinted orange hovered around the treetops. We were so close to being out of this, and while Mom and Micah went in loops, I focused on Monster as we started the climb.
He was pale enough that the veins beneath his skin showed. My back ached as we took our first steps up the creaking staircase—a testament to his size—but I’d never seen him look so diminished before.
So...defenseless.
My eyes fell to his chest.
I couldn’t see any movement.
Is he breathing?
Panic closed in on me from all sides. The hallway was a tube, rubbing my shoulders raw. Pressing down on my neck. Grasping my ankles with cold fingers.
“Check his pulse.” My voice was scratchy and raw, barely audible.
“Sweetie, we all have our hands a bit full—”
“Now!”
I needed to know if he wasn’t.
I needed to know whether or not I was about to march the other direction, stomp my way through the flames, and strangle Nikolai and the rest with my bare hands before I turned to ashes.
We stopped so that Micah could lean against the wall and press his fingers to the Sinner’s throat. His brows furrowed. I didn’t breathe until he nodded.
“Weak,” he said. “But it’s there. Can we please get out of here before the building falls down on our heads?”
Each step towards fresh air took longer than the next. My knees trembled and we had to stop so many times I wasn’t sure we were even getting closer. And with each moment we weren’t outside, that was another moment Monster lost.
I didn't know how many of those he could afford.
“Is he worth it?” Mom asked suddenly.
I didn’t blink. “I know what you’re doing. Just focus on the stairs.”
“They’re not going anywhere, so don’t try to dismiss me.”
I slowed down to catch my breath, carefully transferring his leg between one arm and the next while I wiped my palms on my jeans. “How am I supposed to answer that? A few days ago, I would’ve told you I never wanted to see him again.”
“I’m not asking you about three days ago,” she said, voice firm. “I’m asking you about right here and right now. You set a building on fire and then risked your life by entering that very same building. Is he really worth all that?”
Something snapped in my head, unleashing anger I wasn’t aware I was holding onto. “He wouldn’t have even been here if not for me!” Spittle flew from my mouth and Mom met my hard gaze evenly. “If my life wasn’t such a goddamn wreck, none of this would’ve happened. He didn’t even have to think about whether or not he wanted
to be my hero. He just was. There’s no length I wouldn’t go to where he’s concerned.”
I was almost surprised by my own vehemence.
Rushing into a burning building was one thing. Would I go further than that?
But even as the thought crossed my mind, I knew I would.
I would kill for this man.
I would live for this man.
What else could really stand in the face of that?
Mom offered me a small smile. “You know, this isn’t exactly where I pictured myself once I got out of those four walls.”
“No shit.”
“But.” She twisted her head to get sweat-soaked hair out of her face. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“You’re starting to sound crazier than me.”
“More like you had to get it from somewhere,” she teased.
My lips twitched in a ghost of a smile. I wasn’t sure I would be able to make one of those again until Monster opened his eyes. Still, the trapped feeling turning my insides the wrong way loosened its grip.
We continued up the stairs again, getting closer and closer to the exit.
Quietly, I told the woman beside me, “You better keep that lighthouse in sight for a while. I want you to meet him. Officially.”
She snickered, the happy sound a complete opposite to that of crackling flames and other distant noises filtering down to us. “You make it sound like he’s going to take you to prom.” Her eyes widened. “Although...that does mean I would finally get to see you in a dress.”
“I don’t wear dresses.”
“You probably haven’t had a reason to wear a dress.”
Fresh air blew against the side of my face as my head popped up out of the cellar. The wind was freezing, carrying with it a knife that sent the cold bone-deep. At that moment, I was sure I’d never felt anything better in my entire life.
“No dresses,” I said. “Not unless you—”
The sound of a branch breaking brought my head around.
Smoke fogged my vision and I could hardly see.
Micah shouted.
I glanced around wildly, trying to make heads or tails of what was happening.
That was when strong arms banded around my front and pulled me kicking and screaming from the cellar.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Josie
My flailing lasted for an eternity, but it could’ve only been a few seconds before someone speaking into my ear registered.
“No wonder he’s head over heels for you,” said the amused tone. “You’ve got some serious insanity spinning around inside that blonde head of yours.”
“What?” I asked.
Whoever he was, he might’ve answered my question.
He kept talking in any case, but I didn’t hear him. The familiar, intimidating figures clad in black that descended into the cellar and helped the others captured my complete attention.
The hands around me let go.
I hadn’t realized how much the stranger was supporting my weight until my feet hit the ground. My knees were not happy with me trying to support two hundred and fifty plus pounds over what might as well have been half a freaking mile.
I sat there for a moment, staring at the blood and soot on my hands. Loafers gleaming in the orange light came into view as the stranger squatted beside me. He’d pulled a bottle of water from somewhere and he offered it to me then.
Snatching it from his grip, I ripped the top off and practically threw the contents in my mouth. Heaven couldn’t have tasted better. Once my throat wasn’t clogged with ash, I swirled the cool liquid around and spat onto the ground.
“Gross,” he said.
My gaze lifted, falling on pleasantly tanned features and a hairstyle that probably kept him in salons more than most women. “Fuck. Off.”
I went to push him out of the way as Sinners I recognized and some that I didn’t carried Monster towards the front of the house. Unfortunately for me, getting back on my feet again proved to be more than my muscles were up to.
Pretty Boy—because I didn’t know what else to call him—offered his arm.
I took it because I could deal with shirking my pride this one time.
He hummed and I glanced at him, but he was just as focused on the flashing lights of the ambulance on the curb as I was. How the hell had they gotten here so fast? Then I remembered who I was dealing with.
The Sinners didn’t just run this town.
They owned it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they had their guys in the police and emergency services just to keep a better eye on things.
A couple of them helped Monster onto a gurney. They tore his shirt, sliced his jeans, and started tending to his injuries.
I nearly threw my impromptu cane to the side as I hurried forward, trying to reach Monster before they put him in the back and pulled away. Pretty Boy held onto me when he shouldn’t have been able to. I couldn’t summon enough strength to get away.
Only when they kept working on him where I could see did I relax.
At least until I spotted the dark-skinned Sinner from the tattoo parlor holding up a phone, pointing it at the flaming house.
My ears picked up the sound I’d heard laced with the fire earlier, and I sucked in a sharp gasp. Screams came from inside. As I watched, a flaming figure crashed against the window.
Glass shattered and an arm more like a torch stuck through the opening, but whoever it was couldn’t get through the boards.
Whether it was my imagination or not, the smell of charred meat reached my nose. Everything in my stomach took up pitchforks and revolted. I would’ve gone to the ground once again—this time covered in puke—if Pretty Boy hadn’t taken more of my weight.
His hand went to my upper back, and I flinched at the contact, shooting him a look.
He smiled and started rubbing slow circles. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Monster is my boy, and even if he wasn’t, you aren’t my type.”
I couldn’t deal with trying to wrap my head around any more surprises or personalities. But I still found myself asking, “What is he recording?”
Pretty Boy cleared his throat and raised a hand in the air, waving happily.
Had he forgotten about the people burning alive just across from us? Or was it that he simply didn’t care?
I was going to find one of those creepier than the other, but I hadn’t decided which.
“Yoohoo!” he called. “Tone!” The Sinner glanced our way. “Rapunzel here wants to know what’s going in the picture book.”
Tone strolled over to us calmly, looking me up and down. The calculations playing out behind his eyes raised my hackles. I hadn’t forgotten that he was perfectly okay with letting Monster lock me up.
“Judging by the glare,” he said, stopping just out of reach. “You’re still pissed about earlier.”
“You think?” I spat.
If he was put off by the venom dripping from my tongue, he didn’t show it.
He shrugged. “You have every right to be upset.” Sinner says what? “That wasn’t one of my better plans, but we didn’t have a lot of time to decide on things. Monster was chomping at the bit to get out here. Still, I apologize on behalf of the club.”
Pretty Boy whispered, “Damn. I should’ve been recording this.”
Tone passed a hand over his beanie, tugging it down over his ears. “You shouldn’t even be here, Jason.”
Anger gave me enough strength to stand on my own and fold my arms across my chest. “Why are any of you here if you weren’t going to help? He could’ve died! Fuck, he almost did!”
“Do you know why the Sinners work so well together?” he asked, glossing over my question completely. Tone also didn't bother giving me time to answer. “Trust and respect. We’re grown-ass men and we treat each other as such. If somebody wants to take the weight of the world on their shoulders, that’s their decision.”
I popped a brow, wanting so badly to punch him in the face.
“Even when that decision is stupid as shit?”
Tone nodded. “Even then. Kings have to delegate. Creed figured that out a long time ago. The easiest way to gain the ire of the people you want to be on your side is to make it seem like their wants and opinions don’t matter. If that means watching one of our own jump into the jaws of a leviathan, then that’s how things will be.
His eyes flashed, the sudden flare of anger and vengeance inside them surprising, but undeniable.
“That said,” he continued. “If they don’t make it back out alive, you damn well better believe that we’ll find the beast responsible, tear it to pieces, and mount those pieces like trophies around the kingdom.” He lifted his phone. “Hence the video and why we’re here. Monster went above and beyond. But even if he hadn’t, no one would’ve left this place alive to tell the tale.”
The sails of my anger snapped closed, leaving me leaning against Pretty Boy...err, Jason. “Maybe you just wanted to make sure word didn’t get out of the club losing someone,” I said.
Except my protest was feeble, even to my ears.
“That’s enough of that.” Jason tugged me towards the ambulance. “I know you’ve been through a lot. We should check on how our guy is doing before you kick a hornet’s nest and put your entire foot in your mouth.”
I let myself be pulled away, and not a minute too soon. As neutral as Tone had been, the satisfaction wafting from him while he watched me walk away rubbed me wrong. He’d dismantled my argument before I could even pick up steam. That took a serious amount of precision and self-control.
And as we got closer to Monster, I forgot what I was even preparing to go to war over.
He was breathing steadily, huge chest rising and falling. The people nearby shuffled around as I approached, giving me room to get beside him. I stared down at his face and released a shaky breath, fingers gently brushing across the smudges of dirt on his cheek.
The warmth of his skin gave me a much-needed anchor. A reminder that he was here and that this was real.
That we’d made it out together.
Because there was a section of my brain that—until this point—was worried this had been a dream.
Monster: A Seven Sinners Novel Page 22