Goddess of Pain

by Katie May

He presses his forehead against mine as he rocks our bodies side to side. “Can’t it be both?”

  The sound of a knife being unsheathed captures my attention.

  “Sin!” I scream, just as a blade plunges through his shoulder blade. He roars, unintentionally pushing his body further into mine, as the girl I saw before—the one with the fake tit—retracts the blade, smirking maliciously.

  “Sorry, sugar.” Her voice is saccharine sweet, which makes me hate her even more. Those types of people…they’re fake as fuck. “But you’re not my target.”

  Shoving Sin out of the way—bad move on her part—she advances on me.

  But I refuse to cower before an assassin again.

  My power explodes out of me like a firework. It runs through my veins, burning me as effortlessly as Sin just did, before surrounding the knife-wielding brunette. Her eyes are wide in shock and confusion as my power caresses her skin. Her tank top strap slides down once more, freeing that nasty tit of hers, just as my power enters her body. She screams in anguish, collapsing to the ground and writhing in pain. Tears flood her eyes as her body shakes and convulses.

  “She tried to hurt you!” Sin bellows, flames dancing on his hands. Blood drips from the wound on his shoulder, but I know that he doesn’t give a damn about it at the moment.

  “She’s an assassin,” I reason, smug satisfaction filling me when she curls in on herself like yellowing, centuries-old paper.

  “Is this the bitch who made you feel inferior?” Sin demands. At my nod, he eyes her over with obvious distaste. “Really? Her?”

  He glances pointedly at her bare tit, a sort of saggy looking thing with a rather large areola and a dark nipple, and there’s no way I can be jealous with the look he gives her—as if he wants to vomit in his mouth.

  “That’s mean,” I say automatically. “She’s not that bad.”

  Sin glares at the sobbing female before he tosses a fireball on her without preamble. Immediately, her body goes up into flames, bare tit and all.

  My God of Flames resembles an avenging angel in the sparse moonlight. With his lithe body, broad shoulders, and shaggy blond hair, he looks beautiful and dangerous, like death himself has climbed out of the woodwork to destroy the fucking world. He looks more like the God of Death than Avery ever has.

  When he turns towards me, there’s a dark, angry smile on his face, one imbibed with karma and the need for combat.

  “She shouldn’t have stabbed me,” he growls. “She shouldn’t have hurt you. And she definitely shouldn’t have made you doubt my love.”

  And it’s wrong and fucked up, but my pussy clenches once more at his words. There’s a burning girl mere inches from me, for fuck’s sake, and yet I want to strip Sin down and ride his hard cock.

  “Never again,” I vow, staring into his hell-fire eyes. These men love me more than life itself. They’ll destroy the entire Earth if that’s what I want.

  “Never again,” Sin repeats with a decisive head bob.

  Never again.

  CHAPTER 24

  The ride home is engulfed in silence.

  It’s a pregnant, heavy sort of silence, like that moment when your finger rests on the trigger of a handgun. With just the slightest application of pressure, the gun will go off, disrupting the tranquility you once found yourself in.

  And maybe killing a few people in the process.

  I sit in the backseat between Avery and Sin. The former has his hand on my knee, idly drawing circles into my bare skin. The latter is using a pen he found in the car to doodle on my hand; surprisingly lifelike, black flames are now etched across my knuckles.

  “This was a bust,” I huff, finally daring to push down on that precarious trigger and implode the silence.

  Desmond swivels around in the passenger seat to stare at me.

  “So obviously, that was a trap. Rebecca wasn’t there.” He taps a long, elegant finger against the stubble on his chin. “We need to figure out how she knew—”

  “My brothers told her,” I whisper, squeezing my hands into fists. Sin immediately makes a sound of annoyance, unclasping my fingers to resume his diligent doodling. “I don’t think they had any malicious intentions…”

  “But they didn’t know we broke into Rebecca’s apartment in the first place,” Avery breaks in. “So they couldn’t have told her.”

  “Fuck.” I drop my head back and squeeze my eyelids shut. “I feel like we’re missing something. Something important.”

  “Well, we don’t have to figure out anything now,” Helio assures gruffly. His knuckles are white where they clench the steering wheel. He’s still shaken up over what happened with the female assassin. All of my men are, sans Sin. She’d been right under our noses. I mean, who would’ve suspected her in the first place?

  But Helio, out of all of them, blames himself for not protecting me. I don’t need to be a mind reader to know that he regrets letting me leave with only Sin. I hate the burden he’s placed on himself, all in the name of protecting us. It’s not fair, and I wish desperately that I can do something, anything, to lighten the load.

  And of course, there’s the fact that once again, we don’t have anyone alive to interrogate. Burke’s dead, so who is paying for these assassins? Did Burke pay for them before he died, and they’re only now coming out of the woodwork?

  Or did the mastermind behind this all realize her original plan failed and she needed to resort to plan B?

  When we pull into the parking lot of my apartment complex, nobody makes an immediate move to get out of the car. Sin has his blond, shaggy hair bent over my hand as he draws, while Avery digs his nails into my knee. Desmond stares straight ahead, for once not smiling.

  “We’ll be okay, guys,” I croak out at last, infusing my voice with sincerity. I have to believe that. I have to. The alternative? It’s too much for me to bear.

  My voice seems to snap them out of their combined funks. Avery, with one more squeeze of my knee, slides out of the vehicle followed by Desmond and Helio. Only Sin remains behind, shading the tallest flame on my hand.

  “There!” he says, smiling in satisfaction.

  I stare at the intricate masterpiece for a long moment, using a finger on my other hand to touch the flames as if they’re actually capable of burning me.

  “I love it,” I whisper, the beginnings of a smile playing on my lips. “It just sucks that I’m going to have to wash it off when we get inside.”

  I’m covered head-to-toe in soot and ash. There are very few areas of my skin that miraculously escaped the aftermath of the various fires.

  Sin shrugs, unperturbed. “That’s okay. We have forever in front of us. I’ll doodle on your hand every damn day for the rest of eternity.”

  When a bubbly feeling manifests in my stomach, I can’t stop myself from leaning forward and kissing Sin. Because, despite his faults, Sin never gave up on us. From the very first day, he’s been determined to keep us reading the same book until we reach the end and the happily ever after. We might be on different pages and different chapters, but the stories always remain the same, as does the ending. It just takes some of us longer to get there.

  But Sin? He skipped ahead and read the last few words. Now, he’s waiting for the rest of us to catch up and join him in the post-book bliss.

  “We should get inside before the others send a search party out after us,” I breathe, smiling against his pillowy lips. He smirks back.

  “Trust me, Em. If I didn’t want them to find you, they wouldn’t.” His candid, almost nonchalant, words might fill others with trepidation, but they only serve to skyrocket my arousal.

  Which is pretty fucked up, considering we just burned a girl alive not too long ago.

  My drawn-on hand interlocked with his tattooed one, we hurry into my apartment.

  “—then where the fuck is she?” Tate growls as soon as we enter. He’s standing toe-to-toe with a furious Avery, his dark hair tousled as if he’d run his hand through it numerous times when we were
apart. Desmond stands behind him, laughing into his hand, but before I can ask him what’s so fucking funny, Tate spots me. Immediately, his scowl deepens.

  “Do you not know how to use a fucking phone?” he snaps, pushing Avery to the side and stalking towards me. Sin releases my hand and walks to the kitchen, removing clothes as he goes.

  “Did you find anything?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest and narrowing my eyes. Instead of answering, Tate takes the time to catalogue the charred remains of my dress. With each consecutive second, his lips curl up more and more until he’s practically snarling.

  “They told me what happened.” He nods behind him to Avery and Desmond, who are both laughing inaudibly, their large bodies shaking. Helio stands in the corner of the room, rolling his eyes at their antics. “About the bomb. Why didn’t you fucking text me?”

  I want to be annoyed with his growly attitude, but I can see real fear in his eyes. Tate is petrified. Even seeing me now, alive and well, isn’t enough to appease his worry. I instantly feel like shit for not contacting him sooner.

  Of course he would worry.

  “I’m sorry.” I bite down on my lower lip as I rub a hand down his blue sleeve. He’s still wearing his police uniform, and dammit if I don’t get a little wet from it. I never thought a man in uniform would do something for me, but there’s no denying the persistent throb down below.

  Tate releases a long, strenuous breath.

  “Don’t do shit like that again,” he reprimands, but he’s shaking, and his eyes won’t stop roving over me as he assesses me for injuries. Fortunately for all of us, I’m the Goddess of fucking Pain. If I feel enough of it, I’m able to heal from almost any injury. Though…

  I’m sure there’s a few things I won’t be able to heal from while I’m here.

  “I’m okay,” I promise, wrapping my arms around his neck and playing with the soft hairs at the base of it. “Now, tell me what you found.”

  He continues to hold me, our bodies rocking from side to side, as he speaks.

  “The assassin is Marco Pavlov, a Russian immigrant who’s been here on a visa for almost seven months. He’s wanted on a few accounts of rape in several different states. The cops found his body before I arrived, but they ruled it as a drug-deal gone wrong, based on the location. And I may have pushed a little bit of my deception into them, so they won’t be looking for DNA at the crime scene.”

  Oh, yeah. I kind of forgot that we had sex mere inches from where the man was killed. There’s bound to be a shit ton of DNA on the floors there.

  “And Rebecca?” I nibble on my lower lip. Once, in high school, I was convinced by one of my friends to get a lip ring. I had it for approximately a month before Avery demanded I remove it because I wouldn’t stop sucking on it.

  “Nothing in the database. She’s practically a ghost. We have no record of her anywhere, not even under a fake name.”

  “I don’t—”

  Desmond explodes into laughter behind me before I can finish my thought, doubling over and slapping his knee. Avery isn’t far behind him as he collapses onto the sofa, tears running down his face. Even Helio’s lips twitch.

  “What?” Tate snarls as he spins around.

  And then…

  I see it.

  Biting down on my lip to keep from laughing, I say, “Tate? Baby?”

  “What?” He directs his ire on me, and I can’t contain the giggle that escapes.

  “Did you wear that to the police station tonight?” I cautiously ask, fighting off another smile.

  “Yeah, why? You fuckers are acting weird.”

  Instead of responding in words, I take his hand and lead him towards the mirror in the hallway. Then, I spin him around, so his back is to his reflection. He peers over his shoulder, eyes narrowing dangerously when he noticed what caught our attention.

  Namely, the two holes cut into his pants, one on both cheeks. And apparently, Tate decided to go commando today, his peachy white ass on clear display.

  “Desmond!” he roars, face turning a strange combination of red and purple in his fury. “I’m going to fucking kill you!”

  “Hey!” Desmond holds up his hands placatingly as he attempts to use the coffee table as a buffer. “How was I supposed to know that you wouldn’t fucking notice before you went out into public?” He begins to laugh again, tears rolling down his cheeks. “I thought you would figure it out right away, get pissed at me, and then change before you left. I didn’t expect—” He clutches his belly and falls to his knees, his words nearly inarticulate around his laughter.

  “You’re lucky the station was fucking empty at this time of night! You fucking asshole!” Tate balls his hands into fists, and I know he’s only seconds away from decking the God of Combat.

  “Hey!” A completely naked Sin stares intently at Tate’s ass before nodding his head once in approval. “I do that to my pants too.”

  “For fuck’s sake!” Tate bellows as he runs after a laughing Desmond.

  Children.

  All of them.

  Meeting Avery’s gaze across the room, he smiles softly, nodding towards the shower. The message is clear. I’ll watch over the dumbasses and make sure they don’t kill each other. You should shower.

  And I can’t argue with that. Gray ash, tinged with black and white, covers my entire body. My dress has numerous charred holes in it; in some places, the fabric is only hanging together by a couple of precarious threads.

  Returning his smile with a grateful one of my own, I duck out of the room and into the bathroom. I don’t bother to lock the door as I strip out of the neon dress and my matching panties set. Naked, I turn the dials on the shower until it reaches the perfect temperature—not too hot where it sears my skin, but not too cold where it feels as if I’m bathing in ice.

  Standing underneath the spray, I throw my head back and watch through hooded eyes as the water darkens before sliding down the drain. The ink Sin drew on my skin begins to wash away as well, and I can only pray that it’s not a prelude or a visual representation of where our relationship is going. We have forever, all of us, and I refuse to accept any other alternative.

  The sound of the door opening and closing captivates my attention, but I pretend to be oblivious as I slowly glide my hands up my sides and to my breasts. Tweaking my nipples, I release a low, heated moan before dropping one of my hands to the apex between my thighs.

  A low growl stops me before my fingers can touch my bundle of nerves. Less than a second later, the shower door opens, and Helio steps inside the enclosed space.

  My breathing stutters as I survey the raw beauty that is Helio Merrit, the God of Karma. He’s a fucking work of art, a masterpiece, and he’s completely and undeniably mine. My eyes trail down his chest, covered in dark hair, and then to his cock that bobs proudly. It’s big, so fucking big, but I shouldn’t be surprised, given the size of him.

  Without speaking, he grabs my bottle of body wash off the shower shelf and pours a generous amount onto his hands. Then, he begins to wash my skin, starting at my shoulders and trailing down to my fingers. He doesn’t linger on any particular spot as he cups my breasts, gently gliding his thumb across my beaded nipples, before lowering his hands to my stomach.

  His touch gradually turns from erotic to…something else. Something more. His touch is loving and gentle and protective.

  “Helio…” I cup his cheek, and his eyelids flutter close underneath the intense spray of water.

  “I wouldn’t…” His rumbling voice does strange things to me. Things that may or may not involve me rubbing my thighs together in an attempt to alleviate the ache currently between them. He presses his forehead to mine, eyes still closed. “I wouldn’t be able to survive if something happened to you.”

  “It scared you, didn’t it?” I whisper, kissing the corner of his lips. “What happened with the assassin?”

  He grunts, and for a moment, I think he isn’t going to answer. When he eventually does, his voice is soft and
terse. “Even before I got my memories back, I tried to protect you. But you got hurt. Sin was able to blow up your car without my knowledge. Tate tried to shoot you. Desmond attacked you—”

  “It’s not your job to take care of me,” I whisper placatingly, but I know as soon as those words leave my mouth that it’s the wrong thing to say.

  His eyes snap open, and the sheer ferocity in them leaves me breathless. “Yes, it is,” he growls. His hands drop to my hips, tightening almost imperceptibly. “You could’ve died tonight, and I wasn’t there to protect you.” His eyes are nearly incandescent, stealing the remaining breath from my lungs. “I can’t live without you.”

  “Helio…” Overcome by the enormity of my emotions for this man, I press my lips to his completely. His divine taste floods my senses as his hands cup my ass, holding me in place. His hard cock brushes against my bare stomach as he takes control of the kiss, devouring me with each flick of his tongue against my own.

  I slowly wrap my fingers around his shaft, pumping him in slow, measured strokes.

  “Baby…” My nickname is a plea on his lips. A prayer. And he stares at me as if no one else exists and no one else will ever exist. I drown in the heady sensations he evokes within me.

  As I continue to stroke his monster cock, he pushes two fingers inside of my slick channel, stroking my inner walls. I thrust my hips into his fingers as he does the same to mine. Our combined groans are heard even over the pounding of water against the ceramic tiles of the shower.

  He pinches my clit, and I swear fireworks explode behind my retinas.

  “Baby…”

  “Helio,” I beg, releasing his cock and gripping his muscular ass. “I need you.”

  The look in his eyes isn’t just want; it’s need, pure and simple. He needs this just as much as I do. The connection between two people, our souls merging after years apart. We need to know that we’re together and alive, that no one can keep us apart ever again.

  His hands rove up my body to cup my heavy breasts. He rolls my nipples between his fingers as he lowers his lips to my neck, kissing and suckling. His beard grazes my skin, ratcheting my desire to new heights.