by Sam Crescent
Licking my dry lips, I knew it was completely messed up how I was reacting to him, to them all. They were all best friends. Being in a relationship with them was crazy. So messed up. It couldn’t happen.
I put my hand over his. “You’ve got to back off.”
“No, I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to.” The hand on my hip slid up, going toward my chest. His thumb brushed underneath my tits.
I drew in deep breaths, very much aware of how close he was to me.
He’d closed the distance. The tips of his boots brushed mine.
“Do you think I don’t see the pain inside you, Emily? You can’t draw for shit, but there’s something about a piece of art, no matter how good or bad the artist is. You’re in pain. You feel like you’re drowning. You hate me, Caleb, River, and Gael. I bet your hatred of him is even worse, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you do, believe me. You do.” He smiled, but it wasn’t nice. This was deadly, dangerous.
I hadn’t seen this side of Vadik.
“You hate Gael because he broke past those feelings inside you. The ones where you think death would be so easy, and it will. I know what you think and how you feel. If you think you’re alone, you’re wrong. We all know how easy and fucked-up it would be. What you hate most about Gael is even as you want to hate us, he awakened your curiosity. You now want him, even though you also want to hate him.”
I shook my head. “I’ve got to get back to class.”
His hand cupped my tit. My nipple pressed against the palm of his hand. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
None of what he was saying made any sense.
He let go of my breast, but he suddenly gripped my ass with both of his hands before one slid up my back, cupping my head, drawing me down, and he was kissing me hard. His tongue traced out, curving over my lips, then plunged inside my mouth.
The kiss felt amazing.
I didn’t push him away. Holding his face between my hands, I gave up fighting and kissed him back, not wanting him to stop.
He growled against my lips and I did no more than wrap my legs around his waist. I hated that he was right.
Gael had awakened something in me.
My virginity. My precious fucking virginity was something my father wanted for his own deals. For me, at this very moment, I wanted to say to hell with all of it, to lose it right here, right now, in the girls’ bathroom at Crude Hill High.
Only, Vadik pulled away.
I glanced down and saw his cock pressed against the front of his pants.
“What game are you guys playing?” I asked.
Vadik looked at me. There were no questions, just a stare.
“You and Gael. I haven’t forgotten Caleb either. Is this where you all make me want you? Where I make a fool out of myself, only to have Gael push me aside as if I’m nothing?”
“You’re not very trustworthy, are you?”
“Give me a good reason why I should be.” I jumped off the sink.
“We’re not playing a game with you.”
“Then why are you all kissing me?”
“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe we all want to kiss you?”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Really? Look, I’ve seen some of the girls who go to this school and I know I’m nothing special.”
He raised a brow.
“I’m not looking for compliments.”
Vadik smiled and stepped back.
“No, you explain this to me.”
“Why explain it to you when it will be a lot more fun to show you?” He winked at me and left the girls’ bathroom.
I kicked the base of the sink. “Fuck!”
Staring at my reflection, I didn’t look happy. Far from it. My lips were swollen from his kiss. My cheeks red. I didn’t even recognize myself.
Closing my eyes, I counted to three, then to six, then to ten.
Finally, when I’d gained my control again, I left the bathroom and went back to art. No one looked at me. Vadik was still drawing. I happened to notice the teacher didn’t get too close to him or his work. She nodded her head. “Wonderful.”
He shot her a glare and she scurried away.
She came right toward me.
“Emily, do you want to talk about what happened?” she asked.
I turned toward her. All I wanted to do was scream at her, tell her what a waste of space she was. How my father would never leave my mother, and she was spreading her legs for the wrong man.
Instead, I was the good girl.
Years upon years of practice brought a smile to my lips as if nothing mattered.
“You do have some talent, Emily.” She patted my shoulder and once again, I counted in my head.
I turned back to my tree. This wasn’t talent.
I hated drawing.
I hated school.
I hated my father.
My life.
All of it.
But what I didn’t hate was the way Vadik looked at me. The way Gael touched me, as if I belonged to him already. The kiss Caleb had taken, his ownership. Even River’s understanding.
All four of them had made me feel and I didn’t want that. My life was already over before it had begun, and each of these guys had woken me up. Now, I feared I was never going to be able to sleep again.
My heart beat in anticipation.
Hope bloomed within my chest.
Life no longer seemed unbearable. But now that I’d thought all of this, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to handle what might happen when all of this fell apart, which it would. There was no doubt about it.
This between us was a ticking time bomb, and one day soon, it was going to go off.
****
Caleb
This wasn’t the first murder I’d seen.
I stood watching as my father’s men threw the body into the water. It wouldn’t be long before the creatures of the ocean tore his body apart, feeding on the traitor’s flesh.
My father, Daniel, sat back, a glass of wine in his hand as he smiled. “Now that’s a job well done.”
I didn’t say anything.
This wasn’t the first time I’d been taken on one of his little expeditions. It was late on a Saturday night. This was where my father did his business with rats or traitors. First, they’d be taken to a warehouse where for many hours, one of our men would get every single word or secret past his lips. Death wouldn’t come easily.
Teeth, fingernails, and toenails would be removed. Then nipples and other pieces of flesh would come. Fingers were next.
Slowly, piece by piece, they’d be removed until all that remained was a carcass.
I’d seen the torture process many times. My first happened when I was twelve years old. Daniel believed no son of his would have a weak stomach. The first one, I vomited, and he made me clean up the vomit, blood, and shit afterward. The stench had stayed with me for weeks, even though I had scrubbed my body raw.
The second one, I didn’t throw up.
By the fourth, my dad wanted me to join in.
I knew we didn’t have the best of parents. None of us did. Our fathers all had their own methods of making us the men who would one day take over from them. You’d think with the constant example we made of men and women who tried to rat, there wouldn’t be so many. There was always someone who grew a conscience, and that meant we got to feed the fishes.
“How’s school?” my father asked.
I looked at him, brow raised. “You really want to know about school?”
He laughed.
“You know everything already. If you’ve got a question, ask.”
“Be careful how you speak to me, Caleb. You may be my son, but I have no problems putting you in your place.”
My dad had no trouble hurting me. He took great pride in how much shit I took from him.
I nodded, letting him know I was sorry. To say the wor
ds aloud showed weakness.
“So, the girl, Emily. Tell me about her.”
“What’s there to tell?”
“I wasn’t born yesterday. I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere. She’s become the Monsters’ shiny new toy. I take it her cherry hasn’t been popped.”
My hands clenched into fists. “She’s still intact,” I said.
“Good.”
“Why does it matter?”
“This deal her father has, it intrigues us. In fact, we’re setting up a gala. It’s a nice affair, a charity event. We’re inviting everyone, including Emily’s betrothed. It will be a good opportunity to see how Crane reacts. I don’t like what I’m hearing.”
“You think he’s trying to take over?”
He tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. The tension mounted as he looked at me. I may be his son, but he also only allowed me to know what he believed my rank entitled me. There was a lot of stuff I didn’t know, or at least, he thought I didn’t know.
I wasn’t a fool. I hadn’t been for a long time.
I knew how our world worked.
You didn’t get beaten black and blue without learning a thing or two. My father was my ally and my enemy.
“Something stinks with Crane. We’re not exactly sure.” He pursed his lips. “For a man who is merely a minion, he has a lot of offshore accounts.” Daniel chuckled. “He thinks he’s good at hiding things, but he clearly underestimates us. What does the girl mean to you?”
This time, I stared at my father. He wasn’t an idiot.
For me and the guys to pay special attention to one girl, it meant something. My dad had a lot of spies everywhere. I was always careful. All of the guys were.
“Why haven’t you dealt with Crane?” I asked.
Daniel smiled. At this moment, he wasn’t a father, but a boss. “You answer my question first.”
“You always taught me to get the information I want.”
“I’m not your enemy, son, at least not yet. I’ve been rather lenient. You should respect what I’ve given you so far.”
And I knew without a fact, he’d punish me if I crossed the line. He’d given me plenty of chances, but he wasn’t going to keep allowing me to get away with things. Not when the reputation of the Monsters was at stake.
“She’s important,” I said.
He sipped at his wine. “You know, we were a lot like you guys at one point. We were unbreakable. We took what we wanted and to hell with the consequences. Of course, we also had to live in a school where people died on a regular basis. To some, the kind of school system you have now makes you all weak. There’s nothing wrong with sleeping with one eye open.” He paused. “Whatever this is with Emily, it will be for fun only, Caleb.”
I gritted my teeth but didn’t say anything to dispute him.
“One girl to four boys, it’s not going to work.”
“And if it could?” I asked. I knew how fucked up our needs were. We didn’t want to have multiple women. That would mess us up. The fact all four of us were attracted to Emily was a damn good start.
Daniel laughed. “It won’t. You’re all behaving like boys and that’s never a good combination when it comes to a woman. For now, she has way too much power over you. What will you do if she starts finding Vadik more enjoyable? Or picking River’s company over yours? The jealousy is a disease in our family, Caleb. You can’t risk it. None of you can.”
“And you know about those feelings?”
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about us, Caleb. Don’t for a second believe I give you this warning without prior knowledge.” Daniel stood and threw the remains of his wine across the deck.
I hated coming onto the boat. I never liked how it rocked. I preferred to have something steady and sturdy beneath my feet.
“I want to meet the betrothed. I want to know exactly what’s going on with Crane. It’s rare for an engagement to get past me.”
“Emily doesn’t know about it.”
“She will soon enough. It’s time we headed back to the house.” He moved to go into the main deck.
“Dad, how do you know it won’t work?” I asked. I didn’t want to continue having this conversation, but I saw no other choice.
Daniel sighed. “There are secrets even you can’t know the answer to.”
That was it.
He closed the door, leaving me out in the cold.
I didn’t mind.
Sitting in his chair, I watched the water as we moved, heading back toward the bay where our cars were parked.
By the time I sat in the car, my dad was already on the phone organizing a replacement for the man they just killed. We didn’t go straight home. We stopped at an abandoned garage. My dad and two of his guards climbed out, holding a briefcase.
I watched the swap happen, the handshake, and then my dad was back inside.
“Crooked cops. I tell you, they’re worse than the criminals.”
I recognized the cop. He’d been to the school a few times when there was a sudden raid on the lockers to check and see if drugs were being distributed. It only ever happened when there was suspicion an outsider’s product had been brought into the fold. The consequences were dire.
Once we arrived home, I stepped into the main foyer and saw my mother at the bottom of the stairs. She offered my dad a smile, but he didn’t return it.
I frowned as I watched them.
My parents’ troubled marriage wasn’t news to me. I was very much aware they had troubles but I knew my mother loved my dad. I didn’t understand why. He was a total bastard to her, and without remorse.
I didn’t linger. There was no point. As I step toward the stairs, my mother, Molly, smiled at me.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asked. She went to touch my face but hesitated.
“I’m fine.”
I made my way upstairs to my bedroom, closing the door. I removed my jacket, kicked off my boots, and went to my knife and the target in the corner. Ever since River had started practicing two years ago, I’d made it my mission to be better than him.
All four of us would one day be in charge, but to the outside world, my dad, like me, would be the leaders. I was older than my friends by a day, if that. It was how we always were. United. Never divided.
There were times we didn’t know if we were really friends, or we just didn’t know any other way.
I’d die for all of them.
I picked up the knife, stepped away from the target, lined up, and threw. I had three knives that I practiced with. One after the other, I impaled them into my target.
The satisfaction of training didn’t even help me to clear my troubled thoughts.
I put the knives down and instead, went to my bed, lying down to stare up at the ceiling. If my dad knew what we were planning and how it would end, did it mean all of our dads at one point had fallen for one woman?
No, it wasn’t possible.
If there was going to be any evidence of our dads falling for one woman, it would be in the albums my dad kept in the library. I rarely looked through old pictures of myself or my friends as babies or into teenagers. There was no point. I didn’t believe in looking back.
My interest was piqued, though, and even as I hated myself, I got to my feet and padded down to the library.
It was dark, so I went to the table lamp and turned it on. The albums were lined up on the far wall. The scent of musty old books never appealed to me. I didn’t understand Emily’s fascination with the library.
Crouching down, I ran my finger down the spine of each book, finding the one dated the year I was born.
I pulled the book out, sat on my ass, and flicked the file open. There weren’t many pictures here. Barely any.
I frowned as I looked, though. The pictures I looked at were ones I’d seen a few times. When the guys come over and get all nostalgic, they get the books out. I stared at the picture of us in the crib. I’d been referred to as a fat baby. I was bigger than my f
riends. I got to my feet and moved over to the lamp, putting the picture beneath so I could get a good, proper look at it.
There was no fucking way I was a fat baby. I didn’t know a lot about newborns, but I did know for a fact they weren’t able to sit up straight. If that was me, then it was really fucking clear to me that I was older than a newborn.
Rather than put the picture away, I slid it into my pocket. My dad may have made a passing comment, but I wanted to know the truth, and there was no way I was letting him get away with keeping me in the dark.
Chapter Ten
River
I’d never considered myself the kind of person who would stalk someone. Yet, here I stood in Emily’s room like one. It wasn’t too hard getting into her bedroom. I’d seen her looking out the window a few nights ago, and there was a kitchen around back that the cook liked to keep the door open while she worked. There was also a guard who liked to get the extra food.
I’d stood in the garden and watched for the past couple of evenings in the same routine. Tonight, I decided to play a game of chance and take one. Now, I stood in her bedroom. The scent of her was everywhere.
Sitting on the edge of her bed, I checked the level of bounce. A rather nice bed. I was pleased to know her parents took care of her.
Her bedroom screamed her, which was odd. Her desk had her back to the wall, facing the main door but also keeping the window in view.
Getting to my feet, I pulled her curtains closed and switched on her bedside lamp.
If the guys could see me now, they’d think I was going crazy. They wouldn’t be wrong. I didn’t care about a girl’s bedroom.
Emily had slid onto our radar, and like my friends, I couldn’t seem to get her out of my mind. Not that I wanted to.
When I heard footsteps coming toward her bedroom, I hid in the closet, not wanting to give away my position, at least not yet. My dad told me to lay low when it came to Emily. They were working out the Crane problem. There was only one issue I saw, that he was bargaining Emily off to a stranger without first consulting his bosses. That was a bad idea.
“I checked her laundry basket, Anne. You don’t have to go in there,” a woman said.
“I have to check. You know what he’s like.” Through the doorway, I saw a redhead and a brunette enter the room. They were dressed in maid’s uniforms.