Oleander: One of Us Series

by Faulks, Kim

  He left Cog behind and came closer.

  The brush of his fingers was softer this time—still I felt the bruises gathering in tender flesh. Run, that voice in my head screamed, and yet there was a quiet voice…a more careful voice that whispered…they might know what happened to me.

  “Do you know what this is?” I lifted my hand and my sleeve tumbled toward my elbow. Five seven six three black against pale skin. “What does it mean?”

  He glanced to the empty street, and then turned to seize my gaze. “I don’t know, but Pryor does, and I have to wonder…Oleander, or Eve, or whatever the fuck your name is, why it made one of the most powerful men in the state turn tail and run?”

  He knows. He has to know. Pain flared along my neck, like a strangled nerve, and that darkness inside whispered…do not be afraid.

  The sudden vibration of his phone made me flinch. Maddox drove his fingers into his pocket, yanked the phone free and stared at the caller ID.

  One heartbeat and he was striding toward the other side of the parking lot, covering his mouth with his hands to muffle the sound.

  But I saw enough in the careful glance my way, and then the stiffening of his shoulders as he lowered the phone.

  He glanced at the sky for a second before he turned. “It’s all okay. Just a misunderstanding is all. Pryor said he’s deeply sorry and that if you’ll stay he’ll talk to you tomorrow night. He says he’ll tell you everything he knows about Eve.”

  Everything he knows…everything he knows about Eve? The way he said it sounded like it wasn’t my name, but a name. My thoughts turned to my mom.

  I took a step toward him and caught the flinch in his body. The smile was too fast now, too eager…too…fake. Just like Pryor. “What is it, Maddox? What aren’t you telling me?”

  There was a shake of his head. “Nothing,” he murmured. “I promise you, Purple. We get through tomorrow and Pryor’s going to tell you it all.”

  He stepped away, keeping me in the line of his vision as he motioned toward the door. “How about we eat, and then we can do whatever the Hell you want, how does that sound?”

  The nerve pulsed in the back of my head making me wince.

  Something didn’t feel right. Not with Maddox, or any of this.

  He opened the door wide and motioned.

  Leave now and run forever, or stay and find out what Pryor knows. I shifted my weight from one foot to another. My pack was inside, my journal was inside…the picture of my mom…inside.

  Still I couldn’t move. I was nailed to the spot by the uncontrollable feeling of helplessness, trapped by my past, no matter how far I ran.

  That cavern inside my chest opened a little wider as I took the first step and made for the open door.

  “That’s the way,” Maddox murmured.

  Fake words. Fake smile, but the result was the same. I’d stay…just in the hopes of finding out what happened to my mom—I dropped my gaze to my wrist—and what happened to me.

  I strode along the hallway and out to the other. Smiles were shown…words were given, but they were careful now. Careful not to upset, careful not to say the wrong thing as I sat next to Harvey once more.

  “You okay?” he murmured and stole a glance at Cog.

  “Yeah…I think so.”

  He stabbed at his food and lowered his voice. “You know you could always leave. Come home with me, I got a sofa you can sleep on.”

  “Think it’s time for you to go,” Cog growled across the table at Harvey. “Don’t want you to getting caught up in the evening traffic.”

  The steel knife hit the plate with a clang. Harvey jiggled, and shoved, working his chair backwards until he could stand. “Yes…yeah, you’re right. I got a thing on anyways.”

  “Don’t.” I reached for his hand. “Don’t leave.”

  He winced at the others, and stumbled backwards. “Gotta go, Oleander. Just, ah…you know where to find me, okay?”

  He stepped closer, leaning down to whisper in my ear. “Don’t trust. Don’t stay where they can find you. Find what you need…and run.”

  He left me there. Left me to stare at the back of his shirt as he nodded to the others and left. No one spoke to him, no one said a damn word.

  And as he left I had the sinking feeling that I’d never see him again.

  Jackals waited for me as I scanned the table.

  Laughing scavengers, desperate for the hunt.

  There weren’t bears here anymore.

  Chapter Ten

  Oleander

  “You ready, Purple?”

  Tick…tick…tick…

  “Mr. Pryor isn’t going to wait forever.”

  No…yes. I stared at the glowing street light in the dark. Looked like Maddox was ready to talk now after avoiding me all day.

  After they all avoided me all day.

  I was angry, pissed that I didn’t run, furious that I let them crawl under my skin…I ached now, ached in ways I hadn’t ached before. They gave me a glimpse of something real—dangling it like a carrot on a string.

  I turned, watching those blue eyes widen as I took a step. “Where is he?”

  “We gotta go to him.”

  My belly tightened as the back door opened and then swung shut. Cog and the others strode from the building, dressed to kill in stony gazes and leather vests.

  A glint of silver caught the light. I caught the outline of the pistol as Cog moved. He needed weapons for a meeting?

  “He said it’s the only way he can talk freely,” Maddox murmured beside me.

  Still he stood at arms-length watching every little thing I did. Talk freely, what did that mean? I glanced to the others. What could he say there, that he couldn’t say here?

  Bugged…is that what he meant? Were there people here who couldn’t be trusted? All of them, the words filled my head. None of them couldn’t be trusted, not by me, or by anyone.

  Cog opened the passenger’s seat of the black Explorer and waited.

  “Let’s go,” Maddox murmured and motioned to the car. “The sooner we get there, the sooner you find out who you really are.”

  Eve…the name pulsed inside my head as I stared into the open door, it was a black beast, a ravenous monster ready to swallow me whole.

  Eve…I took a step, and then another, lifting my gaze to the man at the door. Cog was a stranger now—just like they were all strangers.

  The key bounced against my neck as I slid into the seat. I felt the weight of it now, like a jacket made of lead.

  Down…down…down, under the hurt and the emptiness. I was sinking even though I sat perfectly still.

  Eve. The name pulsed inside my head as I heard car doors open behind me. I gripped my pack and stared out into the night. I was leaving, as soon as I found out what Pryor knew. I was running as hard and as fast as I could—leaving everyone and everything else behind.

  Car doors slammed shut with a thud. A muffled voice filled the void.

  “You good?” Cog leaned forward. “It’s cold out there tonight. Let’s hope the old man has the heaters going, hey?”

  The sudden barrage smothered the words outside, smothering the words from outside.

  “I hate the cold,” Cog continued. “I’m a summer man. I like the beach, you like the beach, Purple?”

  Not Oleander anymore, only Purple…

  “Yeah the beach would be nice this year.”

  The driver’s door opened and Maddox slid in. He took one look at the backseat and then yanked the door closed.

  Soft green dashboard lights lit up with the press of a button and the deep, throbbing growl of the engine filled the space.

  Cog leaned back against the seat, the steady stream of one-sided conversation over.

  The automatic gates rattled and rolled, the front wheel whipping back and forth from the buckled frame. I glanced at Maddox as he shoved the four-wheel drive into gear and backed out of the space. “Where are we going?”

  “Not far.”

  Silence set
tled. Not far. Clipped answer. My grip tightened on the straps of my pack as we surged forward, slowed for a second as we hit the bitumen and then turned right.

  Silence. Cold, hostile silence, and the bitterness slipped across my skin. I swallowed a shudder. “You’re angry with me from yesterday, I get that.”

  No answer. Try to get through…get him talking. “I didn’t know who he was, Maddox. I still don’t.”

  “I know. It’s okay, Purple. It’s all going to be okay.”

  Good people, right?

  Good people doing bad things…

  Or was it the other way around?

  Streets passed by at a blur as we turned left, heading toward the outer suburbs of the city. The last few days were fragmented, like a kaleidoscope gone wrong. I tried to find a pattern in the mixture of happiness and violence, anything that would tell me I was in danger.

  There was nothing, and everything. I glanced at Maddox behind the wheel and reached for the key around my neck. He hadn’t asked for it back. He would, wouldn’t he? If he was planning to cast me out of the club. He’d ask for the key and tell me to leave.

  I had to hold onto that, maybe this was all like Maddox said—just a misunderstanding...

  Houses blurred outside as we drove further and further from the familiar. Gang tags sprayed over buildings screamed of the Hunters…the same gang that held up the diner, the same that shoved a gun into my mouth. “Maybe we could do this another time?”

  Maddox shook his head. “Pryor says it’s tonight. He has to leave in the morning, something about a meeting with the Head of State.”

  “Head of State?” I repeated.

  “I told you.” Maddox cut a glance toward me. “Pryor’s connected in ways I’ll never understand. If he knows information about your family, then you can bet it’s come from a reliable source. You can finally get some closure. Find out if your real name’s Eve.”

  “And then?” I murmured, holding his gaze.

  He turned back to the road then, and the cold, stony words filled the space. “And then we take it as it comes.”

  We take it as it comes…the words were warped and slow inside my head as Maddox lifted his head to the rear-view mirror and gave the nod.

  The car lights died as we slowed, coasting over to the side before Maddox killed the engine. A chill snaked its way around my spine, climbing and coiling. Movement in the backseat made my flinch. “What’s going on?”

  “Gotta be quiet. Meetings out the back, out of hearing.”

  Out of hearing from who? This didn’t feel right…it didn’t feel right.

  Tick…tick…tick…

  Agony flare through my head. I winced and gripped my temple. Maddox shot me a glance. “What it is?”

  “Nothing,” I snarled. “Just my head.”

  We pulled up outside a lonely white double-story house set back from the road. High wrought-iron fences surrounded the land to scream stay out. And the nerve at the back of my head played havoc, flaring and clenching, driving an unseen nail deeper.

  Tick…tick…tick…

  The sound mingled with the wind as the back doors were opened and the night rushed in.

  “Quiet now, Purple,” Maddox warned me. “Not a sound, you understand me?”

  My heart sped at the words. I glanced outside as Cog and the others waited for a second and then vaulted the fence. I barely saw them…these black blurs running through the night—barely saw anything while we waited.

  I dropped my hand to the handle, fingers caught the latch as Maddox growled. “Not yet.”

  “What are we waiting for?”

  “A signal.” He never glanced at me, just stared through the window to the darkened house.

  Seconds felt like eternity until there was a sudden flash of light.

  “Okay, we go in.”

  He looked at me then, stared into my eyes and then slowly lowered his gaze to the chain around my neck. I waited for him to say something—to voice the words he’d stifled since yesterday.

  But there was nothing. Nothing but a low hiss of breath as he muttered, “Let’s go, Purple.”

  My fingers slipped from the door as he shoved his open. All of a sudden, I didn’t want to know what secrets waited for me. I didn’t want to know a damn thing but what I had here and now.

  My door opened with a rush. One of the other guys…Glen…Gordon…I searched for the name as he stood there, waiting…watching.

  “Let’s go.” Maddox made for the fence and then stopped. “You want to know, right? The answers are right in there…”

  Just reach inside…that’s the way…fuck you’re pretty…

  My knees trembled as I lifted my gaze to the darkened house. I could end it all…all the running and the hurting. He could tell me what happened to my Mom, maybe find some relative, someone who knew her better than I ever did.

  I climbed out of the car and stood on the pavement. The door closed behind me with a muffled thud and the yellow lights flashed once as the locks engaged.

  But they never touched me, not when Maddox vaulted the section of the fence, not when they stood on the other side and waited.

  There was nowhere else to go, no one else that would give me what I needed. I had to trust, trust that the key around my neck was worth something.

  The iron was cold under my hands—I’d become too used to the warmth. Too used to a lot of things. I clenched my grip, rocked and then swung one leg up.

  Momentum took me as I slid over the top and fell. The stop was brutal, spearing the shock into my ankles and then my knees as Maddox turned and made for the side of the white house.

  It wasn’t as nice as I expected. Flashy in a new money kind of way with brass statues out the front and a sleek black Lamborghini parked in the drive on the other side.

  But there was no sign of the Explorer, and as we slipped alongside the house and stopped at the open back door, I realized there was not much sign of anyone. No patio furniture, no toys for kids, not even a dog that I could see.

  One of the guys stood at the open door and motioned. “He’s inside.”

  Maddox cut me a glance, and then lifted his hand. “After you, Purple.”

  Harsh, jagged breaths burned my chest. I closed my mouth, swallowed the bitter air and stared at the darkened doorway. “What, no lights?”

  “There’s some on inside. Chap’ll lead the way,” Maddox answered and stared at me.

  His blue eyes sparkled like a thousand stars were trapped by a summer’s sky. I took a step, mounting the small back stairs and slipped through the doorway.

  Something crunched under my boot. Glass. I turned back to the doorway, but there was no time. Maddox was closing in, his hand on my shoulder gently pushing me deeper inside.

  He hadn’t touched me all day.

  “Keep going,” he murmured pressing his body against my back. “Just through there.”

  Reach inside for me…that’s it, just a little further. Fuck you’re pretty…

  White sparks danced behind my eyes, and that darkness inside me grew.

  Careful, it whispered. Careful now.

  Higher and higher it climbed silently, like a beast stalking its prey.

  But I could feel it—feel it under my skin and in my veins.

  Muffled footsteps echoed on the vinyl as I moved through the kitchen and into the lounge. Soft yellow lights barely reached the walls, grazing metal picture frames filled with black and white.

  It’s not right. Glass under my boots, and vinyl floor.

  Not the right house. Not the right man…

  A dark thatch of hair peeked over the back of the sofa. Cog and two others stood at his side with guns drawn…

  “Do what you came to do.” The thick snarl caught my breath. “But you leave my Momma out of it. Ain’t got nothin’ to do with her.”

  “Don’t you hurt him!” an old woman yelled from upstairs. “He’s done nothin’ wrong. Don’t you hurt my boy!”

  My heart hammered, pushing the pai
n closer to the edge. I stared at the gang tatts on his arms…The Hunters…this wasn’t about finding the truth.

  This was about a rival’s revenge.

  “You wanted to find out who you really are?”

  I flinched at the voice behind me.

  It was the voice of a snake.

  A cold-blooded killer.

  Pryor stepped into view, took one look at the stranger on the sofa and murmured. “Here’s your chance, Oleander. Kill him.”

  The agony climbed, pinching and thrusting claws into my head.

  Tick…tick…tick…

  “Get off me! Get the hell of me!” the old woman screamed. “Connor…Connor!”

  “I’m gonna fucking kill you,” the Hunter lunged, dropping his shoulder and aiming for Cog.

  Animals were in the room. Hungry and violent.

  I’d seen their violence before…but not like this…never like this…

  “Sit the fuck down!” Cog snapped and drove the butt of a sawed-off shotgun down hard.

  The crack against his skull was sickening. My stomach clenched, spilling acid into my mouth as the rival dropped to his knees.

  Run…Get out of there now…I stumbled backwards and hit something warm and hard.

  “Careful,” one of the Brother Bears growled behind me.

  “There’s nowhere to go.” Pryor took a step toward the Hunter. “Nowhere to run. This is going to happen either way. You wanted to see what you really are, then do what I’ve told you to do…”

  Wide eyes of the rival shot to me…the whites blinding as he reached for his head. Blood looked black against the weak light, sliding down his forehead toward his eye. He glanced at my hands, searching for a weapon, and found none.

  “What’s the bitch gonna do, tickle me to death?” the Hunter snarled.

  Tick…tick…tick…

  The sound filled my head. Memories slipped free as the stranger in the van came back to me.

  Bloated face. Blood choked eyes.

  I did that…a whimper tore free, small and pathetic. I did that to him.

  The hunger was growing now, filling my veins whispering…it’s time to do what we were meant to do. Let me out…let me out now.