Twisted Fate (A Twisted Fairy Tale Book 1)

by Ace Gray

  “She has me.” Cole’s eyes locked on to where our fingers were interlaced.

  “And I’m sure her Pikachu is just pleased as punch, but there are so many things that you and your magical dick can’t give her.”

  Cole snarled and then tried to shove up off his stool. He groaned and his whole face went from severe to syrup. I shot toward him, letting Conrad’s fingers drop as I lunged to keep Cole from hitting the ground.

  “Don’t. Don’t even think about it,” I said as I settled him back to the stool.

  He cupped his hand around the back of my thigh and I jerked back. His face crumpled in on itself.

  “Now it’s your turn.” Conrad was as serious as I’d ever seen him. “Spill it, Elle. Now.”

  The door jangled again. Cole and I both went rigid but Conrad whistled lowly. “Well, well, well. Now that’s better than a redheaded hellcat.”

  “Cupcake, Fucktart, what’s going on?” Horse was taking up the doorframe as he took in the scene. He studied us for a split second then his eyes fixed on Conrad. Something twinkled in them as he swept over the man between him and us.

  “Cupcake? Fucktart? Interesting… What kind of pastry do we have here?” Conrad asked as he blatantly undressed Horse with his eyes.

  “Conrad, this is Horse,” I introduced him with a genuine smile.

  “Giddy up,” Conrad’s voice was laced with lust. “How does the saying go? Ride a horse, save a cowboy?”

  “Are you telling me you’ve got a lasso and you’d like to tie me up?” Horse asked and I noticed that his eyes danced as he drank in Conrad’s tight jeans and fitted shirt, both of which showed off his well-crafted muscles.

  “Honey, I’d tie you up, tie you down and do anything else in between.” Conrad shamelessly fanned himself.

  Horse walked right up to him and lowered all six-foot, eight million inches over him. He let his hands come to rest on Conrad’s upper thighs. They were nose to nose, two sets of eyes speaking to one another. Horse let his gaze slowly sweep over Conrad, stopping to stare unabashedly at his ink then down at his crotch. He licked his lips.

  “Then saddle up sweetheart. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

  Conrad’s jaw fell open and he swayed on his stool. Horse pushed himself closer, his lips brushing Conrad’s.

  “Or are you not man enough?” Horse challenged.

  Conrad started, “Yeah…um…” he cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “Swear to God, I’ll rise to the challenge.”

  Horse let his thumbs start stroking Conrad’s thighs, maybe even catching a little bit of his dick as his focus followed his fingers.

  “Seems like you already have.” Horse cocked his eyebrow and licked his lips before looking back up at Conrad’s contorted face. “If only I didn’t have business to attend to.”

  Horse stood and turned his back on Conrad or he would have seen the furious scarlet he was turning or the way his breathing rattled his chest.

  “Let’s go. We’ve got info on Jimmy.” Horse jerked his chin toward the door.

  Cole tried to stand up off the stool but failed even worse than before. I tentatively stepped toward him but Horse beat me to it. His whole face crumpled when he took in the fresh blood coating Cole.

  “What happened here today?” He looked over at me then Conrad.

  “Siobhan happened.” I choked on the words.

  Horse’s whole face fell and he turned without a word to pull me into a hug. I nuzzled into the valley between his pecs.

  “Forgive him. Whatever happened, forgive him. You don’t know what she’s like.” His tree trunk arms wormed in tighter.

  “I think I get the drift.” I shook in his arms for a moment. “That’s why I already have.”

  “I’ll take good care of him Fucktart, okay?” he whispered into my ear. “Maybe do the same for me?” I felt his smile turn up against my cheek.

  He broke away and nodded toward Conrad, then turned for Cole. He effortlessly hauled him up to his feet.

  “You got this?” he asked Cole gruffly.

  Cole nodded and lifted his hand to scrape a little of the blood off his chin. His beautiful green eyes looked up at mine, every little fleck in them pleaded with me. Without thinking, I reached out and brushed my fingertips down along the back of his hand. He trembled at my touch but he didn’t reach back, still adhering to the single request I’d made.

  His face pinched in on itself but he turned to lead Horse out of the shop. At the last minute, he turned back. “Everything,” he murmured then shoved out of the door, leaving nothing but the bell to cut the heavy silence.

  24.

  Cole

  “What she do?” Horse asked quietly from the driver’s seat.

  “Fucking made me get her off,” I snarled.

  “Oh I know what Siobhan did. What did Elle do? Do we still have a little Fucktart to share?”

  “Didn’t seem like you were interested in her anymore.” I arched my eyebrow as I looked over at him.

  “That man is hot. He can join all three of us for all I care if it gets his big pouty lips around my dick and his tattooed arms wound around me.” He smiled the kind of smile that lit up his face and something relaxed inside me. For all today’s shit, it had been a long time since I’d seen Horse give those smiles so freely. “Back to Elle, I mean she seemed like she was in one piece.” He started chewing on his lips.

  “She doesn’t want me to touch her.” I couldn’t hide how badly it crushed me.

  “She needs a minute. Can’t say I blame her. You probably still smell like Siobhan.”

  I looked down at my hand. It was the one that had been all over her but it was also the one Elle had gently stroked to reassure me. I loved and hated that hand. I rolled it over, looking at it objectively as if it weren’t my own. The creature before me had done horrible things. Honestly, being inside Siobhan was probably one of its lesser offenses except for how that gutted Elle. It had stolen, it had coveted, it had marked. It had murdered.

  But somehow, she made all that disappear. It wasn’t logic or science but it was as real as the oxygen filling my lungs and the blood thrumming through my veins.

  “She’s gonna come around.” He reached over and threaded his hand into mine.

  I didn’t have a response. Mostly because I didn’t believe him but I couldn’t give that voice yet. I mean how could Ladyface ever forgive me of my sins? How she had so far was a mystery. I sighed heavily at the things I’d laid before her, the things she’d barely batted an eye at. Horse squeezed harder on my hand. He gave me strength, as weird as it may have looked from the outside.

  “Well this is gay,” I said flatly and lifted his hand a little.

  He dropped it right away and grabbed at my dick. “No, this is gay.” He stroked as he licked his lips. “Except with you that is, then it’s just foreplay.” His big laugh filled up the car the same way his big full smile took over his face.

  “Okay dude. It’s time to sack up.” Horse finally pulled his hand away from my crotch only to shove it through his hair. “Partially because you’re becoming a legit chick over this, and partially because I need a soldier next to me in there.”

  We pulled up to the curb as Horse pointed to a dilapidated building.

  “You should have picked a different soldier. I can barely walk, let alone get your back,” I grumbled.

  “There’s no one I’d rather have my back, wounded or not.” Horse looked over and he was as deadly serious as I'd ever seen him.

  It took a decent amount of effort but I clapped him on his shoulder.

  “Under the seat,” Horse said simply as he nestled into my hand.

  His serious face remained but had an ease about it. This was right for us. I bent over and managed to grunt instead of cry out. My gun was hidden beneath the seat, as faithful a companion as Horse himself.

  “So what’s the deal here?” I asked as my hands automatically worked on my weapon, double checking every single inch of it and preparing for
war.

  “The Butcher has a new shop.”

  Horse might as well have dumped ice cold water on my head. The last time I’d met with the Butcher, I’d almost met with the Reaper too. To stay above dirt, I’d fought tooth and nail, I’d let blood run, and I’d thought I’d won.

  “I thought he was dead?” My voice was as frosty as my insides.

  “Found him so close, no one thought he’d make it. It was right around when you left.”

  It was exactly when I’d left. He was the reason I’d left. Or been allowed to.

  “I thought he didn’t pick sides?” I asked, my voice barely pushing past the lump in my throat.

  “Technically he still doesn’t but he’s been leaning toward Mick as of late.”

  “That’s terrifying.” I shook in spite of myself.

  His lust for death and chaos was as notorious as he was.

  “Yeah, I know. That in and of itself says something’s shifting, but damned if I know what it is. Mick’s never trusted me like he trusted you.” Horse sounded a little disappointed and that made my blood run colder.

  “Count yourself lucky,” I said softly as I did my best to push out of the car and up to standing.

  Horse walked ahead and I noticed he’d shed his Adidas jacket to reveal holsters. More than anything I wished I had matching firepower. At least. Adrenaline started to pump through me and I managed to keep up without walking with too noticeable a limp.

  I was a dead man walking.

  As soon as we busted into the empty warehouse, the smell hit me like a ton of bricks. Rotting flesh. The rancid smell was salty, metallic, and mixed with warm shit. It was a violent siege on my nose and it wasn’t just my stomach that heaved. Had I walked in without details, all I would have needed was smell this and know who hid in the bowels of the building.

  We turned the corner to find rows and rows of meat, butchered and hanging from hooks. Unlike regular butcher shops, this one didn’t have any refrigeration, instead relishing in the smell of death. There was also no way to tell what cut of meat hung down the rows. Some were larger, some were smaller, some wore skin, some didn’t. Some were bright red and fresh, others the greenish hue of something left to linger.

  Horse and I were deep in the corpse landscape, him with his hand on his holster and me studying something that looked a lot like a human thigh, when crisp footsteps echoed on the concrete. Each one moved closer with the confidence of a man that didn’t need to hide.

  “Well, well, well. I expected Horse, but this is a pleasant surprise.” The Butcher was close enough behind me to speak softly as he traced a metal hook across my throat. “How ya doing, Cole?”

  Warm breath that smelled of the same putrid filth as the warehouse, filled my senses almost as brutally as the lingering stench itself.

  “What can I do for you boys?” he asked as he slithered in front of me.

  The Butcher had aged since I’d seen him last, crinkled to the point of being like leather and the slightest bit hunched. The scar from where I’d shot him still wore like mangled jewelry at his temple despite his skin hanging like wax paper from him. How he’d lived this long was still a mystery. How I was still breathing in front of him was too.

  “Jimmy Ponies,” Horse said flatly, oblivious to the history passing between us.

  “Isn’t he the popular man these days.” The Butcher didn’t take his partially bloodshot and cloudy eye off me. “Hear his stepdaughter is the only hotter commodity on the market.”

  My back bristled and my jaw clenched as my hand gripped tighter on the handle of my gun. I could vividly picture pressing it to his skin and pulling the trigger. It was already the video on loop in my memories.

  “Sweet, blonde, young thing,” he mused. “Tiny bones. Translucent skin.” His hand holding the meat hook fell from my body as he stared fondly off into the distance.

  It was instinct more than anything for my fists to fly to his chest. I went to swing but luckily my side stopped me cold before I'd really shifted. Horse eyed me, sensing how badly I wanted to lash out. Maybe even sensing some of the history unspoken.

  “I haven’t heard anything about her if that’s why you’re here. I’m not sure I’d tell Mickey if I did.” The way the corners of his lips turned up ignited a bonfire inside of me that roared to burn anything threatening Elle to the ground.

  Horse stepped closer and crunched his toes down on mine. “What about Jimmy? Why are the Italians hiding him?”

  The Butcher’s eyes softened and his smile spread. “Oh you know.” He waved his hook aimlessly but his eyes narrowed on my face. “Wait, you don’t know, do you?” he asked with amusement dripping from his lips.

  “Territory, like always,” Horse took a stab.

  “Always was such a pretty dumb thing.” The Butcher reached out and stroked his chest with the hook he held.

  “They don’t want Jimmy, they want whatever’s gone missing.” Suddenly it was clicking into place. Jimmy had Mick's missing personal effects since day one. It wasn't that he couldn't pay the debt, it was that he wouldn't. Not until the price was his own life. Now that he'd endangered Elle I was going to ensure he paid it personally. “What is it?” I snarled.

  “A book.” He shrugged.

  “All this for a book?” Horse asked. “Not power, money, drugs, sex? None of Mickey’s usual pursuits?”

  “Books are powerful, Horse," I answered, knowing that if Mickey thought this one was, the things in those pages were as black as his soul.

  “The Italians are playing a bigger game.” The Butcher raised the meat hook to his tongue and licked then pressed the shiny steel to my chin and wiped against where I’d bled earlier. I made myself stay stock-still. “You boys should start too. I miss the days that blood ran in these streets.”

  “I miss the days your blood ran in the street.” I ignored Horse’s shocked face as I stepped forward to snarl in The Butcher’s.

  “I remember the way it poured down my face. The way it tasted as blood filled my mouth and I lost consciousness.” He hummed in pure pleasure. “You haven’t lived until you’ve died, Cole.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  His deranged laugh rang out, echoing off the carcasses around me.

  “Life is always so much more entertaining with you around.” He turned from me and planted his hook into the nearest hunk of muscle, laughing all the harder as he walked away. “Death too.” His voice was fading.

  “What kind of bigger game?” Horse called after him.

  “You’ll both look nice hanging in here.” His voice was fading into the distance. “I might even wear Cole as pajamas,” he added before his laugh carried him from the room.

  A heavy door slammed in the distance, metal clanging against metal before it resonated all the way to my teeth. We were both left with only the sound of my labored breathing.

  “I wish I’d fished the job,” I said shakily.

  “What?” Horse snapped. “What the fuck did you just say?”

  “I wish my bullet had killed him.”

  “You did it? It was you? What the hell, Cole? Is that…?” The shock was as plain on Horse’s face as his dark black scruff.

  “How I got out? Yeah. Part of it anyway.”

  Horse looked over at me and I felt the weight of three years of unanswered questions hanging on the hooks between us every bit as heavy as the dead bodies.

  “But why?”

  “He’s Mick’s dad,” I said simply. “And Mick hated living in his shadow. So when I found out, I struck a deal.”

  Horse’s eyes bugged. “He didn’t pull you back when they found him alive?”

  “No,” I said roughly. “We made a deal.” The one that turned my blood to ice and my nightmares red. “And I traded his father’s life for his son's.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Horse murmured for the tenth time as he drove back toward the apartment. “All these years, we blamed the Italians, and Mick let us.”

  “He was using
it to his advantage. Fuel to blood war fire.” Even now I could see red, so much deep, dark red.

  “And he has a son?”

  “Had,” I corrected, barely able to swallow.

  “No wonder he missed you so much,” Horse’s voice was laced with disgust. It was probably directed at Mickey but I let it weigh on me. I deserved it.

  “See why I say she shouldn’t forgive me? She should run far away.” I turned to look out the windows as city blocks passed, buildings blurring together.

  He let me sit in silence. Or he didn’t really have anything to say. Either way, it made the shit I’d fallen in threaten to drown me. We pulled in front of my shop and he turned off my car, the rumble giving way to thick and stagnant air.

  “You shouldn’t forgive me, either.”

  “Too late,” he grumbled. “See that’s the thing about love, Cole. You don’t really get a choice in the matter. I didn’t, you didn’t and she sure as hell didn’t.” He spat the words out. “We’re all stuck, tied together all too tightly by a thread that should break, should snap. One you’ve personally tried to splice a million times. But the thing is, it’s not that easy to unravel. It’s easier to just forgive.”

  And with that he shoved out of the car and slammed the door, leaving me in the dark where I belonged.

  25.

  Elle

  “Fucking cats, Belles.” Conrad punched his hand into the stone of Cole’s island.

  “Calm down,” I said softly.

  “How do you expect me to react to a story like that?” His voice became so sharp it grated on my nerves.

  “Stop.” I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I really can’t take it.”

  “Well you’re going to bend over, spread those cheeks and let me press the cold hard truth up that sweet little ass of yours without lube. This is not okay, Elle. Like not even remotely.”