by J Bree
On the last day of exams, I am the first to finish our history exam and I spend ten minutes rereading my answers even though I know they’re perfect. The teacher, still the substitute, takes a call and then gestures me to the front. Ash glares as his eyes follow me and I shrug at him.
“You’ve been called to the principal’s office, Miss Anderson. If you’re finished, you need to head there now.”
What the actual fuck? Mr. Trevelen must be losing his damn mind.
I collect my bag from the front of the class, away from where we could sneak looks at our notes, and make my way to the office.
Something is up.
I slip my knife into my blazer pocket in case it’s Joey or Senior, and I prepare my defense in my head if it’s some skank running her mouth about me and the guys again to get me kicked out. I mean, Annabelle is taken care of and the cougar was fired so I should be finished with that bullshit but Hannaford knows how to test my very will to fucking live sometimes.
I’m rehearsing the exact way I’ll tell Mr. Trevelen to fuck off as I arrive to the office. The receptionist is missing and I frown, weaving my way through the partitions until I get to the principal’s office, the door open for me.
I walk in only to find a gun aimed at my chest.
Ms. Vivienne looks fucking deranged as she holds the piece in her shaking hands. I stare at her, unblinking and unafraid. Well, I’m a little worried she’s taking the safety off and she’s going to shoot me by accident with all of the trembling she has going on, but one look into those big doe eyes of her tells me she has no real spine for murder.
“You just couldn’t let him go, could you?” She hisses and I struggle to keep myself from rolling my eyes. Really, bitch? Seriously?!
“You’re going to go to prison for killing me just so you have a chance at climbing on Harley’s dick? I mean, he’s good but is any dick really worth that?” I say, calmly. I’m waiting for the perfect opening to break the slut’s arm. There, I said it; she’s a dumb slut and I’m a hypocrite. Sue me.
“Like I give a fuck about that mobster’s dick. I don’t want to fuck him. I want him fucking dead. I want to deliver you to my love so we can be happy together finally. He can’t focus now you’ve betrayed him. He’s fucking gutted you’ve left the fold.”
She continues rambling, on and fucking on, and it takes me a second to process her word.
The Jackal.
The fucking slut was sent here to kill Harley by the fucking Jackal.
I snap. My patience and her fucking arm. She screams so loudly the whole school will have heard it during the exams and fuck it if I care.
I hope Avery can clean it up for me. When I have her on the ground, her unbroken arm pinned behind her back with my knee and her own gun pressed against her skull, I lean down to question her.
“Are you so stupid that you believe Matteo’s lies? What did he tell you, that I’m a defector? That I belong to him?”
She sobs and whimpers, not planning on answering, so I grab a fistful of her hair and yank until her neck bows beautifully. “Answer me. I’m not a patient person.”
“He loves me. He just needs you out of the way so we can be together. He found me, he saved me from my husband. Why wouldn’t I help him catch you after what you’ve done?”
I shake my head and fish out my phone. I hesitate for a second and then text the group number. I have to trust them this time and contact them before I call Illi.
I fucking hope it’s the right thing to do.
Ash texts back immediately. On my way.
I don’t want him to see the mess I’ve made of Ms. Vivienne, I don’t want to risk it triggering some deep dark memory, but I have no way of cleaning her up a bit.
Fuck it.
When the door eases open and Ash steps through, barely three minutes later so he must’ve fucking ran here, the look on his face when he sees the gun is bad.
“That’s not yours, is it?” he snaps, and I shake my head.
“I’ve just been chatting with the lovely cougar. It turns out we have a mutual friend. Would you like to tell Ash who it is you love so much that you were trying to kill Harley for him?”
She laughs, spitting blood on the floor from where I’ve broken her nose. “He’d be fucking dead if you hadn’t sent the Butcher in. That dirty roofie would’ve done the job perfectly.”
I freeze and Ash’s eye flare.
“You gave Annabelle the roofie?” I ask, my hand steady as I press the gun into the base on her neck.
The slut chokes on her own blood a little more as she gurgles out, “I drove her down to the Bay myself. We had struck up a lovely friendship before you ran her off. Now I have to answer to her parents, they blame me for not knowing where the fuck she went.”
The door slips open again and my other two guys walk in. Blaise frowns at me for a second and then leans back against the door like he’s holding it shut. I doubt anyone will disturb us if the scream hadn’t sent them running but I guess I should’ve locked it by now.
Harley pulls up a chair and then helps me off of Ms. Vivienne, before peeling her off of the floor and dropping her into the chair. I can’t look at him right now because all I’ll see is the thick tube down his throat and black circles under his eyes that had been permanent while he was in the hospital.
Ms. Vivienne is going to die.
She’s going to die bloody.
“How about we call your little friend, hmm? How about we ring him and see if he wants to collect you?” I say handing Harley the gun and directing the guys until Ash is guarding the door, Blaise is covering the cougar’s mouth, and Harley’s finger is steady on the trigger.
I lean forward until I’m right in her face. “I didn’t defect from him. I’m the fucking Wolf of Mounts Bay, and that sadistic fuck sent you here against the Twelve to die for him.”
She shakes her head, sobbing behind Blaise’s hand and I hit dial.
I hear him breathing as he answers but he doesn’t say a word.
“Your little girlfriend is dead.”
Her eyes widen at me and she tries to shake free from Blaise but his hand is steady. I’m glad it’s him holding her. His trust in me is so complete that he’s willing to get blood on his hands because he knows I’ll clean it up.
The Jackal’s voice is the same one he uses when he’s trying to sweet talk me. “Like I give a fuck about some cougar pussy. I wouldn’t put someone in that building with you, little Wolf, unless they were disposable to me and we both know every pussy I’ve ever had is disposable. Yours is the one I want to keep.”
Pathetically, tears fill her eyes. I cannot understand what these women see in Matteo. How can they look at him and not see the monster under his skin?
“I told you I’m not interested.”
“And I told you, you’re mine. I’ll kill every fucking man that touches you. You think the Butcher can keep them safe? The Crow and his fucking spies? Little girl, I was born in hell and I fought my way to the throne. If I want you, I’ll fucking have you.”
I stare over Ms. Vivienne’s head to my guys and say, “Enjoy the throne for now. It’ll be mine before this is all over.”
I hang up to the sound of him laughing.
Ms. Vivienne is sobbing behind Blaise’s hand now, big heaving gasps like she’s heartbroken. I can’t stand the sound of it. She’s just as fucking weak as the rest of the rich skanks at this school, only she thought she could win over the Jackal.
He doesn’t have a soul to win.
My phone pings and I jerk my head for Ash to answer the door, murmuring quietly with Avery until she hands my bag over. He shuts the door and drops the bag at my feet. Ms. Vivienne’s eyes land on the bag and the sobs dry up in her throat.
“Let her go, Blaise. Go wait outside, all of you.” I say, and I unzip the bag slowly, enjoying the way her eyes track that movement. I’m not a sociopath but fuck it if it doesn’t feel satisfying to finally get rid of this bitch.
I dig around
for the plastic sheeting, spreading it out with steady hands. It’s much easier to be patient and prepared than to be rash and attempt to clean up evidence later.
Ms. Vivienne watches while I prepare for her death and the sobbing starts up again until she’s fucking hysterical. Ash grimaces and grabs Blaise’s arm, pulling him out the door until I’m left with Harley. I sigh at him which he totally ignores.
“Do you ever listen to me? I’m not trying to hide this from you, I just don’t think you should have to watch it.” I grumble, tugging my uniform off and then slipping the plastic jumpsuit over my lacy lingerie. I’ll have to get Ash to pick me out some more.
Harley’s eyes don’t falter from where he’s watching Ms. Vivienne. One wrong move and I think he’ll break her neck. “Blaise is green and Ash has a history that makes killing women hard for him, even when they’re treacherous sluts. I don’t give a fuck. She pulled a gun on you, she’s gotta go.”
I grab her by the hair and lean down until I’m at eye level with her. The tears don’t work on me, not at all. The second she told me she gave the dirty pills to Annabelle she’d sealed her fate.
“The second you climbed into bed with the Jackal you killed yourself. If I delivered you back to him, he’d cut you into pieces first just to hear you scream. I don’t get off on that shit so I’ll kill you first even though you deserve all the pain in the fucking world for what you’ve done. You’re welcome.”
Then I get to work.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
It takes five hours to deal with the problem.
Once she’s dead and her heart stops pumping I’m able to do what I need to with minimal mess. I send Blaise to go pick up a couple of black tubs while Avery runs interference so no one stumbles on us while I work. Harley and I argue when he tries to help and eventually he agrees to sit on a chair by the door and just watch. He niggles at me until I explain what I’m doing, and why I’m doing it, teaching him the optimal way to dismember a corpse for transportation and an easier cleanup.
There’s still a fuck ton of blood.
The smell is fucking vile and once the body, plastic sheeting, and my suit are all sealed in the tubs we open all the windows and I scrub the floor with bleach, killing the smell and any leftover DNA that might have spilled over. Once that’s over with Harley cracks the door and snaps at Blaise to grab a tub while he grabs the other one. Ash takes both of my bags and slings them over his shoulders. We head down to the staff carpark together to stash the tubs until we can hand them off to Illi in the morning.
“What the hell is in this thing to make it so fucking heavy?” Blaise grouses, and Harley shakes his head at him.
Ash snarks, “I’ve seen your exam marks, so I know you’re not that fucking stupid.”
Blaise blinks at him and then at me. I sigh. “We have to get rid of the… problem somehow. Rolling her up in a rug would have us all in juvie in a second.”
He scoffs. “Avery would never let that happen… fuck, is the cougar in here? Disgusting! How the fuck did you bend her into it?”
Harley bursts out laughing but it’s more of an are-you-fucking-kidding-me sort of sound. “She didn’t bend her. She hacked the cunt into pieces. You wanna fuck a member of the Twelve then you should know your girlfriend isn’t scared of getting her hands dirty.”
Blaise blinks. Then again. Then finally he looks are me and says, “With that tiny knife? Fuck, that seems like a lot of hard work.”
Fuck me.
Is he for real?
“I have a bone saw. Can we just move this shit quietly and get this over with? Avery is going to have a fucking fit if we’re not back soon.” I say and they all grunt in agreement.
My leg is aching by the time we have both of the tubs loaded into the Maserati. It’s a tight fit and when Harley starts bitching about the lack of space Blaise snaps back, “Well, I didn’t pick it for its trunk size! How the fuck was I supposed to know we’d be moving… this shit. I’ll buy a fucking truck for next year.”
I groan. “I don’t want to think about next year. Let’s just get back to Avery.”
Ash stops me and then slowly checks every inch of my skin for signs of the work I’ve just done. I’m thorough, so I’m not worried, but he turns me and pulls at my clothes until he’s sure I’m blood-free.
I crack a joke in an attempt to lighten the mood. “I could just blame my period if I’ve missed a spot.”
He glares at me and then slings his arm around my waist, helping me to walk with my sore leg. “You’re so fucking strange, Mounty.”
I scoff at him. “So the joke is strange but the work isn’t? You’re just as twisted as I am, Beaumont.”
Avery is twitchy when we arrive in the dining hall for dinner. She scans my body, much like her brother had until she’s satisfied I’m unharmed. I smile at her a little crookedly but I’m still mostly human. The new and improved Lips, the one who wears the skin of the Wolf even while I’m at school, she doesn’t need to be coddled. She isn’t wary of touch anymore.
I’m so fucking glad I have my family.
Blaise pulls a face when Ash asks him what he wants for dinner and I ignore their snarking. I can’t eat now, not until tomorrow at least and for once they don’t push me.
Harley eats just fine.
Blaise gags at the sight and I can’t help but laugh at him, his moral lines as fucking blurred as the rest of us despite his dramatics.
When I go to bed that night, tucked between Harley and Ash and listening to Blaise soft snore from the couch, I sleep like a fucking baby.
No one goes after my family and survives.
The end of year assembly is subdued this year compared to the last few years.
I’m not worried about anything and even the whispers have completely stopped around me. Every student at Hannaford has noticed the disappearance of anyone who crosses me and my little family.
They’re all terrified.
I get the top of the class in every subject except choir, which Blaise wins by the smallest of margins. No hard feelings and the smug look on his face makes my chest hurt in the best way. Harley and Ash come second, Harley in more subjects than Ash which I’m sure he’ll crow about until classes start up again next year. I’m honestly a little terrified about it.
We spend two days packing our rooms and when it’s time to leave Blaise is grumbling and pissy over how bad the smell in the Maserati will be thanks to the tubs being left in them for days. He’s shocked to find them missing and I laugh at him.
“Did you really think I’d leave them laying around? Illi picked them up for us.”
Blaise frowns and pops the trunk to sling our bags in. “How the fuck did he get into the car? The alarms on this thing are insane.”
Harley chuckles at him. “The key. I gave him my set when he called. Why are you being so fucking precious over this thing? At least it’s still in one piece.”
Blaise cringes and nods. No one likes to bring up the ‘Stang.
I give Avery the front seat even though Blaise pouts about it and we head back to the Bay together. Avery starts telling us all about the renovations to her ranch and I make another mental note to call the Coyote for a security system upgrade. There’s no way I’m calling the Crow, if Ash lays eyes on him he’ll fucking skin him and the only help in that situation will be Harley holding the fuck down.
We stay at the same hotel, stupidly I should know better than to stick to a routine.
I walk with Avery, our arms tucked together as the boys trail behind us, bickering and arguing like idiots. Avery freezes at the door and I glance up to find a well-dressed thug in the hotel room.
I dart around her, shielding her even as Ash does the same, but his eyes don’t look shocked. They look wary, knowing. Fuck, that’s not a good sign.
“Your father has invited you to dinner. You will not be late. You will not decline. You will not invite any further guests. The Wolf and the Crow will both attend. If you know what is good for you, you’
ll track your brother down and bring him as well. Nine sharp.”
Then his lists off the name of a place I’ve never even driven past, it’s so far uptown and walks out. Avery groans and slumps down, resting her forehead on my shoulder.
“I need a week off,” she mumbles and I sigh. Don’t we all.
Ash stalks to the bar, foregoing the glass entirely and taking deep swigs straight from the bottle. Blaise waves a blunt at him and they disappear out to the balcony. I narrow my eyes at them but Avery stomps over, cussing them out.
“There’s hours left. He won’t go down there without a clear head,” Harley murmurs behind me and I nod. I don’t like it but it’s not my choice.
Hours of stewing on the couch in silence later, I climb into the shower and pray the hot water will give me the fucking answers on how to get through tonight without losing one of our family.
Avery sits on the bathroom counter, wearing only a silk robe, and pouts. “I don’t want to see Atticus. I’m so angry at him, I’m not sure I ever want to see him again.”
I scrub at my hair and shrug. “Why? I mean, I know he didn’t tell you who he was but… you know the real him.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you defending him? Ash will spit it at you.”
I snort at her, such a lady. “No, I’m asking my best friend what the exact problem is so when this entire night goes to hell in a handbasket I know enough to pick the right battles.”
Her eyes soften and she sighs, leaning back to bump her head against the mirror gently like she trying to knock some sense back into her brain. “He still sees me as some precious little girl that needs to be protected. I’m not angry he didn’t tell me he’s a member of the Twelve, I’m angry he came up to buy me from you like I’m… an object. That’s exactly what Rory thought of me too, but Rory was a distraction not… Atticus.”
There are tears rimming her eyes but the look on her face is fucking fierce. Oh boy, he’s fucked up. He’s fucked up so bad he may never dig himself out of this bullshit he’s buried himself in.