“Maybe I want you to hurt me.”
My eyes narrow as I press my hard cock to her dripping pussy in warning. I was so rough with her two nights ago in Becky’s bed. She has to still be sore. “Did I hurt you the other night?” I ask. She had cried. At the time it didn’t register until she sent me the message that I took her virginity.
“Yes.” She licks her lips.
“And?” I ask, not liking her simple answer. I’m sure as shit not gonna apologize because she should have told me.
Swallowing against my hand, she whispers, “I liked it.”
“Demi.” I growl. She’s playing with me. This is another one of her fucking tricks. This is where she’s just like her sister.
She places her hands on my chest. “Is that what you want, Deke? To hurt me?”
“Yes.” No. Fuck! Do I want to hurt her? I’m not sure what I want right now. So much has happened over the past couple of days that I can’t even think straight.
Her hands drop to her sides, and she whispers, “Then do it.”
“Is this why you’re with Seth?” The thought of him makes me want to punch him in the goddamn face and choke her out. “You piss him off, so he’ll hurt you?”
She lets out a laugh, so pure that her body shakes underneath me. “I found another thing I like about you.”
I release her hair and neck, placing my fisted hands on either side of her face, then I ask, “What’s that?”
“Your jealousy,” she answers, licking her lips.
“I’m not—”
“Liar.” She cuts me off. “But Seth isn’t here, Deke. It’s just you and me. So there’s only one thing you need to ask.”
I’m afraid to ask her anything. Demi has this way of pushing me. I always seem to be off my game around her. I don’t like it.
“Are you gonna fuck me or not?” She finally asks when I don’t.
The words piss me off more than they should because she’s right. I am jealous. Demi doesn’t belong to me. She belongs to Seth. Just like Becky never belonged to me. And I refuse to go down that road again with another Holt Ice Princess.
I lift my right hand and run my knuckles down her soft cheek and lie just like she does to me. “You may be gorgeous, baby, but your sister is the one I plan on fucking tonight.”
_______________
I enter the dark house and drop my bag at the front door. Thankfully, Austin put that damn Halloween decoration up in the attic, so I no longer have to hear it go off when I walk by it. I grab a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of the junk drawer in the kitchen and make my way to the back patio.
“What are you doing out here?” I ask, seeing Cole in the pool doing laps. No surprise there.
He pushes the wet hair from his face. “Needed to relieve some stress.”
“Austin still mad at you?”
He nods his head. “She locked herself in Lilly’s room for the evening.”
I snort and light my cigarette. Guess that talk earlier didn’t go so well for him. “I’m surprised that stopped you.” A locked door isn’t gonna keep him away from her.
“Oh, her ass is gonna be in our bed when she wakes up in the morning,” he says matter-of-factly.
“I’ll make sure to leave early.” I take a drag and lean back in the lounge chair.
“How did things go with Demi?”
I grunt. “Well, I left her in her bed naked and wet.” After I got her off.
“Sounds like we both have some groveling to do.”
“I can go get pussy anywhere.” I give him a smug smile. “You’re the one limited to one.”
“But you want Demi’s.”
The smile drops off my face, and I take another drag. “I’m not going to touch her. Again.” I’ve made up my mind. We’ve both overstepped a line, and I’m drawing a new one. It’s over.
I change the subject. “Heard anything from Bennett?”
“I spoke to him a couple of hours ago, and he hasn’t got any leads on Evan Scott.”
“He once said that when Austin stole Jerrold’s laptop, there was shit there that he missed.” I growl.
Austin had dared Shane to steal Jerrold’s laptop and that also gave us access to all the bank accounts to JJ’s Properties—Jeff and Jerrold’s businesses. Bennett syphoned all the millions combined from those accounts, and we split it equally between us. But what Bennett almost missed was that it also held details revealing that his brother Jeff—the guy we were killing the night Austin found us in the cemetery—had been paid by Bruce, Austin’s dad, to tamper with the brakes to Cole’s car, which ultimately led to the accident that killed three of our friends.
“Do you believe him?” he asks.
I take a drag of the cigarette and slowly blow the smoke out. “I think that whoever is behind it is smart. And they have help.” He frowns. “It’s gotta be more than one person.”
“What makes you say that?”
“A hunch,” I answer. “And Austin had mentioned us having enemies in Collins. She wasn’t wrong. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Someone back in Collins is helping someone here ’cause no one here knows what all we’ve done in the past.”
“Except for us, Demi, and Becky. The girls admitted that they read Austin’s journal.”
“Yeah, but we don’t know what all was written in there. And she hasn’t had it since she was shot. And they knew that we killed Kellan.” His name was marked out in red.
“But that was all over the news.” He shrugs. “People thought I killed him. They just couldn’t prove it.”
Five months ago
I called the cops on our way to Bruce’s from the clubhouse. But I didn’t disclose that Kellan was involved. I gave an anonymous tip that there was a homicide at the Lowes’ residence, then hung up. When we arrived, Austin was lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen, and Kellan was leaning against the countertop. Cole told me to remove him from the scene because he didn’t want the cops getting to him first. So, I brought him up to the abandoned cemetery behind the Lowes estate, making sure I didn’t leave a trail of blood. Kellan doesn’t deserve to be behind bars. What little life he has left is up to Cole.
Cole reaches down and grabs Kellan’s ankle, dragging him across the uneven ground. Even though we are too far from the Lowes’ residence and no one can hear him, Cole drops his ankle and then straddles him, placing his hand over Kellan’s mouth to quiet him.
“I’m not even going to ask you why.” His bloodied chest rises and falls quickly as he sucks in breaths through clenched teeth. “Because it doesn’t fucking matter.” Then he punches him in the face. Kellan opens his mouth to cry, but Cole does it again. And again.
I don’t stop him. Or offer him any help. When Cole is in this kind of mood, you just stand back and thank God you’re not the guy he plans on destroying. He used to do this for sport, but ever since Jeff, things have escalated to murder. And I don’t hold him back. If anything, I encourage him.
He comes to a stop and falls off Kellan as though he was functioning solely on adrenaline, and it just ran out. Cole sits on a patch of dead grass next to him, breathing heavily with his eyes closed. Pulling his knees up, he places his elbows on them and drops his forehead into his open, bloody hands. They’re shaking. His entire body is.
I take a step toward him to make sure he’s okay but then stop myself. This isn’t like all the other times. No matter how much Kellan has betrayed us, he was still one of our best friends at one time. But now he has tried to kill the love of Cole’s life. And by the amount of Austin’s blood covering him, I would say Kellan succeeded, causing my chest to tighten for him. For Becky. I’m gonna have to break my girlfriend’s heart and tell her that her best friend is dead.
“She was …” Cough. “Always going to die,” Kellan chokes out. “The game …”
Cole lifts his head slowly, blood now covering his face, and he opens his eyes. He stares at Kellan for a long moment, and I see the fire raging in them. I’ve seen it so many times
, and I know how explosive they can get. Then he kicks him in the face.
“Fuck the game!” he roars.
Kellan’s head snaps back, and I hear bones breaking. For a moment, I think Cole broke his neck. But then Kellan releases a strangled moan, and I realize it was just his jaw. His bloody hands come up to cover his busted face. He sobs into them like the little bitch he is.
“You’re the only one who is dying tonight,” Cole snaps. “She’s alive. And she’s gonna stay that way.”
“Naaa … Pwe … ase …”
It’s hard to understand his words with a broken jaw.
Cole finally looks up at me. His chest rising and falling fast. “Call Shelby.”
I scramble to remove my phone from my pocket. When she answers, I place it on speaker. “Are you at the hospital?” I ask in greeting.
“Deke? What are you …?”
“Are you at the fucking hospital?” I bark out. Austin’s alive for now. But how long will she stay that way?
“Yes,” she snaps.
“Austin is on her way. She’s been shot.”
“What?” She gasps. “What the hell, Deke? Cole shot her?”
“I don’t have time to go through this with you again!” She always thinks the worst when it comes to him. “I’m calling you ’cause Cole isn’t family, and he’s gonna need updates. So fucking update me!” Then I hang up before she can say anything else.
Kellan coughs before turning onto his left side. Blood runs from his mouth and nose. His face is busted. “I’m … sowwwy,” he cries out.
“You will be,” Cole tells him. Then he looks at me. “Call Bennett. Tell him to get his ass here.”
“No … no … no,” Kellan cries frantically.
I dial Bennett’s number. He answers on the third ring. “Hey, Deke ….”
“I don’t have time to explain. Get your ass up to the cemetery behind the Lowes’ Estate.”
“Everything okay?” he asks quickly.
I look down at Cole as he straddles Kellan again. He wraps his hand around the butt of the knife that sticks out of his side. “Fuck you, Kellan.” He yanks the knife from his side, tosses it away, and then begins to punch Kellan in the face again with fists still covered in Austin’s blood. Kellan tries to fight him, but it’s no use. He’s lost too much blood, and Cole is a killer. When you become his target, he doesn’t stop until the job is complete.
Kellan knew this would only end one way. Even if Cole had to track him down, the outcome would have been the same.
Death.
And I was going to help my best friend achieve that goal. No matter what I had to do to make it happen. Because we’re sharks. And what do sharks do? They kill.
“Deke …?”
“No, Bennett, it’s not.”
“The town did call off the search.” I shrug. They were never gonna find his body. Bennett arrived and dropped him off in the ocean—attached to some dive tanks. He was never gonna resurface. I’m sure the sea creatures took care of what was left of him. “With no body recovered, that leaves a lot of questions.”
He sighs. “I’ll call Bennett in the morning and see if he’s got anything new.”
“Has he found any information on who owns the cabin?”
He shakes his head again.
“So we’re just supposed to wait around for the fucker to throw something our way?” I growl.
“I’m just as pissed about it as you are, but until we know who it is, there’s nothing we can do.”
A silence falls over us, and I finish the cigarette. I stand to walk inside when he steps out of the pool, and asks me, “What if it’s not her?”
I turn to face him but don’t answer.
He picks up his towel off the ground and wraps it around his neck. “Her name was on the list. So she’s either behind it or about to be thrown into it.”
“Your point?” I quirk a brow, wondering where he’s headed with that statement.
He runs his hands through his hair, shaking off the excess water. “My point is what are you going to do if she’s not behind it?”
“We have never killed someone for the hell of it. If she’s innocent, then I’ll protect her.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
DEMI
I PULL UP to Austin’s house and knock on the door. Rocking back and forth on my heels, I wait for someone to answer. There wasn’t a car in the driveway, but I’m sure her Range Rover is in the garage. The guys aren’t here. I only came over ’cause they have practice. I haven’t even gone home. I came straight from school because I wanted to get this over with before they returned home.
Just when I’m about to give up and turn away, the door swings open. Austin stands before me in a pair of dark jeans, a white T-shirt, and her hair up in a messy bun. And she doesn’t look very happy.
“I’m sorry,” I say immediately. I never meant to hurt her.
She lets out a long sigh and steps to the side, allowing me to enter. “It’s not your fault,” she says, shutting the door.
“I should have never read it. I should have told you …”
She waves me off and walks to the kitchen. I follow her. She goes straight to the fridge and pulls out a bottle of wine. “Do you drink?”
“Yes.”
She pops the cork on the bottle, then she pours two drinks. “I prefer Fireball, but since it’s not five yet, I’ll keep it to a glass of Merlot.” I take the offered glass, and she raises hers. Knocking them together, she says, “To the friends we lose, and the lessons we learn.” Then she takes a big gulp of hers.
I sip on mine. “Have you heard from her?”
She nods. “She’s called me. I’ve ignored them.”
I look down at my drink. “I hate that she hurt you, but I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“I’m not mad about the journal. I mean, I am, but it’s what she said to me.” She sets the glass down, and her eyes meet mine. “I’m not with him because—”
“I know.” I interrupt her. “You don’t have to defend yourself to me, Austin.”
My sister read her journal, and anyone who knows Cole and Austin knows that their love is real. Becky just wanted to hurt her and knew exactly what to say in order to accomplish that.
She gives another nod and throws back her wine.
I take another sip of mine.
“So enough about me and onto you,” she says, faking a smile.
I sigh. “There’s nothing about me to be said.”
She quirks a brow. “Deke Biggs,” she says, and this time when I lift the glass of wine to my lips, I take more than just a sip. “You love him.”
I choke on it. “Hell no.”
She tilts her head to the side. “Then why did you sleep with him?”
“Did you love Cole the first time you slept with him?” I counter. I know she didn’t. Their first time was in a bathroom at a party. Deke stood outside the door and recorded it. Then someone uploaded it to social media the next day. I hate to say that I tried to find it, but it must have been taken down ’cause it’s nowhere to be found now. I’m sure Cole made it disappeared once he realized he loved her.
“No, but he also wasn’t previously in love with my sister. And I wasn’t a virgin.” She eyes me skeptically. “You slept with him for a reason, Demi. He may not know that, but I do.”
I fall onto the barstool and place my elbows on the marble island. “Would revenge make it any better?”
“I told you I’m not going to judge you.” She shrugs. “Everyone does something for a reason. I’m just trying to figure out why you did what you did.” She refills her drink. “I know why he slept with you.”
“Because he wanted to make my sister mad.”
She shakes her head. “It had nothing to do with her and everything to do with you.” I frown. Taking another drink, she smiles at me over the rim of her glass. “So I’ll ask you again. Do you love him?”
DEKE
I stand at my locker with a towel at my bare fe
et and my jeans pulled up to my hips but still undone. My shirt lies on the bench behind me.
Cole walks up next to me, also fresh out of the shower, and all he’s wearing is a towel draped around his neck. He yanks his locker open and picks up his phone. “Bennett called me.”
“And?” I ask.
He throws his phone back into the locker. “And I missed it. He left me a voicemail. I’ll call him back on the way home.”
I sit down on the bench and put my socks and tennis shoes on as Cole throws his towel down to the floor. He’s still pissy. This morning, Austin wouldn’t even look at him. As I suspected, she woke up pissed when she realized he had broken into Lilly’s room and carried her up to theirs. If I didn’t know she loved him, I’d half expect his clothes to be on fire in the front yard when we get back to the house.
The guys walk around the locker room after swim practice. We’ve just finished our showers. I’m ready to get the hell home and go to bed. I’m tired. I can’t survive on no sleep like Cole does.
“What did you do last night?” a guy by the name of Peter asks his friend Braden.
Cole and I aren’t close to the guys on the swim team like we were back in Collins. We keep our distance. They don’t try to be our friends, and we don’t go out of our way to be theirs.
“Seth came over,” he answers, sitting down on the bench a few spots down from me. “He brought his hot little girlfriend with him.”
Cole looks over his shoulder at me. I ignore him and keep listening to the guys.
“Damn, the high school bitch he’s fucking?” the guy asks.
He nods.
“Fuck, I’d be all over that every chance I got.”
He laughs. “Yeah, it was weird, though. She just sat there and drank while playing video games. They didn’t even talk much.”
Cole throws his towel into his locker and steps into his jeans without even bothering with his boxers.
“You should have jumped on that. I bet he would have shared her with you. I hear they have an open relationship.”
My hands fist. Is that what you call it? Then why did he get so pissed when he heard she was sleeping with me? I’ve seen him in class since then, but he’s sat down on the front row. He’s the last to show up to class and the first one to run out once the professor releases us. He thinks he can run from me, but he can’t.
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