There was only one incident more, and it was quickly handled by Cobra.
A man came spinning out of an alley on his own bike, much too close for comfort. So close that if he wanted to reach out and grab me, he’d probably succeed.
I thought that was his intention, but at the last second, Grimm banked left and Cobra’s car came from the right, smashing into the man. He and his bike went in two separate directions.
The red motorcycle screeched and sparked as it spun into an old stoplight on its side. The man might have lived if Cobra hadn’t driven right over him as if he was a mere speed bump.
We left Rivermouth behind, and the sun had long set. We were a lil bit closer to being able to end all this and get back home—if it were every truly over.
Chapter Seventeen
It wasn’t possible to make it in a day.
We rode for what felt like ever, and then stopped, finding a semi clearing in the woods to rest in.
Katya and her friends were still with us. I had no idea what would be done with them come the end, but they were good company.
Cobra had started a fire, tossed down a bag with food in it, and then went off to speak with Grimm, standing where I could see them and they me.
I leaned against a tree, using Grimm’s atomic bag as a cushion, munching on hard tacks dipped in peanut butter to add flavor to the bland crackers. I had Grimm’s hoodie on so I wasn’t cold.
I’d never been campin before, but I reckoned it was similar to this. Blue and Parker were fast asleep on the other side of the fire, using one another as pillows.
“So what’s the deal with you and them?” Katya asked from beside me, nodding her head in Grimm’s general direction. She had on a jacket I was certain belonged to Cobra, and was still wearin her bloody blue skirt.
I should’ve warned her she might not want to go that route, but they were both older than me. Who was I to tell either of them what to do?
Her question had a barrage of answers I could have given; I chose to keep it simple, with a Cliff Notes version.
“Grimm is mine, Cobra is my brother, and the woman who started this all isn’t with them. She’s at home about to have the devil’s spawn.”
“You mean Calista, right?” she asked, helpin herself to my peanut butter.
I grinned, because that was such a me move.
“I forget how widely known she is. To me, she’s just Cali.” I sat the peanut butter between us so she could stop stretching over my lap to get it.
My line of vision was cut off by Grimm’s return. He wordlessly sat down, and nearly dragged me onto his lap.
“What’s the deal with you and them?” I asked her, shiftin to get comfy.
“We kind of just banded together. Blue and I know each other from being in the same city. Parker was a tag-along. We didn’t have a destination until now.”
“They’re coming with us to get Noah.” Cobra joined us, answering my silent question.
“Why would you do that?” I asked Katya directly.
“An initiation.” She shrugged. “We have nowhere to go, no real protection. Why not join the cult no one wants to mess with?”
“Understandable,” I said slowly. I’d understood long ago. What else was there for people to do when being a loner often equaled death? Safety in numbers seemed a logical solution, in my humble opinion. Isn’t that why people had banded together inside Centriole?
And who better to join than the gang that dominated the Badlands, just like Katya said? But… “What initiation?”
“Do you remember when you wanted in? We made you come with us to the church and the cannibal farm. They’ll be coming with us to wherever we get sent,” Cobra answered.
“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t seem to care if they made it in or not; neither did Grimm.
“Blue and I spontaneously left the city because it sounded better than the norm. We had families and friends try and talk us out of it, but we just wanted to see what was in the great beyond. You see how well that’s worked out for us?”
She was making light of their situation, but I obviously knew what it was like to be smacked with reality.
“What city are ya‘ll from?”
“Prescott, you know, the one with the blue trees?”
I blinked like an idiot, course I didn’t know, because Dad said there was no other city aside from The Kingdom.
“If you had all that, why come here?”
“We have rape, murder, thieves, and corruption. The slick streets just pretty it all up.”
“This may be hell, but it gives you more freedom than what many consider heaven.”
I didn’t have a response to that, but I heard the sadness in her voice. I had the distinct feelin she’d killed long before the hospital hallway.
We each had our own story to tell.
We all had our own demons, and had the option of making peace with em or vanquishing em in our own way. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter, because we all had to go to sleep and wake up again until we died.
Hopefully, they’d survive long enough to figure it out. Katya and Blue seemed like the type of women you’d want around.
“Come with me, Brat,” Grimm suddenly said, lifting me off him.
He took my hand and led me a little way from our group. Leaning himself against a tree, he pulled me to stand in front of him.
“Just spill it Grimm,” I huffed when it became clear he was hesitatin.
He rolled his shoulders, tightenin his grip on my hand as if he was worried I would bolt.
“Do you remember at the old compound? There was a room full of belongings: clothes, identification cards—.”
“A wallet belonging to James Wallace? The missing Centriole Inspector?”
“Exactly like that. I know you’re aware of the men being sent outside of the wall,” he said.
I nodded slowly, already formin a hunch.
Armed men were often sent out when a power grid needed servicing, or a waterline needed a weld. Very rarely did that whole batch of workers return. How absurd was the notion that the council men would risk their own lives to ensure they had electricity and runnin water? Those gluttonous fuckers didn’t even pick their own strawberries.
Honestly, I’d never thought of the two in any relation but now that Grimm brought that specific room up, it was damn impossible not to put the pieces together.
“Keep goin,” I said, feelin a small bubble of apprehension as I waited for him to confirm my theory.
“Your father added in people who he felt opposed something he was doing, or disagreed with him on whatever he wanted to bitch about for the day, ensuring they wouldn’t be going back home.”
“And that’s where Romero comes in,” I finished, answering one of my earlier questions. “But what does he get out of it?”
“What he got was a shitload of food we, clothes, fucking bubble bath….the buyer for Luca’s skin farm.”
I took a step back to process what he was sayin. That my dad had been sendin entire families to their deaths…all to hold a fuckin position? I knew he was a power hungry hypocrite, but he was a murderer, too?
I knew the answer, had seen the facts, and it sickened me.
James Wallace had a place on the city council, he disappeared, and one of Dad’s idiot friends took his place.
James also had a six month old baby, twins, and a wife—that all mysteriously disappeared. And he wasn’t the only one.
When one family left, another took its place. But they weren’t leavin on their own free will.
“Grimm, that’s…. like fuckin genocide. No wonder the goddamn population never changed.” I pulled my hand free and began to pace, wishin that sonofabitch was in front of me right that very moment.
Pausing, I turned back towards Grimm. “What happened to those lil babies? Did you…?” I couldn’t even finish that sentence. “I know you’ve done a lot of sick shit, like the cannibal farm, and I’ve accepted that but if you’ve
been—.”
His mask slipped for a brief second and he looked a combination of pissed and disgusted before it was back in place.
He stood taller, his body tensing with his anger.
“I kill cannibalistic little fuckers beyond the point of being human ever again.
“I don’t kill cherub faced babies because your dad’s a fuckin pussy who had you and everyone behind that wall brainwashed, believing in fucking fairies and bullshit utopias.”
I crossed my arms, glad they were hidden beneath his hoodie. I had fairy tattoos, didn’t take a genius to know that was leveled at me. I opened my mouth to respond but he wasn’t done yet.
“Your dad sent them to the same place he had you and your uncle taken.”
“Me and—what? Why would he do that?”
“How would I know that Arlen? He’s your dad.”
“The same man throwing a tantrum because Romero doesn’t need him anymore, same man who paid Noah to keep you locked away and supplied birth control so he could stick his dick in you. And then your ma sent Beth out here to–.”
“Now you’re just full of shit, Ma would never—.”
“Use her own daughters to help further your dad’s agenda and then play the victim?”
Ouchie. She damn sure would do somethin like that. They all would. But the truth felt like a barely closed wound bein torn wide open again. I didn’t want to sit and think about all the implications right then, I needed a different pain to focus on.
“You interrupt me again and I’m gonna kick your balls into your stomach!” I glared at Grimm.
He through his back and laughed.
Not a little chuckle or a three second I’m-too-cool to show emotion laugh, but a real gut bustin laugh.
I marched towards him, knowing exactly what to do for the reaction I wanted.
My hand was connectin with his face before I had one second to reconsider. The sting on my palm had just registered when he grabbed hold of me by the throat, slightly liftin me off the ground.
“Get…off,” I croaked, clawing at his arm.
I heard someone yell in the background, It was Spanish, so I assumed it came from Katya.
Grimm let me go, sweepin my feet out from underneath me in the process. I landed on my ass; he swooped down and flipped me onto my stomach, makin me land face first in a pile of leaves, pushing his weight on my back to keep me down.
I lifted my head and yelled up at him “What the entire hell do you think you’re doin?”
“You’re a pain in the fucking ass, Brat. If you want to hit like a little kid and throw a tantrum, you can get your ass smacked like a little kid.” He tore my pants down, draggin my underwear with em.
“Don’t you dare!” My shrill voice echoed across the tree tops.
“Shut the fuck up.” He cupped my mouth.
Arousal was already floodin between my. He brought his palm down right on my naked flesh. I yelped, immediately tryna get away. He did it again, and again. I counted twelve hits in, rapid succession.
I was still on the ground, tryna catch my breath, my clit on fire, when I heard his zipper.
He yanked his hoodie off me, letting me drop back down only after he pulled my tits out of my tank top. Grippin my hips, he slammed into my drenched pussy with no pretenses, fuckin me so hard I dug my nails into the ground to try and keep still.
I was so wet I could feel it coatin my thighs, drippin down his dick and onto his balls. “You’re a filthy whore,” he grumbled, fisting my hair, pounding me into the dirt.
“Yes,” I moaned in agreement, my ass still burnin from the heat of his hits.
“You’re my pretty little pain-slut.”
“All yours,” I breathed. He let my hair go and grabbed somethin behind him.
“You could have just asked for it, Brat. You want me to hurt you? That’s all it takes. Apparently you don’t trust me enough to give you what you need or you wouldn’t have pulled that bitch of a stunt. I know you’re hurting, baby. I’ll always make it better.”
I blinked the thick burnin tears away. I needed him to stop talkin and make me feel nothin but us in this moment.
“Doin a shitty job of it. Maybe someone else can do better.”
He laughed, but there was no warmth in it.
I was just thinkin I’d pushed too far, only to slightly relax when nothin happened, which was exactly what he was waitin on.
“Grimm,” I whimpered as soon as I felt the coolness of the curved blade against my throat. It was still covered in the blood of its last victim.
My pussy clenched, loving the very idea, but my heart rate jumped to concerning levels.
“Remember that conversation about me being a possessive dick? If you ever say that stupid shit to me again, I’ll slit your throat open and shove my cock inside as you choke on your own blood. No one will ever touch you again but me. I have no problems taking out any man who thinks it’s an option.” He pushed himself so deep inside me, it hurt.
His words made me feel fuckin wonderful, completely owned. I wanted more. The blade threatened to end me, make me bleed out all over the earthy terrain.
I trusted him to cut me just enough to satisfy the painful ache I craved and make it sting. He began thrustin in and out painstakingly slow, makin me take his cock inch, by thick, hard inch.
“You want me to fuck you bloody? Remember you asked for this.”
He added pressure to the blade. I moaned as it bit into my skin, the burn increasing the pressure in my lower stomach.
I felt the blood begin to trickle a split second before he pulled the knife away. Immediately, he had the blade pressing into the flesh of my shoulder, diggin in hard enough to make me flinch.
He was quick and efficient with whatever he was doin. In less than ten seconds, he had the blade tossed to the side and was shoving me further into the ground as he lifted my hips.
Cupping some of the blood running down my neck, he leaned back slightly to reposition himself and spread my left cheek open. Using his bloody fingers, he pressed into my ass.
I tensed, my breath catchin in my throat. No one had touched me there since that night.
I remembered the tearing and the pain, suddenly wanting to feel it from him. I knew he’d make it better. He repeated the same process as before, this time taking the sticky crimson from my shoulder.
“Next time, I’ll carve the R,” he flippantly said.
I didn’t understand what he’d meant right away, realizing he’d carved the first letter of his name into my skin a second too late.
He had the head of his cock lined up at the rim, and was shoving the fingers he’d just used to lube me in my mouth.
“You’re going to scream. Bite down,” he commanded, fully burying himself inside my ass.
It wasn’t an option not to do as he said.
My jaw slammed together as he viciously plunged in and out of the sensitive hole. I screamed, feelin my legs tremble. The pain and pleasure had unfettered tears streaming down my face.
He battered me completely. I couldn’t take it.
My body was a live wire one minute and a ragin inferno of pure bliss the next. I cried out, the pleasure shredding me apart as I hit a peak I’d never climbed before and hurtled over the edge.
He rode my body for what felt like hours, leavin me a boneless pile of mush by time he climaxed. I was barely aware I was even breathin when he smeared his excess semen and my come into my bloody skin before bringing them back to my mouth. I sucked them clean like they were coated in an elixir.
Suddenly, he grinned and looked over his shoulder. “You enjoy the show you sick fuck?”
Oh, lawd. I pulled my mouth from his fingers and hid my face.
“Personally, Grimmy, I would have added a bit more rhythm, but I’ll give you a solid eight out of nine!” Cobra yelled from the other side of the clearing, following it with a laugh.
I shook my head, fighting my own grin. I hadn’t even realized the damn peepin Tom was watchin u
s.
Grimm maneuvered me so I was on my side and he could press himself into my back.
“You’re fucking beautiful, Brat,” he murmured, running his hand over my hip, both of us fell silent, spent, lying in the dirt.
I didn’t care I had leaves all in my hair, my skin was stinging where he’d cut me open, or that I probably wouldn’t be able to walk come sunrise.
.I was addicted to the way he numbed the hurt in my brain by givin me a different kind of pain. He made my worn heart ache in the best way possible.
Grimm had never been the cure; he’d always been the disease. My fucked up remedy, a poison I would willingly ingest until my dying day.
“Knowing or not knowing what you do now, do you ever miss your old life?” he asked me, toying with a strand of my hair.
We were still lying on the ground, but clothed again, his hoodie a blanket. I was certain my body was nothin more than a stiff piece of cardboard at the moment.
We’d only been awake maybe thirty minutes, but I was ready to get this conversation over with now.
I looked up at his bearded face. Naturally, I could’ve just told him no, but it was somewhat of a lie.
I missed my uncle, and I missed Ma even now she’d completely broken my heart, but that was the extent of it.
Right then, I missed razors, and shampoo, showers, hot meals, Cali, and even Romero. I missed the paradise of burning bodies and the surprise of bumping into a man in a black hooded robe and white satanic mask at three in the morning.
I didn’t miss the house, pool boy, or that ugly wall. Didn’t miss Dad, or even Beth, my half-sister, who I assumed was dead at this point in the game. She’d never done anything but try and hurt me or the family I’d come to love. They may have been Savages, but even wolves had loyalty that coursed through their blood.
“What if I told you I didn’t give a damn about my old life, cause that’s exactly what it is?
Being here with you, killin our way back to our corner of dark paradise where the devil’s awaitin…that’s my life now, and I happen to like it much better.”
Outcasts (Badlands Book 3) Page 11