by L. J. Woods
I know we’re in a fucked up situation but this is pretty fucking hot.
“You idiot!” Marion screams, pushing herself off the floor. Once she’s up, she starts making her way towards the scuffle.
“Get out of here, Rowland!” Damien yells, looking back at me. But when he’s distracted, the man lands a heavy fist into his face that tightens my chest.
“Damien!”
Marion’s approaching them but I cut her off, standing in her path with a clenched jaw and what I’m sure is a red face.
“Get out of my way, little girl,” she demands. When I glance behind her at the balcony railing I see what looks like a King party. Bottles of scotch, beer, pills and cocaine.
“Really?” The quicker I piece this together the tighter my fists become, the more my nails dig into my skin. She was trying to take him away from me. I’ve had enough people ripped out of my life. “You were gonna kill your own nephew?”
“I have no family!” she laughs.
“So why the fuck are you here?” Taking a look over my shoulder, Damien gains the upper hand again. He’s on top of the man while he fails to block Damien’s punches. Looking back at Marion, I narrow my eyes. “You’re that desperate for money?”
“You think this is about money? You are as stupid as you look!”
SLAP!
Her hand comes to my face, a slap stinging my cheek. Pausing, I take a second to piece together that this bitch just hit me before I let out a cry. “Ahhhh!”
Lunging at her face, I’m out for blood. Marion’s quicker than she looks. She dodges my first swing but I tackle her to the floor, flying at her like a spider monkey.
She screams before it’s an all-out tumble on the King mansion rooftop. Slaps and scratches come to my skin, a tight grip on my arms and legs while I’m trying to land my fists into her body.
Cracks and thuds come from behind us, Damien handling his own battle. It’s like we’re lovesick heroes, taking on the villains that try to separate us.
SMASH!
The world blurs. “Wh—”
“Jo!” Damien’s call comes right after a hard thud to my head.
It’s only when glass breaks around me that I realize Marion found herself a weapon. A bottle.
The rooftop gets fuzzy and blurry, another pull on my hair. I’m drawn from the ground, heels clicking beside me before my body touches what feels like a rail. When my eyes blink open, the world tilts, the sky above me.
“Wait!” I reach for her face, anything for leverage.
Marion’s quicker, her hand pushing my face over the rail, her fingers digging into my cheek, the ground feet below me. “I will take two for one,” she says through her breaths, using her weight as she tries to push me over.
The air is cold against my neck, a boot lifting off the ground.
I’ve been here before and now I’m starting to think this is how I’m supposed to die. Right here on this roof.
Marion uses the rail to her advantage. Squishing my small frame against it, the stone digs into my side as she pushes me up. “Say bonne nuit.”
Both my Docs lift off the ground and I’m starting to lose my momentum. My energy is already shot and I’m not sure if fighting back is any use.
With my eyes on the sky, his voice rings loud. A thunderous roar. One that could only be Damien’s. “Stop!”
Marion’s body tenses, the hard thud of boots coming closer. There’s a scream before the weight lifts off my body and when I push off the ledge, all I see are Marion’s heels in the air.
Damien’s standing over her, her legs pedalling like a bike while he has her over the edge. She looks down at the ledge below, her eyes wide before they land back on her nephew’s, his narrow and cold.
He has her pinned by her chest, half of her body hanging over the ledge.
“Damien!” I scream, wind whipping my hair but he holds her there, staring into her eyes like he can read her brain.
“He won’t do it,” Marion laughs, her voice way too certain for a woman one shove away from death. She still has that confidence in her voice, and when she reaches into her blazer, I see why.
Damien’s eyes widen when she points a small silver gun at Damien’s head. The world blurs, everything slowing down, my stomach churning like it’s about to cave in and fall out.
She cocks the gun with her thumb before I scream, “No!”
The minute she pulls the trigger, something takes over. A force. A pull. The devil.
My hands hit her chest the same time Damien reaches for her legs before a loud, shrill scream pierces through the air.
POW!
Her body disappears before I can piece it all together. Damien pulls me close, the smell of peppermint and spice enveloping me before his hand comes to my eyes.
THUD!
My breath stops in my throat, my ears ringing.
No.
No, no, no.
Looking up at Damien, his hold is strong and tight while I’m trembling against his chest, his body stiff. There’s silence in the air as the queasiness in my stomach gets harder to ignore.
My head is fuzzy. Dizzy, but Damien steadies me between his palms before he tilts my chin up to find my gaze. Settling my stare on his grey and blues, I’m able to take a long deep breath.
Swallowing a large, dry lump, I know the answer to my question but I ask it anyway. “D-did y-you—” Swallowing hard, I try again. “Did we …”
“We gotta move, Jo.” His voice is firm and rigid but I hear the waver in it. The shaky croak.
“W-we …” I can’t even say the words.
“Did you come here alone? How’d you find me?” He releases me from his hold before I can answer.
“I-I …” The cold settles in my bones through my jacket, chills and nausea rising in my body. I finally find the words. “I-Is she dead?”
Damien stares over the rail again, a lock of hair falling into his eye. A groan from the man gets his attention instead and Damien walks towards him.
When I turn around, he scrunches the man’s shirt in his fist, lifting his back off the ground before he looks into his eyes.
“You want a King to work for? You’re better off siding with me.” Damien gives him another punch to his gut, a spew of blood coming from the man’s mouth when he scoffs, “Pathetic. Clean this shit up or you can take Marion’s way out. Your choice.”
Hearing him say that makes my gut wrench, my body in full shivers.
“O-o-kay! Okay! I’ll call my crew!” The man winces in pain, his hands in front of his face and I’m too frozen to move. I can’t even tell if I’m breathing. “I’ll take care of it and I didn’t see nothing.”
Damien smirks, “One last thing.” He looks up at me, finally meeting my eyes again. “Jo, this is the man that put his hands on your sister. He hit her. Slapped her. Mocked her. Do you have anything you wanna say to the filthy pig?”
“He what?” The tension in my body goes straight to my fist and my feet as I storm up to him. I’m seeing red again, my body buzzing with rage and whatever else is inside as I get closer to this man’s bulldog face.
Spit flies from my mouth, hitting him in his cheek and when I look at how battered Damien’s face is, my boot connects with his jaw.
I’m not thinking when I pull my leg back and give him another and it’s Damien who has to stop me from kicking this guy’s face in.
“Get to it, Baldy,” Damien orders.
Baldy groans as he picks himself up off the floor. It’s hard not to give him another kick as he stumbles towards the door. Damien watches him leave as I take a look at the dust settling around us.
Shit.
My legs shake, nausea building.
“Holy fuck.” Leaning over, my hands hit my knees, hair flopping in front of me as the contents bubble in my stomach. “Ho-lee fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” It’s getting harder to breathe the quicker reality sets in.
“Jo?” Damien sounds like he’s trying to talk me off a ledge, caution in hi
s voice.
“Did we—” God I can’t even say it. “Did w-we fucking—”
“It was us or her Jo,” he explains and when I look up, he’s approaching me like I’m a wild animal.
He’s speaking to me but I hardly hear him. My brain replays her fall over and over again and I keep hearing the thud in my head. Standing up straight I take a few steps back. He takes a few steps forward.
“Fuck, Damien.” My voice shakes when I look down at my hands like I’ll find literal blood on them. “What did we do?” My back hits a wall, what I’m assuming is one of the chimneys.
That makes him quick to close in our distance and he’s in front of me, bloodied and pale.
“She tried to kill you.” His voice goes hoarse, his forehead falling on mine, his grip on my arms tight and needy. “There’s no forgiveness in that, she had a fucking death-wish.”
His touch calms and horrifies at the same time. But when he wraps his arms around me I let him, his body trembling before his weight presses against me. “You’re okay. We’re okay. I’m so fucking happy you came for me but we gotta go.”
Am I? Am I happy I came back for him only to be in the mess?
I’m shaking all over but with his body against mine, it’s easier to breathe. I want nothing more than to stay like this with him forever, his warm chest on mine like a soothing blanket. But I can’t help but think, my heartbeat racing against his, that all we ever attract is drama, death and debauchery. Because here I am. At another crime scene.
“Is she okay? Willow?” My words are quiet but something tells me if Damien is alive, he made sure she is too.
“King? Jo?” A familiar voice comes from the entrance to the roof. It’s Isaac and with one look around, his almond eyes widen. “Shiiiit! The fuck happened? Where’s Marion?”
A loud screeching scream comes from the front lawn. Allie’s. “What the fuck!?” she yells. “What the fuck!?”
It’s starting to sink in. Another death.
Another murder.
Another life gone that I’m involved in and they’re right.
I am the Grim Reaper.
“Fuck,” Damien sighs, his hand through his hair. “Allie found Marion.” He darts towards the rail and looks over. “We need to get the fuck out of here. All of us. Now.”
“Found Marion?” Isaac’s brows furrow, head tilting before he makes his way over to the rail.
I call him, trying to warn him about what sits below but it’s too late. When Isaac looks over the rail, his knees buckle, falling to the floor before he spews vomit on the balcony floor.
“Guys?” Christian’s voice comes from the steps, his green eyes doubled in size. “What the fuck is going on?”
When I turn around, Willow’s cradled in his big arms, his sister’s wide yellow scarf around her.
“Willow!” A breath of air leaves my gut as I make my way towards Christian, my heart in my stomach. Pressing my hand to her head she’s still warm.
Damien speaks to Isaac behind me while I’m focused on making sure Willow’s alive.
“She’s breathing but she keeps slipping in and out of being awake,” Christian says. “Is everyone okay? Was that a gunshot? Where’s Marion?”
Isaac hurls again and when I turn around, Damien’s hand is on his shoulder.
“We gotta get Willow to the hospital.” I’m trying my best to avoid another fucking death as I head for the stairs, tugging Christian’s arm.
“I’m coming with you.” Damien’s voice is a boom behind me. When I turn around, pulling my jacket tighter around me, he’s hauling Isaac’s limp body off the ground.
Approaching us, he tells Isaac to wait in the car and it’s hard to look in his eyes when I say, “No.”
“No?” His head jerks back, eyes narrowing, jaw clenched.
Isaac looks pale and shaken, like a zombie as he drags himself towards the stairs.
“You shouldn’t,” I say to Damien. “It’s—”
“You kiddin’ me, Rowland?”
“Look the fuck around us, Damien!” An icy chill flows through my bones, colder than the frosty wind on my face. “It’s only a fucking bloodbath when we’re together so I’m going alone. This is too much!”
When I turn to walk away, he grabs my arm. “No, you’re not.” He turns me around, a finger landing under my chin before he tilts my gaze up to meet his. A shiver runs through me when our eyes connect, my cheeks heating. It’s like my whole body melts into a sticky goo from his touch. “That wasn’t a suggestion.”
“Damien,” I beg.
“Can we have a minute?” He glances at Christian, nostrils flaring.
“We don’t have a minute!” I protest, glancing at my sister in his best friend’s arms.
“I’ll get Willow in the car,” Christian says. “But Jo’s right, we should get going.”
Christian heads for the stairs when Damien asks, “What the fuck, Jo?” He searches my eyes. “You need me. This isn’t the time to be stubborn or stupid. We have to move. Now.”
“Not with you.” My heart booming against my chest tells me how scared I am. How mortified this all makes me. We can’t be together when shit like this keeps happening. “I’ll handle my sister.”
“With what money?”
“I’ll be fine with the bank accounts of the rich kids of Eden.” My sass is back, but it’s only hiding the trembling in my voice.
“What’s your problem, Medusa? You through with us? Is that it?” His eyes search mine as if he’s looking for answers. “After all this? My aunt’s body is hardly cold! My dad just—”
“That’s the problem!” Yelling distracts me from the burn in my nose, the glob in my throat. “Bodies! Death! Secrets, lies and more death! My sister needs a fucking doctor because of this!” I’m unravelling, overflowing like a boiling pot. “I can’t take it! I can’t deal with this anymore and it’s all because of yo—”
His lips come crashing down on mine, cutting me off, turning my brain into oblivion. It’s needy and wanting like he’s been dreaming of this moment for decades.
The tension in my muscles disappears as his tongue moves over mine, his hands coming to my cheeks as I’m lost in his hold. His touch, his kryptonite kiss. He knows what this does to me, knows he turns me into a brainless fucking idiot.
“No!” My hands slap against his chest, breaking our kiss. “You don’t get to just kiss me and make everything okay! Look at this mess!”
“Jesus, Rowland, I’m gonna need you to calm down.”
“I don’t want this!” After another few smacks to his chest, I’m going for his face before he grabs my wrist.
“Enough!” He pulls me close, my hair whipping in front of me, breath stopping in my throat as he peers into my eyes. “Don’t think for a second you’re innocent, Rowland.” His lip curls to his nose like he’s disgusted at my words. “We did this! Or was there someone else helping me shove Aunt Cunty over the roof?” When he lets go I stumble back. “You can’t blame me for everything. Get it the fuck together. Now. Before your sister dies too.”
Shaking his head, a hand through his hair, Damien makes his way to the stairs but I’m too stunned to move.
We did this.
My body heats, night sky feeling like it’ll swallow me whole, my throat closing in.
We did do this. I can try to play the blame game but when Marion threatened to kill Damien, my body lunged into action. Doing the unthinkable.
Like a fucking monster.
He’s right. We’re in this twisted mess together.
It’s hard to stand tall but Willow needs help. So with a deep breath, my legs shaky, my head a fucking mess, I follow the devil deeper into hell.
* * *
Pacing in the clean, hospital hallway, it feels like time slows. Damien sits on the ground next to the room door. He’s changed out of his bloodied clothes, leather jacket over a hoodie, forearms on his knees.
When I glance at him, his hair a mess against the wall, those eyes sta
y on me. Back and forth as my boots thud against the wood. I’m comfier in an old shirt and PJ bottoms, my own leather jacket on top. It was Damien’s idea to change before coming here. Less suspicious.
This is the nicest hospital I’ve been in. Shiny floors below me, golden lamps on the rich brown walls. Nurses greeted us on arrival and took my sister in right away but I can’t stand still. My body feels both exhausted and energized, filled with worry.
Dread.
Head against the wall, Allie’s scarf hangs from Damien’s hands, the one that was around Willow. There are so many things I want to ask him. Need to ask him. But all I can worry about is my sister getting out of this alive.
The door opens and my chest tightens, a doctor in his white coat looking at a metal clipboard. Damien’s on his feet as I approach him. He looks up at us, eyes wide, straightening the square frames on his nose. Damien’s the first to speak, flashing his name around, “I’m Damien King and this is the patient’s sister. Her guardian.”
The doctor gets a better look at him. It’s not like he can go anywhere when we have him backed against the door. “Ah, yes.” He looks at me, small eyes tired behind thick lenses. “Are you Jo?”
“Did she ask for me?” I ask, pulling the arms of my hoodie to my fingers. “Is she okay?”
He looks at the paper attached to the clipboard in his hand. “She gave us a scare but it’s a simple answer. She seems to be suffering from shock and over-exhaustion. Her energy is completely depleted. It also seems she’s taken some trauma to the body. And her head.”
It’s clear he’s waiting for answers, the way he’s peering over his frames but that only makes my fists clench.
The doctor’s eyes drop to my hands before Damien cuts in, “Party animal.” He chuckles. A rocky nervous one. Damien clears his throat, steadying his voice. “Freshmen aren’t what they used to be. These girls are from The Grove and you know what they say …” He shrugs, giving the doctor a charming wink.
It’s hard not to glare.
“I see,” the doctor says. “She’s resting up. A nurse will let you know when you can see her. Are you insured?” His eyes fall on me.