The Devil's Game (Rhodes to Hell Book 1)

by K. B. Saint

  She thinks she can out do him but no one plays the game better than the devil himself.

  “You remember what we talked about in the back, Ruby?” he asks her and her eyes move to his finally and she nods, a look of resolve on her face.

  Preston steps back and looks over at Elijah who is sitting on the lowest step, waiting patiently. “Come undress her,” he orders.

  Ruby doesn’t move at all as Elijah makes his way over to her and she doesn’t move as he pulls her shirt over her head. She stands there in those tiny Nike shorts and the sports bra to match and she doesn’t show one bit of shame as her body is exposed to everyone in the room. I take in her scar as Elijah pulls her shorts down and drops them to her ankles and helps her step out of them.

  Elijah is one of the meanest mother fuckers I know but he’s gentle with her, like he is with Salem. If I’m being honest I’m not sure Preston could have picked anyone better to do this for Ruby. Elijah is strong, confident and level-headed most of the time and even as he bares her for all of us to see I can tell she appreciates the softness. It doesn’t last long, though, and once Elijah tugs her bra over her head he steps back, and Preston takes over again.

  It’s not cold in here but a shiver racks over her body and I watch as her nipples harden when Preston moves closer to her. I don’t know if it’s her nerves or just simply the anticipation of what’s about to happen but if I’m not mistaken Ruby looks turned on. It makes me hate her more.

  She is not supposed to be enjoying this. She is not supposed to even be here, but I’m learning fast there isn’t much I can do about it and like Hollis said outside, I am going to have to figure out a way to coexist with her because there’s no going back now.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  RUBY—PRESENT

  I don’t breathe at all as Preston moves some of my hair out of my face. I feel like a fucking animal and I ache with need having him even just a few feet away. I hate it because what he did in the back room still has me pissed off, but I can’t help but to want his hands on me again. Or anyone’s hands on me.

  “You don’t seem to care your body is on display for anyone to see,” he says to me and I look up to meet his eyes. They’re soft.

  “I don’t care,” I tell him honestly because other than my scar, I am not uncomfortable in my skin and as long as people don’t show it much attention, I’m okay. He nods before pushing me down into the chair with a strong hand on my shoulder.

  “Good,” he says, looking in Hollis’ direction with a grin on his face before looking back down at me, “because you’re about to be naked when you kill the man down there, then naked as we all take our turns with you … unless we want to fight you, and then you will be naked when you officially become a part of this family.”

  I frown. “Why?”

  “Because you have a smart mouth,” he tells me.

  I nod, understanding now. “Fair enough.”

  “You are going to have to learn when to shut up,” he tells me.

  I chuckle softly because I’ve never been too good at keeping quiet.

  I don’t push him this time and I keep my mouth shut, but I can’t hide my smirk. I know I should feel something other than relief right now but it's all I feel. I won’t have to worry about any of the things I used to worry about now, though I’m sure I’ll have a whole new set of worries soon. I don’t want to think of anything right now. I just want this, whatever it is.

  “Salem,” Preston calls over his shoulder. “Baby, come here.”

  I pull my eyes away from Preston and look over to where Salem should be coming from and when she walks in the room she’s smiling. Her eyes find me seated in the chair where the dead man downstairs was and her smile falters before she quickly looks back to Preston.

  “Are you finished in there?” he asks her.

  I look over and watch as Elijah eyes her closely. I’m not completely sure, but I’m almost positive there’s something going on between the two of them and I intend on asking Salem about it later.

  She shakes her head at Preston, never taking her eyes off of him. “Not yet. I have three more.”

  “Messiah go finish for her, Salem I want you to go get your brother,” Preston tells her. She nods and walks off in the direction Nicholai went in before. Messiah makes his way to the kitchen.

  I look from Preston, to Elijah and then Hollis, who’s looking right at me as I stare back at him. He’s just looking at me like he’s trying to figure me out even more, and it’s a little unnerving if I’m being completely honest.

  “What?” I ask, but he doesn’t respond. Elijah does.

  “He’s wondering what fucked you up so bad you’re not even phased by what you're going through right now,” he tells me and I turn to look up at him.

  I open my mouth to pop back at him but Preston speaks first.

  “It doesn’t matter what fucked us up. We’re here now and right now is what matters.”

  I look up at Preston and he’s already looking down at me, his dark eyes and scruffy face looking breathtaking from this angle. I part my lips to take in a steadying breath but it does nothing to calm my racing pulse. Preston’s strong hand finds my chin and he grips hard. “You hear those words? I don’t give a fuck about your past, little brat. You’re mine now.”

  He holds my chin in his grip for a few seconds longer before Nicholai and Salem come back into the room. He releases me and they all come to the bottom of the stadium like area and Salem comes to my side while her brother goes to my back. I look up at her and she gives me a sympathetic look, but doesn’t say anything.

  Messiah comes in a few seconds later holding a big tray of red plastic cups. I can hear the ice moving in each of the cups and there has to be some kind of liquid in them because I wouldn’t be able to hear the ice move as much if there wasn’t. He sets the tray down on the lowest carpeted step and picks up the knife on the tray. He turns and hands the knife to Preston and they all move closer to him.

  Salem is the first he grabs for and he takes her hand in his and runs the knife down her palm. She winces but he holds her hand firmly in his. “Go,” he tells her.

  I watch as she goes over to the cups and drips some of her blood into one of the cups before grabbing one of the paper towels on the tray to stop her bleeding. I watch as they all do the same thing. Letting Preston cut them and then putting their blood in the same cup.

  When they’re all finished Preston looks expectantly at me but I stay rooted in my seat. What the fuck is this?

  “Come here,” he orders. I let my eyes go to Salem. I assume he doesn’t like my lack of attention because he’s in front of me with my hair wrapped around his fist with a quickness, jerking me to look at him again. “Salem won’t help you, little brat. When I say something to you, you listen. Do you understand?”

  I stare up at him with my eyes squinted from the pain of his hold, but I don’t say anything as I pull against his hand to nod my head. I’m sure he’s pulling some of my hair out, but I don’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me give in to him again.

  “Get up and I want you to put some of you in each one of those cups except the one they used,” he explains as he yanks me to a standing position.

  He pulls me over to the cups and unfolds my fist easily with his thumb and holds it still. The knife cuts into my skin but I crave this feeling every day and as the pain reaches my chest I close my eyes so I can feel it. When the cold blade is pulled from my hand I open my eyes and he steps away from the step to allow me access to the cups. My hand has a steady flow of blood and it runs down my arm as I hold it up and step to the step.

  I do as he says and move from cup to cup dripping my blood into each cup like I saw them do. When I’m finished, I realize there aren’t any more paper towels and clench my hand closed to stop the blood. It keeps coming and I turn to Preston. “I don’t have a towel.”

  He’s cut his hand now too and as he finishes up in the cup they all used he looks over at me and takes my hand
back in his.

  “Here,” he says, running his hot tongue up the palm of my hand. I watch as he licks most of the blood off my hand, but it just keeps flowing. My breathing is erratic again and even though I’m naked as hell, the room gets hotter and wetness seeps from inside of me, down my legs some. I hold them tightly closed as I stand in front of him allowing him to use his tongue to clean my hand and when he pulls away I see my blood on his lips and it's one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen.

  Salem steps up with her paper towel once Preston wipes his lips with the back of his hand and I see he’s still bleeding. She presses the towel to his hand and he takes it from her and closes his hand tightly around it. I stand and watch him as my hand still trickles blood but his attention isn’t on me anymore. It’s on Nicholai who is staring a burning hole into me.

  “Are the weapons downstairs ready?” Preston asks him.

  Nicholai nods, but his eyes stay on me.

  “Good, let’s get these down and go wrap things up here,” he says, nodding to himself more than anyone else.

  They all step up to take one of the cups from the tray I’d dropped my blood into, leaving only one on the tray. Salem notices I’m not moving to the cup and she picks it up as she gets hers and hands it to me as she turns around. I take it and look down at the dark crimson still mixing with the clear liquid Salem poured in the kitchen before. The blood swirls around the cup as I tilt it and I look up at Preston in curiosity.

  “I’m supposed to drink this?” I ask with wide eyes.

  “You will drink it,” he tells me firmly. “Now.”

  I watch as everyone throws back their drinks, Preston included, and I frown down at my cup.

  “What if you have some bloodborne—“

  “Drink the damn blood or I’m going to be forced to make you,” Nicholai says from the other side of Salem. He meets my eyes.

  “He’s right,” Preston tells me, but I don’t look at him.

  I stare at Nicholai instead, and tip the cup up and pour all of the contents into my mouth. The metallic taste of the blood assaults my taste buds, but I quickly find out the clear liquid is clearly alcohol and it burns the entire way down my throat into my chest. I choke, not expecting the taste and Salem’s hand finds my back. She is pulled back as soon as she’s there and Preston whirls me around to face him again and takes my cup.

  “Let’s get downstairs,” he says to everyone before bringing his eyes to me. He looks down at my chest and I know no matter how badly I try to keep my face impassive it doesn’t matter because my nerves are shit and my nipples being hard as they are is a dead give away to just how aroused I am. He meets my eyes and there is fire in his stare as everyone pours around us to go up the steps. “You all right?”

  I shake my head. “Why did I have to drink blood?”

  He grins and looks over my head as he slings his arm over my shoulders and pulls me to the steps, holding my steady at my shoulder when I stumble up the first step. He guides me up the steps and as we walk behind everyone else his calloused fingers brush against my bare nipple. I feel my breathing starting to pick up and I look up at him, doing my best to keep my nerve with this man. He looks down at me as we walk and I keep my eyes on his when he pulls my nipple into his fingers, pinching hard.

  I grit my teeth and harden my stare and the smirk grows on his face again as he releases me and looks up again to watch where we’re going. I don’t. I don’t look forward at all, even when we make it to a set of steps leading downstairs. “Watch the steps,” he tells me when we start going down them and for some reason—almost instinctively—I look down at the steps. “Good girl.”

  My chest tightens at his words and I can feel his arm tense when he notices my recoil. He doesn’t comment on it but I hate I gave him another piece of my puzzle. I can tell he’s one of those people who piece people together detail by detail no matter if he has a file on them or not. I know Preston knows more about me than I’d ever want anyone to know, but he still let me join his family, so I hope whatever more he’s trying to piece together about me won’t be the details that force him set me on my own again.

  We get to the bottom of the steps and the stale smell of water on concrete invades my senses. I look around and there is absolutely nothing in the room save for a single bright light hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room, a small table off to the side, and the man I’m about to kill. He’s tied up even more than before and it looks tight and uncomfortable but I can’t help but notice the beautiful way it digs into the now naked man's skin.

  There are tears staining his face and he looks passed out from exhaustion but as I get closer I see his eyes have just swollen shut from being hit so many times. On the table to my left I see an array of weapons and I look them over, not knowing which one to pick but wanting to get this over with. I know there’s no way out of this and frankly, I just don’t care. I want to … I just need … something different.

  Preston walks up next to me and everyone else takes their places in the shadows of the dark and damp basement. “You’ll need to choose the weapon quickly I wa—“

  I don’t have the decency to give him the opportunity of finishing his sentence before picking up the gun in front of me, cocking it, and shooting the man on the floor right in his head. Death was probably an easy way out for him and I don’t feel anything as I watch the life drain from his body from the hole in his head. I put the gun down as fast as I picked it up and I look over at Preston who is still staring at the dead man on the concrete in front of us. I look over to Messiah who emerges from the shadows first and I notice the tiny smirk he has on his face as he assesses the dead guy.

  “Well, you were quick,” Preston finally says, beaming. “Now, we need to get back to the house and get this shit done because my dick is harder than it’s ever been before and I need to bury myself deep into you, little assassin.”

  Chapter Thirty

  RUBY — PRESENT

  I’m still naked as I wait for everyone to come into the room Salem and I are waiting in. I know what I have to do and usually none of this would matter to me, but for some reason my nerves are shot and I can’t stop looking at the door every couple of minutes. There is a large bed in this room like the one Red Room I’d been in earlier with Messiah but there are mats in the middle of the room too. I look over to Salem and she picks her head up to meet my eyes.

  “They’ll be here soon, Ruby,” she smiles. “Nervous?”

  “I don’t think nervous is the right word,” I tell her and she nods, seeming to understand. I wonder if she ever had to do this. “I just want this part over.”

  “Are you going to fuck us all,” she asks, her blue eyes glued to me, waiting on an answer.

  “I want to fight Messiah …” I tell her trailing off, “… I don’t think Preston will fight me, but I’d fight him too, just for the hell of it.”

  “He’s not going to fight you,” she says shaking her head slowly. “You rile him up more than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

  “I think riling him up do much could a bad thing,” I say, chuckling.

  “Honestly, I think it’s playing in your favor currently,” she laughs back. “He lets you get away with far more than he lets the guys get away with. I think it’s your boldness.”

  “Its how it usually goes at first.” I laugh again, but the laugh is humorless this time.

  “Men leave bold women because they’re not strong enough to handle them,” Salem says, raising her eyebrows. “Nic has always told me strong women need strong men. Preston likes us ready to fight, just not with him.” Laughing, she continues, “He likes the potential he sees in you, I won’t be surprised if he trains you himself.”

  “Trains me?” I ask just as the door clicks open. Preston comes in and is trailed by Elijah, Messiah, Nicholai, and Hollis. Salem looks over and I accept my question is dead since they’re here.

  “Come here, girls,” Preston says and Salem and I both climb off the bed, the only light in
the room coming from the moon through the big glass windows taking up the whole wall across from the bed. The shadows just add to the intrigue for me. “It’s time for us to decide how you’ll be bound to us.”

  “You choose who I fight or fuck?” I ask him.

  “We get to choose what we do with you,” he tells me, clarifying what he said to me.

  “I want to go first,” Messiah says, stepping forward.

  “You already went first,” Hollis says flatly and Preston looks over at Messiah.

  “He’s right,” Preston grins, “you have fucked her already … you will go first and you two can fight out all of those frustrations from your past. After today whatever beef you two had doesn’t matter. This is where it ends.”

  “Do I have to fight him naked?” I ask and Preston’s eyes land on me.

  “Of course, and one day your smart mouth will get better but you won’t be in clothes until then,” he tells me and I glare at him. I don’t argue though. “Let’s go you two, to the mat.”

  Messiah leads the way over to the mat and right as he steps onto it I step my foot in front of his quickly and push as hard as I can. I know I’m not physically stronger than him, I bet he’s got at least a hundred pounds on me and he’s pure muscle. The only way I’m going to get any licks in is to catch him off guard. When he hits the mat I jump to his back and hit the back of his head, the blood from my hand flying everywhere.

  He doesn’t let this go on for very long before rolling over hard, throwing me off of his back. I don’t land on the mat and the hardwood below me hits my hip hard, but I hop up fast anyway. Adrenaline allows me to push through the pain in my hand and my hip. I get back on the mat and he’s watching me as I go around to his other side. “This is fucking bullshit.”