When he’d pulled away, our brown eyes had locked, but if he could sense the change in me, he didn’t mention it. After that day, I stopped looking at him like just a friend, and I saw him as so much more.
One kiss and I’d been hooked. And while I was the only girl who was allowed to hang out with them, Rogue didn’t have a change of heart like I’d had. He didn’t suddenly ask me out or take me to dances. I was forced to watch him with other girls, and I’d hated it. I still hated it. Like last Friday, when I saw some cheerleader with her tongue down his throat, I’d burned with jealousy and indignation. He’d looked over at me, watching me watch them, and had deliberately cupped her ass as I watched. It was embarrassing how long it took for me to walk away. I was imagining myself there in the palm of his hand.
Keeping my back pressed against the wall of the shed, I counted my breaths until they finally slowed enough that my heart was no longer pounding in my ears. I looked down at my hands beside my thighs, noting the slight redness across my knuckles. I was an idiot for coming here tonight, but at least I got to punch Stephanie. The humiliation I suffered was almost worth it.
During the time I waited in the shed, I carefully constructed the wall of numbness that I’d come to rely on. It washed over me in steady waves, until not caring became my armor. When it was back in place, I stood up on steady legs and dusted myself off. There was a gardening apron hanging on a hook, so I swiped it and tied it around me. It made me look like a slutty housewife, but at least my front was covered.
Glancing at my phone for the time, I figured I should head to the street so my driver could easily find me. I opened the door to the shed, peeking outside first, but luckily, there was no one around.
Deciding to go the long way rather than cut through the patio, I headed to the garden path. It was barely lit up with dim twinkle lights every few feet, and I was so focused on not tripping that I didn’t realize I was hearing voices until I was much closer. Freezing in place, I strained my ears and instantly recognized Rogue’s smokey tone.
“—and I’m gonna ask you again. What the fuck are you doing here?”
I crouched down behind the trimmed hedges, trying to locate where they were. The sounds of the party a half-mile up the garden path were dulled all the way here, but I could still make out the thudding beat. Crawling forward, I spotted Rogue and the other three, along with a fifth guy that I didn’t recognize. The moon lit up their shadowed silhouettes were they stood against the fence of the tennis court.
The guy I didn’t recognize chuckled. “You know why,” he answered. “Johnny Jack wants his shit back.”
Rogue’s fists clenched at his sides. “Your boss can go fuck himself.”
Another laugh escaped the mystery guy. “Maybe. He’s a talented guy. Tell me, who was that little thing that got you four so worked up tonight?”
My mouth went dry at the taunting words, and Rogue visibly stiffened. Was that guy talking about me? No, that didn’t make any sense.
“She’s no one.”
Maybe it was stupid, but hearing him say that about me to a complete stranger made me feel like I’d swallowed ash.
Another dark chuckle. “Maybe. I’d wager different, though. The way I see it? You got a whole lot of no ones around you. So I guess it won’t matter if I tell Johnny Jack all about her.”
The guys shared a look.
“Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?” Rogue asked, his voice a lethal growl as he circled the man.
The man didn’t seem phased by him at all. “I’m the message man. It’s what I do.”
When I saw the moonlight reflect off the metal in Rogue’s hand, I noticed that it was the same knife that Luis had used to strip me from my clothes.
In the next blink, Godfrey landed a punch on the guy’s face, Bonham and Luis held his arms back, and Rogue was positioned in front of him, holding the sharp blade of the knife against his jugular. “I think the real message is in the things that aren’t said.” WIthout hesitation, Rogue sliced the vein in his neck. The slick swipe of the blade looked too easy as velvety blood started flowing through the gaping wound.
Luis kicked the man’s back, forcing him to fall face-first in the grass as he suffocated on his own blood. I watched in horror as the body convulsed, until there was nothing but frozen emptiness in his vacant body.
Holy fuck.
It was a quick kill, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. The guys that I’d grown up with—the ones who had been my best friends for most of my life, had just murdered someone in cold blood.
Chapter Nine
I ran. This time, I didn’t care who saw me, or where I was going.
I needed to get away from them, or I was certain they’d kill me, too. This whole time I thought this was a game to them. I thought their cruelty would meet some unspoken finish line, and if I could just hold out long enough, I’d win. But there was no winning at death.
I tripped on a stray branch, and a grunt escaped my lips as I crawled back up to a standing position and started running again. I was headed towards the wooded area behind the Kelly estate. If I could get there, maybe I could lose them.
“Fuck!” I heard Rogue exclaim. “Stay here and take care of the body. Make sure no drunk idiots stumble over here.”
Pounding boots dug into the earth behind me, and I knew I was being chased. Pushing my legs harder, I ran past the exhaustion, using my fear to propel me further. Holy shit, they just killed someone.
I didn’t look back, just kept running, dodging hanging limbs and fallen branches until my feet were scraped and bloodied. I was just about to make it to a wind in the trail that led to the public park at the back of their property, but before I could touch the tip of my toes to pavement, I was eating dirt. One of the assholes tackled me to the ground. The gritty mud coated my tongue as I used my fingers to try and claw my way out from under him. I didn’t get very far, because there was a rock-hard body on my back.
“Don’t say a fucking word,” Rogue growled against me.
Of course Rogue would be the one to catch me.
Rogue flipped me over then grabbed my wrists before shoving them up to hold them over my head. Sharp rocks dug into my shoulder blades as I squirmed, desperate to break free.
When it was clear that he wasn’t going to let me go, I stopped struggling and looked up at him. “I won’t say anything. I didn’t see anything,” I insisted.
I knew how this sort of thing went. I’d seen enough crime television to predict what would happen. I was dead. I knew too much to stay alive.
“Stop talking!” Rogue hissed.
He continued to hold me down, digging his pelvis into mine as he pinned me. I chanced a glance at his furious face, and gasped when I saw the look on his face. I should have been in shock, right? I should have been a sobbing mess on the floor, but I wasn’t. Instead of fear, I felt something else entirely.
My angry Heir. He looked like an vengeful angel. Or maybe a demon was more fitting. What the hell had happened to him to make him this way? And why the hell wasn’t I more bothered by it? I should be terrified, but I wasn’t. Not really. There was a larger part of me that unfolded as he pinned me down. The part of me that craved him, darkness and all.