His finger came to my lips, hushing me. “And you just became our prey.”
He stepped backward, cleaning the blade of his knife on his shirt. “You remember me now?”
I gulped. “I know who you are.”
“Good.” He leaned up and sliced the rope that held my weight to the tree and I dropped in a slump, hitting the ground. “So you know why I’m about to kill you and that you deserve it?” He leaned down and ran his finger down the side of my cheek.
I knew. I knew exactly why. “That was Jay, not me.”
“Nah uh.” Brantley chuckled. “Wrong answer.”
I spun around and ran. I ran so fast my feet throbbed and stung. I looked up ahead of me, but felt a thud vibrate over the back of my skull, and then I was falling forward.
Falling and falling. “What?” I whispered, my eyes filling with heat. Warmth dripped down the back of my neck and over the side, my head burning with a pain so hot I couldn’t even scream. I reached back to touch where it hurt, but my hand connected to a plastic handle that was sticking out of my skull.
Combat boots, dried autumn leaves, the full moon, and the toxic concoction of death. Blood seeped out of my eye sockets as they closed.
Brantley
Squeezing my phone in my hand, I lean against the wall and try to count to ten. My pulse pounds inside of me, my head spinning. I could fucking kill her. I flex my fingers in my fist, clenching my jaw. I can wrap my fingers around the circumference of her little neck and squeeze, until she realizes just who the fuck she’s fucking with. I sheltered her all of her life, never let myself touch her. If black marks white, it’s there to stay, and that’s exactly what the fuck I’ve done. I’m at around five when Bishop’s office door opens and he leans against the threshold, his arms folded in front of himself.
“She got there safe?”
“Yeah.” I bring my phone back down, shoving it into my back pocket.
Bishop chuckles. “It’s cute that these girls think they can fucking slide out without us knowing where the fuck they are.”
“Do you know why Madison needs her?”
Bishop shakes his head, his eyes losing focus. “Who fucking knows at this point.” The front door to Bishop’s condo opens and closes, as Nate makes his way down the hallway.
He pauses, his eyes swinging between the two of us. “What’d I fucking miss?”
“Oh, you know.” Bishop rolls his eyes. “Yet another example of our stellar taste in women.”
Nate’s brow rises. “Where’s Saint?”
“Fuck you,” I snap, kicking off the wall and heading into the office.
Nate and Bishop follow suit, taking their seats amongst the numerous scattered chairs. The condo doesn’t get used nearly as often as we all thought it would. I sit in silence as we wait on the rest of The Kings before we can get down to business. My fingers tap against my thigh, my leg jiggling while my other finger traces the top of my upper lip. I do a repeat round of that before everyone is here. Bishop’s office here is big enough, but not as big as the one at his forever home, where he hasn’t even been since Madison left. Fucking shitshow. This place is more of a hotel than a home.
“Now that we’re all here, we need your attention. I’m calling in our fathers. We need them in on this.” Bishop pushes a few buttons and puts the phone on speaker.
“Dad, we’re all here.”
“All right.” I listen as the other four announce their attendance. We’ve come to the conclusion that the same people who shot at us are connected to the ones who drugged us. “I get you’re all angry about what happened that night. They drugged you, left you vulnerable, and on top of that, they shot at you, but hear me loud and clear…” Wherever Hector is it’s loud. Either planes or car racing, I can’t decide. “You will not make a move until after the ceremony. There are too many important people attending, the women have put too much time and effort into the planning, and Bishop, if you fuck this with your mother, you know what’s going to happen.”
I smirk at Bishop.
He flips me off. “Agreed. We won’t make a move until after the ceremony.”
“Good,” Hector says easily. “The last ceremony we did was obviously mine. It’s a big deal to us. There are three stages of the night. You’ll receive information over the next forty-two hours. The first stage is with The Kings only, the second with family and friends, where there will be food, speeches, and drinking. The last part is the ceremony. A song will play, you will take your oath, and then that’s that. I step down and fuck your mom until I damn near rot, and you take on the stress.”