“Why are we here?” Tyson asks, getting to the point, crossing his arms over his chest.
No one answers him. Instead, our eyes fall on the guy who kneels in the middle of the concrete room. Patches of his dark hair is missing. He’s in a straitjacket and on his knees. Naked from the waist down with his head bowed forward.
One of the brothers steps up to him. “Are you hungry, Oscar?” he asks.
The man’s head snaps up, his sunken blue eyes wide and wild. His lips cracked and dry. He looks feral. Like a rabid dog that’s kept chained up.
The Spade brother holds a plate in his hand. Small pieces of steak cut up on it. The other brother removes a pocketknife from his pocket and holds it out to him.
The one kneeling stabs a piece of steak with the tip of the knife and holds in out to the guy in the straitjacket. Oscar leans forward, not wasting a second and closes his lips around it, knife and all. When he pulls back, he smiles and blood covers his crooked teeth, now slopping on the piece of steak. He stabbed himself in the process of grabbing the steak.
“That’s a good boy, Oscar,” the Spade brother praises the guy. “Want another?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” he rushes out, nodding.
The Spade brother stabs two pieces this time, making them cover more of the blade. Holding it out, the guy once again wraps his lips around the knife, sliding his mouth along the edge of the blade, removing the steak. Blood drips from his smacking lips.
“You left some of the juice.” The Spade brother holds it up in front of his face and the guy hungrily licks the blade. Cutting himself over and over to get every little drop. “Good, isn’t it?”
“So good.” The guy closes his eyes and moans. You can’t miss the fact that he’s now hard.
“You earned this, Oscar.” The Spade brother shoves the last few pieces of steak onto the floor and the guy leans over like a dog and eats it up off the dirty concrete.
All three brothers turn to face me and Tyson. My body stiffens, wondering what the fuck we’re doing here and why they wanted us to see that. I mean, the Lord in me tells me it’s a warning. To show just how fucked up they are.
They are Carnage. They run it like their own personal hell.
My father’s words echo in my mind.
“What if I told you we’ll give you what you want,” one states, and my pulse picks up with anticipation. “But you have to give us something in return.”
“I’d say name your price and it’s yours,” I say without hesitation.
The three of them smile but I hear Tyson curse behind me, knowing that I might have just signed my life away.
ELLINGTON
I SIT INmy car parked outside the house. My knees bounce, and my hands are sweaty. After Sin left me crying in the kitchen, I crawled into bed and spent all day trying to figure a way out of the life I’ve been given.
There’s no escape. I could run, but where would that get me? A life of always looking over my shoulder? There’s probably a tracking device on my car. After what Sin said about my birth control, I’ve learned I know nothing. He’s been one step ahead for months. Years, actually.
I look at my clutch that sits in the passenger seat. I made sure to check, double-check, triple-check … I’m not pregnant, and I hate how fucking sad that makes me.
Why do I want to have his child? Why do I want to put that kind of burden on him or her? Knowing that Chance—my husband—wouldn’t be its biological father?
Fuck, what would happen to me if Chance ever found out? The child would be shunned. What would the Lords do to them? Sin is supposed to be powerful. But his future has been kept a secret. I overheard James talking about Sin and his dad. How high ranked he was, and how high Sin would be.
What if I died while our child is young? Would Sin take him or her in? What if the kid needs medical treatment and blood work reveals that it’s not Chance’s?
My mind hasn’t stopped going through every scenario that ends badly for my imaginary child. I had to try to ignore the possibility that will never be. I’m in no shape to be a mother. I wish Sin’s and my past was different. And that we could be happily married and making a family, but that’s not the cards I get to play.
Instead, I’m marrying a man who plans on loaning me to whoever wants me. Who knows if he’ll make me have his children.
To help keep my mind off my useless life, I was scrolling social media and saw where Kira’s friend Sarah was at a party. I wanted to come. I need to get fucked up. Numb. Sin burned everything I had. Well, technically it didn’t burn, but it’s ruined nonetheless.
So I got up, showered, and got ready like my life isn’t exploding into a million pieces.
Getting out of the car, I leave my clutch but grab my phone.