I laugh, shaking my head. “Only I wanted to give her the power to do it, instead of taking it all for myself. Man, do you know how hard it was for me to rein in all of my rage and hand it to her on a fuckin’ silver platter?” I bring my eyes to Killian below my hoodie. “I tormented this chick for the better part of her life, Kill. I hid in the corners of her bedroom and heard her screams in her nightmares. I’d watch her toss and turn in her sleep. Sweat would pour off her body every night and I watched.”
“You actually added to her nightmares.” he adds.
I glare at him. “Yeah, so I know she doesn’t want me, and that was never the end game. All the shit we were fed as kids, the meal which we fed each other, it’s gone stale. We both know that.”
“I feel like there’s a point to this.”
“So I handed Jack to her. Had him in our RV bleeding out. All she needed to do was say the word and I would have snapped his neck.”
Killian grins, running his finger over his upper lip. “That’s cute. Where is she now?”
I wave him off, leaning back on one elbow. “I left her there with him. He didn’t have much life left in him.”
Killian doesn’t say anything, and then he flies up from the floor. “Our RV?”
My eyes snap to his. “Yeah. Why?”
I watch as his face pales. “Pretty sure the door was open when I passed it.” I shoot up off the bed and we both run down the stairs, out the front door, and straight for our RV.
Empty. The blood puddle where Jack was is empty. I punch the door until it swings open. “Fuck!”
“Yo, we need to go get her. He’ll deliver her to Patience if we don’t.” I can’t even fucking think of Patience right now.
“What is going on?” Delila comes rushing toward us, dressed in her costume.
I dash back inside as Killian explains what’s happening. Searching around the room, I try to find my keys, knowing I left them on the counter when I dumped his sorry ass on the ground. She’s taken my SUV.
I run back out to see that all of The Brothers are here now. “We need to go. She has my ride so I can use GPS to find where she is.”
Three carloads is all it takes.
I shiver in the corner, my fingers flexing around my arms. He hasn’t touched me, but now I know who he is. He was the one who wore the mask in the cell. Who came for me. It was Jack. Was that why King had brought him to me? Whose blood it was on his finger when we were in the forest? Jack had disappeared after that.
Banging snatches my attention from above, and I stop breathing. Who is Patience, and what does it mean?
The door swings open and Jack steps forward. He still looks battered, but you can see he has attempted to tidy the wounds that are fresh on his face.
“Persephone fucking Hendry. The perfect little princess. How much money you are worth?” He tsks, shaking his head. “They’ll be very happy.”
“Who are they?” I ask, and when he reaches out to touch me, I rear backward and sneer. “Don’t fucking touch me!” He swings backward as the back of his hand swipes across my face. My face numbs and thuds with pain, blood filling my mouth.
I spit it out onto the ground. “Fuck you.”
He hits me again.
And again. Until I am sure that I’m going to pass out.
I’m curled on the ground, cradling my head. Jack finally pulls me up to my feet. “You’re going in the shed. You’re going to give me my own show.”
I yank my arm out of his grip. “Fuck—” A sharp needle stabs my arm, and I fall backward as fluid pulses through my blood. The ceiling spins as Jack’s face fuzzes in front of me. He triples. “Get used to this, Perse. This is how Patience does things.” The room spins.
I see grass.
Heavy boots.
Jeans.
His voice sounds deeper, funny, like a broken record or a flat battery. Swirls morph in my vision, everything doubling in effect. My head is slammed against the ground, my body frozen, and my head fuzzy. I don’t know. Where am I? What’s happening?
I’m yanked up to my feet, the smell of sweet marijuana filling the air.