do you really want to get married here?” He pauses as I glance his way, studying his exposed calves and knees and all the silver scars crisscrossed over his skin. “I know Victor does, because it’s his grandma’s place and even if he’s too stubborn to admit it, he loved her more than anything.”
There’s a strong pause there, but I don’t bother to fill in the blanks aloud. I know what Cal is thinking: except for you. Except for Havoc, maybe.
“I like it here,” I admit, looking around the front yard at the collapsing gazebo, the patchy grass, the porch that has definitely seen better days. “It used to be something, but now it’s nothing. It’s a good reminder that life can turn in an instant.” I reach into the pocket of my leather jacket and extract a joint. Cal steps forward before I can ask and removes a lighter from his own pocket, lighting me up before I can even ask.
My eyes lift to his, and he smiles.
“Todd being here, that doesn’t bother you?” he asks, but I shake my head. Each drop of blood that Todd sheds belongs to me. It’s penance, and it sinks into this hallowed ground like a blessing. The earth is thirsty, and I am hungry.
I’m owed the sweet taste of vengeance.
“Every name on my list becomes a sacrifice,” I say, taking two drags on the joint before passing it to Callum. Our fingers touch, sparking joy in my hands that travels straight to my heart. “It’s like an offering to the dark goddess that rests inside my heart.”
Callum throws his head back with a laugh, one that’s husky and broken and oh-so beautiful.
“You make pretty metaphors, Bernie,” he says, flashing teeth at me. The tattoos on his bare arms draw my attention, highlighting the thick, rounded curves of his biceps. In junior high, when Cal was thin and lean and angelic looking, I never would’ve believed he’d bulk up the way he did, or that he’d be covered in so much ink. Pain changes a person though, doesn’t it? “Don’t ever stop. Life was so much more boring without you.”
I smile as Cal hands the joint back. For a moment there, everything is easy and casual, just two teenagers hanging out on an abandoned lot.
Then Callum’s entire demeanor shifts, and he steps around me, like he’s protecting me from something. The sound of a car on the empty country road echoes to me just a few seconds later.
Eric is here.
I mean, we did send him an invitation.
The thing is, when I took Todd’s phone from Vic’s hand and put my lips near the speaker, I almost thought Eric would recognize my voice.
He didn’t.
“Your daddy says that if I’m a good girl, you’ll give me some money. I could really use some money to help with the rent.”
Gag.
The other thing I was worried about was that I might sound too old for his perverted tastes.
Guess not.
Cal and I stay where we are, hidden by the tree as Eric parks near the front porch, climbing out to look up at the house with a wary expression. I watch him from where I am, a lioness on the hunt.
He looks exactly as I remember him: like some sort of Ken doll with bleached-out skin and white-blond hair. When I was eleven, and we first met, I thought he was handsome. He skeeves me the fuck out now, even from all the way over here.
“He’s going to bolt,” I whisper to Cal, my eyes taking in Eric’s stiff form, his hand still resting on the door handle of his Mercedes.
“I think you’re right,” he agrees, his big body curled over mine, watching, protecting. I feel so goddamn safe with Callum Park at my back. Invincible. We exchange a look and he nods, slipping away and crouching low as he runs across the field on my left.
“Eric,” I call out as sweetly as I can, stepping out from behind the tree and pitching my voice high and clear. He turns around to look at me, face flashing with triumph … and then fear.
No … not fear, terror.
He’s terrified. Because he recognizes me as soon as he sees me. That much, I’m sure of.
When he spins around, desperately grabbing at the handle of his car, Callum is just there, crouching on the roof like a spider.
“Hello Eric,” he says, and then he grabs the back of Eric’s head and smashes his face into the side of the Mercedes, leaving