approaches me, the dark smile on his face brimming with malice and long-awaited revenge.
My whole body is quaking as I squirm in Aedon’s grasp, to no avail.
From his back pocket, Brady tugs a pocket knife, much like my own, and twists it around in front of me.
Salty tears mingle with the snot that gathers in my nose, as Brady holds my legs, preventing me from kicking out at him. I reach behind to grab hold of Aedon’s groin, and the dirty cement floor of the bathroom crashes into my spine as the two lay me out. Pain shoots up the back of my skull into my sinuses, and spots float before my eyes. Another scream escapes me in the melee, echoing off the walls before being quickly capped by Aedon’s palm. He tucks my arms beneath his bent legs, and traps my head between his thighs, flexing hard against my ears. Brady gathers my legs beneath him, and I’m stretched out on the floor, imprisoned by both of them. Brady leans forward, still holding the blade, and buries his nose between my thighs.
“You smell like dick, Isa. You always smelled like dick.” He raises the blade again, and I scream into Aedon’s palm, squirming and writhing on the filthy bathroom floor. “I’m going to repay the favor for what you did to me. I’m going to make sure you never enjoy a good fuck again. I hear it’s a common practice in some countries, removing the clitoris.”
My head aches with the scream that fails to breach Aedon’s palm. Dizziness settles over me. The surrounding blackness closing in.
The sound of a slamming door yanks me out of that abysmal descent, and Brady turns away from me.
“What the fuck?” I hear Aedon say over me.
“’The fuck you want, asshole, get out!”
I stare down my body to where a massive, shadowy figure takes up the width of the doorway.
Makaio.
In the next breath, Brady’s body is hefted up off the floor and thrown backward, crashing through the door of the nearby stall.
Aedon releases me, and I feel him scrambling about my head.
I steal the moment to kick myself back against the wall, watching as Makaio makes easy play out of these boys, throwing them around as if they’re nothing more than ragdolls. Hands against my ears, I try to block out the sounds of their screams.
The sounds of my nightmares.
My body is lifted up off the floor, the world feeling light as I’m spun around, and Makaio carries me out of the bathroom as if I weigh nothing.
I finally wrap my arms around his neck, while he strides across the park, my whole body cold with terror as I stare off at the restroom over his shoulder.
When the weight of it all finally hits me, a sob tears through my chest.
Finally, we reach The Shoal parking lot, and he settles me into the soft, plush leather of the Bentley and closes the door. As he rounds the car, I steal a glance at the bar. All I want right now is Aunt Midge’s arms wrapped around me, but I can’t bring myself to go back inside and tell her what happened just now. For months, she tried to pull me out that blackness, and I can feel it rising up from my gut like dead bodies in a murky lagoon of bad memories. I left the yearbook back at the park, but that’s the least of my worries right now, as my body shivers, desperate for warmth.
Makaio falls into the driver’s seat, and for a moment, he sits quietly, not bothering to look back. “Are you okay?”
I sniff, blinking to hold back the tears. “I don’t know.”
“If I tell him what happened tonight, he’ll want them properly punished.”
Properly punished. What does that even mean, with the information I’ve been given about Lucian in the last few hours? What would he do, if given the opportunity?
I have nothing to say in response, because the truth is, if Lucian was standing here now and asking me if I wanted Makaio to go back and punish the hell out of them, I’d probably tell him yes. “How did you find me?”
“The bracelet.”
Frowning, I stare down at the adornment on my wrist. “You tracked me?”
“For exactly what happened tonight. He wants to keep you safe.” The engine roars to life and lurches forward, and Makaio turns out of the parking lot.
“Can you please just take me back to my aunt’s house? Please, Makaio.”