Monsters' Gift (Crude Hill High #2) - Sam Crescent Page 0,8
I thought of my father, all of our fathers. They had believed we were controllable. Their biggest mistake was taking the one person who could keep us in line. Rather than bring her back, they’d stood their ground. They were old fools. Now at the ripe age of twenty-five, we’d taken their empire from them.
They were all still alive. We couldn’t exactly kill them, at least not yet. The fun was in showing each one how much they had fucked up. The mistakes they’d made. This town once had been a town for enemies to walk freely with the risk. Now, it was no more than a bloodbath.
We didn’t allow them to hide their true colors. We didn’t play pretend.
Nightmares were not confined to the dead of night.
It was real. Every single day.
“He’s dead,” I said, bored. This was the problem with letting Gael play. He always took it way too far, and look what happened. Our fun was gone for the day.
“Fuck,” Gael said. “Damn, he didn’t last now, did he?” He stood up, wiping the blood on his jeans.
Gone were the suits that had once been the symbol of good business. We only played the part for all our legal shit, but we paid good men to keep an eye on that. There was a time we’d have enjoyed running the businesses, playing both sides. Ever since Emily was taken from us, we’d only been content in the darkness. There was no room for light in our lives.
“He would have lasted if you showed any kind of control,” I said, draining the last of my whiskey. This was damn good stuff, but I wanted more.
“Oh, really, and you think you’ve got better control?” he asked.
“I know I do because I get to entertain myself for a lot longer than you.” I raised my brow as he came toward me.
We could fight. We were our only real competition. No one had been able to best us, and we’d killed one too many soldiers. When we beat the shit out of each other, our only agreement was no killing blows. It was a rush to hold back on one another.
There were times, though, I knew Gael and I wanted to kill Vadik and River. They had gotten a taste of her. They’d felt her tight cunt and knew how perfect she was. What did we get? Nothing. A few stolen kisses and the chance to watch. Nothing of any real importance. It pissed me off. Even as we’d taken over from our fathers, we all knew they still held the power and control over Emily’s life. Even if we were to kill everyone we knew associated with them, more would randomly appear. We were fucked no matter which way we worked it.
Emily’s life hung in the balance and none of us were willing to take that risk. Least of all, me.
“I guess you were always too quick. Never savoring anything,” I said, trying to goad Gael.
“Not tonight,” River said, pulling his blade from the man on the floor.
“Don’t even think to tell me what to do.” I swallowed my drink and stared at River, daring him to push me.
Of course, he would. Why not? He knew how angry I was. They all did. Most of my life I’d been lied to. We’d finally found a woman to complete us and what happened? Yeah, she was taken away from us.
I’d tried to find ways around it, but so far, all I’d come up with was nothing. No way of making this right.
I wanted Emily. I craved her. She was in my blood. My need was focused only on her.
“You want to do this again?”
Some of the new scars on my body were the result of fighting River. I’d made him use those blades in our fight. Feeling them hurt my skin gave me such a rush. He looked at me now, bored.
After I threw my empty glass toward him, he stepped out of the way.
Silence filled the air.
Tension mounted.
“Not tonight,” River said.
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you want.”
“You think I don’t know what tonight is?” River asked, shouting back. He’d started to turn his back on me after I’d thrown the glass, but now I had his attention again. “We all know what tonight is.”
“Fuck you.”
“It’s her birthday.”
I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it.
“You want to fight and blame me, go ahead. It doesn’t change the fact we all fucked up.”