Entombed In Sin (Graveyard Games Duet #2)

26. Sagan

26

SAGAN

“ S trike three , Pretty Boy,” I whisper into Knox’s ear as I wrestle him to the ground in the middle of the old landing strip. Quickly, I procure his wrists and pull them back behind him.

“Oh no, the big bad Hunt has me. Whatever will I do?” Knox says, not sounding all that upset about it. “I don’t suppose I can plead my case?”

I chuckle, transferring his wrists to hold them with one hand. With the help of experience from years of doing it, I manage to undo my belt buckle with one hand. I slide my belt out of the loops of my jeans and use it to bind Knox’s hands behind his back.

“You most certainly can,” I chuckle. “But you might want to save your breath. You’ll need it.”

I stare at the red cuts of flesh slashed through the skin on his back. My cock grows painfully hard at the sight of them. They’re shallow and will heal without scarring, just like the two on Beatrix’s back. Unable to stop myself, I reach forward and drag my short nail through the red marks.

Knox hisses in pain. “ Yes . You make pain feel so fucking good. More, now …” Then with a thoughtful pause, he adds. “Please?”

My cock twitches at the sound.

“Fuck, you have such a pretty mouth. It makes such sweet sounds,” I growl. “I can’t wait to hear more of your begging.”

Knox chuckles. “You’re starting to sound like Thatcher.”

“The pitfalls of always hanging out with my brother,” I grumble in mocking disgust. Thatcher has always managed to come off as charming and kind. It’s a mask, of course. He’s just as cruel as I am—he just likes to hide it. He likes to fuck with people’s heads that way.

“You could change that,” Knox offers lightly.

Yeah, I definitely can.

I’ve been waiting for a moment like this for several days now.

There’s been a shift in the dynamics between my Pretty Boy and my pet. At first, I didn’t notice—given its subtlety. Knox teases and taunts Beatrix, just like he does with us, and he’s just as demanding and haughty as ever. If I wasn’t so in tune with the both of them, I might’ve never noticed a change. But it’s there. I’ve caught the fleeting, yet heated looks they trade with one another. And then there’s the way Knox seems to unconsciously drift to Beatrix’s side whenever she enters the room. They way the two of them move around one another, it’s like they’re trapped in each other’s gravitational force.

The biggest change, however, is how Knox reacts to touch.

With the slightest brush of Beatrix’s fingers across his back or chest, Knox melts. The way his face twists up and body shudders—one might think he’s in pain. But then he leans into it, breathing easier than ever. Sometimes, he reaches up to grab Beatrix to hold her hand there, against him. Other times, Knox looks up at Beatrix with those bright blue eyes, so full of adoration, and I swear I see the raw and unhindered view of his soul. In those moments, he's just as vulnerable as when I have him pinned beneath me, with my hands on his bare skin as he screams in agony.

And my Little Viper? Her need to reach out and connect with him is just as beneficial for her as it is to him. She’s earned his acceptance and now she gets to reap the reward: Knox’s affection. She’s soaking it in like a dry sponge and it’s giving her an eternal glow.

I’ve let the two of them have their moment. Now I want my own. Has my Little Viper’s venom burned away all of Knox’s reservation? Is he free from his past demons?

Forgoing my knife, I reach out to touch Knox. My palms rest between his shoulder blades before skimming down to rest on his ribs. My Pretty Boy’s back bows, and he hisses. The muscles beneath my palms grow taut. Then I feel it. The hard tremor, the way Knox’s back expands as he fills his lung, and there’s the tell tale sign—a whimper that warns of the prelude to come. A smile creeps across my face. I guess Knox is still my Pretty, yet broken, Boy.

Just before Knox screams, a loud crash comes from nearby. Excited hoots and howls litter the night before gunshots follow.

“Shit,” Knox hisses weakly as I get to my feet.

As he gets to his, I untie his hands and push him toward the hangars. “Get in there and stay low.”

We both dart for the protection of the abandoned building just as headlights flash and there’s a yip of excitement from the car that skids across the width of the landing strip. I push Knox into the shadows of the hangar just as someone shouts, “Look, there’s someone!”

I fling myself into the darkness and dive to the side, accidentally tackling Knox as I do. We tumble to the ground just as bullets pepper the spot I’d just been. Laughter follows.

“Fuck, who are these guys and where did they come from?” Knox hisses.

Bullets hit the side of the building. Two make it through, but at a safe distance away.

“How would I know?” I demand.

“Think this has something to do with whoever’s been messing with us?”

I don’t answer him as I get to my feet. Before heading home from our night out on the town a few nights ago, we threw the trackers in Lake Eerie. It’s possible we’re still being watched. I doubt whoever’s been lurking in the shadows has turned in the towel. Then again, this could be a situation where we’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time. These could be kids out joy riding, looking for trouble. Either way, we need to get out of here. There’s been too much commotion. I’m sure the cops are on their way. If they are, we don’t need to be anywhere near here.

Behind us comes the sound of tires screeching as the newcomers come barreling toward us. Their headlights brighten the interior of the hangar. There’s a door on the other side from where we are, just barely hanging off its rusty hinges.

Gripping Knox’s forearm, I help him up. The car, a black nineties Mustang, barrels into the hanger, going too fast. They don’t see us as they roar on by but they fire bullets all around. The sound of them ricocheting is nearly as loud as the guns going off.

“Come on. Over there, before they turn around,” I bark an order, shoving Knox in front of me.

“This would be more fun if I had pants on, by the way,” Knox huffs as we take off. We cross the entrance.

“I don’t know, Knox. I like seeing your cock bounce around like this,” I drawl.

Knox laughs. Together, the two of us head for the door. We make it there just as the car turns around in the middle of the hangar and heads back to the opening. Pushing the door wide enough for us to get through causes it to completely fall off the last hinge. Knox swears as it almost falls on us before it clatters to the ground. As we burst out of the building, a familiar sedan barrels down the space between the two hangars. It screeches to a halt when Thatcher sees us.

Knox opens the back door, and I climb into the passenger side. Just as I shut the door, the Mustang appears at the end of the alley. It skids to a stop, effectively blocking us.

“Go!” I snarl at Thatcher.

My brother throws the car into reverse and floors it. I glare at the car ahead of us that turns down the alley and comes racing toward us.

“Here, Knox,” Beatrix says softly.

“Pants! Yes! You’re a lifesaver, Shining Starr.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m the lifesaver, given that I’m currently driving us away from danger,” Thatcher says calmly as he watches the rearview mirror as he tries to keep us straight. A bullet hits the passenger side mirror, causing it to fall off. Another hits the roof of the car.

“Well, until we’re out of danger, you don’t deserve the title,” Knox replies. “Now, Beatrix, I need you to get this fucking plug out of my ass.”

“Ah—”

“Don’t get shy on me now,” Knox objects. “The two of us are going to get to butt stuff eventually, so we might as well start now.”

The squeal from the backseat sounds like a mixture of horror and amusement. Both Thatcher and I chuckle.

“Um, ok…?” Beatrix says warily.

“You can do it, Little Sister,” Thatcher says, a smile clinging to his lips even as his knuckles tighten around the steering wheel. “Remember how I talked you through it a few minutes ago when I took yours out? It’ll be just like that.”

Knox chuckles. “Yeah, just like that. Now get to pulling.”

I don’t look back, but judging by the moans that follow, Knox is very much enjoying the situation. His sounds of pleasure grow louder.

“You’re so gentle and sweet with this. Ah, fuck… hold on.” Knox gasps. “I’m not used to this.”

I snicker. “What, she’s not just yanking it out?”

“ Nooo ,” Knox groans out loudly. “Fuck, I need… stroke my cock, Shining Starr, and twist the plug a little…”

“Seriously? Here in the car?” she asks, scandalized.

Knox hisses and lets out a breathy moan. I guess she’s not scandalized enough to not do as requested.

We reach the end of the alley, and Thatcher whips the car like a fucking pro. It fishtails. When it comes to a stop, we’re facing the direction of a massive break in the fence where the other car must’ve broken through. Thatcher shoves the car into drive, and we head straight for it.

A bullet makes it through the back windshield, shattering it. Beatrix screams in an alarm and Knox swears before falling into a fit of laughter.

“Well damn. Was this part of the punishment?” he asks. “Because high-stakes games are my favorite.”

“Knox, this isn’t funny!” Beatrix scolds.

“Here, let me take your mind off it,” Knox murmurs. A moment later, there’s a shaky feminine moan. Immediately, my dick stirs to life.

I look back over my shoulder to find Knox on top of Beatrix, kissing her hungrily. Her hands slide up his bare chest. Fascinated, I watch as he leans harder into her touch. His moan follows a shiver that runs down his spine. As her hands stroke over his arms and stomach, Knox’s kisses become more frantic and desperate.

“Beatrix,” my Pretty Boy whispers between kisses.

“Knox…”

I stare, hungry to touch him myself. What would it be like to have Knox sandwiched between me and Beatrix? With her loving caresses and my need to cleave away the damage done in his past; would Knox survive? I grunt as my dick grows even harder as I consider all the new ways to play with my Pretty Boy.

His gray sweatpants sit just below his butt. It flexes as he moves. I catch sight of his swollen red cock as he pushes Beatrix’s thin bathroom robe open to expose her naked body to the world. He positions himself at her entrance, then dives his hips forward.

“Ah! Yes, ” Beatrix cries out, as her back arches. Her legs, wrapped around his waist, fall wide to allow him to sink deeper into her body.

Knox dips down to kiss the skin between her breasts, then growls against her skin. “Fuck, you feel so goddamn good, Shining Starr.”

I watch Knox’s hips roll expertly as he drives into Beatrix. Her breathy moans fill the space in the car. The smell of sex is so heady and addictive that I can’t stop from sucking in a deep breath, filling my lungs with the musky scent of them. My cock is straining hard against my jeans. When we get home, I’m going to fuck the both of them, together. They’re the best thing that’s come out of our dark lives.

“Next time we film this,” Thatcher mutters.

Beatrix’s breathy moans morph into desperate, achy pleas for more. Knox obliges, the fluid roll of his hips grows more intense as he drives deeper into her body. I reach down and grab hold of my cock through my pants to relieve some of the pressure.

“Fuck, you two are trouble,” I growl, having to turn around to look away or else risk doing something stupid. Like climbing back there with them.

Neither one says anything. Beatrix’s wail of pleasure as she finds her release is followed by Knox’s choked off cry. The sounds intermingle and become a song I want to play on repeat. These two are going to be my downfall, I just know it.

Bullets hit the car and Beatrix shrieks—the moment between them broken.

“Knox!” she hisses.

“Well, I didn’t say how long I could distract you,” he says with a chuckle. “Maybe we should enjoy having groupies? These people are obsessed with us!”

I roll my eyes. Of course, Knox would enjoy the chaos. Quite frankly, I’m no better. My heart is racing and there’s a thrill humming through my veins. But there is a small, nagging sense of discomfort trying to form ice around my heart. Knox is currently weaponless. And Beatrix, even if she did have a weapon, isn’t as confident with one as the rest of us. The last time Thatcher and I were in danger, we had the element of surprise and the incompetence of young gang members on our side. This is a completely different situation.

However Thatcher feels on the matter is locked down. I can’t grasp anything from my brother, and a glance at his face tells me nothing.

Our car barrels through the opening in the fence, and Thatcher yanks on the wheel. We skid as the car fishtails again until we’re pointed in the direction of home. Beatrix screams in terror. I whip my head around to see the car giving chase careening toward us at full speed. Thatcher guns the gas once more and we’re off, speeding down the back road toward safety.

“This is no coincidence we were found out here in the middle of nowhere,” Thatcher muses out loud suddenly. “Sagan, pull up the security footage of the house. Go back and look through the videos from the last few days. Maybe someone came back and planted another tracker on our cars?”

My hand dives into my pants pocket, and I yank out my phone. With a few taps of my finger against the screen, the security feed pulls up.

“They’re getting closer, Thatcher!” Beatrix says anxiously.

“Hey, don’t worry about a thing,” Knox says. “They’re not going to catch us, and if they do, we’ll take care of it.”

There’s a short pause. I don’t turn around, but I can almost see Beatrix’s wide eyes, staring earnestly up at Knox. I can imagine them filling with hope as she stares into his bright baby blues. My vision is practically confirmed when she mutters, “I know you will. I trust you guys.”

Where there once was nothing a second ago, suddenly I can feel Thatcher’s victorious pride waft over to me like a warm breeze through our bond. A smile tugs at my face. My pet has found her place by our side. At-fucking-last. I turn around in my seat to see the smile I know is stretching across her face.

I don’t make it all the way around.

As Thatcher crosses a dark four-way intersection, I see the headlights gunning straight for us on our left. My brother doesn’t. When the vehicle collides with us, my world both explodes and slows down. Everything not buckled in goes flying as the car is flipped and rolled. Beatrix’s scream is cut off with a sickening strangling sound. Phones go flying, clothes not thrown on by them cover my face, protecting me as glass shatters and sharp shards of it hit my body. The car flips again and again. My head hits the side of the car so hard that the world goes momentarily black.

When everything comes to, the first thing I hear is someone talking. The words are muffled due to a ringing in my ears. I can’t even tell whose voice it is. My throat is dry and I can taste smoke on my tongue. I swallow. It’s the wrong thing to do. My throat is swollen and feels burned. When I drag in a lungful of air, pain steals that same breath away. It radiates from my abdomen and flares up into my chest, nearly dragging me back into darkness. I fight it off, but just barely.

I blink the sweat and blood from my eyes and the world comes into focus. It’s upside down. That’s what I notice first. I hang from my seat, my arms dangling by the sides of my head as I stare out the front of the car where the windshield used to be. Pieces of our car litter the street. Some of them are on fire, some are bent, and others broken beyond recognition.

“—off him!”

My Little Viper. Judging by the distress in her voice, I know something is seriously wrong. She needs me.

Gingerly, I turn my head toward the sound of Beatrix’s shriek of anger. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to land on her wobbling figure. Her robe is hanging off her naked body as she stumbles stiffly away from the car. She’s still barefoot from our game. I regret only grabbing the robe now because with each step she takes, I can hear the soft crunch of glass beneath her feet. When did she get out of the car? The man she’s limping after is just a dark silhouette to me. But I can see, flung over his shoulder, a body and a head with a mop of blond, wavy hair.

My heart seizes in my chest. Knox !

“I said, get off him!” My Little Viper screeches with rage as she gives chase.

Fuck, they’re in trouble. Gritting my teeth, I try to reach for the buckle to release my seatbelt. The pain in my abdomen causes me to see spots, but I blink them away. I press the release and there’s a soft click as the seatbelt disengages. I crash onto the ceiling of the car and I can’t stop the hiss as pain radiates through me.

“Sagan?”

Thatcher’s voice, laced with pain, almost steals my attention away. But I keep my eyes pinned to the three people moving further away from the wreckage we’re trapped in. Beatrix bends at the waist. Her hand snatches a piece of metal off the ground and she straightens, barely missing a step in the process.

With a battle cry, Beatrix leaps forward with the metal shard raised over her head. My breath catches as I watch my Little Viper strike. The man drops Knox as he cries out. Beatrix manages to pull the glass back out and up over her head before he whirls around to face her. She doesn’t see his fist coming. He uppercuts her in the jaw with enough force that she’s literally lifted off her feet. Her small frame crumples into a heap on the ground, unmoving.

“Fuck!” I snarl as I try to scramble to get my bearings. “No, fuck!”

“W-what…” Thatcher croaks.

“They’re in trouble!” I snap as an urgency to get moving rides me hard.

I push aside the pain and the spinning of my head to focus on the problem at hand. We can lick our wounds later. Right now, my pet and Pretty Boy are being stolen right out from beneath my nose.

The ceiling of the car is crunched inward. The frame of the passenger window is so contorted I can’t slip through it, leaving me to try to slip out through the opening in the front of the car. The remaining shards of glass prove hazardous. Each time I lift an arm or a leg, I end up scraping against the glass. It’s pure agony. Breathing is more difficult than it’s ever been. Sweat burns in my eyes as I finally make it out of the car.

Panting hard, I use my forearms to army crawl onto the street. I pause a second to catch my breath as the world begins to spin too fast. The sound of a car door slamming shut spurs me to lift my head. I watch as the black silhouette of a man heads back my way. Behind him, I see no signs of Knox or Beatrix.

Where the fuck are they?

Rather than head straight toward me, the man turns and veers to the left.

“Hey, man. We did what you wanted. We good now, bro?” The voice belongs to a teenager, that much is clear. “Jakob said this is the last time we’re helpin’ you, so you better fuck off after this.”

“Yeah, we’re good now,” the dark-silhouetted man agrees. His voice carries over to me. “Can I borrow your gun for just a moment?”

“Sure, but if this traces back to us?—”

The sound of a gun firing cuts off the kid who’s talking. Screams of fear from others in the car that chased us erupt. But the gun goes off three more times, and each time it does, there’s one less scream until there’s no more.

“Take your gun back, you cowards,” a deep, male voice says.

I pull my knees beneath me and push myself upright so that I’m kneeling. Before I can gain my bearings, the stranger, shrouded in shadow, stops before me. I squint up into their face, but I can’t see into his hood. It could be anyone under there.

“I’ve watched you play house for long enough, Hunt ,” the man drawls coldly. “If you had stuck outside city limits, we never would’ve crossed paths. But you couldn’t help yourselves, could you? You disrespected my territory by coming in and trying to make it yours. Chicago is mine . It always has been and always will be. My name is whispered in fear even after all these years because that’s how damn good I was at my job. You’re not going to steal my clout. I earned it!”

My body trembles as pain and anger mix.

“Give them back,” I snarl through clenched teeth.

The stranger sniffs in disdain, then takes a long, deep breath. When he lets it out, it’s a chuckle. “Don’t worry, you’ll see your family again soon enough. I’ll send them back in little pieces so that way, they fit into your mailbox. How’s that sound? Where are you located again? Oh right, I’ll just look up Bright Starr Funeral Home over there in the lovely state of Indiana.”

For the first time in my entire life, fear creeps into my body. The cold settles in my veins. My heart plummets, falling fast and deep into the vast emptiness of my chest.

“I usually steal the eyes of my victims, but I’ll let you keep yours since I’m planning on letting you live. I want you to see the devastation a real killer can cause. You might spill blood, maim people, but me? I like to go deeper than that. I like to steal the soul, hope, and light from every person I come across. Expect a package from me real soon, Hunt. Until then…”

The toe of Angel Eyes’ boot makes contact with my face. The pain is explosive and excruciating, and my head snaps back. It’s followed by the rest of my body. As I hit the ground, the world closes in around me.

The last thing I remember as I’m pulled down into the recesses of my own mind is the endless, muted scream of fear for Beatrix and Knox that rings in my ears.