Chapter 6
Present Day
The second Nova is out the door, Rhea strides from her room, still nude. I follow her into the kitchen for shits and giggles, wondering what she’ll eat. With how territorial she got with Nova over her ‘veal’, I suspect she may feel the need to indulge in its delicacy.
As suspected, Rhea goes straight for the freezer, yanking the pack out that Nova touched. My chest feels tight when I think about how Jimmy and I watched the girl from a distance, as to not alert her to our presence, while she straightened up and cleaned, humming along to some song in her head. All I wanted to do was scream at her when she picked up that pack of human flesh Rhea had wrapped up herself.
At least Rhea seems less than inclined to share with her. I don’t think I could hold back if she allowed Nova to commit cannibalism. She is innocent. You can see it in every plea and wide-eyed stare when she thinks she’s about to be reprimanded. She reminds me of Zeus—my Cane Corso rescue I acquired a year before Rhea killed me. I’d had to work tirelessly to reassure him I would not hit every time I moved too quickly for his taste. Nova has that same skittish energy that Zeus did.
I have zero doubts that Nova and Zeus share the trauma of being physically abused.
I still wonder what happened to Zeus when I never came home.
Jimmy’s anger was palpable when he told me what he saw on Nova’s arms, but that was nothing compared to his fury about Koda scaring her. I managed to contain Koda, Rohan, and the others wanting to bother her for now. Having been here the second longest, I’ve picked up some tricks, including being able to drain the energies of the others to use for myself. I siphoned the five rebels’ energy last night while Nova slept and they haven’t reappeared yet. When they do, it will probably be in a fit of rage.
“Who is that?” Andy murmurs, appearing next to me.
I glance at him in surprise. Of everyone, Andy is the quietest, killed within a week after Rhea killed Jimmy. He’s never angry. He’s just…here. If there was any theories about us remaining because of our anger, Andy blows it out of the water.
“I don’t know,” I answer, turning my attention to Rhea, grimacing when I see she’s unwrapped someone’s butchered dick. I can say I don’t believe it is mine—that one is probably long gone. “She never labels them.”
I turn away when Rhea props her bare ass on the kitchen counter and presses the frozen piece of flesh against her cunt. Andy doesn’t.
He watches her impassively, before sighing. “I just want to be at peace. I feel more exhausted than I did working doubles.”
I feel emotion choking my throat. “Me too,” I manage right before Andy dissipates from view. Not the doubles part—but the wanting to be at peace part. My soul yearns to be released from this hell.
I tune out the sounds of Rhea moaning through an orgasm, letting my mind wander to visions of my past, triggered by the sounds she’s making.
Rhea was the first Sugar Baby I ever met in person. Another man might have been embarrassed to sign up for the Sugar Daddy site, but I wasn’t. I felt old and lonely when I made that account. Combine that with a net worth of thirty million plus, and I figured it was better to go into an arrangement where both parties understood that the money was limited to what I offered them. I had no need for a girlfriend or wife. Not after my bitch of an ex-wife had used me for everything she could get her hands on until it was more convenient to find a younger, similarly rich man to prey on. But I did have a need for pussy without strings.
I can still see Rhea sitting with legs crossed that first night, forearms pressed against the bar, her eyes locked on a tumbler half full of amber. I can still remember thinking, Bourbon. My kind of girl. I can still remember the way I was so drawn to the curious way Rhea shielded herself, able to fuck like an animal without getting attached in any way.
We’d met regularly—once a week—for three months. That last week, she messaged me to ask if I wanted to meet up two days early. Horny and eager to bend her lithe body into whatever position I wanted, I’d jumped at the chance, promising to make it worth her while. She’d sent back her address.
She had made out that day—a thousand dollars cash and my corpse to fuck and process for meat.
When the faucet starts running, I turn and study her as she rinses off the penis she just used to come. When she’s done, she pulls out tinfoil. Placing it on a square of foil, she dots the still-half-frozen flesh with cubes of butter, sprinkles some dried seasonings and herbs, and wraps it up tight. Into the oven at 325 degrees, it goes. Dick is, apparently, prepared low and slow.
Rhea picks up the mail she dropped on the counter when she found Nova in the kitchen. Flipping through it, she sighs, tossing it back down. I glance at it. All bills.
Bet she’s missing her Sugar Daddy about now.
Surprisingly, Rhea hadn’t sought out another Daddy after she killed me. But then, Rhea isn’t an idiot. Homicidal, yes. Clever, yes. I’d watched how she honed her predation over the subsequent nine kills she made. She adapted, selected men who were unattached at random. She didn’t use dating apps to find them—just good old-fashioned happenstance meets at bars, grocery stores, coffee shops, and more. The one time I saw her get sloppy in more recent times was Andy.
Rhea digs through the alcohol stash she has above the stove, shoving aside the one she has laced with whatever drug she uses to incapacitate us. She yanks out a nearly new bottle of Patron, surprising me. I’ve never seen her drink tequila.
I assess her, eyes scanning over her body intently, her nakedness doing nothing for me in the sexual department anymore. I realize as I study her that Rhea agitation is present in every move, her muscles tense with it, and I think it’s more than Nova touching her meat.
I close my eyes when it hits me. It’s only been two days since she killed the new guy—Gabriel—and she’s feeling the urge again. Already.
My thoughts instantly go to Nova and worry fills me. Would Rhea kill her sister to sate her urges in a pinch?
Nova would fall so easily to Rhea. Nova is extraordinarily meek and mild. While some would find that irritating, it has endeared her to me in such a short amount of time. Maybe it’s just that she’s so fucking different, compared to Rhea.
But, if I’m honest, I think it’s mostly because Nova’s brand of meek and mild taunts me with what I’ll never have again.
I realize how long I’ve been zoned out when I hear the oven smack closed. Not wanting to see Rhea eat her prize, I keep my eyes shut before I let myself disappear from reality.
I stir from where I’m resting between planes of existence when Nova returns home, just before sundown. I don’t know why I refer to it as resting; it’s anything but restful to be nothing and nowhere.
Tiredly, I ensure that anyone who is present is corralled in Rhea’s bedroom before Nova gets the front door closed. Jimmy looks anxious as he paces, a soft snore coming from Rhea behind us.
The sounds of rustling plastic bags reach us, along with a few soft grunts from the girl, followed by clanks and thuds of her promised groceries being set down. I lift a brow, wondering if I’ve underestimated Nova. It sounds like a good deal of groceries have been carried by hand, from the store to here. I’m not sure where the closest grocery store is, but I do know that Rhea’s house sits in the middle of a neighborhood.
“I want to go out there,” Jimmy whispers, staring at the door.
“Jimmy,” I start.
“I’ll stay back. I’ll stay hidden.”
My eyes narrow at him when he looks my way. He looks half-crazed, desperation leaking from his every movement.
“What is wrong with you?” I ask, unable to come up with a more eloquent way to say it. “She’s alive and you’re dead.”
“I don’t know,” he answers. “But I just have this feeling that I need her.”
Koda chooses that moment to appear in a fit of rage, Rohan right behind him. Their voices penetrate the room, their roars of indignation echoing in the barren room. Jimmy and I lurch forward, each of us grabbing onto them, trying to shut them up as quickly as we can.
It’s not fast enough.
I sense her moving closer as we finally get them under control, and then there’s a timid knock at the door.
“Rhea, you okay?” Nova all-but-whispers.
Rhea doesn’t stir. The only reason Koda and Rohan aren’t flying through that door to scare the fuck out of the girl is because they’re being held back. Everyone waits with bated breath to see what Nova will do.
Suddenly letting out a loud snore, Rhea flips onto her side with a sleep riddled hum. I hear Nova’s relieved sigh in response, and then her tiptoed steps move away from the door.
“What the fuck?” Koda snarls, shoving at me until I release him. “You’re not in charge!”
“Keep your voice down,” I growl.
He glowers at me, stepping forward so we’re almost nose-to-nose. He’s just slightly shorter than me. “Fuck you, you old fuck.”
“Koda, please,” Jimmy murmurs, casting worried glances at the door.
“God, you fucking simp,” Dakota sneers at him. “You going to go get your dick out of the freezer for her, so she can keep it in her purse?”
His harsh words draw a curtain of silence over the group, but it’s broken by Koda’s laugh.
“Pussies, all of you,” he bites out, then turns his glare on me once more. “You ever fucking do that to me again and you’ll regret it.”
“What are you going to do?” I scoff. “Kill me?”
A smile creeps onto his face that is full of manic energy. “You aren’t the only one who knows how to do your little party trick. I won’t let you back up for air for a decade if that’s what it’s gonna take to prove a point. Don’t fucking touch me again.”
When Koda disappears, this time it’s of his own volition.
Dickhead.
Movement from Rohan catches my attention. I glance toward him, expecting more of what Koda spewed at me.
Instead, he holds out his hand to me.
“Do it again,” he requests.
I frown, looking down at his hand and back up. “Rohan…”
“I don’t want to be here. I want to go back. I don’t want to see her anymore. It was empty there. I want that. I’m begging you. Let me go away.”
It’s clear the her he is referring to is Rhea, with the way his eyes cut toward our sleeping murderess. Without any further hesitation, I reach my hand out like I’m offering a handshake.
“Don’t say I never did anything for you,” I say, gracing him with a small smirk. “I’ll grant you mercy.”
His smile is faint, but it’s there. Grasping my hand, I wince at the pained look on Rohan’s face before he disappears into nothing once more.