Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37
Silas
If I hadn’t arrived in time, she would’ve been taken. Gone. Dead.
Or worse.
Fuck.
My fist tightens around the knife as I slowly lower it along with my eyes, wondering how badly injured she is.
Suddenly, a car comes swerving in from the street to our left while another motorcycle heads our way from the same direction as I just raced through.
More enemies?
“Stay back,” I growl as I get up and chuck my broken helmet aside, ready for the second wave.
But as they come closer, I recognize that motorcycle … and that car. “Wait a minute…”
Ivy crawls up from the ground. “Silas, there’s more!” she screams.
Two more of those guys who were after her jump out of an alley near the building and point a gun at us.
The car races at us through the streets.
BANG! BANG!
A gun goes off right at the same time as the car drives over the guy.
The bullet scrapes my forehead and lodges into the wall behind us.
“Motherfucker,” I say through gritted teeth, blood running down my face.
The one leftover guy bolts off, screaming like his head was cut off. But the other motorcycle enters the scene from the right side, and the driver raises a gun.
BANG.
A single shot is enough to kill him.
The screams abruptly stop.
The car parks near the bodies, and a guy wearing an LED mask steps out to kick one of them. “He’s definitely dead, all right.”
“Heath?” I say, recognizing his voice. “What are you doing here?”
Heath snorts as he tucks his gun into his pocket. “Protecting her.”
The motorcycle stops between Heath’s car and me.
The guy tucks his gun into his pocket removes his helmet, and Ivy smiles as she runs to him. “Max!” She hugs him tightly.
“Oh, hehe,” Max murmurs, blushing. “Hi to you too.”
“Wait, I didn’t know you could shoot,” Ivy says, eyeing the gun.
“Mom made all of us learn how,” he explains. “I prefer not being seen by the people I kill, though. Unlike them.” He nods at me and Heath.
But I can’t stop glaring at Ivy, wondering how much longer she’s going to hug him and shower him with affection when I’m the one who saved her ass.
And I guess I’m not the only one, judging by Heath’s stare.
She finally takes her hands off Max and blushes hard.
I clear my throat. “So. We all just casually decided to follow her?”
“I guess so.” Heath shrugs.
“I followed him,” Max says, briefly glancing at Heath, who doesn’t even look at him. “But I knew we were all going to go find her.”
What’s up with those two?
Max hops off his motorcycle and grabs her hand. “Are you okay?”
God-fucking-dammit, the way she looks at him makes me antsy for my knife.
She nods. “A little bruised and beaten up … but I’m alive.”
The way she smiles back when he smiles at her, fuck, it makes me want to gouge out more eyes.
What is wrong with me?
“We gotta do something about these bodies, though,” Heath says, approaching too.
“After we get her to safety,” I say, and I grab her arm to drag her away from the scene of the crime. “C’mon.”
She tears herself away from me. “No. I’m not leaving here without my stuff and—”
She chokes on her words like she’s afraid she’ll say something she shouldn’t.
My eyes narrow. “ And what?”
A blush forms on her cheeks while Max and Heath seem amused.
“Oh …” Heath mutters.
“What? What am I missing?” I growl. “We don’t have time for games here. Whatever. We’ll come back later for your clothes.” I grasp her wrist again. “Let’s go.”
“No,” she growls, jerking free. Before I can grasp her again, she’s already bolted off toward the building on the other end of the street where she parked her bike.
“Why didn’t you stop her?” I growl at Heath.
“Trust me when I say there’s nothing that would stop her from going up there,” he replies.
“Heath …” Max mutters.
But Heath refuses to look him in the eyes.
“I’m going with her,” Max says.
“Fine, then I’m coming too,” Heath growls back, removing his mask.
“Okay, don’t fucking wait on me,” I retort as we all follow her into the building. It’s grimy and completely worn down, with stairs that are barely kept together by broken wood and rusty metal. Everywhere I look, there are stains—on the walls, the floor, even the fucking ceiling—along with a ton of cobwebs and dust.
But by the time we get to her floor and see her struggling to even put the key into the lock, I pause.
This place … is her home?
I look around at all the dust and grime. Why would she live here out of all fucking places? Is this why she needs that money so badly, to move out of here? There’s no way anyone would break into a goddamn vault at the Phantom Society house, filled with fuckers who would kill you on sight if they’d only do it for the fun of it.
She finally manages to unlock the door but keeps it closed, breathing out loud like she’s preparing for something.
What is going on?
“C’mon, open the door. We don’t have time. There could be more of them coming out of the fucking woodwork any time now.”
Max places a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t feel rushed.”
“You’re one to talk. You weren’t even here in time. I was,” I growl back.
Max ignores me. “You can trust us.”
With what?!
She pushes the door open and steps inside with Max, but Heath stays put in the doorway, his stance uncomfortable, muscles clenched.
I push him aside to see what she’s been hiding, only to come to an abrupt halt in the door opening while I clutch the frame as a little girl merely the size of my legs sits on the couch in the living room.
And I have never, ever been so fucking dazed as I am now.
This is what she was hiding?
A child?
I can’t stop staring at the little girl who’s sucking her thumb as she stares us up and down as if she’s judging the weight of our value with her eyes alone. And for some reason, I feel like the entire floor has just caved in underneath me, which is an unfamiliar feeling to me. This body was made to kill, and it doesn’t fucking respond to any of my commands. That’s what scares the living shit out of me.
I take a good look around the apartment. It’s a shoddy mess, with patches of paint coming off the walls, a dirty carpet, and too many stains on the wall. This can’t be fucking healthy. Especially for a child.
“Thank fuck you’re finally here.” An old lady gets up from the couch and turns off the TV. “I thought you’d never show up.”
“Thanks for watching her, Mrs. Schwartz,” Ivy says, her hands diving into her pockets to fish out some change and a couple of bills. “I’m sorry, this is all I have tonight. I swear, I’ll repay you tomorrow.”
Wait a minute …
Max steps forward and plucks a wad of cash from his pocket, stuffing it into Mrs. Schwartz’s hands. “Consider the debt paid.”
Ivy looks up at him. “You don’t have to—”
“I want to,” Max replies, smiling.
She blushes, and my nails dig into the fucking walls of her apartment.
“Thanks, sonny,” Mrs. Schwartz waddles off in her slippers and pushes past us without even granting us a single look. “Oh, and feed that fucking cat, will you? He keeps nagging me, and I’m allergic.”
A cat?
I look up at the windowsill where a black cat with vicious yellow eyes home in on mine, sharpening its claws to prepare for an attack. And I nearly fucking turn around and waltz off.
“Hey, Bagel,” Max says as he pets that demon spawn on its head.
“Wait a minute … you’re acquainted?” My eyes narrow as Max looks up at me, and then it finally clicks. “You’ve been here before.”
He throws his hand behind his head and grins stupidly. “I was just looking out for her.”
“Looking out for that fucking pussy, yeah,” I grit, pulling up my sleeves.
Heath laughs, and I turn to glare up at him. “You knew?”
“Oh, he didn’t just know.” Max rolls his eyes.
My fingers dig into my palm so deeply they begin to bleed. “You both knew she lived here, and you kept it from me.”
“I did what you told me to do,” Max says.
“I never said you could lie to me.”
“I didn’t lie. I just … omitted the truth.” Max chuckles awkwardly. “Can you blame me?”
He glances at her with a crazy amount of love in his eyes, and for some reason, it makes me boil over with rage.
But that kid … that kid is staring at me from the couch like she’ll haunt me for the rest of my life if I don’t stay. And I can’t look away either because in her tiny hands is that red flower of mine.
“Cora, come here. It’s okay,” Ivy says, and the little girl runs into her arms to hug her tight.
Cora.
I try to swallow, but something’s in the way.
“Wait, Cora?” Heath mutters, gazing at Max. “You said her neighbor’s name was Cora.”
Max begins to flush heavily. “Um …”
“You lied.” Heath forms a fist.
“Sorry,” Max mutters.
“They’re scaring me,” the little girl whispers, huddling closer to Ivy, who throws me the sternest look I’ve ever seen. They radiate even more violently than my mother’s eyes, which is an impressive feat.
“They won’t hurt you,” Ivy says. “Right, guys?”
Max smiles and approaches the kid, patting her on the head. “Of course not.”
Ivy looks at Heath, who shakes his head. “I couldn’t hurt a kid. Not ever.”
Her eyes land on me at last, the look in her eyes deadly as can be. Maybe even more murderous than mine, and it silences the angered voices in my head.
“Silas. Promise me.”
So … this is the reason.
This is why she fought so hard, defied me so many times, stole from me without a conscience, and gave up her body to feed my wicked desires.
This girl.
I feel frozen to the floor as I stare at them both while an unfamiliar sense of caution overwhelms me. Like my body is being torn to shreds from the inside out. My hand instinctively rises to grasp my heart, as if it knows somewhere deep down something about it has irrevocably been changed.
But that doesn’t make any sense. My heart doesn’t beat for anyone else but me and my deranged desires to rip everything in my vicinity to shreds and watch it bleed to death. It beats for blood to rush through my veins so my muscles can keep on killing anything and everything that walks like the monster I truly am.
But this heart is beating violently as if it’s been stabbed by the very same knife I carved her skin with.
Fuck.
What is happening?
“Promise me you won’t let her get hurt,” Ivy reiterates.
My lips have gone dry. “I swear.”
She breathes out a short sigh of relief.
“Well, that was tense.” Max laughs.
But I’m still not fully here. It’s as though my mind has wandered off somewhere else.
Heath clears his throat as he looks at me like I’ve gone crazy. “Silas?”
Something warm rolls down my nose, and when my fingers swipe along, I can clearly see the blood, but it doesn’t register with me at all.
Suddenly, a hand wraps around my arm and drags me away from the living room and into the bathroom. The door is shut, and I’m pushed down onto the toilet.
“Sit.”
Ivy’s blocking the door with her arms folded.
What the fuck?
She stares me down for a moment, then sighs out loud, turns around, and rummages through a tiny medicine cabinet above her askew sink. My eyes follow the curve of her small body, the thin waist and bones sticking out of her yellow dress, along with the high-inched heels she’s wearing underneath. Those knees are barely thick enough to hold up that body.
Does she even eat enough?
And how the fuck does she go to school when she has a kid?
I swallow as she turns around and looks right at me, her alluring dark eyes catching me off guard. In her hands is a small box that she opens as she approaches me. But the moment she goes to her knees in front of me, that heart I thought beat only for violence suddenly beats out of sync.
“What are you doing?”
She pulls out a few cotton balls and pours some alcohol on them. “You’re bleeding.”
She holds it up to my face, and I flinch, which makes her pause.
This isn’t how it was supposed to go.
This wasn’t—
“It’ll sting a little,” she says, interrupting my train of thought.
Before I know it, she’s dabbed the cotton against my skin, but the pain doesn’t faze me at all. Blood drives me like adrenaline, even if it is my own I’m tasting. She doesn’t fucking know pain is the only thing that makes me feel like I’m alive. Like I can feel anything at all.
Because I’ve never felt anything other than anger and the need to kill.
Nothing.
Just like she said, I’m a psychopath.
I don’t have emotions.
Nothing.
Yet…
Her hand rises to dab the bloodied wound on my face, but I grasp her wrist midway there and force her to stop.
Stop this. Whatever it is, stop.
But the moment those eyes of hers find mine, I can’t even say the words I thought I wanted to speak.
What the fuck is happening to me?
“I need to clean it, or it might get infected,” she says, tilting her head. “Silas. Please.”
Please .
That fucking word.
She’s said it so many times before, yet it never, ever sounded so … satisfying.
I let out a breath and release her.
She composes herself and starts working on my wound again, but something about all of this annoys the living shit out of me.
“I wouldn’t have gotten this wound if you hadn’t fled the party.”
She pauses, her nose twitching briefly. “I wouldn’t have fled if you hadn’t busted into the room to catch me in the act.”
I raise a brow. “I wouldn’t have caught you if you weren’t being so obvious with your attempt to steal.”
“And I wouldn’t have to steal if I had money to survive. Money you hoard for fun.”
“I don’t hoard,” I growl.
“Do you need three phones and fifteen parties per month in your lavish mansion?” she asks.
My nostrils flare, and when I don’t respond, she keeps on dabbing my wound harder and harder like she’s trying to make me bleed even more.
“I didn’t fucking choose to be rich,” I say.
That’s your comeback? Jesus fucking Christ, Silas.
She throws me a damning look. “You think I chose to be poor?”
Fine. She wins.
My eyes travel across her face and those soft cheeks and lips that are in stark contrast to her bony, twig-like body. She got beaten up pretty badly, yet here she’s taking care of me instead.
What the fuck have I turned into? Max fucking Fletcher?
Suddenly, she sighs. “I just … wanted to thank you for helping me.”
My brows furrow.
She’s thanking me for killing now?
“You saved me.”
“All right. That’s enough.” I snatch the little cotton ball out of her hand and chuck it into the bin behind her. “I’m fine.”
But that raised fucking brow is still judging me like I’m a kid in need of a time-out.
“You really don’t ever let anyone help you, do you?”
“No one can help me,” I grit back.
Her lips slowly part, but not a single word falls off her tongue, and now I realize I may have said too much.
But no matter how hard I try, I can’t look away from those damn downturned lips that are so luscious they make me want to lick them and mark them as mine.
What has this thief done to me?
“You’d be surprised by how much people are willing to do for someone,” she says, getting up and packing up the items she used. “If you’d just show a little bit of appreciation.”
Fuck it .
I grasp her throat, fingers digging into her skin as I pull her face toward me and smash my lips onto hers.