Chapter 3
Chapter 3
BEAU
T he sounds of retching in the hallway wake me, as someone throws everything up from the night before. Not a great way to start my day… but at least I’m not the one grunting and heaving as they beg to an absent god for it all to stop. My covers fall to the floor as I roll over and check the time. It’s after ten, and Iris is still weighing heavily on my mind, just like she was all fucking night.
My phone vibrates, alerting me to a text and I don’t know whether to be relieved or anxious when I read it.
Private
355 Bentley Drive… You have 30 minutes.
It’s the nerves that take over, even though I’d like to be chill about it all. It’s only the information I’ve waited nearly ten years to see. The message symbolizes the start to my initiation into the most elite society that exists. The Brotherhood of Darkness has a prominent reputation of wealth and power that comes along with their savage rituals and expectations for their members. One does not deny the Brotherhood, nor do they ignore or attempt to outwit them… especially, when their family is a well- known name in the society. Royalty, according to what my father has shared with me. King’s father told him the same. Right before they informed us of the importance of our cooperation during the initiation process. There is no room for leeway or error. We have to be perfect.
I rush around the room until I’m presentable enough to face whatever it is I’m about to walk into. I have to step over sleeping bodies and trash through the entire fraternity as I hurry from the house, and I don’t waste any time by stopping for whoever calls my name.
The rumble of my truck echoes through the streets and even more so as I pull into the parking lot. No doubt they know I’m here. Taking a deep breath, I attempt to calm myself before striding to the front door. I push it open, only to find a room that’s pitch black and quiet, so I let the door linger open until I’m told to shut it.
“Close the door.” A single light comes on, encouraging me to move a few steps forward.
“You’re being tasked with the order of loyalty.” The altered voice comes through the speakers, finally saying the words King and I have waited a long time to hear. I wonder if this is how they’ll do his?
I watch as the masks move slowly around the room, their large robes and hoods hiding any clue of who the costumes are concealing. The room remains mostly dark but now only a few single lights swing once they’ve been bumped.
“What would you like me to do?” I have to work hard to feign my chilled demeanor because deep down I’m anxious as fuck and can’t wait to get out of this stuffy room. I’m not sure how the hell they’re strutting around in all of those layers.
“You’ll receive your orders soon but remember… you must not talk to anyone. We will know if you disobey our commands.” To be honest, this feels like a weird ritualistic ceremony and if I were watching it on a movie, I’d be yelling for the dumb kid to run from it as fast and as far as his feet would take him. But this is far from a movie… it’s family tradition. And you don’t dishonor my family without severe consequences, and that especially is the case for me being Butch Beaumont’s oldest son.
I nod in agreeance and wait for any sign of what they’ll have me do. The robes all walk in a line, perfectly spaced apart, rhythmically taking their next step in unison and I can’t look away. Another set of lights comes on to reveal a row of courtroom bench style seating that allows the disguised group of the Brotherhood to look down on the room. They each make their way in front of a seat in perfect harmony and sit down.
“ Beau , you will be challenged to prove your loyalty to the Brotherhood. I expect zero hesitation on your part and look forward to watching you succeed on your first level of initiation.” The altered voice echoes through the room, giving me the same lack of clarity as before and I’m not any bit closer to knowing who these people are.
Nine. There’s nine, that I’m able see anyway.
“Sit in the chair to your left.” I glance over as another set of lights come on, most of them only swaying slightly now that everyone is stationary.
I shift over, pulling out a chair from the closest table, the legs screeching against the floor and sending annoyance through my entire body. Can I not just be slick and casual during this bullshit? No… I’m a bundle of fucking nerves and acting awkward like a damned virgin in front of his first fuck.
“Open the box.” Following the command, I pick up a small, wooden container that’s centered on the table and pull it closer before opening it. Lifting the lid doesn’t really help me figure anything out because all I find is a chain necklace. As I lift the chain, two keys dangle at the bottom, only further spiking my curiosity.
“You will need those to fulfill your duty to the Brotherhood. You will be given more information when it’s time. I suggest you wear the chain as we could require your services at a moment’s notice. Be prepared.”
“Yes, sir.” I slide the necklace over my head and wait for further instructions, only to be left a fool in the darkness. All of the lights in the room go off except the one over the table I’m sitting at. The weight of them staring at me and watching my every move creeps me the fuck out, even though I know it’s just to teach some mind-fuckery lesson that reiterates how they’re always watching.
Standing, I push the chair out and make my way out of the room, not moving nearly quick enough through the swinging lights and judging eyes. The heaviness of their gazes weighs on me all the way to my truck and manages to linger as I drive to the house.
I’m parked and looking down at the keys when I hear a knock on the passenger window. Iris appears irritated and for a brief second, I slip back to the boy who would’ve given anything to make her smile. The clatter of the keys against my chest as I tuck them inside my shirt brings me back to the sordid reality before I shift to roll the window down.
“What do you want?”
“We need to talk.” She reaches for the door handle, hopping inside without asking. Like she belongs in my car and has been here all along.
“Ok… talk.”
“When are you going to forgive me? You know I didn’t move because I wanted it. I was forced. It’s not like I could stop my father from moving me across the damn world, Beau.” She reaches for my hand and squeezes. “I wanted to stay. I wanted to be with you because I love you, Beau.” My heart begins to race because the timing of this couldn’t be worse. I’ve literally wanted to hear those words for years and now that they’re being said… I can’t listen to them.
I can’t let her love me.
I can’t even let her fucking near me. The society will eat up any and all information they can to use against me and I’m not prepared to have Iris be a pawn in whatever test they plan to give me.
“Everything happens for a reason.” I shrug in hopes of deterring her excitement about whatever it is she’s trying to do here.
“Maybe so, but my feelings are still the same, Beau. Tell me you feel as strongly about us as I do.” She takes my hand, setting it on her leg; our fingers intertwine in the process and my thumb rubs circles on its own accord.
“I can’t.”
“Stop. You don’t get to act like what we have isn’t real.” Her voice quivers and I nearly break. My instinct to protect her is still prominent, even though I’m trying like hell to stomp it down.
“It’s not real,” I lie. I lie because I have to. I need her as far away from me as I can get her.
“Yes, it is.” She climbs over the console, straddling my legs before she uses her finger to force my chin up to meet her gaze. “Now, look me in the eyes and tell me this isn’t real.” I watch as a tear slips down her face, and just like that, I’m right back to where I was years ago when I found out she’d left...
Broken.
Destroyed.
My fucking heart turning black, rotting away in my chest.
“Iris. Everything is different now.”
“I don’t care. We can get it all back. I know we can.”
She tilts forward to kiss me, but I lean my forehead against hers to stop her with a pained whisper. “We can’t.”
“I’m sorry I never called you,” she begins, and my eyes slam shut at the significance her words hold over me. She continues, “I’m sorry I didn’t break away and find you. I’m sorry I didn’t stand up to my father and dammit, Beau… look at me.” I can’t fucking hear all of this on the tail end of the society pulling me in for my first order. No matter how angry I’ve been with her and our situation, I can’t have her as a target in any of their twisted games. She’s my fucking weakness and if they ever discover as much, they’ll use her against me in a heartbeat…I’ll be fucked.
“I forgive you.” I say what she needs to hear… and then I force out the words that will effectively shut her down… “But everything has changed. I don’t want the same things I did years ago. I’m here to experience college and that means I’m not looking to be tied down by you, or anyone. You’re simply one of the many I plan to fuck at this campus. Just another notch.” She leans back in a flash, her hand rising to slap me across the face, and if I wasn’t slightly a masochist, I’d try to stop her. But I need that fucking pain to drown out any insanity in my mind screaming for me not to give her up. That part of me that remembers how perfect we were together.
“See… I’m even more fucked than I was back then.” I mock with a smirk, and shift so my hard cock grinds against her ass, because fuck if the sting didn’t turn me on even more than I already was with her sitting on me.
“I’m not going to fuck you, Beau.” She climbs off my lap, and I have to reposition my dick in my jeans.
“Little too late for that, don’t you think?” I fondle her ass as she climbs back over to the other seat, then slide my hand between her legs when she sits. The tease of my fingers brushing over her shorts has her squirming through her upcoming denial of what I’ve said. Finally, she pulls together the sense I should have, and stops my hand with a squeeze of her own on my wrist.
“You’re giving me whiplash, Beau. One second you say you don’t want to be with me… then you try to have sex with me.”
“I will always want to fuck you, Kens. It’s the rest of it I can’t do.”
“I’m not going to be one of your many fuck toys, Beau. That would tear me apart and we both know that’s not really you. So, before you touch me again, decide what it’s going to be. Are you willing to fuck with my mind and ruin what we have by pushing me away and denying what I know you feel.” She drives her index finger into my chest and pushes me back to my side of the truck. “Or… are you going to be honest with yourself and the rest of the world and go for what you should have had all along? Beau, I love you. I’ve loved you since the first day I met you. I’ve loved you the entire time I was forced to be away from you, and I’ll love you till my last breath.” Goddamn if her words aren’t giant daggers to my heart.
“We are nothing, Iris. You’ve romanticized two teenagers fucking a few times and you’ve dreamt up this image of what you think we are.” Her single index finger pierces me further as she shoves me back and slides herself as far away from me as she can.
“Beau, you’re a piece of shit for doing this, and you’ll regret letting me get out of your truck today. You’ll regret the bullshit lies you’re telling me now and you’ll regret the time you’ve wasted on us.” I don’t argue with her… because I know I will regret it all. Hell, I already do. I’m going to want to kill anyone I see touch her. I’m going to imagine her and be disappointed every time I fuck a girl, but that’s not anything new for me. I’ve been doing it for years.
“I’ve got nothing, Kens.”
“Don’t call me that. You don’t get to have little nicknames for me and treat me like trash, Beau.” I choose not to respond to her at all this time. Maybe if I stop talking, she’ll get out of my truck and end this torture for both of us. I have no idea if she’s looking at me or what she’s doing because I can’t fucking look at her. I want to be stoic and straight-faced to drive my words home… but this will have to do. Maybe she’ll mistake my cowardly demeanor as indifference.
She finally takes my silence as it was meant and with tears running down her face, she pushes the door open, slams it and stomps away.
Taking my heart with her once again.