Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Hemlock Water Dropwort: “The stem and roots contain large amounts of oenanthotoxin, which can cause convulsions, seizures, kidney failure and eventually respiratory and cardiac distress. It can also lead to paralysis of the voice box, resulting in long-term muteness.”
-Fez Inkwright, Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow Lives of Plants-
Thea
The heat in Logan’s eyes is hard to miss and it sends swirls through my stomach. When was the last time someone looked at me like that? Has anyone ever looked at me like that? Royce certainly never did. With lust sure but a dangerous type of lust, one that was filled with toxic possession.
He wanted to break me with his ownership.
Logan looks like he wants to worship me.
“You gonna let me ink you Tink?” Logan’s voice cuts through the haze and dumps ice into my veins.
I’m shaking my head before the thought can fully process, my immediate reaction utter fear as the smell of burned flesh appears like a fucking ghost haunting me.
Suddenly I’m not standing in Logan’s home but I’m back in that penthouse, Royce’s Tequila scented breath suffocating me as he ruined me from having a life outside of him.
“Your body. Your mind. Your skin. It’s all mine and no one will ever question that.”
The memories consume me, my hand gripping the ruined flesh on my side as if it just happened.
The pain feels visceral and so fucking real.
My body feels electrified and I can’t seem to figure out what’s real and what’s a figment of my imagination.
Harsh panting comes from all around me and I think someone must be in terrible pain only to realize the sounds are coming from my own mouth.
“Tink?” Logan steps towards me.
I shake my head in panic. “Don’t!” I snap.
His eyes flash with pain before they move to anger which is the worst thing he could do.
I crumple to the ground, hands over my head as I rock back and forth.
“Please. Please.” I say over and over again.
The word a prayer to a god that stopped listening long ago.
“Take a deep breath for me Tink.” His voice is calm and steady, his presence closer but not crowding.
“I’m right here. You’re safe. You feel the wood under your legs?
That is the wood Law cut down from outside to make the floors.
Focus on that. Focus on the feel of it, the smell of it, let it remind you are safe. You’re home.”
“No!” I scream and scream, unsure who or what I’m saying no to before I dissolve back into sobs. Reality and history flash back and forth, a confusing overlay within my eyes, his voice repeating the mantra that I’m safe over and over again as I try to claw my way back to the present. To him.
“That’s it.” He coos as my rapid breathing seems to calm itself.
The flashback slowly fades into the distance as my reality takes up space in my mind once more.
The smell of my burnt flesh mixed with tequila fades as I note the scent of cedar and smoke with a hint of witch-hazel.
Embarrassment pulses through my body and a sob breaks loose from me.
That seems to crack the resolve Logan has to remain at arms length and he drags me into his body.
Once again allowing me to break apart against his chest.
“I’m sorry.” I sob out. “I didn’t…”
He cuts me off, bracing my cheeks with his hands as he forces me to look into his green eyes.
“Never. Fucking. Apologize.” He growls. “You don’t do that, not here.
Not with me. You fall apart and I’ll help you get back together every time Tink.
” He presses a kiss to my forehead before allowing me to nestle back against his chest.
“Why? Why now? None of you showed up before, after what I did, so why are you helping me now?” The question comes tumbling out before I can overthink it.
Silence builds between us, it’s so long I start to open my mouth to apologize again but I’m cut off before the words can tumble free. “What are you talking about Thea?”
This has me pulling back, confusion overriding the aftershock of the panic attack.
“I texted you all, so many times Logan. None of you said a god damn word even when I…” I hiccup a sob out, fresh tears rolling down my cheeks.
“Even when I begged for help. I know I fucked up with Ace, crossed a line that wasn’t okay, I never should have but I just thought…
I thought all our friendships were stronger than that. ”
A flash of annoyance moves over Logan’s face for a moment and I flinch backwards. “Thea, you texted us and told us to leave you alone.”
“What? No I didn’t.” Confusion swirls through me.
Logan nods his head, “Yes you did. You said you were dating someone and you needed space.”
“I never sent a text saying I was seeing anyone.” I start and stop. “I sent a lot of other texts but never that one.”
Logan shakes his head. “We only got the text that you wanted space and were seeing someone else… fuck Thea it killed us.”
And that's when reality hits me. “Oh my god.” I gasp out, hand flying to my mouth. “He… he did this. He cut me off from you three. Oh my god.” In my mind I can hear his wicked laugh like he’s right next to me.
“Stupid girl.”
And just like that I’m sobbing all over again.
Logan
My mind narrows in on the single phrase as Thea breaks again. ‘He did this.’
Anger that I’ve never known before threatens to burn me alive as I struggle to swallow it down. Someone out there is a dead man walking. Someone will learn exactly what it feels like to have my blades carve into him before my bullet finds a place in his skull.
“Thea, who are you talking about?” I try to ask as calmly as I can but it’s too late.
The panic has pulled her back under. She sobs against me, but at least this time she seems to know who I am.
The fear that flashed through her the moment that flashback pulled her away from me is something I never want to see again and only adds fuel to the fire.
Someone hurt her. Badly. And when I find them I will give it back to them tenfold.
After what feels akin to eternity, Thea seems to calm down enough for me to loop my arms under her and carry her to bed. She looks up at me with puffy, tear filled eyes as I lay her down in the center of the bed, pulling the covers over her small body.
“How did you know what to do?” She asks quietly as I shut the curtains on the window.
“Law,” I say with a firmer tone than intended. “Sometimes he has… moments like that..” I glance at her and I can tell she has more questions but I shake my head, refusing to give up any of his story without his permission. If she wants it, she can ask him.
We all have demons that hunt us. Ace rips his apart with his bare hands before lighting the pieces on fire.
I ink and pierce my skin chasing them away with pain.
They never catch us. But Law’s demons? They catch him sometimes and when that happens it makes what Thea just went through look like nothing.
She nods as if she understands the unspoken words between us before snuggling into the bed deeper.
My tongue flicks out and plays with the metal ring in the center of my lip before I’m stretching upward, my body feeling stiff and in need of release.
I watch Thea’s eyes gobble up the expanse of my stomach as my shirt shifts upward.
I let out a long groan and her eyes snap to my face, red blooming across her cheeks. “You can’t look at me like that Tink.”
She cocks her head to the side, feigning confusion as if I didn’t just catch her checking me out. “Like what?”
Prowling forward I brace against the bed, arms on either side of her.
“Like you want to trace my body with your tongue.” My hand traces the column of her neck before skirting her collar bone.
“I only have so much restraint and I’m trying very hard to be good right now.
But if you keep tempting me I’m going to fuck you until my cum is dripping from you and you’re screaming my name so loud even the storm outside can’t cover it up. ”
Her pupils blow wide, mouth dropping open, as her chest heaves. When my eyes skate down her body I can see her nipples pressed against the shirt. “Be a good girl and get some rest for me Tink.”
“Why?” She spits out rapidly.
I smirk, “because good girls get rewarded and you want a reward don’t you?” Her mouth drops open in shock. “Oh and just in case you needed to hear this spelled out. We want you. We wanted you when you kissed Ace. And we want you now. You’ve always been ours, Thea.”
Her face flushes a brilliant crimson and I have to force myself to flee the bedroom so she can rest. Because god damn it do I want to see what the rest of her looks like when she turns that pretty shade.
Never had I been more thankful for my fathers stubborn nature than when he showed up at the door in the early hours of morning.
It wasn’t long after I left the room that I heard the whimpers of distress coming from her, drawing me back to her side.
Thea had spent the night tossing and turning until she started to violently vomit.
A sheen of sweat covered her face as her body shivered against my own.
The whimpering noises she made were the worst I had ever heard but it was when she started to seize that I fucking lost it, and thankfully the exact moment my father showed up.
He took over, quickly assessing the situation and began administering an IV, which is where the situation slid into my version of Hell.
Holding Thea down while she begged for us to stop was a form of torture that I know I’d break under.
At some point she had slipped into a flashback and getting her back out wasn’t an option it seemed.