Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Iris
Arms crossed over her chest in defiance, Dee stares out the passenger window as one of our fellow car companions sleeps on her lap. Every now and again, she pets Poppy’s furry head, then resumes her angry, keyed-up, I-want-to-stab-my-sister silent treatment.
Getting her to agree to leave took two days. We packed up what little she had, stole a few cages for the opossums to take with us, and started our sixteen-hour road trip from New York to Illinois.
When we need to stretch our legs, I pull into whatever rest stop along the highway, where we grab a bite from the vending machines, use the facilities, and get back on the road.
It’s a miracle when my hunk of junk car crosses over the Illinois state line.
It’s an even bigger miracle when I find Kings Cursed without getting lost.
The town sign that greets us is straight out of a horror movie, worn and discolored, with red spray paint telling us to go away.
Yeah.
That’s not happening.
I didn’t drive this far, with a sister who won’t look at me, much less speak to me, so I could chicken out and turn back.
Whatever lies ahead, we can handle.
We’ve handled worse thus far.
The town is abandoned, or it looks that way as we roll through an old downtown, with stores from years past, showcasing a different time, now sitting empty, with dirty windows and washed-out signs.
Once we pass a grimy strip club called Kings Cunts, a real classy joint, I take a left just as the GSP instructs.
Older single-story homes, in need of an upgrade—and that’s putting it nicely—line the road with freshly mowed lawns.
The farther we go, the more they transform from condemned messes where mice live to fresh faces with new doors and brightly painted shutters.
Five houses in a single row have all received a new lease on life.
When the house number matches Cell’s message, I pull into the driveway.
On the porch is a basket, tied up with cellophane and a bright red ribbon.
The ugliest mutt with too much skin and missing hair comes out of nowhere, racing toward the car with his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. His enthusiasm has me chuckling as I open my door and get out before he jumps inside and assaults Dee’s precious creatures.
A dark-haired woman, thin as a rail, slowly approaches from two houses down.
Not wanting to give her the wrong impression, I lift a hand in greeting as I kneel to scratch behind the dog’s big, floppy ears.
My acceptance of her canine must put her at ease because she smiles.
It’s small and uncertain, but she doesn’t appear as wary when she stops in the grass, on the edge of the gravel drive.
“I’m Iris.” I wave.
“Mia.”
“Nice to meet you.” I hitch my thumb over my shoulder, pointing to my car. “That’s Dee. Sheee… Ummm…”
“Doesn’t want to be here,” Mia offers with a kind smile when I fumble to explain what’s going on with a stranger I just met.
Rising to stand, I bark an awkward, high-pitched laugh. “Yep... Yes. That.”
A shirtless man with big muscles, a hairy chest, and a scarred face steps out from the side of the house on the opposite side of my car, and… the world goes from tense to downright volatile in less than a heartbeat.
In slow motion, I watch Dee throw open the car door, and just as I scream, “No!” she’s on the guy, legs wrapping around his waist, catching him completely off guard. Pulling a blade from her hip holster, she sinks it into his shoulder, and his howl of pain gets me moving.
Rushing across the grass, I rip Dee off the man. Too focused on killing the big, unchained predator, she doesn’t see me coming.
In a scramble of limbs, I wrestle her knife away and throw it somewhere she can’t reach.
As I pin her to the grass, she snaps her teeth at me.
Eyes wild, her body in fight mode, I don’t hesitate to slap the shit out of my sister.
It doesn’t happen often, but it works to get her in line and make her stop.
Connecting my palm with her cheek, she thrusts up to get me off her, and for a second, she wins, but the next, the big man reinserts himself into the mix.
Hooking an arm around her much smaller frame, he plucks her up off the ground as if she weighs nothing.
Having none of this, Dee kicks, screams, and bites at him.
But he just holds on, blood dripping down his shoulder, soaking into the cotton of her shirt.
Thankfully, he doesn’t seem angry. If anything, he’s amused by her thrashing and growling.
Getting up from the ground, I dust the grass off before glaring up at the wild asshole. “Knock it off.” I waggle my finger at Dee like I’m her mom.
The bitch snaps her teeth at me again.
Listen, I know she’s pissed I brought her here and took her away from the only home she’s ever known, but tough shit.
Another man with a mess of black hair, gray at the temples, also shirtless, wearing ratty, low-slung jeans and scuffed, black boots, turns the same corner the other man came from and stumbles to a stop when he catches sight of the shit show that is our arrival.
A grin ticks up at the corner of his lip as he quickly recovers, saunters over, and extends a hand for me to shake. “Doug.”
“Hi. I’m Iris, and this asshole is Dee.” I incline my head her way.
Doug turns to my sister and, snickering, nods hello.
Calm enough that she’s done fighting the arm locked around her stomach as her feet dangle in the air, she glowers in response.
“She doesn’t talk much,” I comment, so he doesn’t take offense.
“That’s okay.” He chuckles.
Stepping up to Dee and the giant man holding her, I perch up on my tiptoes to get in her face and force her to make eye contact with me.
“He’s gonna let you down, and you’re gonna get your shit together.”
“Fuck you,” she snarls, spittle flying from her lips like a rabid dog.
Refusing to give up on her, I cup her face with both hands. “I’m not leaving you here. Do you hear me? I’m not leaving. I’m staying. We’re staying.” Maybe not forever, but to feel this place out for both of us. Of course, I already told her that, but when she’s pissed at me, she tunes me out.
When my words sink into that stubborn brain of hers, Dee’s entire demeanor relaxes.
“You can let her down,” I address the big guy, and he does just that, carefully lowering her to the grass. But he doesn’t move away. Doesn’t run scared. He doesn’t even acknowledge the stab wound in his shoulder as Dee shoulders past me to grab her stuff from the car, including the opossums.
When the dog makes a sound, as dogs do when another animal is around, Dee snarls at the mutt. Somehow understanding she’s a predator, he reads it loud and clear and rushes to stand behind Mia, who kneels to comfort him.
To be helpful, Doug takes the animal cages from Dee, and, to my complete surprise, she lets him. Together, they mount the porch and go inside our new temporary home.
Left with the scarred guy and Mia, I turn to find him twisting his fingers together in front of him and rocking back on his heels. Every now and again, he spares a look at the house they disappeared into.
Well, isn’t this weird?
Too fucking weird.
Just as I’m about to ask the man’s name and suggest he join them, for my benefit more than his—because who knows what Dee will do to him inside four walls—a freckle-faced redhead wearing a summer dress and purple Crocs, along with a dark-haired man with a nipple piercing and scarred pec, come from the same direction as the others did.
“Iris?” the woman asks, with a big smile and a bounce in her step.
The man beside her chuckles as he stares fondly at what is clearly his woman. The man practically has cartoon hearts floating above his head.
Damn.
To be looked at like that with such…
Ugh.
Nope.
Not going there.
The woman, close to my height, doesn’t extend a hand in greeting.
She gets right up in my space and wraps me in a hug.
And for some reason, I let her. It’s warm and awkward, and it tightens my throat.
The hug lasts longer than any hug I’ve ever had.
Which isn’t saying much, as physical touch, beyond men pawing at me, never happens.
Her red hair smells of lavender. Not that it matters, but I can’t remember the last time I was close enough to anyone to know what their hair smelled like.
When we pull back, she flashes me the prettiest, carefree smile as we make eye contact.
“Your eyes are stunning,” she compliments, making that thing in my throat even worse.
A blush suffuses my cheeks as I nod awkwardly in thanks.
I have no idea what to say to that.
Women don’t compliment me, and men only compliment me when they wanna get into my pants, which I never let them near.
“I’m Sola,” she greets, taking my hand into hers and folding our fingers together like we’re long-lost besties, then nods to the besotted man with her who looks like a movie star. “That’s Rot, my husband. Well, one of them…”
One of them hangs in the air for half a beat before she fills in the blanks for me.
“I know it’s unconventional, but I have three of them. You might meet the other two sometime, but they’re not…”
“They’re assholes,” Rot fills in with a warm laugh. “I’m the socially tolerable one.”
“Yes. What he said…” Sola chuckles. “And this guy is Creature.”
The man with the scarred face bows his head in the most gentlemanly way. “Hello, ma’am.”
“Hi. I’m sorry about my sister.”
He waves me off with the flick of his wrist and a single shoulder shrug. “It’s not a problem. I’ve been briefed.”