Chapter 24
SUTTON
TWO MONTHS LATER
I juggled the brown paper bag of groceries in my arms as I walked up to the lodge doors.
The crew had been kind enough to let us use it as our private living quarters until we could find ourselves a place to live.
Which was much harder to do than we imagined.
The morning of Cage’s official prospect vote, the men came with a present.
Apparently, they had tracked down my car.
Which had been impounded from the gas station Cage and I abandoned it at.
After paying the impound fee, they brought it with them.
Giving Cage and myself a vehicle that wasn’t his bike.
Which also gave us access to dozens of articles of clothing and shoes I was able to sell for a great deal of money.
The first order of business was getting me a wardrobe fitting for the life I’d be living.
More jeans and less expensive mini-skirts.
More bikinis and less floor-length dresses.
That car had been stuffed with so many expensive things I haphazardly tossed away that we were able to fund a new wardrobe for both myself and Cage as well as store the rest away for a security deposit or a down payment on a place.
If we could find one that would take our damn application before it was snatched off the market.
“Come on,” I groaned.
I fumbled with the keys to the lodge before I finally got them in the lock.
I turned the door and sighed with relief as the cool air conditioning hit my face.
Cage was out and about today, looking for rentals to put in applications at.
While I eventually wanted us to buy a place of our own, renting afforded us a faster option until we could find the home of our dreams. A home that would hold us and any children we might want to have.
Eventually. If that was something we wanted.
I whistled to myself as I walked inside.
I kicked the door closed, balancing the snacks and the meats and the vegetables I’d picked up.
Cage and I made it a habit to keep a healthy stock of essentials in the lodge at all times.
Because this wasn’t just our home. It was the Dead Souls’ meeting spot as well.
I set all the groceries down in the kitchen and pulled my phone out, checking to see if Cage had called.
And sure enough, I had two missed calls from him.
“Whatcha got for me, handsome?” I asked.
I pressed my hand into the kitchen counter as Cage rattled off in my ear.
“I found a place I can put in an application to now that has everything we want. Two bedrooms. Two bathrooms. A pool and a gym on the premises. It’s a little outside of our budget by about fifty bucks.
But I figure with it being first floor, being gated, and being within walking distance of our favorite places to eat, we could easily make that up in gas money with that SUV of yours.
“Wonderful! What’s the catch?” I asked.
“You have to be here if you want to be on the lease. Now, I can fill it out in my name, and they can run my credit check, which will be fine. But I can do it right now if you can deal with not being on the lease in name for a year,” he said.
“Hmm. Are you going to kick me out the first month if we do it this way?”
“Are you going to keep cooking that god-awful chili of yours?”
“Hey! I thought you liked my chili,” I said.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know you think you do it well. But it’s absolutely awful. I love you, though. And I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to break your precious little heart.”
“You really think I’m that fragile, don’t you?” I asked.
“I mean, you should practically come with your own compact case.”
I turned around as I laughed sarcastically at him, but secretly loving how things had gotten back to normal with us.
Our banter was back. Our sex was better than ever.
Planning a future with him sounded spectacular.
And I was ready to get out of this lodge.
I was ready for us to have a place of our own, where we could decorate however, we wanted and not be locked out of areas within our own dwelling.
“Sure, we can do it that way. Go ahead,” I said.
My eyes fell onto the living room as I smiled. But, when I took in the figure slumped over on the couch, my cell phone slipped from my hands.
“Great, sweetheart. I’ll call you once it’s all settled on this end. If I stay and wait for the credit check, I might even be able to get the deposit in today. Sutton? Hey, sweetheart. You there?”
I slowly walked away from the kitchen and into the darkened living room.
The shadowed figure came into view, slumped and not moving.
Or barely moving. I wasn’t sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me or not.
I reached over and turned on the tableside lamp, illuminating what I was afraid my eyes were seeing.
And when the light filled the room, I screamed.
“Holy fuck!”
I fell backward into the recliner as the body came into view. The massive, hairy man was slouched. Hunched over and dripping with blood. There was a note attached to his arm with a fucking knife. There was a damn knife coming out of his bicep, and it was coated in blood.
“Sutton!” Cage roared from my cell phone.
I scrambled upright and reached out for the note as my trembling hand ripped it away from the body.
I’m coming for you all, princess. You should tell your boy toy he needs better aim.
And as my eyes slowly panned back over to the body on the couch, I bent at the waist and vomited up my lunch.