Chapter 52
Chapter Fifty-Two
Vox
I wait for her to answer my question, I refuse to give in. I showed her my fucking cards earlier today and still she doubts me!
“I blamed you for Waylen dying.” I tense at the mention of that fucker. “I thought you killed Ezekiel. You were horrible to me at school, you flirted with Nicole right in front of me and made me believe I was nothing but some toy you could pull out and play with whenever the urge struck, yet… I still willingly went to you whenever you called.” A lone tear streaks down her cheek, drawing a frown to my face.
“What are you saying, witch?”
She reaches out and grips my shirt between her hands. “I’m saying that even though I thought you were pure evil, I still fell for you.”
“Sometimes falling is the only way to know where you stand.”
“And look where that got me, Vox? I’m a mess, my life is a mess and here we are hating each other because we’re both so hurt from the losses we have had to endure. I don’t want to fight you, I don’t want to watch you with Nicole. Nexus’ stupid torture was easier to stomach than seeing that bitch with her hands all over you.”
“You sound like a jealous girlfriend, witch, and you’re not my girlfriend.”
“No, I’m not but I want to be.” I suck in a sharp intake of air at her admission. “You can’t tell me you don’t feel anything for me?—”
“For fuck’s sake, Nova, you really are stupid, aren’t you?” She recoils at my harsh words.
“Vox, please?—”
“No!” I snap as I shove away from her and scrub a hand down my face.
“So what? This is it? You just come to me when you want your dick wet and then fuck off and treat me like shit?”
I glare at the little shit. “You are fucking dumb.”
“Stop calling me that!”
“Then open your fucking eyes!” I roar. “I’ve never brought a girl home, taken her to the fucking beach, allowed them near my friends or declared them off limits to anyone! If you were anyone else I would have cut your ass loose and never looked back. Open your fucking eyes, witch.”
“They are!” she screams.
“Do you see me standing here?”
Confusion clouds her features. “Yes?”
“Then you should know that I’m here because even though you drive me crazy and I want to strangle you ninety fucking percent of the time, I can’t seem to stay the fuck away from your annoying ass. I did all of this for you! I shut my best friends out and broke my sister's heart for you !” She gasps and covers her mouth with her hand as tears continue to fall but I’m not done. She forced me to open this can of worms and now she is going to deal with the fall out. “All my life all I have wanted is to make Thomas pay for taking my father from me and Vivian, but then you came along and begged for my help to save your mom. I could have used Nexus’ abduction to get Thomas to admit to killing mine and Ez’s father but instead I’m using him to get your mother back!” She stares up at me with wide eyes and shock splayed across her face. “Now tell me, witch, who is playing games with who because from where I’m standing, the only one who seems to be getting fucked over here is me.”
She drops her hand back to her side and just looks at me with an awed look on her face. My chest is rising and falling fast as fuck, I’ve never said shit like this to anyone before and I don’t like it. I fucking hate it, actually, and I hate the fact that this little black-haired witch has power over me, which I never willingly gave her yet she still has the power to fucking destroy everything we have worked for.
She takes a step forward and I turn to stone, part of me wants to brace for her lashing out but another part refuses to give her the satisfaction of knowing she gets under my skin. When she reaches out and grabs my hand, I allow it. She places my palm flat against her chest and covers it with hers.
“Do you feel that?” she asks quietly.
I furrow my brow and nod when I feel her heartbeat against my palm. “Yes.”
“I’ve never allowed anyone inside my heart aside from my mom and Waylen.” I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from lashing out about her mentioning that fucker. “Moving here I never expected to find anything aside from misery.” She huffs out a breath. “I guess I found that as well but that isn’t the point. I never meant to let you in or even wanted it to be truthful with you, but I never stood a chance against you, Vox. Even when I didn’t know it was you, a part of me always hoped that you were two horns.”
“Why?”
She shrugs and shoots me a small smile. “I was too scared to admit it to myself but I was scared to want you because I was afraid to lose you. I don’t trust easily and I sure as hell don’t go around screwing random guys with masks.”
I smirk. “Then why’d you let two horns do it?” I feel like an idiot talking about myself in third person but I get it, she doesn’t see me and the mask as the same right now but someday she will.
“He reminded me of you .”
“That’s fucked up, you know that, right?”
A watery laugh escapes her. “So is making me kneel and watching me eat out of a dog bowl but that didn’t stop you.” I exhale loudly and grip the back of her neck with my free hand, drawing a breathy moan from her when I lean down and rest my forehead against hers.
“If you expect me to say sorry, then you will be waiting a long ass time because I’m not. Everything I did led us to this moment and I wouldn’t change shit about how we got here because we are here .”
“I would change losing my best friend,” she says with an edge to her tone.
“But he wouldn’t have.”
Her features contort. “How do you know that?”
“Because if he could change what happened, then that would mean you would have been in that grave. Deny it all you want, witch, but that fucker was in love with you.” She begins to shake her head so I push on. “He was, Nova. He loved you more than a friend and you were just too blind to see it. I saw it the night he came to Homecoming and the way he looked at you when I had my arm around you. He hated me instantly because he knew I had what he wanted.” Tears pool in her eyes. “He didn’t spend his last moments angry, take solace in the fact his last moments were filled with good memories of you and him.” Fuck, that shit tastes bitter on my tongue. When tears escape her eyes, I swipe them away with my thumbs.
“How could you know that, Vox?”
“He scratched 4221 RUN into the lid. He chose to warn the love of his life and remind her that he would always love her forever. In my book, that makes him… alright.” A sob forces its way out of her. I pull her against me, lock my arms around her and hold her close as cries for the fucker—I mean the guy who she loved as a friend and meant a lot to her.
“I want them to pay for what they have taken from me,” she hiccups out into my chest.
“And they will, I’ll make sure of it.” When her knees give out, I scoop her up and carry her out of the closet and place her on the bed. Her eyes fill with worry when I step back. The panic ebbs when I kick my shoes off and climb in beside her. Fuck the cameras and fuck Thomas, he told me to watch, he never said I couldn’t fuck her. I lay on my back and she scoots over to rest her face in the crook of my neck. She wraps an arm around my middle and holds on tight, almost like she is afraid I’ll vanish, stupid girl. Was my admission of not being able to stay the fuck away from her not enough?
“Vox?”
“Hmmm?”
“I can’t lead the Saints,” she whispers.
“I know, you won’t have to.”
“Vivian wants to lead them.” I tense beneath her. “She hasn’t outright said it, but… but…”
“Spit it the fuck out, witch!”
“Vox, I think your sister is Nikoa’s informant.”
Two point five seconds, that’s all it takes for me to leap out of her bed and start pulling my shoes on. Nova lunges for me but I step back and shoot her a warning look to back the fuck off.
“Vox—”
“Shut the fuck up, witch!” I snap, then rush out of her room. I can hear the fucking demon chasing after me. It takes me no time to reach my house. I attempt to shove the door open but it’s locked. I pull my keys from my pocket and try to unlock it as Nova comes up beside me but the key… doesn’t work. “She changed the locks,” I mutter, then race around the back of the house. I try the back door but it’s locked.
“Vox!” I turn to see Nova climbing through the window. I rush over and help her by gripping her waist and hoisting her through it. I grind my teeth as I wait for her to open the fucking door. The second she does I shove past her and head for Vivian's room, taking the stairs two at a time. I don’t knock, I shove her door open ready to lose my fucking shit at her but her room’s empty. I look around and find her drawers are open but empty. I check her closet and find the same thing. “Vox?” I turn and find Nova standing by my sister’s bed, clutching a piece of paper.
“What?”
“She knew,” she whispers. I stalk toward her and snatch the paper from her hands.
Vox,
If you found this then I guess you figured it all out.
I warned you that I would do whatever I had to in order to ensure you and Mom are safe.
I thought I could do that with you and the guys by my side but I was wrong.
They proved their loyalty to you by leaving me. You didn’t have to kill Ezekiel though, that was something I didn’t see coming.
Nexus won’t give up his father, Thomas won’t give Kelly up either.
You don’t need either of them though, Kelly is at the Botanical Garden rehab center in Michigan. She is under the name Isla Farrow.
I wish we didn’t end up here but I guess everyone always expects twins to remain close since they were womb mates, but not us.
You ripped my heart out in order to save your own.
For that, I will never forgive you!
Take her mother and run. The Saints will be dealt with and won’t come after you.
Care for Mom and make sure she is safe.
There is no place for any of you here in Hollow Hills anymore, go to college and build a life somewhere else.
The Saints are mine.
The Lordess,
Vivian Tempest.
I stare at the fucking name on the letter for so long my vision turns hazy. It has to be a lie, there is no fucking way…
When would they have had the time?
She’s lying, she has to be!
My own best friend wouldn’t have stabbed me in the back like this, there is no fucking way unless… was this his way of getting back at me for fucking his sister?
“Are you okay?” I fold the letter and tuck it into the back pocket of my jeans. I keep my gaze focused ahead as I answer her.
“Go home, witch, I got shit to do.”
“Vox, don’t push me away… not after everything we just shared.”
I whirl around on her, the look on my face has her taking a step back. “My fucking sister is gone, Nova!” I roar.
“I know,” she mutters.
I narrow my eyes at her. “What did she say to you on the phone?”
“Don’t make me betray my friend?—”
“You already did by fucking her brother so spill, witch.” She flinches at my cold harsh tone.
“She said she has a plan and that she is going to make the three of you pay,” she spits out. Before I can press her more, she shoulders past me and rushes out of the room.
My mind is still reeling long after Nova is gone—everything is fucked.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial Nikoa’s number. He answers on the second ring.
“Vox, I was?—”
“Is my sister your informant?” I snap, cutting him off.
I hear him sigh on the other end of the phone. “Yes.”
“You are going to pay for this, you son of a bitch,” I roar.