Chapter 20
20
S tyx rounded the table and advanced on me like she meant to fight. “Typical spoiled princess gets herself into trouble, and other people have to bear the consequences.”
I’d put someone she cared about in danger, but I didn’t have to accept her lashing out. “He chose to come.”
She shook her head, still eyeing me like she was looking for weaknesses. “He doesn’t think straight when it comes to you. And I bet your husband knows that and sent you to get close to him.”
“King doesn’t know I’m here, and my life depends on him not finding out.”
She might’ve been smaller than me, but she looked fully ready to kick my ass.
“Do you have any idea what was at stake tonight? The—” She shook her head like it was taking all her self-control not to say more.
She was obviously angry. If I could just push her to snap, maybe she’d slip and tell me something useful. Just as I opened my mouth to goad her, I caught sight of the scars on her arms that her tank top revealed. She saw me looking and glared. “Not all of us have lived a pampered existence,” she practically growled.
I spread my fingers to show her the nearly identical burn marks on the skin in between a few of them. “Look familiar?” I snarled back. “Just because I grew up in an ivory tower doesn’t mean I haven’t suffered.”
Her expression softened along with her voice. “King do that?”
I hugged Reaper’s jacket closer. “No,” I lied. “It was when I was younger.”
She nodded, looking at me with eyes that saw too much. “Even if King doesn’t hurt you, your fiancé does some really bad shit. You ignore that and you’re complicit.”
Like I didn’t know that. If I had the power to stop him, I would’ve done it already.
I narrowed my eyes at her self-righteousness. “As though you’re on the side of the angels? Your boss does some bad shit too.”
She looked ready to fight again. “Never to innocents and only ever to protect people who can’t protect themselves.”
I snorted. “Bullshit. I was an innocent when he manipulated me into hooking up with him so he could have my father and King walk in and catch us. He was ready to humiliate me and ruin my life just because of a feud with my father.”
She cocked her head, and her anger was replaced by amusement. “Oh, honey…is that really what you think happened that night?”
“I was there. And I heard Reaper and Grim talking about it. Grim was annoyed Reaper hadn’t been ‘balls deep in Bryson’s daughter’ when my father walked in. Reaper admitted it when I called him on it, showed no remorse.”
She grinned like I’d said something hilarious. “Grim? Grim damn near killed Reaper for going rogue that night. Whatever you heard was probably still him being pissed about it. Reaper hooking up with you had nothing to do with your father, and it wasn’t their plan no matter what he let you believe. He told them some bullshit story afterward about seeing an opportunity for revenge, but they saw through it. Reaper is the villain in a lot of stories, but he’d never use sex against someone like that.”
I put my hands on the back of a chair, trying to make sense of what she was saying. “Why did he do it, then?” I refused to believe he’d just been overcome with desire. He’d been calculated enough to let me think he was the man I was supposed to be marrying.
She studied me. “I like you, think we might be kindred spirits…but that’s between you and the boss. I’ve already said more than I should’ve.”
Before I could question it further, she gestured with a hand to the door. “Let’s go turn your night of freedom around.”
I’d heard people describe things as being a feast for the senses, but this party made those feasts look like a pauper’s scraps. Everything was sensual and soft: the lights, the music, the subtle scent of jasmine in the air. The people were uninhibited and joyful, appearing to lust for laughter and conversation as much as the sex that had caught my eye first. It felt like there was an invisible web connecting everyone, making us all a part of this bigger thing with infinite possibilities.
Styx watched me take it all in, and her face lit with wonder as she looked around like it was her first time here too. “Never gets old,” she said wistfully. “You look like I bet I did when I first escaped, starved of experience and thirsting for this . All of it.”
Her excitement was infectious, and I found myself genuinely smiling too. “I am…starved for experience, if you know what I mean. I’ve done… it . But not any of that . I think I’m in a little over my head here.”
She grinned mischievously and leaned closer to my ear. “For what it’s worth? If I only had one night and I weren’t already madly in love with Az? I’d be looking for Reaper.”
The excitement deflated from me like a sad balloon. “He made it clear he doesn’t care who I spend the next few hours with, and I’m not going to beg if he’s not interested.”
She bit her lip like she was about to laugh. “Was this what he had to put up with when it was Az and me? This is painful. Sweets, you’ve gotten under his skin. That’s why we’re so worried.”
My stomach swooped nervously. “What does that mean?”
The music had taken on a softer, sultrier tone, making it easier to talk. She pointed me towards a bar, and we ordered drinks. “Reaper has that whole I don’t give a fuck energy about him, right? But that man is terrifyingly calculated. He doesn’t do anything without a strategic reason, and he never deviates from his plan unless a more strategic choice comes up.”
I nodded as I took my drink from the bartender. That was all information I knew about him. “And you’re saying it wasn’t strategic for him to rush to save me tonight? I can see where you’d get the idea that he charged in heroically, but he had his reasons.”
She led me over to a small elevated stage where someone gorgeous—sporting a neat beard and a well-fitted suit—was tracing fire along a blindfolded person’s naked body. The sub wasn’t tied up, merely grasping a bar above her head, leaving her vulnerable to him. She was gasping every time she felt the heat, but he was obviously being careful enough not to actually burn her.
The trust it must take to let someone do that to you!
Styx whispered, “You mean reasons like being able to blackmail you for info about King?”
I didn’t need to answer, my wide-eyed expression must’ve told her everything.
She lowered her voice even more. “He made a move to intercept something of King’s tonight. If we’re right about what he’s up to, the stakes couldn’t be any higher. Did Reaper press you for information about it beforehand?”
“No, but I didn’t know anything.”
She looked at me like I was being na?ve. “You don’t think he could’ve forced you to snoop? Forced you to put yourself at risk so he’d have better intel to keep his people safe?”
I was breathing faster just imagining how terrifying that could be. What if that was the price he planned to exact for saving me tonight? “He’s probably waiting until we’re married. Doesn’t want to risk King calling it off.”
She smiled. “Oh…okay. And tonight? He had to have known the odds were one in a hundred that he’d walk out in one piece when he stormed in there alone, but he did it to get to you a little faster. I’ve seen him do some extreme shit to keep us all safe, but this was reckless. Minutes are all it would’ve taken to round up enough people for a show of force that would’ve given him better odds. Thor wasn’t gonna kill you in those minutes, but the thought of him having that time to hurt you?” She paused, looking at me significantly. “Reaper put your safety before his. Before what he was trying to accomplish tonight, which he’s spent months planning.”
I turned my attention back to the stage, considering what she said. The Dom was on his knees in front of his partner now, pleasuring her with his mouth while still holding the fire stick so she could feel its warmth along the sides of her body. The sounds she was making were growing more frantic, and it was hard to tell if it was purely from pleasure or from the heat of the fire pushing her to a wilder place.
Styx was saying Reaper had feelings for me that went beyond my being an asset to him. I’d known he wasn’t the complete monster I’d accused him of being, especially when he’d taken me at my word and protected me from Thor…but it seemed like she was saying more.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
She lit up. “Because that meddling motherfucker once played cupid for me. He helped Az to pull his head out of his ass. I’m trying to return the favor.”
I gasped, suddenly connecting the dots. “You’re the woman Reaper bruised! I was there the day Az almost killed him for it.”
She grinned. “I knew what I wanted, and Az wouldn’t give it to me even though he wanted it too.”
I studied her. “Az was scared to hurt you, said you’d been through some shit. Reaper told him you just wanted to be treated normally, not like you’re going to break.”
She sobered and nodded. “He figured out that it wasn’t the same kind of hurt.” I squeezed her hands, and she instantly lightened again. “I don’t dwell on it. I found my happily ever after. Reaper deserves that too.”
I choked on an uncomfortable laugh. “I promise you he’s not looking for happily ever after with me.” I held up my left hand to flash my ring. “And even if he were, someone already claimed my ever after.”
She grew serious again. “I was married. Before .”
That one word spoke volumes. She’d been married in the cult, probably against her will. The tension between us was at odds with so much of what was happening at the party, but no one seemed to notice or care. Intimacy seemed to be the core thing people were seeking, and the emotional intimacy we were sharing had the same charge of trust as any of the BDSM happening around us.
She nodded once like she knew I’d understood. “You’ve got the same haunted look I had when I escaped.”
I shuddered, wanting to deny it, but there was no point. “How did you stop your husband from coming after you?” I was petrified to even ask that question.
She smiled, but there was no joy in it. “I didn’t. I killed him when he did.”
I closed my eyes, trying not to think the dark thoughts that threatened to claim me. If I ever tried to run and Kevin had to hunt me down, he’d make sure everyone I cared about was collateral damage before he even caught me, which was a good reminder of why I needed to get home right away.
But I couldn’t go yet, not until Reaper said it was safe.
Something about the energy of the party shifted, like there was a crackling collective awareness, and I knew without turning to look that Reaper was descending the staircase behind us.
I held my breath, waiting for him to come over, but when minutes passed and he didn’t appear, I subtly turned to look. He’d taken his place on a throne that overlooked the dance floor. He sprawled carelessly with a leg draped over one of the arms of the chair, showing entirely too much of his thick thigh in the kilt he had on. He lounged there, tantalizing everyone with his unfathomable sex appeal, but I could tell he was tense from the set of his shoulders and the distant look on his face. He couldn’t have been less interested in where I was or what I was doing.
But maybe I could change that.
“Dance with me?” I asked Styx.
She looked from me to Reaper to the dance floor and smiled knowingly. “Let’s do it.”