Chapter 2
TWO
AIDEN
Putting more force into my kick, I knock my boot twice against the safe house’s door to let Hawk know I’m here. I drag a lungful of sweet vapor from my disposable vape and blow it out in an aggressive cloud while I wait for Hawk to answer.
Jealousy burns through my veins like a toxin I can’t find the antidote for. I thought I’d get used to this feeling by now. No matter how many times I try to get over this obsession with my sister, I can’t remove her from my system. It’s eating me alive, and I don’t know how much more I can take.
I want her, but I can’t have her.
I never settle down with anyone, preferring to keep distance between them and me. Even while I fuck them, I shy away from intimacy and anything that involves emotions. Why catch feelings for someone when they’ll end up hurting and leaving me? So I hurt and leave first.
And I can’t do that shit to Nova. She deserves someone who isn’t as broken as I am. I’d unintentionally hurt her once my brain turns off and I become distant.
Despite all my bullshit emotional baggage and knowing I’m not worthy of her, jealousy rages through me.
Some other man caught her attention.
I want her to want only me. I want her to be so fucking dependent on me she can’t sleep without having me beside her. She needs to know what it feels like to want me 24-7 and that she can’t fucking breathe without me.
I inhale another drag of the sweet vapor. The front door swings open, and Hawk waves me in.
“It's about time your annoying ass showed up,” he says. “What took you so long?”
Blowing out a cloud, I storm past him and drop onto the worn couch. A plume of dust puffs from the seats, clouding me in the aroma of old people and piss. I wrinkle my nose and scowl at the cushion beside me.
“Okay. You good, bro?” Hawk shuts the door and raises an eyebrow in my direction as he crosses the room and settles on the other end of the couch.
Taking a calming breath, I school my features and pretend everything is fine. I roll my eyes and blow a raspberry while dropping my head against the cushion. “Had to get rid of the recent fling.”
“Yeah? What did this one do?” Hawk shakes a cigarette from a pack, tucks it between his lips, then lights the end.
“Tried getting close to me and caught feelings.” The lie comes easily because it’s not something that hasn’t happened before.
He snorts a laugh and sweeps his hand through his blond hair. “They can never resist, can they?” He glances at me with a smirk. “Sorry to hear about that, man. Maybe the next one will follow your rules.”
“I won’t hold my breath.” I shrug and fish my cell phone out of my pocket. Since I’ll be here all day, babysitting our captive, I may as well entertain myself with random videos on the internet. It’s not like we can go out and find Mickey, given that the little bitch is hiding.
Hawk snickers.
I raise an eyebrow at him. “What?”
He finishes the last of his smoke and crushes the cherry end into the skull ashtray on the armrest. “What are you gonna do when you fall for someone?”
“Won’t happen,” I say, wincing at how fast I answered.
Hawk’s face breaks into a shit-eating grin.
I narrow my eyes. “I mean it. You think I want to tie myself down to one chick for the rest of my life? Pff. It’ll never happen. That shit sounds boring as fuck.”
“Never say never, bro.” He folds his arms behind his neck and stretches his legs in front of him. “One of these days, some woman will blindside you, and you’ll be eating out of her palm.”
My lips peel back in a grimace. I groan and raise my gaze to the ceiling, like it’ll lend me the patience I’m grappling for while talking about love and settling down with some chick.
The last time I tried messing around with a woman was a year and a half ago, and she turned into a raging bitch when I ended things with her.
She said she hoped I would fall in love so that I could experience the same hurt I put everyone else through.
Her words continue to haunt me, even to this day.
It’s like she knew my biggest insecurity and used it against me to make me bleed.
Since then, it’s been my left hand keeping me company.
Now look at me. Jealous and heartbroken for a girl I’ll never have.
“Fine, fine.” Hawk chortles and sweeps his fingers through his hair. “I’ll drop it but just know I’ll be here when you need a shoulder to cry on when a girl breaks your heart.”
I roll my eyes and take another hit from my vape. Not him too.
“It’ll never happen, bro. But I’m sure you’re just looking for a reason for me to run into your arms.” I smirk.
Hawk winks. “Always.”
We fall into an easy silence, and I settle into the sofa. I eye Hawk, wondering if he fully believes my initial lie about being in a foul mood.
I hate lying to my friends, but they ask too many questions sometimes. Since we were kids, we’ve never kept anything from each other. But this is the one thing I can’t open up about. I can’t tell them about my feelings for Nova. They wouldn’t understand.
Okay, maybe Jaxon would since he’s obsessed with his sister too. But I fear my obsession with Nova runs a little deeper than Jaxon’s with Dahlia.
I want to kill anyone who looks at my sister. Hell, I want to dismember men who talk to her; even just a friendly hello from them makes me murderous.
Glancing toward the empty laundry room, I say, “Is he still in there?”
He nods. “Yeah. Slowly slipping into madness. Jaxon told me to hold off on torture until he gets here. He wants Kyle to suffer.”
I hum and drum my fingers on my thighs.
“You’ve been keeping tabs on Mickey?” Hawk asks.
“Yeah. Last I checked, he’s been shadowing his father. Nothing interesting, but it’ll be a bitch trying to get him here for Hellfire Night.”
“We’ve got a month to plan this out.”
A month of stalking Mickey and figuring out how to get him chained in a room without his father and underlings searching for him. We can’t kill him or the others until Hellfire Night, when the laws won’t touch us. Until then, we have to play our cards right.
We’re already toeing the line by keeping Kyle as a prisoner. Hawk and I covered our tracks to make sure no one saw us kidnap him, but you never know when someone could become a witness by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. Once Mickey and his group of friends are dead and gone, we can move on and exist within the Exiled Society without taking any more risks.
My phone vibrates from a new message. I grin at the name.
Goddamn. I haven’t heard from Haze in a while. Ever since I helped him with an issue packaged in red hair and an attitude that would make Satan run for the hills, he’s been quieter. He keeps ditching his burner phones.
Haze
We’re in town if you feel like meeting up.
The hell are you doing here lol
Business with Charlotte’s Web. We’re following a lead about northern lights.
Damn. Is there anything you need me to help you with while you’re here?
Nah. I still owe you for your help from last time though.
Don’t worry about it, bro. I don’t mind helping out a friend.
Are you in the I Fuck My Sister Club yet? Or are you still in denial?
I have no idea what you’re talking about. But what I do know is that you’re an asshole.
Sureeee
Footsteps thump on the porch, followed by a fist banging three times on the door before it opens. Hawk and I look up as Jaxon crosses the threshold and shuts the door behind him.
“Get him in the basement,” he says. He pulls a joint from behind his ear. “I wanna have a chat with him.”