Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
AIDEN
Male screams echo through the safe house’s basement, right along with my cackles, creating a cacophony of madness and terror.
“Please,” the rider sobs. “No more!”
Jaxon sucks his teeth and leans back on his heels. He raises the pocketknife in front of him and pops the tip of the blade through an eyeball. It’s disgusting, watching him gouge out the rider’s eye and stab it through the backside with his knife.
I shudder at the wet sound and a tiny pop as the blade pierces the soft organ.
“Feel like talkin’ yet?” Hawk pushes away from the wall he’s been leaning against, blows out a cloud of smoke, and ashes his cigarette.
“Fuck you!” The rider glares at us with one eye and struggles to free himself from the chair we tied him to.
I sigh and suck on my pink-lemonade vape, then exhale the vapor. “Do you think you can die from blood loss after having your eye ripped from your skull?”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know that?” the rider growls.
I scoff. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
Jaxon considers the eyeball on his blade, then glances at the rider’s empty socket. Blood weeps from the wound and trails down his cheek. “Look it up.”
Clicking my tongue, I fish my phone out of my pocket.
“Why do you want to know?” Hawk drops the cigarette butt onto the ground.
“I just want to make sure he doesn’t keel over prematurely. Can’t get answers out of a dead man.” I shoot him a disapproving look. “Thought you knew better, bro.”
He scoffs and joins Jaxon’s side in front of the rider. “You hear that? You may die. If you tell us who the other riders are, then we’ll send you to the hospital.”
Jaxon chuckles under his breath. I’m right there with him, cracking a smile and turning my attention to my phone screen.
Yeah, we’ll send him to the hospital one way or another. No guarantee of what condition he’ll be in.
An unread message from Ryder grabs my attention.
Ryder
Have any of you seen Jaxon?
I glance at Jaxon, my eyebrows pinching together. “I think Ryder is looking for you, Jax.”
He straightens to his feet and tosses the switchblade aside. It lands with a thump against the cement floor several paces from the rider. His chest deflates, and he looks close to tears, staring at his discarded eyeball.
I grin and respond to Ryder’s text.
Sorry for the late response. We’ve been busy fucking up a rider we snatched the other night. Would have told you about it, but we wanted to give you some time to rest up.
Hawk
How you feeling, bro?
Jaxon
You good?
My notification bar lowers from the top of my screen, alerting me to a severe thunderstorm warning.
“Shit!” I stuff my phone into my pocket and dash toward the stairs. “I have to go.”
I ignore Hawk calling my name and take the steps two at a time to leave the basement. My heart pounds against my chest as I rush through the house and out the door into the pounding rain. Thunder cracks overhead at the same moment that lightning arcs through the sky.
Fuck. I didn’t realize there was a storm; otherwise, I would have left hours ago and stayed with Nova. I’m always on top of the weather, but I’ve been so fucking busy with this motherfucker who attacked my friends and me that I overlooked so much.
She’s alone. She needs me.
I crash through the front door and check the first floor for her.
“Nova?” I shout.
I race up the stairs and sprint into Nova’s bedroom. My eyes widen, and I stumble a step.
“Fuck, pretty girl,” I breathe. I cross the room in two strides to her gaming chair, where she’s curled forward with her hands pressed against her headphones over her ears. Kneeling beside her, I pause.
Nova’s breaths come out fast. Tears escape from the corners of her clenched eyes and trail down her tear-stained cheeks. She jumps and lets out a sob as thunder booms outside. Lightning flashes through the windows and illuminates the room.
I leap to my feet, flip on the lights, snap the heavy drapes over her windows to block out the lightning, then return to her side. Gently, I touch her shoulder and keep myself as small as possible so she doesn’t get spooked.
Nova’s bloodshot eyes fly open, and she lets out a strangled cry when her gaze lands on me. She flings herself against me and winds her arms and legs around me. I grunt as she strangles me from how hard she’s holding me, but I don’t give a shit. All that matters is her.
I help her to the bed and lie on my back with her lying over me like a blanket. Nova trembles and buries her face in my throat, her sobs wracking through her and into me.
“Don’t let go. Please don’t let go!” She claws my neck in her desperate attempt to hold me.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say.
She doesn’t hear me because of the music blasting through her headphones. I tighten my arms around her and kiss the top of her head before easing a muff from over her ear just enough for me to speak to her.
“Focus on my voice.” I thread my fingers through her hair.
She peeks at me through her wet lashes, her eyes unfocused and pained. I kick off my boots before covering us with her duvet. I kiss her forehead and smile at her, giving her the normal she needs to feel safe so that she can escape the past.
“Do me a favor.” I swipe my thumb under her eye to catch a tear. “Name five things you see right now.”
Her fingers dig into my chest, and she turns her head to peek around the room. Her eyes bounce back and forth as she searches for anything to list, but they’re still unfocused.
Pinching her chin between my fingers, I ease her face toward me and give her a soft smile. “You can do it, baby. What do you see?”
She swallows and lets out a shaky breath. “You.”
I nod and brush my thumb over a spot on her jaw. “What else?”
“The tattoos on your neck. Your earrings.” She swallows hard. “My pillow beneath your head. My bed.”
I smile. “Good. Now, four things you can touch.”
We go through the grounding technique until she gets to one thing she can taste. Because her gaze appears more focused and she’s no longer trembling, I lean forward and kiss her softly to help her.
Nova’s eyelashes flutter, and her cheeks pinken. “I taste you.”
I grin and wind a lock of her hair around my finger. “You did great. Stay here with me.”
She nods and buries her face in my neck. I shiver as her warm breath fans against my skin, and I focus on it, ensuring she doesn’t spiral into another panic attack. I fix the muff over her ear so she can listen to her music while the storm continues to rage outside.
I don’t know how much time passes while I hold her. My eyelids get heavy, and I fight the sleep that tries to take me under. I don’t want to pass out while I need to be here with Nova and ensure that she’s safe.
Leaning to the side, I check her face and find her passed out, lips parted with her even breaths. I relax into the pillow and rub gentle circles on her back, listening to the storm. Once it passes, I take off her headphones so she’s more comfortable.
My phone’s ringtone sets my teeth on edge, and I scramble to answer it so it doesn’t wake Nova.
“I need help cleaning up a body,” Ryder says.
“Another one?” I whisper harshly.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, man. I’ll explain when you get to my place.”
Ryder glances over his shoulder at his house, longing in his gaze.
I know that look. It’s the same one I’m sure I have whenever I want to be near Nova.
Now that we’ve disposed of his stepfather and Madison’s ex-fiancé, Ryder would rather be with her instead of standing outside with the rest of us.
I don’t blame him, because I’d prefer to be with Nova right now, holding her and watching her sleep.
I shouldn’t be surprised that another friend is in love with his sister. Jaxon was the first, Ryder is now open about his relationship, and I’ve secretly been with my foster sister.
I eye Hawk.
Is he next? Will he admit that he’s been in the I fuck my sister club too?
Sensing my stare, his gaze slips to me, and he cocks his head. “You good, bro?”
I blink and blow a raspberry, playing off the fact that I just got caught staring at him. “Yeah. Zoning out, and you happened to be the first thing my gaze landed on.”
He smirks and covers his chest where his heart is. “Aw, you just like looking at me.”
I snicker. “Always.”
“I need to go back inside with Madison,” Ryder says. “But you guys need to know that this isn’t the end of it. Jerry and Justin were working together, and I think Justin’s uncle, whoever he is, is also involved. Until we find out who is behind all of this, we need to be careful.”
“Declan is still on the mend, and it’ll be a while before we can get clearer pictures of the car and license plate,” Hawk says, followed by a frustrated sigh. “I’d get it myself, but he keeps important shit locked up.”
Ryder nods. “So I guess we’ll wait until then.”
We part ways, and by the time I return to Nova’s bedroom, I’m dragging ass and it feels like my chest is being crushed by the thorny vines.
I kick off my boots, strip to my boxers, and climb behind Nova on the bed. Curling my body against hers, I bury my face in her shoulder and find sleep.