Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
AIDEN
Days have gone by in a blur of lust and blood.
He cuts me then he fucks me. He cleans me then he falls asleep wrapped around me. He breaks me down every hour that passes, nurturing that growing need inside me for his wickedness. It’s like time is such a fleeting concept. Lost in the darkness of his room, fed only by his hand, and he’s become my entire world.
I’ve had thoughts of escaping, of trying my luck out in the gated community, but rational thought takes over. It’s not just Levi I have to worry about but his brothers too. I have no idea how I would get past a house full of psychos and, even if I did, the cult’s reach spans through Juniper Ridge. I’m not sure there’s many places I could go on this island where I wouldn’t be found.
So, every day, I let my future killer into my body and wait for death.
We’re lying in bed post-fuck, his softening cock still in my ass, giving me a gentle thrust every few minutes. I feel every raised scar on his chest against my back, his even breaths guiding me to sleep. I’m almost halfway there until there’s a knock on the door.
Levi grumbles and pulls out of me slowly, his cum leaking out of my sore hole as he kisses my shoulder before getting up. He doesn’t bother with clothing and goes to the door, swinging it open with an irritated huff, revealing Gore on the other side.
“What?” he snaps, shifting to block me from Gore’s view when he tries to crane his neck to see in. “I’m busy.”
“Did you forget what day it is?” Gore asks, ignoring his hostility. He manages to peek at me from over Levi’s shoulder and waves. “Hi, bounty!”
I flush, pulling the covers over my naked body. “Um, hi.”
“It’s movie night,” he says, pouting when Levi slaps the side of his head. “Ow, that was uncalled for.”
“Don’t look at him when he’s naked,” Levi barks. “He doesn’t like it.”
Gore wrinkles his nose. “It’s a body? What’s not to like?”
Despite myself, a small chuckle escapes me. I gather the covers around my shoulders and walk to the door. “Movie night?”
“A family tradition, bounty,” Gore cheers, showing me the popcorn in his hand as proof. “And it’s my turn to pick tonight!”
Levi scoffs. “We’re not watching that ridiculous movie again.”
“But it’s Bel’s favorite! I don’t think you understand. They found love through BDSM! What’s better than that?”
“Anything, Gore. Literally anything.”
I observe the two bickering brothers carefully. It’s unusual to see Levi being so… normal. If it weren’t for the general air of uneasiness that seems to hover around them, these could just be two ordinary brothers, not the batshit lunatics I know them to be. I find myself growing more and more curious. “Movie night sounds fun.”
They both turn to look at me. Gore with an expression of amusement and Levi in confusion.
“Well, duh, you’re invited,” Gore says. “Bel even had Gerald make some of his red velvet cupcakes. I swear, they might be better than sex.”
“A worthy praise coming from you,” Levi snickers. He eyes me carefully. “You really want to go watch a movie with them?”
I shrug. I shouldn’t want to, but I do. I’ve been trapped in this room for God knows how long. It’s not like I’m going to plot my escape—there’s no point—but now that I know my days are limited, I might as well have some fun. “Sure.”
Levi worries the inside of his cheek. After a second, he brushes his thumb against the duct-taped bridge of my glasses and nods. “If that’s what you want.” He places a hand on Gore’s chest and shoves him back. “We’ll be down in a minute.”
Gore jumps in excitement, a piece of popcorn flying up to hit his face. “Awesome! Hurry before we start without you two!”
“So, movie night?” I ask as we start to get dressed. “Seems…”
“Weird as fuck?” He snorts, throwing on a pair of ripped jeans. “It is, but we started it as children, and Mammon insisted we keep it going. Some bullshit about the bounds of brotherhood overcoming all. I don’t know.”
I snort, pulling a shirt over my head. “That’s sweet, I guess.”
He walks over with a pair of sweats and forces me to sit. He kneels, lifting one of my feet, and slipping the pant leg up my calf. “Looks can be deceiving, little lamb.”
Says the man who’s dressing you like a toddler.
“What do you mean?” I ask, lifting my butt so he can pull my sweats over my hips, until it hits me. “It is just a movie night, right? You aren’t going to drink the blood of a newborn, right?”
He laughs as if I’m kidding.
“My brothers are all twisted fucks,” he explains, running his hands up and down my thighs. “Asi doesn’t like to admit it, but he gets off on torture. Gore will tear your tongue out with his bare hands and laugh. Mammon will bash your skull in without a second thought. Bel once even…” He shakes his head. “My point is to not get comfortable around them. They’re all monsters.”
I gulp, already regretting accepting the invite. “But then what are you?”
He smirks, the scar on his top lip stretching as he presses his forehead against mine. “I’m your monster, little lamb. I staked my claim with my cum, my piss, my spit, and my blood. They’re going to have to kill me to get my prey.”
And, for some reason, I believe him. It’s like out in the wilderness when an animal grows protective of his hunt. He fights off others who try to reap the rewards of his hard work, nips and snarls when they try to take his dinner.
I’m Levi’s because no one else is allowed to kill me but him.
“Okay,” I whisper, nodding as he presses a quick kiss to my lips. “I’ll stay by you.”
He must like the way those words sound because one of those rare smiles—one that actually looks relatively human—makes its way to his lips. He takes my hand and helps me up, not bothering to throw on a shirt as we make our way out of his room and down the stairs. Instead of going to the living room, he takes me down another flight of equally opulent stairs to what I assume is the basement.
It’s… interesting here, to say the least. It’s more of a modernized dungeon than anything else. And?—
Are those sex toys on the wall?
I fixate on them just a bit too much as Levi drags me over to the edge of the circular couch that sits in the center of the room in front of a large flat screen television.
“Hey, bounty!” Gore says through a mouthful of pretzels, my cat nestled contently on his lap. “You’re just in time!”
The image of him pulling out my tongue flashes through my mind as I sit down beside him. “Yeah, thank you for the invite. You can call me Aiden.” When he raises a brow at me, I stutter. “I—Well—Only if you want, I mean.”
Gore turns to Bel with near watery eyes. “I want one.”
“You already killed yours,” Bel teases, petting his cheek, then Zeus. “We’ll find you a cute bunny or something to squeeze until it chokes later.”
Suddenly the fact that my cat is lying on Gore’s lap no longer seems pleasant and cute.
“Cupcake?” Levi holds a red velvet cupcake up to my lips, nearly smacking me in the face with it, and I furrow my brows at the near deadly irritation in his eyes.
Gore must know what that means because he starts to laugh. “Calm down, Levi. We were just talking.”
“You took his attention from me,” Levi says plainly, wrapping a hand around my hip until I’m plastered to his side. “I don’t like it.”
I wonder if he knows what it sounds like when he says things like that. It’s not romantic, no matter how much my stomach wants to flutter pleasantly at his words. It’s like a child with a new toy, unwilling to share, and ready to throw a tantrum when it gets taken away. I’m a possession to him.
But then why do I turn and kiss his cheek, running my hand down his scarred back until he relaxes again?
“What movie did you end up picking?” I ask Gore, taking a bite of cupcake that Levi feeds me. And, fuck me, Gore wasn’t kidding. It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted.
“The new home invasion movie that just came out,” he says, flipping to the movie’s thumbnail on the screen. There’s three masked figures on the cover, each holding a weapon, with a crying couple in the corner. “I’m hoping?—”
“They never decide to kill themselves in the end,” Bel jokes, cutting him off.
Gore pouts. “One day they will and you’ll owe me a blowjob.”
I chuckle at their antics, but it turns into a cough when Mammon and Asi walk in. Asi has his head bent over a sketchbook, not bothering to watch where he’s going as he sits down on the other end of the couch and props his feet on the center table.
Mammon, on the other hand, looks anything but pleased.
“What’s he doing here?” he asks, his voice a chilling whisper that carries so much authority.
Levi doesn’t even flinch at his tone and feeds me another piece of cupcake that I practically choke on. “He wanted to watch the movie with us.”
Mammon’s stare stays drilled on me as he sits next to Asi, elbowing his brother harshly until he looks up. There’s a brief flicker of surprise in his dark eyes, a moment of curiosity, until he shrugs. “Whatever.”
“Welp, as usual, Daddy’s made this awkward,” Bel jokes, crawling on his knees over Gore to reach Mammon. He knocks Zeus out of place gracelessly and the murder in my cat’s eyes in near hilarious. “Calm down. It’s just a movie. Maybe we can all roleplay later and he’ll let us tie him up?”
Levi throws a pillow at him. “You’re not tying him up, you sick fuck.”
“Please,” Gore snorts. “As if you haven’t thought about it.”
“Let’s just watch the movie,” Mammon says, pushing Bel until he sprawls on Gore’s lap. “Asi, get the lights.”
Asi sighs in something resembling boredom, but does as Mammon asks. The room is cloaked in darkness, save for the logo of the production company on the screen. Even in the dark, the sharp outline of Mammon staring at me is hard to miss. It’s a calculating gaze that makes my knees shake. Not like he’s trying to intimidate me but something more sinister. Like he’s breaking me down—calculating—and planning something only he can understand.
But then Levi lays down on my chest and places one of my hands on the crown of his head, silently instructing me to pet him. He snuggles close to me, but it’s not close enough for him, and only a few minutes later, he’s pulling up my shirt and latching his teeth around my nipple, absentmindedly sucking as he watches the movie.
So, I just pet him, trying to ignore the splotchy redness that flushes my neck when Mammon still watches me. I try to focus on the movie, on the way Bel and Gore throw popcorn at the screen and heckle when the heroes try to find a weapon, and on the way Asi’s interest is caught when a nail goes through the woman’s hand in an attempt to escape.
I try to focus on Levi and the way he’s clinging to me, the little chuckles that leave him when the killer’s manage to catch the couple, and the way he throws his leg over my hip because he still just can’t get close enough.
And when I finally say fuck it, letting myself escape in the madness of it all, I cheer along with the rest of them when the villains win.