Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Frankie
T here is a scene from Gone with the Wind that I never really understood until this moment.
In it, we see a pissed-off Scarlet being carted upstairs by a belligerent Rhett.
We then see her in bed the next morning, happy as a clam as she hums a little song and fiddles with her hair or her nightgown or something.
I always wondered what he did to change her mood, how throwing her around like that would be something to soothe her instead of angering her further.
As I munch on strips of bacon in bed the morning after a night of being bossed around, I get it.
We’ve hardly slept, yet I’ve never felt more refreshed or at peace. The late-night hours were spent exploring this new and violent territory, and sleep seemed less important than chasing the next orgasm. I’m sore, but I’m satisfied in a way I’ve never known before.
“Was that the first time?” I ask Maverick as he swallows some orange juice.
His eyebrows rise. “First time . . . ?”
“Getting hard without getting hurt.”
“Yes. But it was also my first time taking charge like that. Maybe it’s the control I needed...”
I point at him with another strip of bacon. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. Whatever psychological wound you have, it centers on needing either pain or control to achieve an erection. But hey, at least you have options now.”
“Not when I masturbate. What am I supposed to do, boss my dick around? I already choke the shit out of it.”
I nearly spit orange juice when I see how serious he is.
“Are you okay after last night?” he asks. “We didn’t really talk about any of that beforehand, and then we both crashed, so I didn’t exactly handle the aftercare very well either.”
I pin him with a deadpan stare. “Thank you for checking in, but I’d like to think that the explosive orgasms would have been a sign that I was great with it.”
“Is it . . . something you’d like to do again?”
Could his anxiety be any more adorable?
I push my plate aside and crawl closer to him. “It’s something I’d very much like to do again. Maybe even right now.”
He grips the back of my head and pulls my hair. “Say less.”
His mouth moves to my throat, where he nips the sensitive skin. My pussy is so sore already, but I can sit on an ice pack later. I need to make up for lost time—all the years spent denying myself the wonders of a skilled and rough lover.
Someone knocks on the door, and we stare at each other as a silent message passes between us: Let them knock . I pull his hand to my breast as his mouth dips to my collarbone.
Knock, knock, knock .
We quietly groan and put some space between us. As I smooth the wrinkles in my night shirt, he goes to the door. It creaks open, and Eve rushes into the room. Oblivious, she plops down on the bed and plucks a strip of bacon from my plate.
“Pork?” she asks as she sniffs the strip.
I nod, and she takes a bite.
“Sorry. I made the mistake of trying Chef’s special this morning.
” She grimaces, then shoves the rest of the bacon strip into her mouth.
“Needless to say, I’m fucking starving now.
Work keeps me on a strict diet, so I only get to eat whatever I want on these retreats, and acid-tenderized federal agent ain’t it. ”
“He served the guy I?—”
Eve nods at me and reaches for the toast on my plate. “You don’t mind, do you?”
I genuinely don’t, so I push the plate closer to her. “Knock yourself out.”
She grabs the little pot of jam and slathers some on the toast. “And yes, Chef Maurice served the guy you killed as our breakfast. When we asked if it’s even safe to eat meat that’s been soaking in fucking sulfuric acid, he assured us it was properly rinsed.”
“I wouldn’t have taken that chance either,” Maverick says.
Eve glances around. “Did you guys get a bottle of Bollinger? I want to make a mimosa.”
“You don’t want our Bollinger,” I say as I share a look with Maverick. “It’s tainted.”
“Shit, if y’all were in here doing the nasty with a bottle of vintage, you’ve been hanging around with Bennett too long. Food is for eating, not fucking.”
“We definitely weren’t fucking it,” Maverick mutters.
I explain what happened last night with Amber and Ice Pick.
“Damn, I hate that for Ice.” Eve grabs a napkin and cleans the jam and toast crumbs from her fingers. “Are you guys coming to the event this morning? That’s the reason I stopped by, despite also raiding your pantry.”
“What’s the event?” I ask, excitement thrumming inside me. I only have a few days left to explore this new murderous side of myself, and I want to make the most of it.
Maverick’s hand lands on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Didn’t you say you wanted to stay in the room today?”
Eve scoffs and rises to stand. “You can dick her down later, lover boy. Jim set up a beach relay race, and you aren’t fucking up our all-girls team this time. Cat and Kindra already planned our outfits, and I approved them.” She looks me in the eye. “You ready to kick their asses, honey?”
“Born ready.” I smirk at Maverick, but he looks less than enthused. I turn back to Eve. “I’ll be there. Just tell me where and when.”
She glances at the clock above the bathroom doorway. “We have to be on deck in an hour, so the sooner you get to Kindra’s room, the better. Maverick needs to go to Cat’s room to meet with the?—”
“I’m not going.”
Eve and I turn to look at him, both of us shocked.
“What the fuck do you mean? Yes you are.” Eve folds her arms over her chest and pops out her hip. “Me, Kindra, Cat, and Frankie. Aven, Ezra, Bennett, and you. That’s the way this works, and you don’t have a choice in the matter.”
I place a hand on Eve’s shoulder. “Give me a second to talk to him. I’ll meet you in Kindra’s room shortly.”
With an exasperated sigh, Eve agrees and tells me Kindra’s room number. I walk her to the door, then return to Maverick. He sits on the edge of the bed as he twirls a bit of ripped napkin between his fingers. I take a seat beside him and place my hand on his knee.
“Hey, what’s bugging you?” I ask.
He shakes his head and keeps twirling the napkin.
“Talk to me. I can’t very well help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”
With a sigh, he finally looks at me. “ You are what’s wrong, sweetheart. We’re changing you, and I don’t want you to return from this trip disliking who you’ve become. Killing people and having fun doing it... This isn’t who you are. This is who we are.”
“Maybe this is who I’ve been all along.”
He looks away from me, the fight gone from his eyes.
His mouth opens, then closes, and he shakes his head.
“I’m not going to the relay race, Frankie, and I don’t think you should either.
You’re making a mistake. Please...stay here with me.
You can justify the other kills you’ve made here, but you can’t justify what you’ll be expected to do today. ”
“I’ll learn to live with it.” Frustration bubbles over, and I stand and head for the door before I say something I’ll regret. I exit the cabin without so much as a look over my shoulder.
He’ll either show up or he won’t, but I’m gonna be there.
Sand squishes through my toes as I walk along the shore. The boat that dropped us off speeds away to pick up the next group of participants, its engine buzzing like billions of pissed-off mosquitos. Kindra bends at the waist and snags a shell from the oncoming tide.
“It’s got the perfect little hole,” she says as she holds it up to the sunshine, and she’s right. A circular area has been worn through the flat shell.
Eve laughs and looks at me. “I know someone else who has the perfect little hole.”
“Eve!” I swat her arm. “What the fuck do you mean by that?”
She points down the beach, and I follow her gaze until my eyes land on a small group of men. Maverick stands among them.
“You convinced him to come when he didn’t want to,” Eve says. “I know him well enough to know that’s saying something. Maverick says what he means, and if he didn’t want to come, he wouldn’t have. Not without some serious convincing.”
“I didn’t use any of my holes this time,” I say. “I don’t think it’s that serious, though. Maybe he just had a bad case of FOMO.”
Kindra pulls off her necklace and runs the slender chain through the hole in the shell, turning it into a charm to accompany the silver hand-shaped charm already dangling from her neck.
She grips the silver hand and gives it a shake.
“These men show their affection in weird ways. Ezra proposed with a disembodied hand inside a pumpkin.”
“Bennett tried to make my life a living hell because he had a crush on me. Then he shoved a turkey leg in my ass.” Cat shrugs. “Maverick showed up because he’s got it bad, girl. Just accept it.”
As we dressed in our matching outfits—purple crop tops, black fingerless gloves, skin-tight black shorts—I explained Maverick’s reluctance to join us.
I didn’t include the details about why, though.
Specifically, the facts surrounding my employment and that Maverick doesn’t want me to lose myself.
Friendships haven’t come easy in my life, and I really like these girls.
If they find out I’m a fed, I’ll lose their trust. I’ll have to tell them eventually, just not right now.
“So, what are we doing today?” I look down the beach, but I don’t see any event stations. The Cattle aren’t even present.
“Enjoying being on solid ground.” Cat flops down in the sand. “I couldn’t care less what the rest of the day entails. Just leave me on the beach.”
Kindra smiles and rolls her eyes. “It’s a relay race. That’s all we know. If it’s like the Olympics on the island, we’ll take turns killing Cattle. Just be forewarned that things aren’t always what they seem.”
“What do you mean?”
“You might see a chainsaw, only to grab it and discover it doesn’t have any gas,” Cat says.