14. XIV
XIV
Spencer
M icah took the lead, negotiating with Aster for the potential of a future alliance. I hardly paid attention, too distracted to be any semblance of help anyway, Echo taking up every lingering concentration that I could gather.
My eyes bore into his as he attempted to take hold of his composure, the shock value of me surviving his attack purely euphoric—nearly as euphoric as my last orgasm that he’d thoroughly coerced out of me…before pushing me to the brink of death.
I’m wet just thinking about it.
Micah paused mid-sentence, glaring in my direction. I lifted my brows at her expression, unsure what part of the plan we were up to. I’d done my part. It was her turn.
Before I could reflect further, her attention flicked to Echo, gaze narrowing into a critical glare.
Shit. Since Tanner was there, she couldn’t access her Variant, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t astute enough to pick up on my peculiar mood. I had to taper down my obsession, or my siblings would surely gut him alive, laying his pulseless corpse before me.
Again, another image I’m not entirely averse to.
Tanner intervened, picking up on the conversation where Micah filtered off. “We have a mutual goal: the end of Ludus Maximus and Khaos. Our proposition is to work together in order to achieve this.”
Aster’s beady red orbs scrutinised our small group before returning to me. I didn’t know why, but her stare was penetrating, severely probing.
It wasn’t uncomfortable. I was used to people’s interest. But her perusal didn’t feel sexual—more like she was searching for something deeper than face value. The snobby bitch had me intrigued, I had to give her that.
After a contemplative beat, she licked her lips, giving us her verdict. “How can I trust you?”
Emerson stood taller as if her short ass could be more intimidating. Despite her delicate stature, they’d be fools to underestimate her based on physical attributes alone. She’d carve them up before they even processed they were bleeding out.
“Trust that we came out of hiding,” Emerson said, tone scathing. “Relinquished our identities to give you a fighting chance against them.”
Aster perked an eyebrow. “Who is propositioning who here?”
I tsked. “I’ve already saved your life once, old girl. Don’t make me rescind my token of good faith.”
Aster’s brows spiked as she turned to Echo accusingly, and I chuckled. “Oh, your precious sidekick wasn’t too forthcoming about that scenario, huh?”
Echo’s lips opened to spit some venom. “I wasn’t forthcoming about Appleberry, either, but since you want to take credit for everything.”
It was the first time he’d addressed me in front of others, and he seemed pissed that he had to stoop to that level at all. Little did he know, he was on whatever fucking level I put him on. Dead or alive, I fucking own him now.
Aster huffed, pale face reddening to match her lips and nails. “You’re the waitress?”
I winked. “More than a waitress.”
“You brought this down on my head!”
“If you mean I brought forward the inevitable, yes. Unless you did plan on bending over and taking Khaos’ dick like a well-trained slut?”
Echo growled in warning, and I sent him an air kiss for additional foreplay.
Aster pursed her lips, unimpressed. “Alliance with the common goal to destroy Ludus Maximus and Khaos? Only under one condition. I’ll require insurance, something for safekeeping to ensure your loyalty.”
Micah cut in, annoyance lacing her tone. “What are you asking for?”
“Something precious. Something you hold dear.”
“We’re not materialistic,” Emerson said, her tone innocent and convincing. She was good because we all knew that was a blatant lie.
Then, the mistress of Vice dropped the bombshell, her final request. “How about one of you?” Aster asked, her prissy voice bouncing off the tomb walls, as cold as the atmosphere.
Micah’s body tensed, fucking seething, and Psycho approached her back, making his presence known. Emerson scoffed, and Tanner folded his arms in an unrelenting stance.
Echo shook his head like the whole notion was ridiculous, which tipped me over the edge. I’d just found the best kindling to pay the motherfucker back.
Before the idea even took fruition, I bounced off the marble grave of some random Kelly and pronounced the commencement of our alliance.
“Deal.” That one word sealed my fate.
“Deal,” Aster snapped back before anyone else could get a word in, her mouth lifting into a winning grin.
“Cut the fuckin?—”
“Shit, Spenc?—”
“This is stupi?—”
All three Kings interrupted.
Micah turned full-bodied to me, exposing her back for the split second it took Psycho to cover it. His frame was remorseless as he stood front and centre to protect us while my siblings crowded closer and quite literally cussed me out.
Aster piped up, her shrill voice refusing not to be heard. “You will live in my apartment building. Prime real estate in Junction City. You will be kept safe, and all your needs will be catered for.”
Stars literally shone in my eyes . “Now I’m definitely not refusing,” I whispered to my sisters and brother.
Tanner stood beside me, fingers digging into his forehead as if to rid himself of a deep-seated headache. “We can’t guarantee your safety there, Spence.”
Echo pulled on Aster’s arm, aggressively convincing her otherwise, denying my presence in his precious Serpents Row. That coward had another thing coming if he thought he could dictate my fate ever again .
With dramatic flair, I laid a palm over my lower abdomen, attention only spared for the man who tried to kill me. “Where else would I be safer? Besides being with my baby’s father? Congrats, Daddy. ”
All eyes succinctly lowered to my hand, and Psycho released a disbelieving laugh. “Oh, fu?—”
Triumph warmed my very being as I watched absolute terror take over Echo’s features. Then, the whole fucking place imploded with technicoloured madness.
ECHO
All manner of thought and reason flitted down to my gut, which was about to fall out of my ass all over the fucking floor.
I was dizzy, damn light-headed.
I’d well and truly lost the plot. First step to psychosis: Hallucinate the ghost of your greatest desire. Second step: That same ghost tells you they’re pregnant.
No doubt about it. My mind finally fractured over all the bullshit I’d put it through, turning me insane.
Daddy?
That one disastrous word echoed through my brain before I could process a solid fist aimed for my face. The handsome stranger didn’t quite make contact as Psycho intervened, dragging him back while he cackled. “ There’s the dangerous Pretty Boy I missed. I thought you’d lost your mojo, Tanner.”
Tanner’s unassuming persona had disappeared, an air of dangerous peril permeating from his pores. If I were anyone else, his expression alone would have had me whimpering on my knees.
I raised my gun, aiming directly between his eyes. “Back the fuck up, Pretty Boy. ” I tried to infuse my Variant into the statement…which failed to trigger.
My skin prickled with caution as my ability withered alongside my ego. Tanner gave a sinister smirk, realising just as fast as me that I was entirely useless. He shook Psycho off, and his legs tensed, ready to strike.
Why waste my time on fighting when one gunshot from me could end all this in an instant?
My tunnel vision faltered when a beacon of seductress red and black pulled on Tanner’s shoulder, positioning herself in front of him, directly in line to receive my bullet.
It felt as if the world had ceased its spinning, stuck on its axis, awaiting the inevitable showdown between us.
“Go on,” Spencer said. “Do it then.” There were all manner of curse words and grumbles spat in the background, but none of it filtered through. My sole, undivided focus was isolated on her— Spencer King.
My muscles remained tense, on the brink of spasming from the tight hold I held my weapon…directly trained on her face.
That exquisite, soul-destroying face.
Cool, rigid fingers laced over my forearm, coercing the limb downwards until the barrel was aimed towards the floor—gun shaking, hand quivering, body fucking trembling.
Aster released me from her hold. “It’s true, then? There’s no room for dispute? That’s your baby?”
I sputtered, trying to formulate actual words. “It’s barely been a week. She can’t possibly?—”
“It is possible. You came inside me, didn’t you?” Spencer taunted. She was playing with me, mirth and amusement dancing in her eyes.
“What do you want?” I asked, desperate to hear her answer even though I wasn’t sure about what I wanted that to be.
“Justice,” she said, spoken like a vow of vengeance.
I didn’t reply, my resounding silence condemning me to a guilty verdict and lifelong sentence. Spencer was going to destroy me, and she wanted me to see it coming.
We sat in the back of Aster’s bulletproof car, Spencer sitting across from us, a stark grin plastered over her smug face as if the whole scenario was amusing.
After some well-placed threats from her family and a few more negotiations, we’d made it out of Nightingale Cemetery without another death to tally onto Eternal Nights. I was still reeling, unsure how to process the turn of events.
“If you don’t stop staring, I’m going to get ideas, Mistress ,” Spencer said in a flirtatious tone.
Aster hadn’t taken her eyes off Spencer since we left. I knew something was brewing in that witch brain of hers. “I’ll assign you a personal bodyguard to ensure your protection at all times.”
“I don’t need one,” Spencer said, tilting her chin in my direction. “He’s the one who’ll need protection from me .” She finished with a chuckle, the cadence sending a shiver up my spine.
“That’s unfortunate,” Aster said. “Since he is your bodyguard.”
I blanched, and Spencer scoffed.
We arrived back in Serpents Row, pulling up outside our apartment building. Aster exited the car, and as I went to follow, I was shoved against the back seat, the passenger door slammed and locked for good measure.
Spencer straddled my waist, the cool metal of my gun shoved beneath my chin as her sweet breath fanned my face. I had no idea how she got her hands on my pistol, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. My flesh sparked with sensitivity, the blissed contact of her body near unbearable.
“Just in case you didn’t pick up on my not-so-subtle hints back there,” she said, slowly tracking the barrel down my chest. “You’re going to fall in love with me, Echo. I’m going to be so ingrained in your life that you won’t be able to escape me. You won’t be able to help it. And when you get comfortable, when you finally relax enough to let your walls down and become vulnerable, that’s when I’ll attack. I’m going to destroy you from the inside out, take everything of worth. Then, I’ll remind you of this very moment.” Spencer fully surrendered her weight onto me, causing my cock to harden between us.
The concoction of her alluring voice, that addictive scent and the risk of my deadly weapon in her hands caused pre-cum to bead over my tip, staining the material of my pants.
I knew her threat was legitimate, that I should be cautious in how I moved forward. However, my body didn’t seem to get the memo.
Instead of resisting, I grabbed her hips and ground upwards, stroking against her sensitive centre. Her breath shortened and pupils dilated—she felt it, too, and couldn’t resist the pull… Just like me .
“Too late, Ghost . I’m already inside you, remember? You came back from the dead, for me. You want me… need me.”
“You think I need you?” she asked, cocking her head while lowering the pistol until it was shoved aggressively against my dick.
If she doesn’t stop, I am definitely going to blow.
“Then why the fuck are you here?!” I seethed, attempting to shake out of my lustful stupor as my hips gyrated faster, refusing to listen to my demands.
Spencer released a reluctant moan before growling in frustration. “You’ve been warned. I will be your end, Echo .”
My name… My fucking name on her lips. An unpredictable aphrodisiac that stimulated my desire to the precipice of orgasm.
Bang.
I blinked. Then blinked again.
I felt the jolt of a bullet being released between my legs, followed by the undeniable smell of a fired gun.
Spencer had already escaped through the door, which she left open in her dash for escape, leaving me with her blasted words. “I want my knife back, too, asshole!”
Fuck. Of course she had noticed my chest holster that housed her knife—the weapon I’d stolen and stabbed her with.
True, I was all the way fucked up, but I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. The only thing I had of her. And now she knew I kept it.
Fine, I lost that round.
As she sauntered into the lobby, my head fell back against the headrest as I tracked her, that perfect ass and sublime body haunting me in a wholly different way.
Hesitantly, I peeked down. My groin was saturated with both mine and her desire. No matter Spencer’s denial or threats, she fucking wanted me. But that wasn’t what gave me pause. There was a steaming hole engraved into the upholstery where I sat, directly in line with my softening cock.
“Are you hurt, sir?” Ralph, my doorman asked, popping his head in the car with a concerned expression.
I ran a hand down my face, stuck contemplating if Spencer missed on purpose or not.
How do I survive this woman? And do I want to?
The elevator carried us to my apartment, directly below Aster’s penthouse. As her second-in-command, the close location was convenient and easily accessible, making both our lives easier.
Until the double doors opened to my white marble foyer, and Aster directed Spencer out alongside me.
I barred the entryway with a solid arm, not that Spencer gave a fuck. She bypassed my barrier like child’s play and made herself at home in my apartment, scoping like she owned the damn place.
My gaze narrowed on Aster, who remained in the open elevator, face rigid and unwavering.
“Nah, nah, nah. She’s going with you. She is not staying here.”
Aster raised a brow. “It’s time to take care of your responsibilities, Echo.”
I growled—legitimately fucking growled at my mistress. Her expectations were too much, her faith in me too high.
“What did she mean by she saved my life?” Aster asked.
“Devil’s Flower, the assassination attempt at Playhouse.”
Aster inclined her head, typing away on her phone. “You won’t touch a single fucking hair on her head, understood? You will protect her above all else. If anything happens to her, I will kill you myself.”
“Yes, Mummm ,” I snarked back. If only she knew her command was unnecessary.
Heat was creeping over my skin, I wouldn’t have been surprised if steam began puffing out of my ears.
“I’m sending you for a medical check-up.”
“What for? I’m not the one who needs a doctor.” Shit . I know Spencer was fucking with us earlier, but what if she actually did get pregnant? Nausea churned low in my gut at the possibility.
“Because I thought I taught you better than this,” Aster seethed. “Never go bare with fucking anyone. Always use protection. Now, who knows what you’ve passed onto that poor girl.”
Spencer was many things, but “ poor girl” wasn’t a description I would assign to her.
I backed away from the elevator. “Cancel the appointment, Aster. I haven’t passed on anything besides my DNA.”
“The amount of people you’ve fucked?—”
I shook my head. “And I followed your advice. Except for her, there has been no one else.”
Aster opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, I shook my head again and repeated my admitted defeat. “ There is no one else .”
Aster’s eyes flared with understanding before leaving me to the consequences of my actions. Despite the absolute craziness of the situation, unwarranted warmth saturated my insides. I buried it deep, submerged in the innermost recesses of myself where I couldn’t hope—couldn’t let the toxic attachment grow.
Aster needn’t worry about her safety. Spencer was alive and thriving when, hours before, I’d thought she was dead. To know she was in my home, sharing my space, under my protection…
I was incapable of hurting her or being away from her—a deathly weakness I was loath to admit for the sole reason of her being astutely right.
Spencer will be my end.