Chapter Nineteen #2
He’s not on the first or second floor which means he’s probably on the fourth floor. The VIP floor. Where everyone from the bouncers to the wait staff look the other way.
When I step onto the third floor, the most cliché thing happens to me.
I’m looking around, trying to find that mask and when I do, dark hazel eyes find me over the throngs of sweaty, dancing bodies.
Time slows, my heart beats wildly in my chest as he takes a puff from his cigar and tilts his head back, the smoke rising with the steam coming from the dancefloor, adding to the smokey atmosphere that smells of drugs, sex, and sweet, delicious sin.
Fuck.
He lifts a brow, that sexy fucking smirk on his face. I inhale, trying to get a sense of what I’m feeling as he stands to greet me.
“There you are.” His voice is lower than it was in the car.
God, those fucking lips.
“Here I am.”
He hands me a drink, a little watered down but that’s fine.
“Your friend?” I ask when I realize he’s alone. Has he been waiting for me?
“Never showed,” he replies with a shrug, taking a sip from his drink.
It takes everything in me not to grin as wide as I want to. “Lucky me.”
“Lucky you,” he repeats and he steps back into a darker, more secluded area, ordering himself another drink. I step a little closer to him. He smells absolutely divine with undertones of… a female perfume. Except, when I get a little too close, he tenses.
“I never thought you swung for the other team.” Which is the truth. Then again, he’s probably just better at keeping secrets than others. Like myself.
He smirks and leans away from me, taking that delicious scent with him. “I bat for one and occasionally bat for the other when the need strikes.”
Occasionally? I ponder that over the last of my drink.
I set the drink down, running my finger over that plump bottom lip of his, I bet it tastes like watermelon.
If I bite into it, would it burst all over my tongue?
Fuck I wanna watch him bite into it while I have him on his back, rutting into him.
“Prove it.” I challenge. I want this man to kiss me.
I want to forget about being ignored. I want to forget about burying my cousin only hours ago.
I want this man to devour me, my cock. I want to watch mine disappear into his muscular ass…
Except when I ask him to prove it, an older man, wearing a mask that matches his comes up behind him. “There you are baby. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I thought you decided not to show up.”
Jonas looks stunned. He turns his head, and the older, greying Frenchman grabs his throat from behind in the most possessive hold I’ve ever seen.
Jonas opens his mouth in surprise and the older man attacks his mouth, a peek at his strong tongue dives into his mouth, raw.
Primal. Claiming. Jonas relaxes into his hold while silver eyes that remind me of melting glaciers hold my gaze.
When he finally releases Jonas, they both seem in a daze. “What are you doing here, amour?” Love . That’s his love. Jonas has a boyfriend . A hot, older boyfriend. Not a Raven. Is she a front?
“I see you’re making friends without me. Did you tell him about our petit déesse ?”
Our?
Jonas blushes the most adorable shade of pink. “I hadn’t gotten there yet.”
“Your girlfriend? Both of yours?” Shit that’s fucking hot. Jonas is just full of surprises. Wait, do they share Raven? Could I fuck Jonas and kidnap her while they slept? Take her back to Father, where she belongs. Sure, I’d probably have to knock her out and she’d wake up disoriented…
“Oui. I fuck her and she watches while he’s getting fucked.” He says so fucking casually like it’s the most natural thing in the world. I don’t care to fuck Raven but… Jonas? Does he ever fuck Jonas while Jonas fucks Raven? “It’s very… comment dit-on… amusant?”
“ Fun .” I rasp, my cock thickening in my slacks. The Frenchman’s hand goes from around Jonas’ waist down to his waistband and untucks his shirt in a movement so smooth, it looks so natural, so normal between them .
“Oui. Fun .” The Frenchman agrees with a chuckle that sends chills down my spine and straight to my balls.
Suddenly I’m curious. “Is she here?”
He shakes his head, taking a closer step to me and tugs on my tie. Fuck he smells even better than Jonas. “Non. She had to work and went straight to Hotel De Novo.”
I look over Jonas, “Is that why you said you’d see me around later?”
Jonas nods.
I look back at the Frenchman that looks like he fucks with precision. Like he’d know just how to make me cum in less than five minutes and then laugh at how fast he made me orgasm. Fuck I need that. To cum and without thoughts of Axel plaguing me.
“Do you touch?” I ask in French, a heavy, relaxed feeling settling over me.
Frenchie gets so close to me I can smell the whiskey in his breath. “Oui, ami. I touch.”
Fuck I’m a goner.
______
I’m in the back of Jonas’ car, feeling up on Frenchie, the muscles under his shirt are tense.
Or maybe I’m just drunk. No, that’s impossible.
I only had five drinks this evening. Three of them at the repast and two at Inferno.
Oh god, I need to throw up. I make them aware, and Jonas pulls over. Frenchie holds me.
We’re at De Novo. “Just a little too much to drink.” One of them says.
I’m floating. Up… Up… Upside-down. I grab whoever’s tight ass is in my face. Fuck yeah, this is gonna be fun.
“Check his wallet. Front pocket.”
“That’s my dick.” I laugh.
There’s a beep and I’m being set gently down on my bed; the back of my head hits my headboard and I’m sitting up. The room spins for a moment. Another drink is pushed into my face. Water. It goes black.
I’m… I’m swimming. No, I’m not swimming. I’m in the tub. The faucet is still going .
I open my eyes; a blurry vision of a ghost is sitting at the edge of the tub. Long, dark hair, red lips, winged brown eyes…
“Raven?” I mumble.
She scoots further up, closer to me. Her head tilts to the side. I try to sit up but it’s all so heavy. She grabs my hand, a mercy. Forgiveness, maybe? Does she know? Does she know what I did?
Something hurts. Something… it’s not right. My arm burns. I look down at the deep laceration running from the middle of my forearm down. “No…” I whisper. I look up at Raven, the light behind her casting an eerie glow around her head like a halo.
She leans down, hovering over my ear. “Why?” The whisper is barely a rasp, like it pains her to talk. Tears fill her eyes, spilling over them as she gets up and walks to the other side of the tub. I look around but we’re utterly alone. I try to flex my arm so I can get out but I… I can’t.
“Please.” I choke out.
The razor digs deep into my other arm, but she goes so achingly slow, I feel the deep burn of my muscles being shredded. “T, break h-h-her f-f-f—fu-fucking leg so she’ll fit.”
“Raven wait, please!”
“Sh-sh-she’ll s-s-stink up the place by M-M-Monday, S.
We should t-t-take her to the Ravine… ” She rasps, stuttering when she never had before.
Chills breakout throughout me despite the warmth of the water surrounding me.
Her voice is weak and so hoarse it breaks my heart.
I did that to her.. . We did. “Let the w-w-water take her f-f-far away…”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. “No, Raven, please. Please. It wasn’t… like that.”
Oh no. oh no. Nausea fills me and I vomit into the water now up to my chest. The razor finally digs into my artery. Her tears fall into the soiled water along with mine. And she only mutters one more choppy, hoarse word; “ Why ?”
I sink into the tub. Flashes of Axel fill my mind as the water rises at my nose.
I’m too tired to breathe. To fight. So… so sleepy.
I watch as Raven lets the straight razor fall into the water to wipe her DNA and then moves my arm so it all looks self-inflicted.
Things I’ve done for my own clients. Something I did for my own initiation into the Syndicate .
My thoughts float back to Axel. To his laugh. His kisses. His initiation. What I did for him… a nightmare come full circle.
Water fills my lungs, a delicious burn as I reminisce in thoughts of the only man I ever loved… who somehow ended up killing me twice.
Green eyes and curly hair, a faint smile and his laughter, his touch, his love… as the world turns black and I’m taken, taken to depths deeper than this bloody water.