Chapter 8 #3
There’s blood on his cheek, dried and smeared a chalky red against his pale skin.
Must’ve scratched him when we started kissing and I was clutching at his face.
I lick my thumb and reach up, scrubbing it clean.
Bohnes whips his head to the side and takes my fingertip into his mouth, sucking it. The sensation makes me shiver.
I tug my finger away from him and he holds on with his teeth for just a beat too long.
I should stab him, but I won’t and he knows it. We have good chemistry. We’re in love.
“Well, I do love you, and I’m definitely not going to do what you say if I don’t think you’re right.
Think you can out-psycho me? I’m the one that’s fucking warning you.
” I’m no less strict about this with his seed dripping out of me and my tits exposed than I was earlier.
He’s a bossy ass, and it’s his fault we have Fuckboys Two, Three, and Four. Seriously.
Bohnes lifts his head and stares up at the sky through the trees, the ice blue of his eyes glazing silver under the moon. “Just know that when I ruin you tonight, it’s going to break my icy little heart.”
“Regardless, I…love…” I could choke on the word. Probably will choke on the word eventually. Shit, it’ll be the thing that kills me, I bet. “I love you. I love you, Kellin.”
Bohnes turns, very flashy and dramatic as he grabs my face again, peering intently at me.
A quiver travels through my body that I can’t control.
Bohnes sees it. He sees everything. It’s both terrifying and comforting.
My Nightmare. He is my Nightmare. For as long as I’m alive, he’ll follow me.
There’s no getting rid of him. There’s also no need to fear him because he’ll never hurt me.
If those are the only two constants about him—he won’t leave, and he won’t harm me—then isn’t he a sure thing? A safe bet?
“Well then.” His creaking-coffin-hinges voice is much softer than it usually is, more like a graveyard in autumn. It gives me goose bumps, but then, I’m still Scarlett Motherfucking Force. I thread my arms around his waist and squeeze him as tightly as he squeezed me earlier.
He’s shaking against me, cuddling me closer and burying his ghoul-head against the side of my neck, teasing me with his ghoul-teeth, loving me with his ghoul-heart.
He loves me. Kellin Bohnes loves me. It’s so obvious. It’s been obvious for a long time now. I just didn’t want to see it. Well, more like, I couldn’t accept it.
I push away from him and stagger up to my feet.
Widow is right fucking there and there’s no way that Bohnes didn’t know that.
With a sigh, I start putting myself back together.
I’m blushing, and I can’t believe I said what I said.
I definitely can’t handle knowing that Widow was listening in on that.
I look up at the pair of them, but only after putting my tits away.
Widow snorts and rakes his fingers through his hair, staring off into the trees like he’s looking at something.
I turn, and there’s Alexei in a hoodie and a face mask with vampire fangs on the front of it.
Sick. They were both here when I was saying I love you to Bohnes for the first time?
At least I know that Ash isn’t around. I search around for my purse, trying to be nonchalant.
It’s not the sex thing that’s an issue: it’s the romance stuff.
Only Kellin Bohnes was supposed to hear me say that.
Speaking of, Mr. Bohnes is casually leaned up against a tree, wet cock hanging out of his pants, smoking that clove cigarette like it’s no big thing. His eyes, though, you’d really have to know his eyes to see the shift in them. He’s pleased with me.
But Bohnes wouldn’t be Bohnes if he let his feelings get in the way. If he believes that kicking my ass on the track is what’ll keep me safe then he’ll spare no expense in doing just that. I glare at him, peering around the leaf litter for my abandoned purse.
“Teaming up on me when you’re my fuckboys? Ridiculous.” I snatch the purse up by its strap, slinging it over my shoulder and digging through it in search of clean-up supplies.
“Yeah, actually. We are going to team up on you.” Widow leans his shoulder against the same tree, giving Bohnes’ dick a derisive little curl of his lip. “Can you put that fucking thing away?”
“Mm.” Bohnes continues to smoke that cigarette, staring up through a patch of bare branches at the moon. “No.”
Alexei sighs, skirting around the edge of the clearing, as far away from Bohnes and his cooties as he can get. I finally find what I need in the chaos of my purse: wipes and fresh panties. I tug them out and give him a look.
“What are you driving tonight then, Marie? Last I remember, your car was at the bottom of the McKenzie River.” I try to make a joke out of it, but both Alexei and I pause to look at each other.
He hasn’t properly given me his side of the story about what happened that night.
I was knocked out and he risked everything to save me.
I died. The other boys could’ve left him there to die. I shake my head and try to figure out how I’m going to freshen up with all three of them staring at me. Suppose I’ll have to get used to this then? I’m the one that wanted a stable of dicks, and I’ve got a tight hold on their reins.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” Alexei says absently, studying his black latex gloves.
“It’s one of my father’s cars, carefully stolen out of my own garage.
” He looks up at me, nice and sharp and overbearing.
Yesterday’s display was ostentatious and dangerous and absurd.
Today, he’s just as dangerous and absurd but more cautious.
After this race is over, I need to know every secret these idiots are keeping from me.
“You guys went back there again?” I’m not sure if I’m impressed or disgusted with the idea of Bohnes and/or Alexei returning to Pavel Borisov’s former mansion to steal shit.
“If one of you ends up dead, you’ll be sorry.
If there’s anyone in this neighborhood who could work up a good necromancy spell to punish a dead fuckboy, it’d be me. ”
I swing around the trunk of a tree and clean myself up.
Wipes. Fresh panties. A tampon because Bohnes has big loads.
It’s true. He’s very, uh, healthy. I swing back around, smoothing my hands down the front of my black skirt.
It has a nice, high slit to show off my legs.
I see Widow looking from across the clearing.
I wink at him and he frowns at me. Asshole.
Bohnes has started a new clove cigarette—and put his cock away—so I hold out my hand and wiggle my fingers. He passes it over with a knowing smile, like he can sense all of the painful, throbbing spots where he bit me.
“This is your last chance,” Bohnes tells me boldly, cutting off that smile like it was never there.
Our eyes meet. “Come to the track at your own risk. You might be able to beat any one of us individually, but as a group?” The smile comes back, but it’s not a flirty, knowing smile anymore. It’s sharp and wild. A warning.
“We could cancel the race, lure Kelly somewhere and kill him tonight.” Widow is serious, moving into the clearing with his Prescott poor boy style on full display.
Mismatched boots. One brown, one black. Tight jeans.
A dark purple T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Oil stains on there, too. Someone was under the hood today, eh?
I look back at Alexei. The hood of his Prescott High sweatshirt is up, but that blond hair is offensively bright, peeking out from underneath the dark fabric.
This fucker left me a pair of cum-soaked panties next to my firearm.
Hah. I tap my purse to make sure I’ve got said firearm on me still.
Wouldn’t put it past any of these boys to steal it out from under me.
And I need it for tonight.
Tom-fuckery will not be tolerated.
“The family is never going to accept him, Scarlett. Even if he is innocent, as you say he is, they’ll want his head eventually.
It’s only a matter of time.” Alexei sighs and turns away, putting gloved fingers up to his forehead.
He spots the ruined underwear on the ground.
Gifted to me by him. Shredded to rags by Bohnes.
Now that is the sort of teamwork I’m looking for from these boys.
“Something wrong?” I inquire innocently, batting my long lashes at him. We’re both filthy bitches, me and Marie.
A shudder ricochets through Alexei. He gags. Swallows. Shudders again. Plucks the ripped panties from the ground and stuffs them into his sweater pocket. Oh my.
“I don’t feel particularly chivalrous about tonight’s race,” he declares, turning to me like he isn’t a nasty bastard.
He’s got the Borisov face on again, like he did at the track yesterday.
Fierce. Unyielding. Assured of his own power and competence.
“You’re going in with a clear disadvantage, Miss Force. ”
I laugh at that, pulling out some clear lip balm to soothe my Bohnes-chewed lips.
“Did you three check in with Mr. Kelly before you finalized your plans?” I give each of them a look.
It’s hard to say if they have or not. It’s imperative that these three do not win tonight.
If Ash wins…he’ll keep acting like a sanctimonious asshole, but he’ll break after a while.
His obsession with me runs too deep. “Doesn’t matter.
Stop arguing with me and meet me on the track. ”
I walk away, hips swaying, and I leave them alone in the dark woods to do whatever it is that fuckboys do in the shadows.