29. Chapter 24
Delilah’s sobs wrack her body as she clings desperately to Cora, burying her face in the crook of her neck. A painful, searing ache twists my heart, knowing all too well the pain of missing someone so deeply that it feels like a piece of you has been ripped away. It’s like walking through life with an open wound, always throbbing with pain.
I’ll never know what it feels like to have that part of me back.
None of us will.
“Delly,” Cora whispers, running her fingers through our Princess’s hair repeatedly. When her lips press to Delilah’s, both women still, hands clutching at one another. Then lips part on an exhale. Delilah’s eyes squeeze shut tighter, another tear slipping past. Her fingers tighten on Cora, then suddenly her arms wrap around her and they crash together.
A sharp intake of breath escapes my lips, taken aback by their explosive reaction. My eyes flicker up to Reaper. He’s watching them intently, yet doesn’t seem surprised. Even though the mask hides his face from me, I know every detail of his features as if they were my own, and I can picture the stern set of his jaw and the way the muscles in his neck stand out as he clenches his teeth. I can picture his face now and know that he guessed they’d react this way upon being reunited.
Delilah lets out a soft whimper, reminding me of the night in the woods. My heart thunders, watching as the kiss deepens. Turns feral and desperate. Viper shifts next to me and our arms brush. A bolt of awareness shoots straight to my cock.
I close my eyes briefly, trying to calm the thoughts swirling through my head. Of us together again, but this time Delilah and Cora kissing like they are now. Not holding back, not exploring, but desperate for one another.
They break the kiss and stark blue eyes flash up to mine. The lust mixed with fear makes my stomach fall.
As Reaper’s finger slips over her hair, our eyes lock. I see it then. Understanding floods me as I rip my gaze from him, looking back at the girls as I back away and follow my brother’s to the back of the house.
He doesn’t have to say it. I get it now and I wonder if Breaker and Viper do too.
***
I shove my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket, tucking my chin into the collar. It’s cold today, the wind cutting over the path and slicing through my mask. My boots kick the little rocks along the path as I walk to the old carriage-house, where we keep most of our training equipment. Viper wants to turn it into a full gym eventually, which we should have done before coming here. If we’re not careful, we’re going to get soft from sitting idle.
As I enter, Reaper looks up from the bench, but continues to curl weights when he sees it’s just me and not one of the girls. Over on the second bench, Viper’s laid back, legs bracketing either side, head under the bar, holding his phone. He glances my way, but goes back to scrolling, no doubt breaking Reaper’s no social media rule and watching videos.
“Breaker on watch?” Reaper asks, continuing with his set.
I nod when he looks up at me.
“What were they doing when you left?” Viper asks, tucking his phone into his pocket and reaching for his shirt. My eyes slip up his torso as he stands, landing on the tattoo spread out over his chest. He’s built similar to Reaper, but compact. Raw power wrapped in fair skin.
“Huddled together whispering,” I tell him.
“Where?” he asks.
I rip my eyes from his zipper, catching his lifted brow. “In Delilah’s room.”
Viper adjusts his shirt around his waist. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me today, but everything he does draws my eye. He snatches up his mask and walks to the door. There’s no need to tell us where he’s going. We already know.
When the door behind me shuts, I pull off my mask, tucking it into my jacket pocket. “Why?” I ask.
The air’s cool in here, but Reaper’s bare chest gleams with sweat. He stands up, lifting the gold chain around his neck as he rolls his shoulders. Reaper rocks his head from side to side, loosening the large muscles. His abs ripple, each muscle outlined like an artist drew them, the many tattoos only accentuating the lines of his body.
My gaze lifts and I find his dark eyes watching me watch him. Can he blame me? I don’t think there is a single human alive who’d not stare. He’s male perfection. I’d have to be dead not to notice him. And it’s not like I haven’t seen him watching me. Fuck, he stood in the doorway just over a week ago watching me jerk off after the night with the girls.
His onyx gaze feels like it penetrates under my skin, letting him see all the secrets I keep hidden, and for a second, I think he likes what he sees, but he looks away. Maybe he doesn’t like whatever he saw mirrored back at him.
“You know why,” Reaper says. “They’d have spent the last week plotting to escape if they’d been together.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it,” I say, following him to the row of shelves where he’s left his mask and shirt.
“Why what, Strike? Why take them?”
“Why fuck them before we took them? Why Cora?”
He keeps his back to me, grabbing his water bottle off the shelf and uncapping it. He brings it to his lips but doesn’t drink.
I watch his profile as he turns his head slightly. “Why did you want to fuck them in Rune’s club? There’s a reason, a fucking plan, behind everything you do. You can’t even take a piss without planning it in advance. So explain.”
He recaps the bottle and sets it down, grabbing the towel and facing me. “The cameras.”
My brows knit.
“What’s the first thing you’d do after your loved one was taken from you?” Reaper wipes his chest with a towel. I shift my focus to the stack of weights by his side. “He would retrace their every step leading right up to the moment we took them.”
The cameras. Rune would have immediately requested footage of Delilah and Cora in his club. He’d see us take his daughter and Cora into that VIP lounge and stay there. For hours. He’d lose his mind knowing we were all in there fucking his two girls.
We walked right into his club, wearing the same uniforms and instead of stealing them then, we fucking claimed them right under his nose.
“That’s the only reason?” I ask, lifting a brow.
Reaper isn’t one to run, much less back down, but his eyes drop from my face.
I step closer, forcing him to look at me and acknowledge what I’m saying. He got a taste of Delilah before we ruin her, while she was still innocent. Before she finds out the truth. “Or did you want to know what she felt like before she hated you?”
He doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t have to.
“Cora,” I say. His black eyes dart back to my face. “Why did you insist on Cora?”
I already know why, but I want him to say it. Reaper is a cunning, ruthless killer on his worst day. A manipulative asshole on his best. But he’s a fucking liar every day and I’m sick of sitting stagnant while he lies to us and himself.
His jaw pops as he grinds his teeth.
Yeah. I’m going to make you say it out loud.
He pulls his shirt over his head, looking out the grimy window over my shoulder as he tugs the shirt down over his stomach. The silence stretches between us until it snaps and he grabs his mask, hitting the row of weights as he does. They click loudly. His gaze locks on mine. He squares his shoulders like he’s preparing himself for his next few words, running his tongue over the thin scars on his bottom lip. “Imagine having your most valued possession taken from you.”
My jaw tightens, breath sticking in my throat. I don’t have to imagine. Neither one of us does.
“Then, suddenly, it’s back,” he says. “You can hold it, look at it. What would you do to keep that important thing from ever leaving you again?”
I press my eyes closed, my teeth grinding together like this will stop the stabbing pain from cutting through my chest and clawing up my throat. “I’d do anything.”
“Exactly,” Reaper says. “Delilah will do anything now.”
I shake my head, eyes popping open. I open my mouth to remind him that when he kept them apart for so many days; he created that same scared feeling with in them, but I shut my mouth.
Princess knew Cora was safe, just as Cora knew Princess was safe. We made damn sure of it.
Maybe he took Cora for this reason. Delilah will more than likely be a little careful with her actions now out of fear, but it’s more than that and we all know it.
“Why Reap? The fucking truth. Why did you take Cora?”
His hands flex at his sides. “You know why.”
None of us want to say what we fear, but Reaper’s refusing to acknowledge why he wanted Cora.
I had thought at first he wanted Cora because we were all so taken with her. That taking her would hurt Rune a bit more, but it’s more than that. Reaper wanted Cora not just for us to do with as we please like we’ve been ordered to do with Delilah, not entirely.
We watched them for so long we all know the unbreakable bond the women share. They’ll do anything to protect one another from being hurt. And maybe having them apart has made our lives easier as well as made them a tad more cooperative, but the real reason is he didn’t want them to suffer like we did.
He didn’t want Delilah alone without the only person who makes her feel loved and safe.
He didn’t want Cora’s person ripped from her.
“You wanted Cora for her,” I say. “For Delilah. So she’d have her most loved possession. And so Cora wouldn’t be scared, left alone, losing sleep, wondering what was happening to her best friend.”
He doesn’t deny it as he slips his mask over his head and brushes past me hard enough that I stumble back.
“Admit it,” I call after him. “You care and you feel guilty. If you just fucking admit it, then maybe you—”
The door slams so hard the glass pane rattles. Through the window I watch his black clad form as he stalks back to the house.
I don’t know how much longer he can keep denying his obsession with them. Her. With this need for revenge on something that is all our faults, not just Rune’s. It’s ripping him in two, making him volatile.
The door clicks closed and I’m left standing in our homemade gym, wondering when the house of lies he built around his own self deception crumbles, if we’re all going to go down with him.