9. 9 – Buck
9 – Buck
“ Y ou’ve really fucking done it this time.”
Hatter turns his head to glare at me. One eye is almost closed, his cheek already swelling as blood drips from the cut on his lip.
I’m not in much better shape. I poke out my tongue, gingerly testing my own lip. The taste of iron greets me.
My head is pounding, but that’s nothing to do with Knave and his band of merry assholes.
And my hands still shake where they’re tied behind my back, too. “You think she made it out?”
“Shut the fuck up .” He forces out the words through gritted teeth as we wait on our knees, his eyes flicking over to where Red sits on her fucking farce of a throne.
Her face is pale with rage as she sits silently. She doesn’t look our way at all, her green gaze focused on the entrance behind us, and damn if that doesn’t make me swallow.
Her indifference is far, far worse than her rage.
This is what you get for trying to be a goddamned hero, asswipe.
The silence drags on for long minutes, and despite myself, something twists inside my chest.
Maybe she did get out. Without the information she came here for, but with her life, at least. That has to count for something.
Let something I’ve done in my life fucking count for once, instead of it being another item on my list of monumental fuck-ups. Another damned face to haunt me.
But life isn’t that kind.
I should know that by now, thought I’d learned that lesson a long time ago, but it still hits with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer as they carry her in. The slackness in her face is enough to tell me that Knave used his preferred subduing method on her.
Hatter straightens, and I look over at him. Devastation flickers across his face for a brief moment. But as Red glances at us, assessing our reaction, he wipes it away, schooling his expression into nonchalance.
Whoever Alyss is to him, he cares about her enough to try and protect her from Red’s wrath.
Frowning, I glance at the girl as they push her between Hatter and I, shoving her onto her knees in front of Red. She’s already stirring, blue-gray eyes blinking hazily as she struggles to pull herself upright, to lift up her head.
The only sound is the music from the club below us. Even the investors here tonight have given us privacy for this, stalking the dancefloor for prey and leaving Red alone to deal with her problem possessions. Curtains hide us from any curious eyes that might wander upward.
Red crosses her legs, leaning back. Her shimmering dark green gown drapes to one side, revealing a long, golden limb as she rakes a hand through her hair, blood-red lips pursing.
She scans Alyss before she turns to me. Her voice is ice cold. “Explain.”
My lips twist up as I incline my head, almost mockingly. The words flow smoothly from my lips. “Of course. I believe there’s been some sort of misunderstanding. The girl was drunk, and I pulled her off the floor so as not to disturb the other patrons. Hatter saw me – and, well.”
I roll my eyes. “You know what he’s like. Too honorable for his own good. He thought I was taking her off somewhere to ravish her and got all offended over it.”
Shrugging one shoulder, I track Red’s movement, the furrow that deepens between her brows at my words. “A storm in a teacup, I’m afraid. My apologies for the disruption.”
She surveys me steadily. “You let her run. Why?”
I smile, showing my teeth. There’s no lie in my next words.
“I fucking detest Knave. Any excuse to brawl with him is one worth taking.”
Knave’s boot meets my back with a solid kick. Turning, I take in the state of his face, clicking my tongue. “Don’t be sour, sweetheart. The bend is a vast improvement, I assure you.”
He scowls around the broken nose I gave him, lunging for me, but Red snaps her fingers at him. “ Enough .”
Between us, Alyss coughs. I pray that she’ll stay silent, stay unaware, and maybe Hatter and I can talk us all out of our current shitty predicament.
He’s watching me with a frown.
Lie, you fucker. Lie your ass off, for once in your damn life.
Red slowly unfurls herself from her throne, the deep green dress she’s chosen this evening flowing out and down the small set of steps.
She pauses next to Hatter. He says nothing as Red curls her fingers under his chin, tilting it as she examines him. She runs a finger across the fucking collar she’s put him in.
Her face softens, as it always seems to for him.
Not that I’m jealous. Far fucking from it.
“Is that true, Hatter?” Her words are gentle. Far more so for him than they ever have been for me. “Is Buck telling me the truth?”
We’re so fucked.
But… he nods in her grip, although he says nothing. And surprise holds me in place for a second – surprise that he would lie at all, when to my knowledge he’s never lied to Red about anything .
And Red knows exactly how much he hates her, thanks to that honesty. She revels in it, in her ownership of him. Taunts him, even as it breaks him a little more every day. But his refusal to give her what she wants, to say the words she wants to hear – that has been a battle between them for far longer than I’ve been trapped in this world.
And that’s been… I stare down at the floor.
Shit. Three years.
Hatter clears his throat. “He’s telling the truth.”
It’s important to tell the truth , he told me once, when everything around you is a lie.
Alyss, it appears, is the exception.
It works. Red’s full, plump lips turn up, and she bends down to press them against his mouth, tapping his cheek in silent remonstration when he doesn’t move. We watch as her tongue slides between his lips, Knave practically vibrating with fury behind me.
When she finally releases him, deep crescent welts are embedded in the skin of Hatter’s cheek and neck. A bead of blood wells up, and I turn my face away.
My gaze drops to Alyss. With Red focusing on Hatter, she looks awake now, her eyes on the floor. I expected her to panic, to flail, but she’s curiously quiet as she listens.
Her eyes, still a little hazy, flick up to mine and away.
Tilting my head, I run my eyes over her again. There’s something off about her posture, now that the chloroform seems to have worn off. It’s too… perfect.
She kneels there like a damn soldier, shoulders back as she grips her arms. Not at all how I might have expected her to react after stumbling into this nest.
Curiouser and curiouser.
All three of us tense as Red moves to stand in front of her. Scarlet nails embedded with Hatter’s blood tip Alyss’s face up, twisting it from side to side.
“Ah. You’re awake,” Red says, almost pleasantly. But her tone is frigid. “Now, who exactly are you?”