Chapter 5 Aiden
I crouched down to look at the blood pooling on the floor.
Another night of work meant another night of light torture.
Torture wasn’t exactly our business plan, but when you’re dealing with the kind of idiots who rip off criminals, it somehow always gets there fast.
Hero was too busy cutting another finger off to notice how annoyed I was getting now. Thoughts of Evie’s blackmail threats gnawed at the edges of my mind—a constant reminder that if I’d fucked up that badly once, it could happen again.
The guy screamed as Hero slammed the knife down over another finger.
“You stole from Dimitri, and he isn’t happy,” Hero said. “Tell us where the cars you took are, and we can stop.”
I appreciated Dimitri being one of our best paying customers, if only because he had more problems than anyone else we dealt with, but I truly didn’t understand how he stayed afloat when every week someone was stealing from him or attempting to kill him.
“I didn’t take the cars!” he yelled.
“We have you on fucking camera. Of course you took them,” I said.
Hero stepped back and pulled his hoodie off, throwing it on the couch. He was getting into it now, his brain working faster than his fingers. I knew the frustration that was coming next. It was a double-edged sword for him: he wanted them to break fast, but he loved to take his time.
“All right, I think I’m going to start cutting into his tongue. He doesn’t seem to need it,” Hero said, deadly serious but with a twisted smirk.
I let out an exasperated sigh. “I swear if tongues are your new thing, tell me right this fucking second.”
He shrugged. “Not sure yet. Let me dig into his, and I’ll tell you. Eyeballs are still number one. Can you even skin a tongue? Like, is there an outer layer?” He peered down, opening the guy’s mouth with the blade of his knife and turning it until the blade pressed into his lips.
“Why the hell do you not go be a surgeon, or a mortician at the very least?”
Hero shivered. “Gross. Those cold, sterile rooms creep me out. It’s like I should be the dead body. It’s so cold and uninviting.”
My eyebrows raised. “That’s the part that creeps you out? The cleanliness and temperature?”
“I mean, it’s part of it. I like a homey vibe for my operations. Plus, I couldn’t sit still long enough to get a degree of any sort.”
“That part I can understand,” I said, before turning back to the guy. “All right, one more time before I leave you here alone with him to cut out your tongue. Among other things. I really don’t think there’s anyone I would protect in exchange for my tongue.”
I knew it was a lie, but he didn’t need to. The guy only smirked, glancing at Hero, and then back at me.
“Tongue or no tongue, I’ll tell my boss what you’re doing—who you are, and where you are. I don’t need my tongue to send a message.”
My eyebrows furrowed, a strange pulse of anger rising as I looked at Hero, who seemed equally confused.
“Do you . . . are you trying to be killed?” I asked. “Why would you tell us that?”
“Maybe he thinks we won’t kill him?” Hero asked, glancing at me before eyeing the guy with a puzzled frown.
“No, I think he knows we will. Is that the point?”
“Kill me, don’t kill me—it doesn’t matter. I’ve already started something you won’t be able to stop. Me here is only the beginning.”
Hero tilted his head, a scalpel still twirling in his fingers. “The beginning of . . . ?”
“The plan that ends with you—all of you—gone.” He gave a manic grin, flicking his gaze toward Evie’s little office, where her blonde hair was visible. “Including the girl you keep in a cage over there.”
“Well, fuck.” Hero laid out a knife and set of brass knuckles next to me. “There goes my night. Though I’m still curious about the tongue thing. Can you leave it intact?”
“I can assure you, I’m not racing to cut into his tongue,” I said to Hero, who untied the straps at the guy’s wrists before I pulled him up, dragging him across the garage.
“You think you’re coming after her?” I asked, pushing his face toward the glass between us and Evie.
“I know we are. Every single one of you. All your friends, the brunette Rook can’t stop running after. And her.” He glanced toward Evie. “The blonde always with you, causing a fucking problem. Did you think no one watches you?”
There were never words for the rage that boiled up when anyone came close to hurting Evie, but the fact that this guy stood here, in our garage, only a few feet from her, threatening the one person I would protect in exchange for my own damn tongue was enough to make me homicidal.
The one person who could get away with wrecking my life every damn day.
The girl who kissed me yesterday and hasn’t left my mind since.
I slammed his face up against the plexiglass between us and Evie.
She jumped, her head snapping up, eyes wide, before she gave a cruel smile.
Of course, my little psycho girl was as calm as ever watching me beat her enemy right outside her window.
If anyone could give Evie grand gestures of love, it would be beating her enemies while she watched with a drink in hand.
I hit him again and again until he finally stopped fighting back. His body sagged to the ground, and Hero strolled over.
“Well, I doubt he’s dead yet,” Hero said, inspecting the body like he would a motorcycle. “He won’t be fighting when I’m ready to kill him. The tongue might wake him up if you hear screaming.”
Rook walked in, glancing from the body to the blood sprayed across Evie’s window.
“Trouble, or was this part of the plan?” he asked, stepping over the guy as he inspected the window. “I mean, it’s not broken, so that’s good.”
“Both. The plan was to kill him, but not this messily.”
“And the change of heart?”
“Threatening Evie and Regan.”
Rook’s brow furrowed, a serious look covering his face. “What did he say?”
“He wouldn’t give specifics, but they’re keeping tabs on all of us, especially the girls apparently.”
Evie came out of her office. “Thanks for the show. I was getting a little bored.”
“Did you find out anything about Anderson?” I asked, not hiding the edge of my voice as I tried not to notice the obvious fact she wasn’t wearing anything under her hoodie. Or the way her tongue ran over her lips.
Lips I had on me less than twenty-four hours ago. My fingers tightened around the brass knuckles still pressed against my palm.
It was a mistake. A one-time moment of weakness.
I knew I couldn’t have Evie—not truly.
Because having Evie would mean losing this life. Rook wouldn’t let me stay around if I crossed the line.
Evie didn’t know how I felt and I would need to keep it that way. I’d been holding it in so long it shouldn’t be difficult to hide again. If I liked her, the kiss would wreck me—and it did—but I couldn’t give her any reason to think it had any effect on me.
“No,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. “I told you I need more to go on.”
“We don’t have more to go on,” Rook answered. “But we need an answer sooner rather than later.”
“Then you won’t be getting anything else from me. Do your job, and then I can do mine.”
“Pretend it’s an ex, Psycho. We’d have his address and blood type within the hour.” The words slipped out before I could stop them, and I regretted it instantly. Teasing her about guys used to be harmless, but now it wasn’t.
Evie had always felt like mine to protect, mine to watch over. But after one kiss, she just felt like mine. And it made everything worse. She only did it to mess with me—and maybe her ex. Did she actually want him back?
Rage flared, but I cracked my neck and masked it. I had to keep pretending.
Rook’s rule was simple: Evie was off-limits. Break it, and you lost the house, the business, the life. I’d worked too hard to throw it all away. And I’d seen him prove he meant it—when Asher so much as joked about asking her out, Rook nearly lost it. He made sure I knew I wasn’t an exception.
And I listened. I respected his wishes because I could understand being protective of the only family you had left.
Now I’d crossed a line I could never uncross and Evie was armed and ready to use it against me.
She was smart. Cunning. Beautiful.
I would follow her into war because I knew every step she took brought her closer to wrecking anyone in her way.
She set me up. I knew it in my gut. She had a plan, a goal, but I didn’t know if I was the target or the prize.
Both seemed dangerous with Evie.
Maybe this was revenge . . . god knows it ran in the family.
She could be doing this to shatter my life because she was mad I always stood guard around her—so much so that boyfriends were now running off—or because she wanted me.
The thought only brought me back to the kiss. Her eager lips, the way she crawled into my lap and nearly begged for more. I almost groaned as a wave of pleasure rolled through me.
But Evie was a good actress. I’d seen her flip personas like a switch to get what she wanted.
And I couldn’t tell if the kiss meant something real to her—or if it was only her next move in whatever game she was playing.
Not that it mattered.
I couldn’t risk finding out.
Outside of this pack, I was no one. I was another foster kid without a home, no family, no one who’d care if I lived or died.
Until Rook and Evie.
They were the only family I had, and I couldn’t lose them. Not over some game Evie decided to play.
“If it was an ex, I’d already have a file on him. I don’t date people I can’t dig into. As for Anderson, I’ve never had my tongue in his mouth, so I don’t think he can fall under the ex-boyfriend level of needing to be looked into. Can he?”
My thoughts spiraled anyway. She probably thought it was nothing more than a reckless kiss, leverage to blackmail me with. But it wasn’t. It was everything I’d been holding back, breaking loose for a single moment.
Now I was stuck—torn between loyalty to Rook and feelings for Evie, knowing one wrong move could cost me both.
“Eww, fuck. Shut up. Here,” Rook said, pulling out his phone. “Apparently, Anderson hangs out around this bar sometimes. I went down there, but no one knew him. I don’t know if it will help at all, but it’s something.” He sent over a location to Evie, and she scowled.
“It’s the bare minimum of something, but I’ll see if it helps.”
Rook waited until the door to the office closed before he turned back to me. “About these threats. Obviously, I will be keeping a closer eye on Regan. Could you go back on babysitting duty with Evie?”
I hid my groan, not letting him see any reaction. The world played a cruel joke in making Rook the one always forcing me closer to Evie when he would always be the reason I needed to stay away.
“Gross, can you please stop calling it that? It sounds so creepy.”
Especially after I spent some time making out with her.
“Fine, stalker duty? Bodyguard? What the hell do I call it when I’m asking you to stick by her more without making her uncomfortable?”
“How about you ask me to keep an eye on her so nothing happens?”
“Fine. Can you?”
“You know I can and will. Whoever he was referring to isn’t going to get close enough to bother her.”
He gave a sharp nod. “Perfect. I’m going to head back to the house then. I’ll let Regan and Zack know what’s going on. You guys good here?”
“Yeah, Hero is taking care of him and then I’ll hang around until Evie’s done.”
Meaning I would be sitting here for another hour or two, at least—all alone with Evie.
Rook headed out, backing his bike out before taking off. Hero took care of the body before he left, too.
I sat back on the couch, watching as Evie typed away at the computer.
She looked up, her gaze meeting mine, a flicker of something I couldn’t read in her expression before she turned back to the screen. It wasn’t fear at the threats or even surprise at me sitting there. No, she was too damn calm—maybe a little too satisfied.
She knew what she was doing.
I knew Evie wasn’t cruel or dumb. She had a reason for every step she made, including this blackmail. But maybe if I showed her even an ounce of how I really felt, she’d realize this wasn’t a game at all.