Chapter 23
RUNO
I rolled over in bed, groaning as my entire body screamed from digging up a fucking grave and then watching Aeron and Slash drag Dr. Harley out of the ground while Samael jerked me off. If we weren’t going to hell before, we definitely were now.
It wasn’t the best idea I had had, but fuck, I hadn’t been so deliciously taken care of in a while, the pleasure mingling with the sting of my cuts, a sensual chaos that left me dizzy.
I let out another groan as I rolled to the left, directly into Aeron’s chest, my loveable cannibal grinning down at me like he had been awake hours longer than I had.
“That was one hell of a date,” Aeron teased.
I blinked, my head foggy because I couldn’t remember much of anything after we got in the car. I sat up a little and then frowned, the sheets sliding off my bare skin. “Hey, wait, you dyed your hair. Pink! Why pink?”
Aeron shrugged, his grin widening. “Needed something a little different. Killian digged the blue so I thought you might be more of a pink guy.”
My alters laughed at me but I brushed them off, enjoying the way his silky strands fell over my fingers as I ran them through his hair. Aeron hummed and leaned in to kiss me, a soft, sweet embrace, his lips tasting faintly of last night’s dinner.
Killian: You don’t even remember last night, do you?
Daemon: Focus, idiot.
I pulled away from Aeron, scrunching up my nose as Killian started telling me something that I couldn’t quite make out. Aeron just laughed. “I need to get food in you, but first, what are you doing with that?”
I frowned, my head still spinning. “Doing what with what?”
He turned me around, my breath catching in my throat as I saw Dr. Harley’s body in the bed, his pale, stiff form half-covered by the sheets. My stomach lurched, the sight jarring against the warmth of Aeron’s touch.
“You dragged him up here and in the bed after the other two left,” Aeron said, “mumbling something about him getting cold. Please tell me you know he’s dead.”
I tensed, my mind blank as the voices tried to fill in the gaps, but none of them remembered last night once we got home. “Yeah, uh… we need to prep him.”
I quickly rolled Dr. Harley’s body off the bed, the stiff weight hitting the floor with a loud thud that echoed in the quiet of Samael’s house. Sounds down the hall stole my attention as Slash stepped into the entryway, laughing at my predicament, his bare torso glistening from a fresh shower.
“God, I wish I could have sex with those abs.”
Slash snorted, leaning against the doorframe, his eyes glinting with mischief. “You kind of already did, which is why you’re a little bit out of commission. Has your dad been home yet?”
I searched the bed, my hands fumbling through the sheets, and grabbed my phone from under a pillow, grimacing at the dirt still caked under my fingernails.
Checking the security app, I shook my head.
“The system wasn’t undone, so I don’t think so.
He’ll probably swing by tonight or something whenever I say I’m moving out.
” I need to plan it perfectly so that they would have already thought Samael was dead.
However, I couldn’t exactly control when Dad would return to his own house.
Aeron, still beside me, frowned at Harley’s body on the floor. “What’s the plan for the doctor?”
A wild grin split across my lips as I glanced over at Slash. “The sexy one in the doorway? So many things. The dead doctor, we’re dressing up like Samael.”
Aeron’s eyes narrowed at me. “What’s the point?”
I sat up a little more. “This is where the plan goes from reality to far-fetched, but bear with me. My dad had it out for Samael for a little bit but otherwise loves him. However, if Samael has been digging into these murders and then ends up dead…”
Slash cut in, his arms crossed over those abs that are currently distracting me from my mission. “I still don’t know how any of this is going to prove that Samael is dead.”
“Yeah, I was hoping you could help with that. We need some of his blood.”
Slash just shook his head as he stepped into the room, closing the distance between us. “Are you telling me to slice up my lover?”
I chuckled, a dark twisted sound falling from my lips. “I mean, if that’s what you’d like to do, I would like to watch, but I only need a little blood. You’re just better with the sharp stuff, and if I do it, Samael might see it as an attack.”
Slash burst out laughing but he agreed, as did Aeron.
I just waved my hand and pointed to Dr. Harley slumped over on the floor.
“Once everyone starts focusing on Dad, we just have to play the sad part and then slowly all leave. Maybe a few weeks? I can leave first and use what little I have left in my trust fund to get us a place to stay in the interim, but yeah.”
“You’re a crazy motherfucker,” Slash mused. “And I’m about to die if Samael thinks I’m about to kill him for his blood.”
That wouldn’t happen. Not on my watch. Well… I slid my phone out and ran through my texts, my smile faltering slightly. “I texted him but…” Fuck. That wasn’t a good look.
Hey, Slash needs to skin you when you get home.
I mentally ran through my alters to see who the fuck had sent the text but none of us remembered it. Slash just sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “He really is going to have my ass. And not in the kinky way. I’d kill you first if I thought it would help.”
“Sorry, I’ll clear it up when he gets home.”
Aeron cut in. “No, I’ll do it because you’ll probably just make it worse.”
I nodded and leaned back on my hands, nudging Dr. Harley’s head a little.
He flopped over, nearly in half, the stench of dirt and death strengthening in the room.
“We’ll place him somewhere in the city so he gets found but I do have one more favor to ask.
” I clasped my hands together and batted my eyes while looking up at Slash.
“I was hoping you’d do a special skinning for me?
Pretty please? He won’t scream but he’s still a good specimen. ”
Slash laughed, the man leaning down to press a kiss to my forehead. “How can I say no to those eyes? Just one question before we dress up this dummy. Whatever happened to Brent? I know Samael didn’t want to know, but I’m curious.”
The memory flashed through my head, a terrifying ordeal to say the least and not one I would ever recommend doing again.
The three showers I had taken afterwards hadn’t been enough to feel clean.
“I fed him into a meat grinder. You know the big factory one in the heart of the city? I kept a finger though and stuffed it in Dad’s fridge. ”
Aeron snorted, his eyes widening. “You realize that that means everyone is going to be eating Brent for the next several… Runo, that’s a meat packing plant!”
I just shrugged. “So? It got rid of him, didn’t it?
Let’s focus on the fun stuff. I know just the clothes to put Dr. Harley in and then, how about another date?
I already told Dad I wasn’t leaving the house soon and I might have messaged Tyrone that Dad was acting weird.
” All it would take is the right moment for them both to meet and then everything else would fall in place.
“Oh, and Slash? I need you to do your magic at Dad’s house. One last piece of the puzzle.”