Chapter 5 Everett #2
The man’s screams grow louder, and he fights the rope harder. I look down at him, still smiling, and touch his cheek as he tries to pull away from me.
“Nice work,” Haidyn states, looking over the hack job I did stitching the Lord up.
“Practice makes perfect.” I grab the pleats of my black skirt and curtsy.
I look at Kashton and wink at him. Fuck, I’m trembling, but trying my best to play it off.
Reaching up, I tap the side of the tied-down Lord’s face and say, “If you’re lucky, I’ll come visit you in hell.
” With that, I walk across the cathedral and out the side door into the hallway.
Rushing into the office, I close the door behind me and take a deep breath, finally able to breathe.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
This can’t be happening. The past always catches up with you. If I’ve learned anything from the Lords, it’s that we’re all on borrowed time.
I lock the door and rush over to the desk, picking up my cell with trembling hands. I call the number that I ignored earlier. He’s the only one who could be connected to the two Lords who are on the other side of the door.
“Eve?” he answers immediately. “Everything okay? I called you—”
“Kashton and Haidyn just showed up at the cathedral,” I explain, falling into the chair with my eyes on the office door, waiting for one of them to kick it down.
“Why?” he asks.
“To pick up a Lord.” He doesn’t say anything about that. “Did you send them?” I demand. Maybe that’s why he was calling me earlier. To give me a heads-up.
“No. Of course not.” There’s a long pause. “Did either one say anything to you?”
“No.” I sigh. Thank God. “But I have a feeling one of them will be back.”
KASHTON
Twelve years old
I step off the elevator and shiver. It’s always so cold down here. I hate being cold.
Moans and whimpers hit my ears, but I’m used to that. It scares me when it’s quiet. That’s when your mind makes you think you hear things that don’t exist.
Walking past the pits, I look around to make sure my father isn’t down here. He’s usually in his office at this time of day.
Coming up to the first cell on the right, I stop and sit down, crossing my legs.
I look through the bars to see the woman lying on her side.
Her back is to me, and she’s curled up in a ball.
She has to be freezing. I tried to give her my jacket last week, but she refused it. Said I needed it more than her.
There’s one old dingy light bulb that gives the room a little light. It has four concrete walls. They’re all covered with white lines—four run up and down, and then a fifth one is diagonal through the center.
“I brought you something to eat,” I whisper, placing the plate next to me. I pick up the cookie and squeeze it between the bars, holding it in my hand. “Are you hungry?”
She doesn’t move or answer.
I look around nervously, making sure my father or the other brothers aren’t down here. My dad will be furious if he catches me. And the others will definitely tell on me.
I tap my free hand on the cold concrete floor, trying to get her attention, and she groans, shifting. “Kashton?” she whispers.
I smile. “Yeah. It’s me. Are you hungry?”
She rolls over before she sits up. Her hands go to her face, and she pushes her matted hair back. I notice that she has a new bruise on her cheek. It wasn’t there when I visited her two nights ago.
“What happened?” I ask, frowning.
She gives me a small smile, scooting closer to the door. The metal bars are close together so I have to bring her things that can fit between them. “What did you bring me?” she asks, ignoring my question. She never answers.
“Chocolate chip cookie,” I say, holding it out to her.
She takes it in her frail hands and brings it to her cracked lips. Taking a small bite, she nods. “Mmm. It’s good.”
I drop my head and whisper, “It’s all I could get.”
“It’s perfect, Kashton,” she assures me.
Looking up, I give her a smile, and she takes another nibble. “I tried to get you some milk, but there wasn’t any.” I’m not sure how I’d be able to get her a glass through the bars, but I’d try for her.
“Why aren’t you at school?” she asks me.
I shrug, not wanting to tell her the truth.
I got sent home yesterday for starting a fight.
My father was irritated about spending two days with me rather than the fact that I hit a kid.
“It’s closed today,” I lie, and she frowns.
How does she even know what day it is? She has no windows. No clock. No sense of time.
“You should get going.” She begins to pull away.
I wrap my fingers around the cool metal bars, not wanting her to go. “But—”
“Leave, Kashton,” she interrupts me. “Before you get in trouble for being down here.”
Not wanting to upset her, I let go and get to my knees. “I’ll come visit you tomorrow,” I promise her.
“I don’t think—”
“What in the fuck are you doing?” a voice yells.
I jump to my feet and turn to see my father standing in the hallway, hands on his hips, glaring at me. I take a step back. “Dad—”
“Leave him alone,” she says from the cell.
“Shut the fuck up,” he snaps at her and then stomps toward me. He grabs my upper arm and begins to drag me away.
“Please…no.” I reach out for the bars, but he’s too fast, and I get nothing but air. “She’s hungry,” I tell him. “I brought her a cookie.”
“She’ll eat when I say she can,” he growls.
“Don’t you fucking touch him,” she shouts. “I mean it, don’t you—”
“I’ll be back for you.” He cuts her off, shoving me into the elevator.
I wrap my arms around myself and press my back into the wall as the door closes on us. My father huffs before turning to face me. “I told you to quit coming down here unless I tell you to.”
Looking away from him, I stare at the floor. I just want to help her. She’s all alone. I know what that feels like, and I hate it. I want her to know that she has me.
“Kashton?” he barks. “Do you fucking hear me, son? I’m tired of you disobeying me.” Giving me his back, he checks his watch and huffs.
I slump against the wall, trying not to cry. I hate him so much because of what he does to her. I’m all she has, and I promised her that I’d take care of her. No matter what.
I sit with my McLaren Senna turned off, back in the dark corner parking lot of the cathedral, hidden under some trees.
Haidyn and I took the Lord back to Carnage, strung him up, removed his brand, and threw him in a cage.
Then without a word, Haidyn went to his room to be with his latest fuck, and I went to mine.
I’m fighting with my brothers. Haidyn has been MIA, apparently fucking his therapist. Then he pops up with her after someone breaks into the place he’s been staying at. I don’t think he plans on keeping her at Carnage. He’s going to go back into hiding.
I took a shower, put on clean clothes, and found myself driving back to the cathedral. Six years I’ve been looking for my girl, and she’s right here.
Has she been in front of me all this time? Something tells me no. There’s no way she would have been this close and I missed it.
I sit up when she exits the front double doors. She’s still dressed in her fishnet tights, pleated black miniskirt, and tank top. Her hair remains up in a messy bun. Fuck, she’s stunning. More so than I remember.
There’s only one other car—a blacked-out M4. I could put a tracker on it, but I’m more of a hands-on type of man. I want to see firsthand where she goes. What she does. Who she sees.
After popping her trunk, she tosses a black duffel bag into it, then falls into the driver’s seat. I stay parked until she pulls out onto the road, giving her a head start.
Eve knew it was me and pretended I hadn’t seen her naked.
Like I didn’t get her off that night on the Isabella.
Was it because she didn’t want Haidyn to know we have a past, or was it because she didn’t remember it?
No. I refuse to believe she doesn’t remember me.
She had been drinking, but she wasn’t drunk by any means.
It’s late, so there aren’t many cars on the winding two-lane road. I make sure to stay far back enough to go unseen while following her. My car isn’t the most inconspicuous.
Twenty minutes later, she pulls up to a gated community, and I pull over to the side with my lights off until she enters. After a second, I follow and make my way through the neighborhood.
My first thought is that it took too long for the gate to close behind her. Anyone could be waiting, watching, and slide right in.
The second is that the community seems nice, with a golf course and pool house. Houses sit on at least two-acre lots. People who live here aren’t up this late at night. They’re home by six, have dinner by eight, and are in bed by nine thirty.
I catch sight of the back of her car before the garage door shuts. Once again, I come to a stop and look over the house. It’s a large one-story with a fenced-in yard and four-car garage.
The thought of walking up to her door and knocking enters my mind, but I don’t. Instead, something across the street catches my attention, and I smile to myself.
Just another sign that it’s meant to be.
I’ve always prided myself on my patience. A Lord is nothing without it. It’s part of the reason they make us go three years without pussy. To push us. To see just how much restraint we have.
It’s to weed out the weak.
I’m a lot of things, but weak isn’t one of them.
My father would disagree, but he was wrong about a lot of things.
He was evil and determined to make me into another version of him. My main goal in life was not to let him succeed. But life had different plans for me. No matter how much you try to change, sometimes you’ve seen too much.