Rory
Thirty-Four
Nope. Nope. Nope.
Aurora June was dead. He was dead. I wasn’t doing it. He was gone. Right? Cinder killed him. I might not remember every aspect of captivity, but I know Cinder saved me. She said our phrase before she murdered Jude. Cinder killed him.
Jude Booker is dead.
There were angry tears pouring from my eyes as I paced my bedroom.
My hands went to my hair and I tugged the pink strands, trying to feel something other than the despair gnawing at my bones.
Why was he a fucking ghost who refused to stay dead?
He was gone. He was fucking dead! I’d come so far.
It had been one hell of a fucking battle, and I had enough scars to prove it.
I had enough to last a goddamn lifetime, but I was a fucking survivor, not the victim.
I covered my face with a pillow as a scream ripped from my throat, angry and guttural, as if my inner child was trying to escape her confines.
I buried that little girl nine years ago when Cinder pulled me out of that room.
Did she lie to me? I shook that thought from my head.
Cinder wouldn’t lie to me about killing the man who traumatized me.
No matter the emotions screaming inside me.
I saw the blood on her hands and the tears in her eyes when she finally held me close.
Cinder looked different. She was still my sister, but she wasn’t the same girl who played dress-up or who gave me piggyback rides when we walked too far.
She was scarier, but not scary like Jude was.
Her eyes were also different. They were the same eyes I saw when I woke up from a nightmare, but there were shadows in them.
“I’m so sorry, Aurora,” Cinder sobbed, her hands trembling as she caressed my cheek. “I should’ve tried harder to find you sooner.”
I clung to her like the world might take her away and bring me back to my nightmare. Her arms were my safety net, and I didn’t want to be dragged back to the darkness alone. “A-are you h-here?”
She pulled me into her, a sob ripping through her as she cried. “I-I’m here, firefly.” There was no more darkness. “He can’t hurt you ever again.”
I couldn’t process these emotions screaming inside me.
Cinder said he couldn’t hurt me ever again, but even ghosts left scars.
Now I had another monster to deal with. Who had pictures?
Who had videos? I knew he recorded me, but those pictures weren’t from his video camera.
Why was this happening now? Nine goddamn years.
Why did they decide to come out of the woodwork now?
I needed to get out of here. If I stayed in my room or around my sister, I would shatter.
Riding was my way of coping, and I needed to breathe before everything pulled me under a suffocating abyss.
I changed into my armoured leather pants and a black tube top.
With the way my body was reacting, I opted against my jacket.
The last thing I needed was to feel like I was suffocating because of it.
Peeking my head out of the room, the coast was clear, and I bolted to the front grabbing my keys.
I wanted to ride, and I needed my mind to stop screaming.
I knew the one place I needed to go to get the comfort I needed.
My bike revved and I hit the gas, leaving the clubhouse behind in a cloud of smoke.
I heard Cinder screaming my name as I vanished down the highway.
I got to a red light and pulled out my phone.
My nerves were a little less shot, but my anxiety was still running rampant.
There were multiple messages and missed calls from Widow, Vesper, and my sister, but I didn’t want to deal with any of them.
They were worried someone was going to take me and kill me, or worse, but I didn’t have it in me to care. Not right now, anyway.
VESPER
Mariposa, we need you to come back home. We want you safe
CINDER
Get home now.
Please.
WIDOW
You need to come home, phoenix.
Phoenix. I scoffed at the nickname. She didn’t get to use that anymore. I locked my phone, took a deep breath, and put my helmet back on. There was only one place I wanted to go to right now, and that was to my red-headed vixen, enemy territory be damned.
My mind was racing as I entered Crestview, but I didn't care. I wanted only her, and I was going to have her. A few hours of orgasms would distract me long enough from the issues at hand. I didn’t want to deal with reality right then, but I knew tomorrow I had to face the fact that someone from my past was back.
Hades wasn’t home when I pulled up to her doorstep, but I had no other plans, so I sat at her entrance, waiting.
This was a dangerous game. I still didn’t know anything about the black Jeep from my last endeavor.
When I went to Hades’s last time, I didn’t see them again, but that didn’t prove anything.
It might’ve been a coincidence that someone was waiting for me to leave, or maybe they wanted to watch a show.
A car door slammed, and I jumped up. Her eyes lit up when she saw me. “Rory? What ar—” I wrapped my hand around her slender throat and pulled her to me, slamming my lips to hers in a scorching kiss. Holy hell. She shouldn’t make me feel this alive.
“Stop talking and fuck me, baby.”
She listened beautifully. Hades pushed her door open, only to kick it shut just as fast as she pulled at my clothes, her touch frenzied.
She got annoyed with my shirt and ripped it, which would suck when I left, but I’d worry about that later.
Her hands slid up my torso, groping my bra-covered breasts, and she deepened the kiss.
The world disappeared, a collision of hunger enveloping the two of us as our bodies molded together.
I was lost in her taste, craving the pleasure she could give me, needing her to calm the storm in my mind.
I didn’t like the way she made my chest feel, but goddamn did I love the way she made my body react to her, to her touch.
Hades pulled away, fingers tracing the edge of my jaw.
I wanted more. My fingers skimmed beneath her shirt, pushing it up her body until it was off her shoulders, then fumbled with the button of her leather pants.
I could stare at her ass in leather all day, but I preferred her naked.
I growled in frustration when her pants didn't come off fast enough.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“No talking. Just fucking.” She remained silent, but I could see the lingering hurt in her eyes. I couldn’t handle any more pity or another person being concerned about me.
She pushed me towards her couch, tossing me onto it. Hades straddled my hips and grasped my hands, pinning them above my head. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I grumbled, annoyance lacing my tongue. I wanted her to fuck me, not talk to me.
Her eyes narrowed on me. She wasn’t pleased with me, but I didn’t give two flying fucks. I came here for one thing, damnit. “That’s a bold-faced lie. I can tell when people are lyin’.”
“Hades,” I hissed, bucking my hips. “I didn’t come here to talk.”
She cocked her head to the side, waiting for an answer. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
I wiggled, trying to get away from her, but she had me in a vise. “If you won’t fuck me, I’ll go somewhere else.”
“You won’t make it out the door. Talk to me.”