Rory
Sixty-Two
Two days had passed since my session with Izzy and I still felt…
numb. I expected it, but existing felt excruciating.
Exhaustion was another layer of nothing, and sleep didn’t offer any calming relief.
Sleep was the epitome of what I needed, but how could I sleep when sleeping made me see my sister?
I woke up screaming for her, only to realize she wasn’t here.
She was…I didn’t want to believe she was dead.
Her name fell from my lips like a distant prayer.
I wanted her to hear me, but there was a hollow calm in the darkness.
I would feel it if she was truly dead, wouldn’t I?
I felt empty, but I didn’t feel completely shattered. My sister had to be alive.
Hades would be taking me back to her place later today, but Babs would be coming over first. I wanted to see her before I left. The clubhouse was her home, too, even if it was broken right now. Babs said she tried to find her guys, but they no longer had social media.
Babs knew something was wrong. Telling her my sister was missing or dead over text wouldn’t have been ideal, especially with her pregnant, but I wanted her to know. I told Hades when I broke the news to her we could go to Crestview together and do whatever we needed.
All three of the women I cared for would help me look for my sister.
Without concrete evidence—her body or Melisa confirming—I didn’t believe she was gone.
My stalker wanted this reaction and this pain because he could use it.
I wouldn’t give him the benefit, but maybe I could utilize this as a way to make something happen.
Being prey wasn’t something I thought I would ever do, but if it helped me find Cinder, I would throw myself to the wolves.
Hades had something planned for us to do in Crestview, and I knew she needed to get back to her clinic.
I had a doctor who loved helping people, and she was with me because I was hurting.
Widow didn’t like Hades, and Hades definitely didn’t like Widow.
When she came back into my room after talking to them, she was radiating with anger but trying to hide it from me.
That was when she told me her and Widow got into it.
Hades knew Widow would be a part of my life regardless of our past.
Babs knocked on the door, and I could already feel her bubbling energy radiating tenfold.
I glanced up to see her standing with a woman.
I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn’t seeing things because that woman looked like an ethereal god.
Babs’ cheeks lit up, but she had a sympathetic look on her face. She knew.
“Hi,” she whispered as she stepped into my bedroom. Her…friend stayed at the door as Babs crawled into the bed with me. “Widow told me what happened when I came in. I’m so sorry.” She wrapped her hands around my waist and pulled me into an awkward hug. “Do you need anything?”
“I want my sister.”
“I know. Do they have an idea of who did it?”
I rubbed my eyes before sitting up and taking her hand. “I have a stalker. There was someone else…he took me from the scene of my crash and did things to me.” My skin was still crawling after I saw that picture. “I don’t remember anyone else there with me. If I did, this wouldn’t be happening.”
“Rory, it is not your fault. Trauma makes us forget things. There must be a reason you forgot him. Don’t blame yourself. It’s solely his fault. You were a child.”
“You sound like Izzy.”
“Well, she’s a smart woman.”
“Yeah, she’s been very helpful with this new discovery. Hades wants to take me to Crestview.”
“Are you going to go?”
“Yeah. Hades will help keep me safe and I need to take a break. I just…I know Vesper and Widow won’t like it, but it’s not up to them. I like her a lot and it doesn’t matter that our families hate each other.”
“This sounds like Romeo and Juliet.”
I rolled my eyes. The comparison was adequate, but I didn’t want the ending to happen. “Yeah, well what about you?” I looked at the woman in the doorway. “Tell me this baddie is yours?”
“Yeah, this is Cassandra. She is possibly one of the greatest things that happened to me.”
Babs had some serious taste, because this woman was a curvaceous Amazonian goddess. “Cass, this is my best friend, my soul sister, my platonic soulmate Rory.”
“Hey, nice to meet you.”
“Sorry for the shitty circumstances. I promise I’m not this moody all the time. Do you want to meet Hades?”
Babs nodded. “Hell yeah.”
Sweet baby Jesus there was a fire and I needed to be rescued, because holy fuck the women I was entranced with were hotter than sin and I was ready to burn.
My pulse thumped in my ears and desire went straight to my pussy.
Fuck having Babs meet Hades. I was about to strip naked, press myself between them, and go for a fucking ride.
I felt like I was watching the opening scene for a raunchy porno with how lustfully they looked at each other. Sweat caught the light on their skin and their breathing filled the air. Heavy breathing, sweaty bodies…oh lord, I needed to look away, but I was drooling. Could anyone blame me?
Hades looked at me and Vesper went in, tripping her and pinning her to the mat. Vesper’s face was close to Hades’s, and to say I didn’t want to watch them make out would be a lie, because holy hell that was the hottest thing I’d witnessed in a long time.
“You’re literally drooling.” Babs laughed, snapping me from my vivid fantasy as I looked at her with a wide, shit-eating grin.
“Can you blame me?” I looked back at my women who finally moved back to a standing position. “I wanna join. Only can we have less clothes?”
Hades claimed my lips in a searing kiss that stole the air from my lungs as she pulled me into her.
She deepened the kiss with urgency and eagerness, ignoring the others in the room.
This was one hell of a kiss, and now I needed to get my woman naked and in my bed to cure the throbbing desire between my legs.
After the show she and Vesper gave me, I would invite Vesper if all she wanted to do was watch.
“Hey, babe,” Babs called out. “That’s how babies are made.”
I pulled away and laughed as I tucked my face into Hades’s neck. “I am down for baby-making practice.” The sound of her laugh was pure temptation, and I was ready for practice.
Babs’s phone vibrated, and she read the incoming text as I turned to face her with Hades’s hand in mine. Her demeanor changed, and I saw the tremble in her hand. Something was wrong, and I would make her tell me.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I am perfectly fine.” Her nose crinkled like it always did when she was lying.
I arched my brow. “You were a shitty liar before pregnancy, and Bean made you worse. I didn’t think it was possible. I’ll ask you again: what’s wrong?”
Cass grabbed her other hand, giving her a nudge before Babs handed me her phone. Babs tucked herself into Cassandra as I read the text thread from an unknown number that threatened her and her child. “Who the fuck is this? And how long has it been going on?”
“Since I found out I was pregnant. I can’t find them, and I’m scared. You know me, I’m never scared, but I have a life growing inside me. I don’t want to endanger her.”
“Her?”
“Mommy’s intuition. She's a girl. At least for now. I don’t need her to be taken from me, but I also don’t want to die or be gang-raped. They can be pretty graphic. I told Cass to stay away from me so she wouldn’t get hurt, but she’s stubborn.”
Cass and I made eye contact. “I’m not leaving her, so don’t give me that look,” she deadpanned.
“I like her.” I laughed as Vesper made it to me. “You are a Viper. Vipers keep each other safe, especially from assholes who threaten women and their babies.”
“Who has a baby?” Vesper asked.
“Surprise,” Babs said bashfully as she showed her little baby bump. Vesper looked at Cass and back at the belly.
“Did she do that?” Vesper gaped.
“No, that was all…well, it was one of the three,” Cass said as Babs tucked her hands into her face to hide her embarrassment.
Vesper looked at me with a dumbfounded look. “Wait, Babs? Sweet, innocent Babs?
“Only Cass, currently. I conceived baby bean from a foursome one night stand after a party roughly thirteen weeks ago, but I don’t know where my guys went. I found numbers from some people at school, but they are disconnected.”
“Wait, what's your name?” Hades asked her.
“Sorry, Babs, this is Hades. Hades, this is my soulmate and the mother of my nibling.”
“It’s nice to meet you finally.” She caressed her bump. “Rory already told me so much about you.”
“Someone’s told me a lot about you, too. Is your full name per chance Barbara? And you go to Jacksonville State?” Babs’s brow arched as she looked at me curiously, but I had no idea what Hades was going on about. Babs nodded. “Fucking hell. Which one’s the dad? Archer? Hael? Or Sawyer?
“Wait, you know them?” she asked, grabbing Cassandra’s hand.
“Yes. They are Devils without being Devils. They stay in Crestview and help with our business. They are the enforcers who kill the people who betray us. They went on their own and saved some girls from sex trade with Hell’s Disciples.”
“So that’s what they meant when this person said they would cut my baby out and sell her.”
“Absolutely not,” I hissed. “Not on my watch. I’ll kill these so-called Hell’s Disciples before they can touch you.”
“Jesus take the fucking wheel.” Hades pulled out her phone and called one of the guys. “Shut the fuck up and meet me in Briarwood. Don’t ask questions. Get the guys and bring your ass out here now.” She hung up and looked at Babs. “Those three? Really?”
Babs shrugged, a bright smile and a flush of pink spreading across her face. “They made me laugh and then they fucked me lik—”
“No thank you,” Hades cut her off. “I don’t want to know the details. I guess while we wait we can play cards or I can kick all your asses in pool?”