Chapter 15
Brawley
The three of us are standing around waiting for people to be let onto the island.
Vero is running late—because of course he is—but instead of getting his costume on he is sprinting toward me.
I have about two seconds’ warning before he launches himself into my arms, but I catch him as he wraps his legs around my waist, his arms going around my neck.
“I’m so excited!”
“You’re going to do that one day, and I won’t catch you.”
Vero laughs. “You will always catch me.”
He isn’t wrong—I always will, and he knows it.
The cocky asshole. He presses a kiss to my mouth and then slides down my body.
“Go, get your costume on. I brought it down for you.”
“In a sec, Kayla and I are running together tonight.”
“I know. You’ve told me a million times since this morning.”
“But she has no idea that we are all hunting her. I’m going to pretend to protect her and then absolutely not protect her once you catch us.”
I roll my eyes in loving frustration. “Good plan. Now get dressed, or no one will be chasing anyone.”
He takes off, and I turn back to Clay and Ares. I know something is up between them and have let it go for almost a week.
“What the fuck is going on?” I snap.
Clay looks at Ares, and they both glance over at me. I pin them with a glare; I won’t let this go tonight.
“Kayla has been feeling as if she is being watched. It started recently, and though I have checked her loft, I came up empty. But I trust her gut,” Clay finally replies.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Because your boyfriend isn’t stable right now, and after his last episode, we almost lost her. So excuse us for not wanting you to let it slip while Vero sucks your dick.”
“Will you two please not start this right now?” Ares sighs.
“I put a PI on it and got an email an hour ago confirming her shitty ex got out of prison,” Clay continues.
“Am I the only one in the dark about an ex in prison?” I snap.
Ares shakes his head. “No, she only just told me, and the only reason I told Clay she had a shitty ex was because of this whole situation. Otherwise, none of you fuckers would know about it.”
“We don’t even know for certain if it’s him, but the PI is doing some more digging. He has a record of controlling behavior and was in prison for a while. That’s all I know so far.”
Though I hate how they kept me in the dark, I understand why. I hate keeping secrets from Vero, and half the time he can tell when I’m not telling him something and can get it out of me.
“She doesn’t know about her ex being free, or at least I don’t think she does.” Clay crosses his arms. “I want more information before we tell her. But her behavior makes sense now—he was arrested a few years back.”
Violence radiates through my core. I need to know what he did to her, because whether he is following her or not, he will get what he deserves. I might just let Vero have his go at death by paper cut on this guy.
“We need to find him,” I grit out.
Neither of them argues with me, and Vero appears with his Hannibal mask, Kayla beside him.
She isn’t dressed up, clad in a pair of jeans and a shirt with her leather jacket.
Vero says something to her as they get closer, and she throws her head back and laughs.
My chest flutters at seeing them both so happy.
Clay pulls his bandanna all the way up and cracks his neck. “You two ready to run?”
Vero takes Kayla’s hand, and she smiles. “Bite me, dickhead,” Kayla throws back at Clay.
“Oh, I plan to when I catch you.”
She uses her free hand to flip him off just as Vero drags her away.
“You can bite me, too, Brawley,” Vero yells, followed by a cackle.
“Let’s round them up and come back around to near the carousel. We’ve been given that area tonight,” Clay directs.
Both Ares and I nod, and we wait another minute before we take off after them. Screams are already filling the air as people run through the open spaces.
The carousel is in the carnival area, and I head straight there, letting Ares and Clay draw them in.
I stroll through the side gate of sideshow alley, watching for my targets.
The stalls line both sides of the path, but everything is dark and locked up for the night.
I stop where the path forks and the carnival grounds open up, waiting to see if I can hear anything.
Then as I slowly head in, I see a flash run past toward the house of mirrors.
I creep around the back, waiting in the gap between the building and the fence. The sound of footsteps gets closer, then stops.
“He didn’t follow us,” Vero whispers loudly.
“That means he went the other way.”
I smirk; I knew they saw me. They wanted me to follow them.
“Should we go back?” Kayla asks.
“Fuck no, that’s what he wants.”
She laughs, and their footsteps start again.
I give them a thirty-second head start, and slink along the fence line, not letting them see me. But I see them. They have snuck through the gate and are moving around the outside of the carousel platform, using the horses as cover.
Clay comes up behind me, and I whisper, “Carousel.” He nods and goes back the way he came, while I silently shift through the gates.
Vero and Kayla are on the far side, and I duck as I step up onto the platform.
The lights flash on and the music blasts loudly as the carousel shudders to a start.
I work my way around the wooden deck, but when I get close to them, Vero launches at me from behind a horse.
“Got you,” he yells over the noise, and I laugh.
“I was supposed to be getting you.”
Vero cackles. “I was the distraction,” he says.
In the chaos, Kayla has jumped down and tries to run, but Clay steps in front of her. Now neither of them moves. Ares finally joins the party, casually strolling through the gate. Unfortunately for her, she has nowhere left to go.
She looks back over her shoulder at Vero. “You traitor!”
“Sorry, paper-cut princess, but I am weak for this man.”
She smiles at him. “Solid argument.”
Clay reaches for her, putting his hands on her shoulders as he says something to her. And just like that, it appears she accepts she’s been cornered. He ducks down, places a hand behind her knee, and flips her over his shoulder.
Kayla shouts and grabs the back of his waistband with both hands, pulling up hard, causing Clay to make a sound I have never heard come out of his mouth.
It’s hard not to laugh, but the second he loosens his grip, she drops to the ground and pushes to her feet, then runs off again with a cackle.
She makes it a few steps before Ares catches her by the hair and pulls her back against his chest. Kayla gasps and grabs his wrist.
“Going somewhere?” he asks, using his free hand to pull off his mask.
“Maybe I was. You guys are going easy on me tonight. Maybe I should see if Cave is up for a chase. Wedgie boy is getting soft.”
“Shut up,” Clay groans, still righting his boxers beneath his pants.
Vero laughs, so I reach up and grab the back of his neck, and his knees buckle.
He turns to look at me, and I smirk as I walk him back to the nearest horse and drape him over it.
I glance back and see Ares bringing Kayla up onto the carousel and positioning her stomach-down over a horse, just like I have done with Vero.
Clay moves in front of her as she looks at me, but I give a shrug that says, You’re fucked now.
“Eyes forward, I think Clay has something to show you,” I tell her aloud.
“Can he show me as well? I want to see,” Vero sasses.
I can’t wrap my hands in Vero’s hair anymore. Though it’s growing back, it’s not long enough to get a good grip yet.
“You want to see his cock?” I growl. His response is to laugh, so I lean over and rip his jumpsuit open at the front and pull it all the way down his body.
Clay places one foot in the stirrup and grabs Kayla by her hair. “You want me to be rough? I’m going to fuck your face until you have tears running down your cheeks.”
“Is that supposed to be a punishment? I might give you a wedgie more often.”
Clay yanks her head back further, using his free hand to push down his pants and pull out his cock. Kayla opens her mouth, and he thrusts in deep enough that she gags.
“Relax your throat quickly,” Vero tells her.
“Did I say you could speak? Ares, take off Kayla’s pants and hand me her underwear,” I snap.
Ares nods and slides off her boots, then her pants, and lastly her underwear.
Once he hands them to me, I lean forward and shove them into Vero’s mouth.
Then I grab his Hannibal mask and fasten it back onto his face.
He tries to mumble something, but I can’t make it out.
With him now naked and bent over the horse, I run my hands down his side, and he shivers.
It will never get old, the way his body responds to my touch.
Beside us, the other horse lowers, where Clay is relentlessly fucking Kayla’s throat. She has spit rolling down her chin and her eyes are watering.
The horse beneath Vero starts to go down.
I take a leaf out of Clay’s book and step up onto the horse, while rubbing my cock in Vero’s crack and spitting between us.
Vero makes a sound resembling a moan as I push inside him.
I set a slow pace, wanting him to feel every second of this torture, watching as Kayla gets fucked.
His hands grip the pole, and the carousel spins.
Ares steps up behind Kayla and bends down. He uses the horse’s motion to his advantage, licking the full length of her pussy, and she gurgles out a moan. Ares palms her ass and spreads her cheeks apart. He eats her from behind until her entire body trembles.
I keep my pace slow, drawing out Vero’s pleasure as Clay pulls back from Kayla’s throat, holding her head still so he can come on her face.
In that moment, Ares stands up and releases himself, then thrusts inside her. She screams, and Clay uses her open mouth to his advantage, pushing his cum inside. Clay watches Ares for a moment, then he leans over and slaps Kayla’s bare ass hard.
I change up my pace to match Ares’s, causing Vero to whine, and I chuckle under my breath.
His ass clenches around me, and I wrap my free hand around his throat since he has no hair for me to pull.
His pulse thumps against my fingers, but I don’t go easy on him.
Ares and I fuck them hard, and the carousel wobbles.
Vero comes, his ass squeezing my cock so hard he might cut off the blood supply. I release his neck as I fill his ass with my cum.
“I’m going to come,” Kayla wails. It’s followed by her screaming Ares’s name and Clay bringing his hand down on her ass one last time.
I release Vero to help him undo his mask, and he spits out Kayla’s underwear. Once Ares finishes, he steps back, and I have never seen Vero move so fast. He pushes Ares out of the way, his cock rock hard. He leans his body over hers, gripping the pole as he pushes inside her.
“Fuck, that’s good,” he says, his head tilting back as his body tenses and shudders. “Best chase ever.”
“Who is carrying me back to the house?” Kayla asks, and Vero laughs. He helps her down, and she jumps up into his arms.
Clay clears his throat. “Vero, you realize that you’re completely naked and Kayla’s pussy juices are still on your cock, right? Do you plan to walk back like that?”
Vero scoffs. “Of course not, I was going to ask someone to cover Kayla first.”
She giggles and I throw Vero’s orange jumpsuit at him. Kayla helps him tuck it around her lower half, then he jumps off the carousel and starts walking toward the gate that leads back to the houses.
Fuck my life—now I will have to kill anyone who sees him naked.
Vero is walking ahead with Kayla and is talking at full speed.
I walk behind them, Clay in front, and Ares is off to the side. If anyone gets close to them, they are going to wish they hadn’t.
We cut through the passageway beside the Asylum and hear screams coming from inside. Vero looks sideways at the building but keeps walking.
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch movement on the opposite side of the alley at the Funhouse of Horrors.
There’s a man in a hoodie, and he’s not moving but staring our way.
He watches Vero and Kayla, but hasn’t paid me enough attention to notice I have stopped.
I don’t say anything to the others as I move to the end of the funhouse and circle around the other side.
When I slip alongside the building, his back is to me.
The man steps further into the shadows but must sense me because he looks over his shoulder. When he sees me, he runs.
Big mistake, he is no match for me, and I close the gap between us in four strides. This peeping tom needs to work on his fitness if he plans to spy on people.
And he chose the wrong people.
Once I get close enough, I take him down to the ground hard. Pressing my knee into his spine, I rip his hoodie back.
“Get up,” I snap, knowing I vaguely recognize him as someone who works here, one of the newer staff.
“I-I’m sorry,” he stammers. Though he sounds convincing, it’s not enough for my anger to settle.
“I wasn’t watching anyone; I was checking the stall lock like Khodi asked me.
” He holds my gaze as he continues. “I’m Luca, and I’m new here.
I’m sorry if I startled you, but I wasn’t sure what to do when I saw you all coming.
So I thought I would wait until you passed. ” He gives me a gentle smile.
But I have known Ares for a long time and watched him act like this. Not in this situation, but using this tone of voice and body language. A normal person would be shaken, not calm and collected. Every word Luca just said was carefully chosen, and he added eye contact and comfort.
I nod and deliberately relax my body. “There is a rule here. If you come across anyone in the middle of something, you turn and walk away. You do not watch. You do not stand and stare in the fucking dark. Simply leave.”
“You’re right. I understand now, and it won’t happen again.”
I offer him my hand to shake, but as he goes to take it, I shift and drive my fist into his stomach. He folds and goes back down, making a wheezing sound.
“You think you can mindfuck me? You can’t, I live with the best. Look at what’s mine again and I will fucking kill you. This warning is a courtesy to Nixie and Ares, so we don’t have an incident report to fill out tonight.” I leave him on the ground and catch up with the others.
Clay raises a brow at me as I fall in line with him. “Problem?”
“Not anymore.”
Clay nods, understanding now is not the time to talk about it. When we get back to the house, we’ll let Vero and Kayla shower, then I will fill the others in.