Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
It takes five hours to deal with the problem.
Once she’s dead and her heart stops pumping, I’m able to do what I need to with minimal mess.
I send Blaise to go pick up a couple of black tubs while Avery runs interference so no one stumbles upon us while I work.
Harley and I argue when he tries to help and eventually, he agrees to sit on a chair by the door and just watch.
He niggles at me until I explain what I’m doing, and why I’m doing it, teaching him the optimal way to dismember a corpse for transportation and an easier cleanup.
There’s still a fuck ton of blood.
The smell is fucking vile and once the body, plastic sheeting, and my suit are all sealed in the tubs we open all the windows and I scrub the floor with bleach, killing the smell and any leftover DNA that might have spilled over.
Once that’s dealt with, Harley cracks the door and snaps at Blaise to grab a tub while he takes the other one.
Ash picks up both of my bags and slings them over his shoulders.
We head down to the staff parking lot together to stash the tubs until we can hand them off to Illi in the morning.
“What the hell is in this thing to make it so fucking heavy?” Blaise grouses, and Harley shakes his head at him.
Ash snarks, “I’ve seen your exam marks, so I know you’re not that fucking stupid.”
Blaise blinks at him and then at me. I sigh. “We have to get rid of the… problem somehow. Rolling her up in a rug would have us all in juvie in a second.”
He scoffs. “Avery would never let that happen… fuck, is the cougar in here? Disgusting! How the fuck did you bend her into it?”
Harley bursts out laughing, but it’s more of an are-you-fucking-kidding-me sort of sound. “She didn’t bend her. She hacked the cunt into pieces. You wanna fuck a member of the Twelve then you should know your girlfriend isn’t scared of getting her hands dirty.”
Blaise blinks. Then again. Then finally he looks at me and says, “With that tiny knife? Fuck, that seems like a lot of hard work.”
Fuck me.
Is he for real?
“I have a bone saw. Can we just move this shit quietly and get this over with? Avery is going to have a fucking fit if we’re not back soon,” I say, and they all grunt in agreement.
My leg is aching by the time we have both of the tubs loaded into the Maserati.
It’s a tight fit and when Harley starts bitching about the lack of space, Blaise snaps back, “Well, I didn’t pick it for its trunk size!
How the fuck was I supposed to know we’d be moving…
this shit. I’ll buy a fucking truck for next semester. ”
I groan. “I don’t want to think about next semester. Let’s just get back to Avery.”
Ash stops me and then slowly checks every inch of my skin for signs of the work I’ve just done. I’m thorough, so I’m not worried, but he turns me and pulls at my clothes until he’s sure I’m blood-free.
I crack a joke in an attempt to lighten the mood. “I could just blame my period if I’ve missed a spot.”
He glares at me and then slings his arm around my waist, helping me to walk with my sore leg. “You’re so fucking strange, Mounty.”
I scoff at him. “So the joke is strange but the work isn’t? You’re just as twisted as I am, Beaumont.”
Avery is twitchy when we arrive in the dining hall for dinner.
She scans my body, much like her brother had, until she’s satisfied I’m unharmed.
I smile at her a little crookedly, but I’m still mostly human.
The new and improved Lips, the one who wears the skin of the Wolf even while I’m at school, she doesn’t need to be coddled. She isn’t wary of touch anymore.
I’m so fucking glad I have my family.
Blaise pulls a face when Ash asks him what he wants for dinner, and I ignore their snarking. I can’t eat now, not until tomorrow at least and for once they don’t push me.
Harley eats just fine.
Blaise gags at the sight and I can’t help but laugh at him, his moral lines are as fucking blurred as the rest of us despite his dramatics.
When I go to bed that night, tucked between Harley and Ash and listening to Blaise’s soft snores from the couch, I sleep like a fucking baby.
No one goes after my family and survives.
The last school assembly before winter break is subdued compared to the last one.
I’m not worried about anything and even the whispers have completely stopped around me. Every student at Hannaford has noticed the disappearance of anyone who crosses me and my little family.
They’re all terrified.
I get the top of the class in every subject except choir, which Blaise wins by the smallest of margins.
No hard feelings and the smug look on his face makes my chest hurt in the best way.
Harley and Ash come second. Harley in more subjects than Ash, which I’m sure he’ll crow about until classes start up again next semester, especially considering Harley was behind when we last saw the rankings.
I’m honestly a little terrified about it.
We spend two days packing our rooms and when it’s time to leave, Blaise is grumbling and pissy over how bad the smell in the Maserati will be thanks to the tubs being left in them for days. He’s shocked to find them missing, and I laugh at him.
“Did you really think I’d leave them lying around? Illi picked them up for us.”
Blaise frowns and pops the trunk to sling our bags in. “How the fuck did he get into the car? The alarms on this thing are insane.”
Harley chuckles at him. “The key. I gave him my set when he called. Why are you being so fucking precious over this thing? At least it’s still in one piece.”
Blaise cringes and nods. No one likes to bring up the ‘Stang.
I give Avery the front seat, even though Blaise pouts about it, and we head back to the Bay together.
Avery starts telling us all about the renovations to her ranch, and I make another mental note to call the Coyote for a security system upgrade.
There’s no way I’m calling the Crow; if Ash lays eyes on him he’ll fucking skin him, and the only help in that situation will be Harley holding him the fuck down.
We stay at the same hotel, stupidly, I should know better than to stick to a routine.
I walk with Avery, our arms tucked together as the boys trail behind us, bickering and arguing like idiots. Avery freezes at the door, and I glance up to find a well-dressed thug in the hotel room.
I dart around her, shielding her even as Ash does the same, but his eyes don’t look shocked. They look wary, knowing. Fuck, that’s not a good sign.
“Your father has invited you to dinner. You will not be late. You will not decline. You will not invite any further guests. The Wolf and the Crow will both attend. If you know what is good for you, you’ll track your brother down and bring him as well. Nine sharp.”
Then he lists off the name of a place I’ve never even driven past, it’s so far uptown, and walks out. Avery groans and slumps down, resting her forehead on my shoulder.
“I need a week off,” she mumbles, and I sigh. Don’t we all.
Ash stalks to the bar, forgoing the glass entirely and taking deep swigs straight from the bottle. Blaise waves a blunt at him and they disappear out to the balcony. I narrow my eyes at them but Avery stomps over, cussing them out.
“There’s hours left. He won’t go down there without a clear head,” Harley murmurs behind me, and I nod. I don’t like it, but it’s not my choice.
Hours of stewing on the couch in silence later, I climb into the shower and pray the hot water will give me the fucking answers on how to get through tonight without losing one of our family.
Avery sits on the bathroom counter, wearing only a silk robe, and pouts. “I don’t want to see Atticus. I’m so angry at him, I’m not sure I ever want to see him again.”
I scrub at my hair and shrug. “Why? I mean, I know he didn’t tell you who he was but… you know the real him.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you defending him? Ash will lose his shit at you.”
I snort at her, such a lady. “No, I’m asking my best friend what the exact problem is so when this entire night goes to hell in a handbasket, I know enough to pick the right battles.”
Her eyes soften and she sighs, leaning back to bump her head against the mirror gently like she’s trying to knock some sense back into her brain.
“He still sees me as some precious little girl that needs to be protected. I’m not angry he didn’t tell me he’s a member of the Twelve, I’m angry he came up to buy me from you like I’m…
an object. That’s exactly what Rory thought of me too, but Rory was a distraction not… Atticus.”
There are tears rimming her eyes, but the look on her face is fucking fierce. Oh boy, he’s fucked up. He’s fucked up so bad he may never dig himself out of this bullshit he’s buried himself in.
“Well, maybe it’s time we reminded him that you’re Avery fucking Beaumont and you might have shown him your soft side because he meant something to you, but that doesn’t make you any less of a ruthless, cutthroat dictator.
Beat him in his own game because, Aves, he has no fucking clue who he’s really dealing with. ”
She smiles at me and hands me a towel. “None of these stupid boys do.”