Chapter 14
Scarlett
My vision is blurry. My entire body is liquid. Ash is pulling out and flopping onto his back beside me, one arm thrown across his eyes. He’s frowning like he’s disappointed in himself for giving in. Poor sacrificial lamb. I’m going to force him to fail his own mission. Too bad.
I blink to clear the haze of pleasure from my eyes and there Bohnes is, perched on the mattress beside me like he materialized there.
He’s stroking my hair back and smiling tightly.
It’s the sort of smile you might see on Halloween decor, or watch on a YouTube true crime channel.
I have no idea how he got inside so quickly, but I’m happy to see him.
Still mad at him for his nonsense at the track, but…happy. Relieved. If he’s here and he took care of Gram, then Ash must’ve spoken with him hours ago regarding the plan. Bohnes approves which means the plan definitely includes Ash dying.
“Hi.” The word is shaky as I sit up, pulling my knees to my chest. Endorphins cascade through me, making my skin sparkle.
Not the safest place to linger, buried in the bowels of the mayor’s mansion with the police chief half-dead in the next room.
Hard to move quickly though, with all these sex hormones clawing their way through me.
“Hello.” Bohnes lifts both of his dark brows, still wearing that circus tent trench coat of his. He’s a bit bloodier than he was when I last saw him. “Nice to see that you haven’t blown your own brains out, Scarlett. Does it feel good to get your way through threats of self-harm?”
I smirk.
“It feels good to be right. If you’re sitting here and Ash isn’t a misty red spray on the wall then you’re doing more than honoring track rules. You’re onboard with his nonsense plan. Too bad that he’s going to agree to let me take over. Right, Ash?”
He slides his arm away from his eyes, each of them its own little black pool of secrets.
We’re done with that now. We’re all going to crack like eggs and spill into the same frying pan.
I want all my toys in the chest at the foot of my bed, not scattered around town.
I want the five of us together—starting tonight.
If we stay together, we can stay alive.
“Scarlett, I…” Ash begins. He sounds breathy and wild, his eyes seeking out a shiny silver katana that’s lying on the dresser across the room next to…
a frog in a portable habitat. Uh-huh. Kay.
“My father has to die in order for you to live. There’s no way around it.
He’ll want to kill me himself, giving me the opportunity to get him first—”
I lift my hand, silencing him. I’m pleased when he obeys.
“I’m sick of this conversation. It’s tiresome.
” My voice is flush with irritation and orgasm both as I climb off the edge of the bed.
My arms rise overhead in a much-needed stretch, putting my nudity on display for both men.
“Can I shower? Or is this the sort of situation where I need to hurry my ass up and put panties on?”
I want to get any traces of Lexi’s or Cody’s blood off me. I can’t believe I’m so beyond nuts that I decided to bang Ash before showering. Two minutes under the water wouldn’t have changed things.
I needed him inside of me as much as he needed to be there. My eyes dart to Ash—sitting with his arms around his legs. His hot seed is sticky between my thighs. Ash unfurls, like a black rose in bloom. He gets to his feet, as naked as I am.
He rubs his palm over his wet junk and then licks it, all the while still staring down at the floor with his lashes resting on his pale cheeks. “No shower for me. But there’s time.”
“Shower.” Bohnes isn’t smiling anymore, but a gaze of ice sweeps me from crown to crotch, assessing and cataloguing me for injuries or insults. He would skin the world to make me smile. Just for a smile. Imagine the horrible things he’d do to keep me alive. “But don’t bother with panties.”
He goes terrifyingly blank as he turns those blue eyes of his on Ash.
They look at each other, and I know for certain there was some conversation between the end of the race and right now that I missed out on.
I spot the bathroom right there in front of me, this palatial expanse of marble and shiny fixtures that makes my head spin.
It’s twice the size of my current…previous living room.
A huge walk-in shower with glass walls and a bench.
Bathtub with jets and a view of the wooded property that surrounds the house.
A wall of soaps and shampoos and freshly folded towels.
What the actual fucking fuck is all of this luxury?
I deserve something like this. We. We deserve it.
“My crew safe?” I ask, but they both just stare at me as I toss a cavalier look over my shoulder. “You better fucking answer me, you stupid fuckboys.”
Bohnes cocks his head at me while Ash digs through the top drawer of the dresser, discarding clothes across the floor in a way that comes across to me as defiant.
Well, look at that. The guy decides for sure that he’s finally going to murder his abusive father, and he starts acting out in the small ways he never got to as a child. I’m proud of him for that.
“Scarlett.” This from Bohnes, terse but calm. “Would I leave your crew to rot? They’re fine. Everything is fine.”
I sweep into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.
I’ve only just stepped into the hot water when reality hits like a hammer to my skull.
Alexis is dead. My house burned down. Gram knows I’m nothin’ but a goddamn delinquent. I lost a race.
A sob catches in my throat, and I try to stuff a fist into my mouth to stifle it. My teeth hit hard, bruising my skin, drawing blood. It’s not enough. I lean back against the wall and meditate on my own mantra.
Facts not feelings. Emotions are luxuries. Actions then consequences.
I’m not going to hold Lexi’s death against Ash. It was an awful chore, but it had to be done. I am too soft. I’m too fucking soft, but goddamn, I’ve got a lot of fuckboy weapons.
Bohnes is somehow inside the shower stall with me.
It’s a huge shower, to be fair, with two rain showerheads on either side and a deluxe wall of micro-controls and various spigots.
I didn’t bother to turn any lights on when I came in here, relying only on the dusky gray coming from the single half-frosted window.
Kellin is buried in shadows until he’s not, stepping forward into the water while fully clothed, combat boots and everything. He wraps me up in his arms and keeps me from falling to the floor, pulling me tight to his chest and rubbing a hand over my back.
I stop crying immediately.
“You’re a dream, Scarlett, so that’s worth a Nightmare.
” He turns his head toward me and then draws back to stare down at my face, uncaring that his wet hair has darkened and is curling over his forehead.
Ignoring the water that spatters across his cheeks, or the way the spray turns the blood on his white-striped clothing pink.
“I’m sorry about your sister, but I’m even more sorry about what we did to you on the track. ”
I have no idea about what’s really going on, do I? I’m missing a lot of information here. It’s time I got caught up.
I lean further into Bohnes to see what he’ll do. He folds me in his arms, waiting there until he’s soaked from head to toe.
“I’ll punish you later.” I pull away first, giving him a look that he returns with such indiscriminate mania that I shiver in response. “For now, I’ll accept obedience and transparency as an apology.”
I switch off the water and we exit the shower together.
Bohnes sheds his clothes in wet heaps on the floor, leaving watery bloodstains on the finely veined marble.
His dick is flaccid, that black spell circle inked at the base obscured by soft, white flesh.
He’s not thrilled with the way tonight has gone.
He will be, once he relinquishes full control and starts listening to me.
“If Ash hands his win over to you—” His voice is as bone-rattlingly dominant as always.
“When,” I hiss back, and we both work our jaws in frustration, matching glares of defiance traded across the Babylonian bathroom.
“Let’s hope Idiot Fuckboy Two has something other than wool and linen suits,” Bohnes complains, changing the subject and putting his hands on the bathroom counter.
He bends low to stare at himself in the mirror then uses his forearm to wipe away the steam with a squeak of flesh.
His skeleton tattoo glides down his back, emphasizing all of his perfect muscles.
If I didn’t have so many other things to do, I’d leap on that. Widow is going to be pissed enough as is, but more or less pissed than Alexei? How about Grandma? Also, where is Miss Emma Jean exactly?
I groan and shut off the shower, accepting a towel that Bohnes throws me, and drying my long hair.
“I have plenty of clothes for you, love.” Ash appears with a garment bag and hangs it on a hook near the door. He unzips the front to offer me a glimpse of the garment. It’s a little black dress in my size and it’s very, very expensive.
“I had clothes just like this that I won at the track, clothes that you set on fire along with my closet.” I’m so unbelievably salty about that. But if he set my house on fire, and Bohnes let him, there was a good reason. I’m done being the last person to find out this shit though.
We’re putting an end to that tonight. Or…this morning, as it may be.
“Wrong.” Ash’s smile is tight, tipped with frustration.
He can feel me sawing through his emotional armor, and he doesn’t know how to feel about it.
“Alexis had some time to pack a few suitcases full of your best items. She thought she was going to be taking them with her into her new life. After I murdered you, we were going to run away together.”