Chapter Eighteen #3
“Martyr? Alia?” Brandon snorted. “You’ve got to be joking. Her pussy is fucking hot, I get the addiction, but… she only thinks of herself.”
Moth rolled his eyes. “I’ve had that experience with her in the past.”
What the actual fuck? Were Brandon and Moth bonding over their perceived hatred of me? Surely I hadn’t just heard the words that had left their mouths? I was drunk or drugged or dreaming… wasn’t I?
“Right!” Brandon probably would’ve patted Moth’s back if he was near enough. “She entices you in, then kicks you in the balls as soon as she’s got what she wants from you. I’ll be furious if she’s given you everything she gave to me. Those games were our little secret.”
“Fuck off!” I spat, twisting my head to try and look at my captor. “You turned those games into fucking torture. There’s a big difference.”
Pressing the blade into my neck, Brandon shook me. “Don’t talk to me like that, bitch!”
A chuckle came from Moth, shocking us both into going still. I stared at the man who had rescued me, watching as he cracked his knuckles with his thumb.
“The thing is,” Moth muttered, “she is a bitch. She’s done things that made me want to kill her. Literally.”
Brandon took a breath to reply – no doubt to agree – but Moth put up a hand.
“However,” Moth went on, “you were the one who gave her karma, weren’t you?”
Nodding, Brandon hissed and replied. “Exactly. She needed to know that she couldn’t be that sexy, that fucking perfect. She had to be shown how to behave.”
Moth’s shoulders went tight, the muscles in his torso rippling when he lifted an arm to point at me. “You have pushed me to the edge, Sunshine,” he spat, “so much so, I’m debating changing my plans for you.”
The fire in his eyes spoke to me, begging me to hear him. My skin went ice cold as I froze, no longer struggling in Brandon’s hold. Moth was being devious. Was he changing our agreement? Was he going to abandon me to the cruel twisted man who would take everything from me before leaving me to die?
“It’s fine,” I called to him, my throat tight as tears threatened, “You should go. You’ve wanted to since the day I found you again.”
Rubbing a hand over his head, Moth cursed under his breath and ground his teeth together. “That’s the problem, Sunshine.”
“Stop calling her that!” Brandon sneered.
Moth smiled suddenly, the smirky grin calming his intense expression. I frowned myself, unable to understand what was going on or why Moth was acting so strange.
“I can’t leave you…” Moth pushed his balled fists into his eyes. “…and it’s fucking me up. So…” He put his arms down and looked straight into my eyes. “…I have to fucking save you, in order to keep you.”
He charged forward, and I screamed as the gun next to my head discharged, the popping sound not as loud as I had expected. I tried to squirm out of Brandon’s grip as something slammed into Moth’s chest and he came to a stop, looking down at the feather that stuck out from his pec.
He frowned and dropped to his knees, yanking out the offending dart before collapsing.
“What the fuck have you done?” I whispered, tears tracking down my cheeks, “You’ve killed him!”
Thrashing around, I ignored the sting of the blade as it cut my skin. I didn’t care if Brandon sliced my throat, it would mean that I’d be free of him and his fucked up threats.
His arms loosened, and I pushed out of his grip, going to Moth and falling to my knees beside him. “Moth,” I cried, shaking him, “please, wake up.”
Brandon’s boots came into view, and I looked up at him, my chest squeezing and the tears blurring my vision. “You could’ve just let him go. He would’ve gone eventually, I know he would. He lied when he said he can’t leave me. As soon as we’d dealt with you, he was going to leave me alone.”
I cringed when Brandon crouched in front of me, a sick grin twisting his face. “Oh, this revelation is juicy. I can use it to my advantage.”
“What?” I swiped at my soaked cheeks and stroked Moth’s hair out of his eyes.
Before Brandon could reply, I shot to my feet and turned, ready to run and get help. Maybe I could get an ambulance to Moth, just in case he was still alive.
“Oh no you don’t!” Brandon caught me around the waist, hauling me back and spinning me around to face him.
He cupped my cheek, the freaky smile still stretching his lips. “You’re never going to get away from me. I’ve got a surprise for you, and at first, you’ll think it’s good. However, you’ll soon realize that you’re living your own version of hell. You need to pay for what you’ve done to me.”
“So, you’ll get your revenge on me while I was trying to seek mine.” I sobbed, my limbs going soft as I resigned myself to my fate.
He tilted his head to the side and looked over his shoulder at Moth, who was completely still on the ground. “Oh, I’ve only just begun. We’ll get properly started when you wake up.”
His hand jerked near my neck and I gasped when a sharp sting radiated in my shoulder. Black stars danced in front of my eyes and the last thing I saw, before the darkness overtook, was Moth’s tattooed body, bereft of life, face down in the cold.