Thrash was backed into his spot, still laughing at Shade when he pulled up, scanning the crowd.
“What got into your ass?” he shouted over Shade’s engine. Shade just shook his head, trying to hold in a grin.
Gwinn got into his ass. The last few days Shade was gone more than he was there, always backing up Thrash or Talon on Club business that had to be handled just so. Each time he rolled in, she’d never be in the lot, lounge, or garage. She was giving him space. He knew that. Knew she thought if she was out of sight he’d find his release with someone else then move on.
His confessing why he did what he did with his random hook ups to her didn’t do anything but make her think that sex was medicine for him. That he had to have it. That put a hitch in their relationship because he was taking his time with her, building something, exploring these odd feelings which made no sense to him.
In effect, he hadn’t pulled her into any tight spaces. If anything he was gentle with her. The morning after she had pulled the bullet from his shoulder, the morning they explored each other, he held her for a few hours. He walked her into his room, laid her on his bed, pulled her into his arms, and did his best to read her fear, to just let her be. They didn’t say much, just little touches, breaths of kisses. Innocent.
That afternoon was when all the runs began, when he didn’t have nearly enough time for her.
Right now Shade was feeling high on life, was glad to be near the hum Gwinn always had.
Shade’s gaze moved across the lot one more time. Star stepped out of the lounge. She looked right at him and shook her head no, saying that Shade was right, Gwinn wasn’t in there.
His stare moved to where he was sure she was, and he saw her on the porch of the house hiding in the shadows behind one of the pillars. Shade smirked, then roared his engine before he took off in her direction, hearing the hollers and whistles from those in the lot who knew exactly where he was going. It was amusing to them that this innocent had his attention, that because of her every once in a while when she crossed his mind he’d smile for no reason. They were going to give him hell about it though, and he’d take it—gladly.
He drove his bike across the paths that led to the house, careful enough not to sling rocks in Reveca’s gardens but dominant enough so there was no doubt Gwinn knew he was coming right for her.
When he stopped his bike just before the porch, he pulled his glasses down, met her stare, did the classic guy nod, let a little smile linger on his lips.
Gwinn smiled, she tried pressing her lips together to hide it but that was pointless.
She nodded toward the lot, teasing him, telling him he took a wrong turn. “You’re breaking hearts tonight,” she said as she moved closer.
Shade’s eyes fell over her; another summer dress, this one yellow, falling mid thigh, loose but clinging like all the others. He bit his lip and told his body to chill the fuck out. Harder to do than say. Her energy always made him crave a rush.
“What are you doing?” she asked when he didn’t turn his bike off, when he just kept looking at her.
“Taking you on a date.”
She playful narrowed her eyes at him. “You don’t date.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “First time for everything.” He reached his arm out for her. “Come to me.”
Shyly holding his stare she did.
“You’re not afraid of a bike are you?” he asked, knowing there was some fear in her. It was dark to him, though, so he assumed she was just nervous.
“Where are we going to go?”
He lifted his chin. “Where do you want to go?”
Gwinn glanced at the high walls around the Boneyard. She hadn’t left since she had arrived. Not since she became immortal. The Boneyard was her world. Just the idea of anything beyond those walls was terrifying to her especially since she spent her days watching those in the life return the way they did.
This was the first time she had seen Shade without some kind of blood splatters on him. Most of the time it was never his, but still, it meant he faced something. That the world out there was darker now, darker because she was more aware, could hear more, see more—everything was more.
The last memory she had of anything beyond those walls was when she was a kid, seventeen, going to a part-time job, leaving a foster home which had too many mouths to feed as it was.
Right now she felt seventeen again, nervous and excited.
“I don’t know.”
“Something had to be fun before,” Shade said with a lift of his brow.
“At this hour? I was asleep or trying to study.”
“Then we’ll just ride, how ‘bout that?” Shade said, pulling her closer.
He guided her to the bike and told her to watch where her feet were. He felt her shaking, sensed the fear spike in her, but thought it was just the idea of the ride.
Once she was behind him he pulled her arms around his waist nice and tight.
That’s when she lost it, when she totally freaked out on him. She was off the bike in the blink of an eye.
Shade turned it off and went to chase her. She was covering her mouth, staring back at the bike with tears in her eyes. Then she ran again, down the side of the house.
As he chased her he stopped short, inhaling her fear, and seeing it.
It was flashes but all it took was the first one to bring fury to him. He saw her huddled in a closet—her hands tied behind her back, her feet tied. The door would open and when it did a balding man would kneel down and draw blood from her, move his hand over her and smile wickedly, say cruel things.
The next flash, her moving those ropes against the edge of a baseboard, sawing, slowly. Days of that—no water, no food, just sawing; blood taken, touches, cruel words.
She made it out of the closet. She knew it was daylight. He was never there during daytime and she ran for it as fast as she could.
Gwinn barely made it to the hall when she heard him—she was wrong, he was there. She knocked over a frame on the table. The sound was her doom.
The flashes kept coming, all sliced, more emotion than vision. The next Shade could make out was her huddled as the man approached her with a gun. Her fear was a weapon apparently. The next flash was her waking up in the fetal position on the floor, trying to understand what happened, why the man was on the floor.
She crawled frantically to the gun. Right as she gripped it his leg twitched. She reacted and shot him right between the eyes. Then she dropped the gun and covered her mouth with shaking hands.
Next flash, someone pulling her hair back, her scream as another man yelled at her, told her he was going to rip her to shreds, fuck her until she died then fuck her some more. Then find her family and do the same. He was pissed she’d killed the other man.
Next flash, Holden dragging her outside, putting her on a bike, handcuffing her arms around him, them peeling away.
Rage. That was all Shade could feel as he stood there and tried to piece it together with what he already knew of the night Holden crossed the line.
Before, knowing she was shot, murdered as she hid under her bed was enough. In his mind she was happy until those last moments. Knowing she had suffered before that, it was too much.
He was ready to burn down the jail Holden was in. He’d beat the hell out of him before he did so.
Shade snapped out of plotting the million ways he wanted to kill Holden when he heard Gwinn retch, heard her crying.
He ran to her side; with his speed it was only a few seconds. Shade lifted her and pulled her to his chest and rocked her back and forth, running his hands through her hair as she cried and trembled on.
“It’s okay,” he promised, doing his best to keep his tone tender and not full of the lethal edge he wanted to use.
She clenched his sides and shook her head. Shade leaned back put his hands on her face, met her eyes. “It’s okay.”
“No, no. I killed,” she said as her chest rose and fell rapidly.
“You killed
someone that was hurting you,” he said.
“No, no, no, no, they died because of me. I killed and he killed them. He did it. He told me to run and I did, I did and ran in…I shouldn’t have ran in I should have ran anywhere but inside.”
“Shh,” Shade said, resting his lips on her brow, letting his hands caress her face. “It’s fine. It’s over. What’s done is done. I’m your vengeance,” he swore.
She shook her head, looked up at him as the silent tears streamed down. “Reveca is going to kill me. It’s my fault. I did it. It’s my fault. I was too weak. I didn’t run fast enough and when I did it was the wrong way.”
“Reveca is not going to hurt you.”
“She should,” Gwinn said as the agony of that night busted open in her chest.
“No,” he said wiping her tears away. “Going in, come on,” he said as he put her under his arm and led her to the kitchen door. His ultimate plan was to take her to his room, just calm her down. But first he was getting her water.
As he let her go to do that, Gwinn trembled on. When she looked out the window, saw Reveca and King talking in the gardens, she freaked again and ran to the bathroom where she retched again.
Shade cursed, put the water he had down then went after her. He held her hair back as she kept trying to catch her breath.
He pulled the towel down from the rack, still holding her hair, and reached his long arm out for the water and wet the towel before using it to wipe her face.
“Breathe,” he said.
“She’s going to kill me. It’s my fault. It’s my fault,” Gwinn said over and over.
“It’s not,” Shade said in a firm tone which made her stop the heavy breathing for a second. Then she just cried. She reached for his face. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything, Gwinn.”
“I know, that’s what’s wrong. I didn’t fight hard enough. I should have gotten away sooner. I shouldn’t have passed out after I struck him with my energy.” She brought her hands to her mouth. “Then he moved. How can a dead body move!”
“They just do.”
She looked at him like he was crazy.
“I’m serious,” he said, and he was. He had seen more dead bodies than he could ever count. “It’s the body shutting down.”
“I didn’t know and shot, and that shot told the other one I was there. I don’t even know where he came from. Oh my god,” Gwinn said as she lowered her head. “I should have wrecked the bike. I should have thrown him off balance.”
Shade just shook his head. She didn’t weigh enough to throw a bike off balance, not when she was with a rider the size of Holden with the experience he had.
“He slaughtered us.”
“You’re here, you’re fine,” Shade said, moving his hands to her face trying to wipe the tears away.
She shook her head. “I don’t remember them. I know I knew them. I know they were trying to protect me. They sent me to my room and told me to hide, but I don’t know how I know them. I don’t—I just don’t,” she said as she covered her mouth with her hands. She jerked as the memory of the shots were too clear in her mind.
“You’re going to remember when you’re ready. You weren’t ready for this. This is my fault,” Shade said, regretting ever trying to put her on his bike. Her saturated with this much fear infuriated him. It tested the both of them. And if she kept on, he was going to leave her right there, get on his bike, and have a reckoning at the jail. Fuck Reveca’s revenge—that’s how he felt right then. It was personal before, seeing all this, it was just too much.
“Just breathe,” Shade said as he listened.
They weren’t the only ones in the house, not anymore. And these memories needed to stay between the pair of them just then, that much Shade was sure of. Now he was focusing on his surroundings and he felt tension coming from every direction. There was no doubt in his mind neither Reveca nor Talon was in the mood to deal with this.
Shade moved back, then leaned her forward on her lap. “You stay right there and breathe.”
He needed to get her upstairs, but he wanted to check his path first.
Right as he stepped out of the downstairs bath and looked toward the kitchen he saw Talon walk in, take one look out the window toward the garden then storm back toward Shade’s direction.
“What the hell’s going on?” Talon said in a sharp tone, that reflected the dark mood Shade had already sensed coming from him.
“Not a damn thing,” Shade said, squaring his shoulders and putting on his do not fuck with me face.
Talon glanced behind him to the bathroom floor where Gwinn was breathing in and out, twice as hard now that Talon was close—a full on panic attack.
“What the hell is up with that damn witchling? Why the fuck can she not go through this transition without all the fucking drama.”
Shade went ridged then lifted his chin.
“You bucking up on me, boy,” Talon growled.
He’d had a good few hours to sit and stew on all that shit Saige had said and on the thought Reveca had betrayed him, kept his limited immortality a secret. A good few hours to think about how, thanks to that King fuck, she was dead anyway. They all were. He was beyond pissed and his beast wanted out, wanted to make itself known for the first time in years. It didn’t matter how much beer he shoved down his throat it just made it worse.
“What the fuck does it look like I’m doing,” Shade said with a sneer as he stepped up.
Talon pushed, Shade slugged him back, hitting him dead in the jaw.
Talon started to laugh. It was a dark laugh with a hint of hysteria. He looked at Shade. He didn’t really feel the hit, but he felt the intent behind it.
“You laying a claim, boy?”
“Mine. Back the fuck off.”
“Yours. You want an Ol’ Lady? That sound fucking peachy to you?”
Shade only glared.
Talon gripped his shirt, pulled him close. “Then handle your woman, son. We don’t have time for this shit.” He looked him over once. “You know that.”
Shade nodded once, rage for what he knew and the fact that he almost went head to head with Talon, of all people, coursing through him.
Talon nodded to Gwinn who was still panicking but had tried to stand to stop Shade from fighting.
“Now her problems are yours,” Talon said. “That’s what Ol’ Ladies are good for.” He nodded. “Go on, you look like you got shit to handle.”
Shade narrowed his eyes for a second then turned his back on Talon, a show of trust, silently saying it was over. Shade picked up Gwinn, cradled her in his arms then went up the stairs two at a time.
Talon stood there, glanced toward the kitchen once more, sensed Reveca beyond it, sensed how tense she was, how fucking stubborn she was.
The boys told him all about Crass and his invitation which was ignored, what Reveca did to stop it. He didn’t answer the questions he saw in Judge and Steele’s eyes, the ones that wanted to know where the power came from—how she had so much control.
He just looked away and let the fury build a bit more.
Knowing she was going back in two days’ time, how risky it was, that she would have to have King’s help again one way or another—the thought was enough to make him want to murder someone.
They had too much going on right now. If Reveca kept her focus on the paranormal side of their life the mortals were going to end up framing her for murder, putting her in jail, which would mean they would have to start over again. This place, his house, his mortal friends and the easy life that fit him like a glove, would be no more.
They’d lose this set up then apparently sit around and wait to die because King had roped her into his shit.
How twisted could get it get? Not much more than this, Talon was sure of that.
He shook his head then went up the stairs at a slow crawl. His mind was replaying what Saige said, how she would save him. How he had to let go.
The secret Reveca k
ept from him, the clock on his immortality—that hurt. It hurt more than anything else they had been through. It hurt more than the Zale shit. It hurt more than figuring out there was King in the first place. It hurt more than all the times they’d taken their breaks. It was worse than all of those together.
In some way it was the only lie she’d ever spoken to him, the only real betrayal.
Inside of his room he’d started to unload his pockets on the dresser when he sensed her. Before he could walk that way Tisk came out of his bathroom, rubbing lotion on her hands and looking terrified that she had been caught.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Talon growled.
“Look, I know it’s fun for all of you throw me against the wall and leave me there, ha, ha, ha look at the mortal witch. But I’ve been pinned to one all day so if you expect some reaction from me it’s not going to happen. I need sleep.”
“What the fuck were you doing in my bathroom?”
She walked over to him. Wearing nothing but a halter-top and a short skirt, her wild dark curly hair everywhere. “I’m in hiding, Talon. I came here with the clothes on my back and nothing else. I borrow what I need.”
“Borrow,” he repeated, glaring down at her.
“Yes, borrow. You think any of these girls are going to let me use their shit? No, so I don’t ask. I take it and move on.” She moved her head all the way back. “You gonna tell her, you and her going to give me hell, snakes again? This how you get your kicks—how you treat people that just want to survive?”
A dark, sick, manic grin came to Talon. Something had snapped inside. “No, I’m not going to tell her,” Talon said as those dark eyes dipped down her body.
“What are you going to do then?” Tisk asked in a voice that was half confused half seductive, maybe even a bit scared.
Talon let his eyes move all the way down her and slowly up, hearing all his bullshit rambling in his head, all the plots and plans, the twists of fate. When his eyes met hers again, he reached for her halter-top, to the buttons holding it in place. “I’m going to use you.”