Heathens (Badlands Book 4) Page 3

  My blade was slightly dull and could use a good sharpening, which made me have to work a bit harder to finish my task, but I didn’t mind.

  I wasn’t in a rush.

  Me and Rockwell sang about someone watching him.

  The longer I worked, the more my muscles relaxed. A sense of tranquility washed over me.

  I couldn’t tell ya when Isaac’s eyes had flown open, because by the time I noticed, they were rolling around, nearly bulging from their sockets.

  He made a low keening sound for a minute or two, and then his head lolled. Isaac was gone, dead, and soon to be in a shallow pit.

  Agonal breathing had his insides looking like the head of a boil ready to burst at any given second.

  It was fucking fascinating.

  Adipose tissue rubbed against my knuckles. The texture reminded me of the scrambled eggs I’d eaten hours ago.

  When I reached where all six inches of his limp dick hung, I stopped and wiped my blade clean on his fuzzy balls.

  I took a step back and admired my handiwork. Blood and fluid meshed together, dripping from the wooden platform to the concrete floor.

  Satisfied, I shoved my knife in my boot and made my way to the industrial sized sink that sat behind the mini bar, passing different tools and contraptions on my way.

  Everything inside this room was meant to cause pain and suffering.

  Had I been anyone else, I would’ve shit myself the second I walked in.

  Since I was admittedly a sick fucking individual, I thought it was all glorious.

  I scrubbed my hands clean, shut off the stereo system, and made for the exit, leaving Isaac’s mutilated body strung up in starfish position.

  Stepping out into the empty hall, I saw the faint glow of a lamp coming from the living room and made my way towards it, shoes thudding against the immaculately polished hardwood floor.

  “That guy didn’t know anything,” I announced, hitching a thumb over my shoulder.

  “They never do,” Grimm replied, offering me his jar of hooch once I claimed a spot on the sectional.

  I gratefully accepted and took a healthy swig, sucking my teeth as the bittersweet ferment traveled down my throat.

  Romero had yet to say a word, but I knew whatever deviant scheme was floating around inside his head would be shared aloud eventually—or at least the parts of it he felt like sharing. The man was notorious for springing shit on us at the last minute.

  His dark eyes were fixed on the round screen of a baby monitor.

  I didn’t need to see it to know it gave him a clear view of Cali and Adelaide, his baby girl. Sometimes he would sit and watch them for hours. It was safe to say he was thoroughly obsessed with his family.

  “So much shit has changed,” he started after an elongated silence, tossing the monitor down on the cushion beside him.

  Me and Grimm shared a look, readying ourselves for whatever else was about to come out of his mouth.

  “It used to only be the three of us. Now our family is growing, and it’s only going to get bigger. I need us to focus on securing our future. I’ve gotten a lot of offers for partnerships, more people want to be initiated, and I think it’s time to expand the compound.

  “Grimm’s ready to have his house constructed, which means you should be too, but before we can do any of those things, we have to finish this. It’s been long enough.”

  There wasn’t a need to question what the ‘this’ was, or how he intended for it to be finished.

  He was talking about Centriole, The Kingdom, the city where all our problems currently laid root. He was talking about wiping Vitus from the face of the earth.

  In short, he was talking about war, cuz that’s exactly what the fuck was coming. And we’d be the ones on the offense.

  “When?” I asked what me and Grimm were both wondering.

  “We hit the city in two weeks.”

  “And Vitus?” Grimm asked.

  “Let me handle Vitus. I’ll make sure his end is satisfying for all of us.”

  His voice sounded as coolly detached as it always did, no evident tension in his posture.

  Unlike him, the peace of mind I’d achieved minutes ago quickly fled, leaving behind emptiness that settled in my chest. My fingers flexed around the jar of hooch and I took another swig.

  Romero and Grimm being the intuitive fuckers they were both noticed the slight motion.

  “Whatever you’re thinking, remember this isn’t on you. Taking Frank out was inevitable. For Arlen, our new suppliers, and us,” Grimm said.

  I gave him a wide grin. “Aww, are you worried about me, Grimmy?”

  Romero interjected with a smooth, “I am,” leveling me with a look that conveyed how serious he was.

  “I second that,” Grimm added.

  My brows slammed together, my gaze bouncing between them.

  “The fuck?” I laughed. “Is this a feelings intervention?”

  “If it is?” Romero tested.

  Ah, hell. It was usually my job to lighten the mood and keep things from getting too serious. Can’t say I liked where this conversation was heading.

  “Yo, relax you two. I knew this shit was coming.” I attempted to diffuse the tension in the room.

  “You knowing it was coming and being ready for the potential aftermath are two very different things,” Grimm retorted.

  Since when the fuck did he talk so much? Arlen was a bad influence.

  I took another sip of hooch and then passed it back to him.

  Swallowing, I searched for the words to say that would appease them.

  “You two don’t need to worry about me. I’m good, and if I ever get not good, I’ll be okay, eventually.”

  Romero studied me for a beat and I knew he was seconds away from calling me out when I stood from the couch.

  “Now if you two kiddies will excuse me, I’m going to hit the sheets.” I rounded the sectional and headed for the stairs before either of them could get out another word.

  I could feel Romero’s soulless eyes burrowing into my back, right along with Grimm’s.

  He waited right till I was at the bottom step to ask, “And what about that pretty girl with the blue hair?”

  I faltered, barely, calling him every kind of asshole there was.

  “I know lots of girls. Gonna need you to be more specific. Maybe you should start in alphabetical order,” I shot back just loud enough for them to hear me before heading up the stairs.

  I knew she would be brought up sooner than later. I wish I could say I didn’t give a fuck about what happened to her, but I’d be lying to myself, and they already knew the truth I had yet to admit out loud.

  There were few chicks I cared about. Blue just so happened to be one of them. I couldn’t pinpoint why, and honestly didn’t want to try and dissect the details. I had enough to deal with without adding that kind of complication. All I knew was from the moment I saw her in that shitty ass hospital, I’d known she was different.

  It wasn’t love at first sight, it was something deeper.

  Making my way down the darkened hall, I pushed open my bedroom door and paused briefly.

  “Do you need something?” I asked Katya, stepping into my room.

  She was sitting on her knees in the center of my king-sized bed, wearing a barely oversized t-shirt. I knew there wasn’t shit underneath it. I could damn near see the lips of her pussy.

  They’d sat on my face on multiple occasions, I could pick them out of a line-up.

  “That’s certainly some greeting,” she scoffed. “That’s not how you react to Arlen and Cali.”

  “No shit. Arlen and Cali are by default my sisters. They’ve also never showed up in my bed with no underwear on. Somehow I don’t think Rome or Grimm would appreciate that.”

  “Well, I’ve been waiting for you,” she replied, running a hand over my comforter.

  “Any particular reason why?”

  I shut the door with my foot but moved no further than that. I cros
sed my arms and waited for her to continue.

  Her eyes roamed over me from head to toe and a look came across her face that told me everything I needed to know.

  Had this been a couple weeks ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated. She would have been on all fours with my dick in her ass and her face in a pillow within seconds.

  But as sexy as she was, I wasn’t going to touch her again. If I continued to fuck her it would come back to bite me in the ass in the long run.

  Her eyes finally met mine again and I could see she’d been expecting this reaction, or lack thereof.

  “It’s because of Blue, isn’t it?” she groaned.

  I cocked my head to the side and studied her.

  “For her to be such a good friend of yours you don’t really act like you give a fuck about what she’s going through.”

  “What she’s going through?”

  Her tone of voice grated on my nerves. It wasn’t right. I was big on loyalty and she just proved hers was shit.

  “I think we’re done here,”

  “I think we should talk.”

  “Sorry, Kat, Grimmy and Rome just talked me all out,” I chirped, kicking my boots off.

  She puckered her lips and tracked my movements as I headed towards my bathroom.

  “Cobra,” she huffed.

  I stopped and whipped my shirt off, then my belt. Course, now she was no longer looking at my face.

  Her eyes were trained on my body, greedily drinking in every part of me covered in ink.

  “Kat,” I called to get her attention.

  “What?” She blinked twice and her gaze snapped to mine.

  “I’m going to be straight up with you. Don’t take this personally, but my dick has caused me enough issues. You got a nice sized sample already. It won’t happen again. I’m not going to fuck you tonight. I’m not going to fuck you tomorrow, and I’m not going to fuck you a week from today.”

  I didn’t wait to see her expression or hear anything else she had to say. This was the nicest way for me to let her down, and a courtesy I didn’t usually extend.

  Any other chick would have been dead the second I was finished with her—after some good natured fun in the playroom, of course.

  I walked into the bathroom, not bothering to turn the light on.

  I shut the door and locked it behind me just in case Kat didn’t take me seriously and attempted to sneak in while I was in the shower. I wasn’t sure what I would do to her, but it wouldn’t be anything good.

  She was beginning to show signs of possessiveness, and that’s one thing I didn’t fucking deal. More importantly, I didn’t want that from Katya.

  I’d been serious about hitting the sheets, so I sincerely fucking hoped she’d be gone by the time I was done.

  I was jonesing for some peace and fucking quiet, but it wouldn’t be for me to sleep.

  I knew I was going to lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling until morning came.

  If I did somehow catch an hour or two, I could only hope they’d be full of nothing but empty dreams.

  I turned the water on to scalding and lost the rest of my clothes while I waited for the temperature to heat up.

  When I finally stepped beneath the double shower-heads, I welcomed the stinging burn on my flesh.

  It had been a long ass day. No, a long ass fucking week; time seemed to be endless.

  I shut my eyes and rested my forehead against the cool wall, thinking over everything that had happened the last few months.

  Course I knew this shit was coming, but Grimm was right when he pointed out I wasn’t prepared for it.

  I had no problem terrorizing people or painting the whole damn city of Centriole red.

  In fact, I was looking forward to it.

  I had no problem taking down Frank, the mayor.

  He may have been Arlen’s uncle, but he was a major pain in the Savages’ ass and couldn’t be trusted.

  What I had a problem with was the fact that I may be a father when all was said and done.

  That wasn’t an easy pill for me to swallow. I always thought if I had kids, it would be with a woman I worshipped.

  Me as a dad in the state I was in now? Shit was damn near hysterical. And with Arlen’s whore of a sister, Beth? That was manically depressing. I had no issue with women getting theirs, but she had community pool pussy; anyone could take a dip.

  I was ashamed to have even touched her. If my dick rotted off, it would be my own fault.

  Then, there was Blue.

  In the midst of everything going on around me and all the things I should be focused on, there was one unusual girl steadily at the forefront of my mind.

  It didn’t make sense to me on any rational level. She was the one thing in my life that was completely unexpected.

  Fucking Blue.

  Why did Rome have to bring her up?

  Just thinking of her had my dick rising to attention. She was the prettiest damn thing I’d ever seen. She looked like she’d stepped right out of a classic black and white film.

  But it wasn’t just her looks that snagged my attention. It was everything else too. Her sad eyes haunted me day in and day out.

  She may have played the naïve and innocent card with everyone else, but I saw what was beneath it.

  Grabbing my body wash, I lathered it on and took hold of my dick.

  With the pad of my thumb, I massaged the tip, bracing one hand on the wall.

  Skimming down to the base, I gripped it tightly and began to stroke to the mental image of a blue-haired vixen with heart-shaped lips.

  Her ample tits, the curves that accentuated her juicy ass, that milky skin, and those big, round fuck-me eyes.

  I wondered if she tasted as sweet as she looked. How she looked when she came. What she’d sound like as she tried to scream my name with my hand around her throat.

  It didn’t take long for my balls to swell and tighten.

  A low grunt slipped through my lips as my dick jerked, shooting a stream of come onto the wall where the water slowly washed it away.

  The satisfaction was fleeting, just like everything else in my life. It was a shitty substitute for what I really wanted.

  I couldn’t get this girl out of my head. It’d been weeks!

  I could fuck a million different faces and nothing would change. None of those people would be her.

  I knew a man like me was toxic for a woman like her, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to drag her ass over to the dark side.

  I thought sending her away was for the best. For once in my life, I’d tried to do the right thing.

  It was a little too late for me to realize that had been a huge fucking mistake.

  If I ever got a second chance, I would do everything in my power to make her mine.

  Chapter Four

  COBRA

  I could sense the tension in the air before I reached the kitchen.

  Not the bad kind; more the type that came with excitement.

  Everyone was there, with the exception of Romero and Katya.

  “Mornin,” Arlen greeted from Grimm’s lap, giving me a smile that took over her whole face.

  It was infectious; I couldn’t help but return it as I made my way to the fridge.

  I pulled out some freshly squeezed orange juice and poured a glass, glancing out the window above the stove as I sipped it.

  Outside, acolytes moved around the compound, starting their daily tasks. With the black hooded robes cloaking their bodies, they looked like a bunch of black dots.

  I had no idea how they wore those with the sun blazing high in the sky all day, but they never complained, and no one had dropped dead from heatstroke yet.

  There was a first time for everything.

  As I turned back around, I caught sight of Isaac’s body being dropped into the pit in front of our iron inverted cross.

  “Katya’s usually here to ogle you by now. Did you finally tell her to stop throwing her pu—vagina at you?” Cali asked in amusement
, drawing my attention to her.

  “Yes, I did. She now knows I’m not interested in her, but can you really blame her for the ogling? I have a lot to admire.”

  “I’ve never ogled you.”

  “Ah, come on sis, there’s no need to lie. I saw the way you looked at me the first time we met.”

  She rolled her eyes and took a bite of the bagel in front of her.

  “That ain’t how I remember it,” Arlen said.

  “How would you know? You were knocked out.” Grimm smirked, kissing her lips when she glared back at him.

  Changing the course of this conversation before it could go where it didn’t need to, I sat my glass in the sink harder than necessary and angled my body towards Cali.

  “How’d she sleep?”

  “Almost made it through the night,” she replied, beaming down at Adelaide.

  She was crazy as hell, but oddly, motherhood suited her.

  “Where’s your other half?”

  “He’s right here,” Romero answered, strolling through the open floor plan.

  He went straight to Cali, placing a kiss on her cheek and then Adelaide’s as he gently lifted her from her mother’s arms.

  Romero, like me and Grimm, was a good six feet, muscular, and covered in tats.

  Here he was, cradling a swaddled up blob that had started sucking on its tiny fist.

  I grinned openly at the visual.

  “The fuck you smiling at?”

  “Stop talking like that in front of her, Rome,” Cali snapped.

  “It slipped,” he said unapologetically.

  She shook her head at him, and Arlen laughed under her breath.

  “You won’t think it’s funny when you’re dealing with it, too.”

  “Brat’s mouth is a lot filthier than mine,” Grimm replied.

  Watching them all together brought Rome’s words from the night before to the forefront of my mind.

  Our dynamic had been so simple with just the three of us and the acolytes.

  Since the day they’d saved my scrawny redheaded ass from being a man’s nightly fuck-buddy, we’d been inseparable.

  Romero was the devil in the flesh, a damn king in his own right.

  Grimm, well that one’s a given. The man collected souls as a hobby.