Savage Gods (Reign & Ruin Book 2) Read online

  I opened Rhia’s message next and had to read it twice for understanding to sink in.

  Rhia: Have you seen Em?

  She knew not to spell out his full name. Smart girl. Now she’d need to learn that if and when I wanted to tell her something I would. Checking the time, I felt the familiar stirring of irritation only Rhiannon could inspire. Why wasn’t she asleep?

  I expected her to go inside and go right to bed. That was the singular comfort I had when I allowed her to walk back into the shithole of a house that I frequently fantasized about burning down.

  J: Go to bed.

  I watched the chat bubbles dance on the screen but after a few seconds they went away, and she never replied. When my cell chimed again it wasn’t Mia or Rhiannon, only Ben sending me the location for tomorrow’s meeting spot.

  “Girl problems?” Owen asked.

  “Just drive the car.”

  He grinned, wisely keeping his mouth shut. I returned my focus to Marcus as he slipped into his vehicle, barely catching the contrite look on his face.

  Owen pulled away from the curb seconds after he did. He remained two to three cars behind so as not to be obvious. I’d half expected Marcus to head home now, but his house was in the opposite direction. He was definitely up to something, and we’d need to move quickly to find out. It was the last kind of deviation I needed.

  Instances like this made me wish I could kill him here and now. There weren’t any guardian angels keeping Marcus alive. The girls he and his wife stole, and the unknown location of their warehouse wasn’t a factor either. With my padre’s call a week ago and the texts I kept receiving, both girls were confirmed to be alive, and we’d have their building’s location within the next forty-eight hours.

  None of these revelations came close to absolving him of all he’d done. He and the few others arrogantly brandishing his surname had pissed off almost every single one of the collective core families over the past few years.

  My famiglia promised to eliminate them that had spared their lives for this long. As one of three hidden heads, it was time for his to roll. Rhiannon would probably be a little pissed at me for this, but she’d eventually get over it.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I slept like the dead.

  Three alarms beyond snooze along with multiple texts from Audrey and I was rushing around like a madwoman, voice texting her I was running behind.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I had such a decent night of sleep. I’d come into my room and locked the door, stripping down into nothing but a tank-top and underwear. I must have attempted to concentrate on homework after texting Judas about Erin. I woke up with titty sweat on top of the literature textbook crushed beneath me.

  Suffice it to say I would be bombing the quiz scheduled for today and with how things were going I didn’t have the mental capacity to do any extra credit.

  Whoever was truly responsible for the Pesadilla transfer could eat my whole ass at this point. Street smarts were more my thing than books. I’d done alright in public school. This elite prep bullshit was not meant for people like me.

  After swiping on some lip-gloss, I exited the bathroom and checked my cell. I had three missed calls from Judas.

  Shit.

  All of them were exactly ten minutes apart. Mr. punctuality was probably having conniptions right now. I shoved my feet into my shoes and grabbed my bag, flying down the stairs two at a time. I nearly crashed into my dad, not expecting him to be waiting at the bottom.

  “Woah.” He reached out and caught my shoulders to prevent us from colliding. “In a hurry?” he teased.

  “Dad?” I looked up at his familiar smiling face and felt my heart clench as I registered how tired he looked. I felt an overwhelming urge to hug the hell out of him, so I did. “Where have you been?”

  He returned my embrace, wrapping an arm around me and fluffing my hair. “At work. Where were you this weekend, lil lady?”

  “I think you and mom both know the answer to that. Since when does work make you ignore all my texts?”

  He glanced away. It was quick and almost imperceptible but because I knew to watch for signs of deception, I caught it. This was bullshit. I stepped away from him and crossed my arms.

  “You’re going to lie to me too?”

  Unlike my mom, he at least had the decency to look genuinely ashamed.

  “I never wanted--.”

  “Marcus!” The she-devil’s harsh voice cracked through the air like a whip as she power-walked into the room, high heels clicking loudly on the hardwood. “Don’t say more than you need to.”

  Dad’s jaw clenched. This was a sure sign he was pissed and uncharacteristically his anger was directed at her. That never happened. Actually, no, if I were to comb back through my memories over the years there was always an underlying tension between them.

  It was the same as with me, I’d been convinced they adored one another unconditionally so I never paid much attention, chalking it up to normal marriage woes. Now I knew better. The cute family image I held as a shrine within my mind was beginning to slowly burn away.

  Judas had ripped the rose colored-glasses from my face and shattered them into painfully jagged shards.

  “Goddamnit, Evie. Isn’t about time we sat down and had the talk with her?”

  “She is an emotionally unstable child, Marcus.”

  I struggled not to laugh. Me emotionally unstable? Had she not gotten in touch with herself? There were for sure some screws coming loose.

  “Um, she is right here and anything but what you just said. What exactly is your problem? Why can’t he tell me the truth? Someone should.”

  “Rhiannon Marie Clermont, you are a child.”

  Uh-uh. Did she for real just hit me with a full name drop? Did she think that still held weight?

  I was eighteen now, not an eight-year-old little girl that would cower in fear like I used to because mommy was in a mood.

  “Am I actually a Clermont?”

  The question was out of my mouth before I could think to keep it to myself. I wanted to know the truth, but not like this. Dad blanched as if I had physically punched him in the stomach.

  Mom fixed me with her usual no-nonsense stare that typically made me fall back and behave like the good girl I’d spent my life pretending to be just to please them. I never realized how cold that look was until right now.

  “Proud of yourself?”

  “Are you fucking proud?”

  “Rhiannon,” Dad chided gently.

  My F-bomb was the last thing he needed to worry about. I wanted to knock his wife’s head between the washer and dryer.

  She must have sensed it. Her bleached brows raised like they always did when she was amused. “I know you’d like to think you’re an adult now but fucking that Barron scum doesn’t make you a grown woman. Neither does having an ass and tits that belong on one. If you want to remain under my roof, you’re not to see him anymore and I want your phone. You go to school and come straight home. Understand?”

  “Not really.” I shrugged, pretending her comments didn’t sting. Fuck this cut deep--deeper than I was prepared for.

  “Don’t try me, Rhiannon.” She took a menacing step forward.

  Dad whirled and faced her, placing himself in front of me like a shield. “Have you lost your mind?”

  I peeked around his body and stared at her face. I’d never had a distinct moment when I wanted to disown my mother.

  This wasn’t about her trying to essentially ground me. I could deal with that if it was being done under normal circumstances. She talked down on Judas and tried to walk all over Dad. Those were minor offenses when compared to the fact she continually disrespected me. Sporting the title of ‘mom’ didn’t give her the right to do that. I wasn’t going to sit here and put up with her bullshit. Not today.

  Not ever again.

  This woman was toxic, and I knew all about that. I wrote the damn guidebook on the topic. We stared at one another, not as mother and daughter, but two strangers sizing each other up. The moment was liberating in an oddly satisfying way. I felt my rage melt into something akin to serene resignation. I’d dealt with this long enough to know better. Why was I letting her get to me?

  “You have issues, Evie. Please seek help from someone to help deal with that. As your daughter, I’m not qualified, and Dad isn’t either.”

  “Listen you little bitch, I’m the reason--.”

  “Sorry, I have to go. Judas is picking me up and I’m already late. You remember him, right? The Barron scum I let fuck me?”

  I bit back a smile as her face exploded in a brilliant shade of red. I knew she was about to lay into me as she’d never done before.

  “Go on. I’ll take care of this,” Dad reassured me.

  I gave him a tight smile and walked out the door, slamming it shut on her screaming something about me being ungrateful. I’m not ashamed to admit I was glad as hell I could escape through the front door. My feelings were about to be crushed; I just knew it.

  And of course, there was Judas, leaning against one of our peeling porch pillars’ no doubt having heard every word said. My life was beginning to feel a bit too much like a soapy Telenova drama for my liking. Someone needed to throw me a rich drug-lord for compensation. Then again…maybe I already had one.

  I eyed my gorgeous counterpart who had yet to say anything. There was no kind of discernable expression on his face. He looked totally out of place on our old farmhouse porch donning the Pesadilla uniform. He was better suited for a high-rise penthouse.

  “Let’s go.” I brushed by him and headed down the walkway.

  He easily fell in step beside me. When we reached his car, he pulled open the passenger door so that I could get in first. See, he could be such a gentleman.

  Once he was settled into the driver’s seat and driving away from my house, he spoke. Just when I started hoping he’d be silent and let me wallow in my embarrassment.

  This was Judas.

  I should’ve known that wouldn’t be happening.

  “Don’t let Evie’s words get to you.”

  I quirked a brow. “Which ones?”

  “None of them.”

  I smiled briefly at his clipped tone. He’d just used her name so casually. “How do you know my mom?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t, not beyond a few sepia and greyscale photographs. I only know of Evie.”

  I pondered his words, carefully turning them over in my head. I was rapidly coming to understand that I had to listen to what he was saying and not just hear him say it.

  He gave me an answer that contained within it a pebble of information. That small tidbit was enough to make my head hurt. It was unsettling to know Judas had firsthand knowledge of the woman that birthed me. At the same time, especially after what just occurred, it was nice having someone else confirm what anyone that knew simple human biology could see: Evie wasn’t my biological mom.

  She and my father were as Caucasian as the originals that came from the Caucasus mountains. I always claimed I looked more like my dad because at least he had a tan that could potentially be responsible for my bronze complexion. However, I wasn’t a fucking idiot. The gene mathematics simply weren’t mathing. A and B did not liken to C.

  It had never bothered me.

  They were my parents, regardless as far as I’d always been concerned until very recently.

  I assumed I was adopted or something and hadn’t had any desire to figure out where I truly came from or why. I still wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to learn what brought me to them. My intuition told me I wasn’t going to like the answers I found. Judas already knew them.

  “What else do you know?”

  He gave me a bright grin that had my stomach somersaulting. “That you’re absolutely beautiful.”

  “I’m being serious.”

  “So am I,” he insisted, “You’re a fucking goddess, principessa. No one holds a candle to you. I’m honored to call you mine.”

  “Stop.” I shifted as my cheeks grew warm. “I could say the same thing about you.”

  “Of course, you can. It’s fitting, isn’t it?”

  “Uh…I guess?” I snorted, smothering a laugh. His confidence was out of this world. I loved that about him.

  “You a goddess and me a god. Imagine the future we’ll create together.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck and smiled. “Gods have power.”

  “That they do. I plan to have plenty.”

  My laughter abruptly fizzled. I was humoring him, and he was being dead ass serious. It made me…anxious and uncomfortable for too many reasons to list, starting with him being someone that could say something like that and mean it.

  “I think we should slow down on talking about our future. I can’t wrap my head around one thing from the next let alone the future us.”

  “You don’t need to do anything. I’ll take care of everything else, especially anyone who hurts you.”

  “Outside of you, right?”

  “I can heal what I damage. Can they?”

  That was an admission if I’d ever heard one.

  Him saying he would hurt me and then make it better wasn’t all that butterfly-inducing when I didn’t have the slightest idea what this would entail.

  He reached beside him and grabbed a pamphlet out of the driver’s door while simultaneously switching lanes like a madman. A simple look at the clock displayed on his car’s center screen and I knew he was raging inside about how late we would be. “Here.”

  With a bout of deJa’vu, I took the leaflet and studied the large brick building on the front of it. “Decesso University? I’ve never heard of this.”

  “Google it.”

  I shoved the colorful flyer into my bag. “No need because I’m not going there.”

  “I’m legitimately beginning to think you want Audrey hurt.”

  “Is that how it’s going to be? Using my best friend to threaten me every chance you get?”

  “If that’s what it takes to make you obey and keeps you safe, yes.”

  Keep me safe from what?

  I clasped my hands together to keep myself from punching him in the nuts. “I’m not a dog, Judas. I won’t ever be your obedient bitch. Are you trying to take Evie’s place already?”

  “Did you just compare me to the stupid cunt you’ve been calling mom?” He laughed coldly. “You can thank the devil himself that I want you alive more than I want you dead because I have the sudden urge to throw you out of my car and run you over.”

  “Stop threatening me, asshole!”

  The steering wheel protesting beneath his iron grip was the first indication I’d superbly pissed him off.

  I expelled a heavy breath. I was frustrated and stressed but none of it came from him, not the gist of it anyway. Judas loathed Marcus and despised Evie. I shouldn’t have put them in the same category. I honestly wasn’t sure what I would do if Judas weren’t here right now.

  The up and down, I want to kill you but also, I care more than you know and would love to fuck your brains out was a natural part of our relationship. Being at odds was the last thing I wanted.

  “Judas, I’m...”

  “Careful, I may change my mind. Dead pussy is still pussy, and you can be fucked just the same.”

  “Well. I--.”

  What the hell did that even mean? How would he know that? My mouth opened and closed before I decided to shut the fuck up so that I could think.

  “I get you’re going through something, but it would be in your best interest to remember that I’m not your enemy, bella. I never want to be. That would destroy me.”

  I chewed the inside of my lip, suppressing a shaky breath. The sincerity wrapping his words was almost painful. I peeked at him through my lashes, studying his profile. Who was he? I knew the basics, what anyone would figure out if they were seeing the same parts of him that I got to see.

  Judas wasn’t some run of the mill, prep school douche. He viewed things differently and his mind wasn’t wired like typical high-school boys. This is what made us an ideal duo because I was atypical. At least I’d always thought so. My track record didn’t look too good in that department lately, things I thought versus the truth.

  During times like these, I felt miles out of my league.

  Judas and I buried a body together. How many times had he done that before? He made my ex disappear. Maybe someone else too. What kind of connections did you need to pull that off?

  The actions didn’t bother me. His secrecy did. The void I felt like I was staring into with no clear bottom in sight, worried me. To be with him as more than whatever we already were would mean diving into that darkness. I didn’t know if I could truly handle where it would lead me.

  Being all the way real, trying to imagine a future Judas was downright terrifying, and not much scared me. Who would he be as a man? He was already immorally savage, dripping in sin. What level of depravity did he plan to reach? How far would I have to go for him to grow to love me like I loved him? I didn’t have a guarantee he could, only foolish hope.

  There were so many variables and unknowns. I didn’t know how he could be so sure and me this uncertain. Judas was one whole half of my twisted heart. Perhaps that was the problem. I still didn’t know why the hell he chose me.

  What if we crashed and burned because of the very spark that brought us together? If I lost him or he lost me after the dust settled, what then?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  He drove past my usual drop-off spot and parked way on the other side of the parking lot. I looked around and saw there was close to no one else out there.

  “We’re cutting it close on time. Why did you park in the back?”

  “Think.” He killed the engine and hit the button to reverse the driver’s seat.

  I curled my lip and slightly raised my brows, looking him up and down. “I know you don’t think I’m fucking you right now.”

  He full-blown laughed. The genial sound rare and beautiful coming from him.

  “Calm down, I didn’t bring you back here for that.”

  “Oh…” I softened and relaxed into my seat.