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But it was Bailey who finally commanded the room. She stood in front of the hearth, and everyone shut up. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to say anything to you,” she started. She tucked her blonde hair back into a ponytail and plopped down on the floor in front of the fire. “I knew you would overreact.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Overreact? Bailey, someone threw a brick through our front window.”
She wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered. “Nothing like that’s ever happened before. I’m sorry.”
Poe joined her on the floor. He took her hands in his. “How long have you been harassed like this?”
Bailey snickered. “Since forever. This town has hated my family since the day we moved here… They’ve always called us freaks. My parents were morticians. They opened up Bishop Mortuary here in Wickford Hollow. I don’t remember much about them. I was so young when they died. All I know is that they had a lot of money. Enough that I never have to work a day in my life, ever. When they died, I was put in Wickford Orphanage. The nuns weren’t unkind, they just kept their distance. People either hated me or feared me simply because my family was different.”
An ache began to fester in my chest as I watched her recount what were clearly her most painful memories. I softened my tone, realizing my need to control everything was making me look like an asshole. “Little fox…” I didn’t know what else to say.
She dabbed at her eyes with a cocktail napkin. “I felt so alone until I met Maureen. She accepted me for who I was. And because she was popular, the other kids eased off me. I even had a boyfriend for a while. But one night… everything changed.
My ex and I were fooling around in his truck. I started to touch myself in front of him. He was turned on at first but then he got angry. He didn’t believe that I was a virgin. One minute I was living a normal life, and the next, I was labeled the town slut.”
Raine leaned forward, his eyes darkening. “And what did you do about that, Bailey?”
She tilted her face toward the fire, her eyes flickered with the light from the flames. “I proved them right.”
Bailey
I’d never thought I’d say those words aloud. Slut. All the shame I’d ever felt was bubbling up and threatening to choke me.
Saint sat down on the other side of me and took one of my hands from Poe. “The people of Wickford Hollow haven’t changed one bit. It’s a fucking cycle they keep perpetuating. They labeled us freaks as well back then. People fear what they don’t understand. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
I shuddered. There were sides to me that even they didn’t know about. But Raine fucking sensed things about me. It was like he could see into my soul. “I used to hate the word slut. But now I’ve claimed it. I own it. Because it’s on my terms, not theirs.”
Poe squeezed my hand. “We are cut from the same cloth, love. All of us. But we can’t protect you if you keep secrets.”
Raine snickered. “She doesn’t need protecting, she needs liberating.”
A knot formed in my stomach. I had no idea how Raine was so perceptive, but I had to come clean to them. “It started out harmless enough. They would tease me and call me names but say that it was all in good fun. I laughed along with it at first because I didn’t want to go back to being the freak with no friends. Maureen knew it bothered me, but I refused to talk about it.”
The four of them stared at me like I was a fragile bomb about to explode. I took a long sip of whiskey before continuing. “I started partying a lot more. The nights began to blur together. To be honest, there are big gaps in my memory. I started having blackouts. I was so depressed… I didn’t want to see anyone. But the moment I entered this house, something changed. I felt alive again.”
Raine sucked in a deep breath. “That’s how I felt the moment I first saw you.”
I was still wrapping my head around the fact that he was the one who pushed me into the door. “Why weren’t you locked in the room with them?”
Grim snorted. “Excellent question. Raine, please do tell us how your psychotic ass was roaming free around the house.”
Raine chuckled. “Because I pissed off Mrs. Wickford enough for her to kill me but not quite enough for her to curse me. You see, your souls can’t pass on because of what she did. Mine can.”
Saint’s eyes widened. “You just refuse to. How is that even possible?”
“Because even the devil won’t let this psycho into hell,” Grim quipped.
“This is my house, and I won’t leave. Simple as that.” Raine was so calm about everything. He crossed his legs and sipped on his whiskey as if what he just said was the sanest thing anyone ever had. But he was a dead man. A ghost who would not accept his fate.
I understood him a lot more now. Raine Wickford came from money. He was a rich man at a time when the world was at war. Poe, Grim, and Saint on the other hand came from more complicated pasts. It wasn’t as easy for them back then.
But there were still so many questions about that night. “How did you know what I would do? That I would move in and renovate this house?”
His eyes lit up to match his devious smirk. “I like chaos, little vixen. And this little situation is as chaotic as it gets. I’m not going to reveal all my cards tonight. There are some things you need to figure out for yourself.”
My cheeks burned. This man fucking infuriated me. I couldn’t get a read on him, and I couldn’t throw him out. He was playing a game I didn’t sign up for. And yet one look was all it took to keep me hooked.
“Oh, fuck off,” Grim growled at him.
