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“Why didn’t you tell her sooner?” Saint growled.
Raine shrugged. “I like secrets. Thought this would be more fun. But I got so sick of hearing you all whine about her safety every time she left the house. For fuck’s sake.”
“You really are a bastard, aren’t you?” Poe spat.
“I smell bullshit.” Saint went to the bar and poured six glasses of whiskey. “You kept this a secret so you could have something with Bailey that we didn’t have.”
Raine smirked as he snatched one of the drinks. “I still do. We set you free. Bailey and me. Together. She was always mine first.”
“Fuck you,” Grim snarled.
I pulled away from him and looked around at the mess he’d made on the floor. “What’s done is done. We can sort all our feelings out later. Right now we need a plan to get Billy and Chad here so we can kill them.”
Maureen smiled at Saint as he handed her a drink. She guzzled the whole thing without blinking. “Halloween’s in three days. We throw a party here. Costume only. He won’t be able to resist.”
That’s why she’s my best friend. “That’s perfect. Send out a group text to everyone we know.”
Poe cocked his head. “You think he’ll take the bait?”
I nodded. “He thinks I live here alone. The only reason he hasn’t shown up here yet is because he knows I have nosy neighbors. When he saw me and Maureen heading out to my place in the woods, he jumped on it.”
Maureen helped herself to another whiskey. “He was going to kill us both tonight, wasn’t he? To shut us up after they had their fun.”
“That’s what I would have done,” Raine snickered.
Grim started toward him but I blocked his path. I put a firm hand on his chest. “I need all of you to sort your shit out if we’re gonna get through this. No more fighting. Save your anger for the asshole who murdered me.”
He grunted and pushed past me, heading straight for the bar. “Fine.” His throat bobbed as he knocked back a glass of whiskey. “But you and I need to have a chat later, little fox. Alone.”
These were the moments where I truly felt the weight of having to manage four alpha psychos. “It’s settled then. In three days, we finish this with Billy.”
After everyone nodded in agreement, Grim grumbled off to his room. Poe retreated to the kitchen, insisting we let him feed us a hot meal. We devoured our food in silence. Except for the occasional moan from Maureen’s lips as she gushed over Poe’s cooking.
I put her to bed in one of the guest rooms with a promise that we would chat more in the morning. Three whiskeys later and she wasn’t putting up much of a fight about it. She could barely keep her eyes open.
Raine wandered off without saying goodnight, which was for the best. He was winding everyone up, and I was too tired to deal with it. I gave Saint and Poe each a quick kiss before heading upstairs.
I stood in the shower and closed my eyes as the hot water sprayed over me. As I breathed in the steam, a sob lodged in my throat. My breath quivered as I exhaled slowly.
I was dead.
My body trembled as the tears finally poured out. I slammed my hand against the tiled wall. “Fuck.”
Everything I’d been holding in, rushed out. I sank down and curled myself into a ball underneath the showerhead. I knew something was wrong with me. Just never would have imagined this. It wasn’t until Raine said it out loud. When I looked into his eyes and saw the truth. A switch flipped in my head as I accepted it. Embraced it. And now I can’t shut the memories off. They’ve been on a constant replay in my head since he told me.
I was really drunk that night. Billy used that to his advantage when I got separated from Maureen. I had rejected him earlier. He was so angry that I wouldn’t fuck him. He was drunk too. But that was no excuse. Pure evil ran through his veins. I saw it in his eyes tonight when he was slamming his fists against my car. He had every intention of killing me.
I rested my head against my knees and sobbed. I didn’t know how long I’d been in here, but the steam was so thick I could barely see. A part of me wanted to hide in here forever. But Billy had already taken too much. I wouldn’t give him this life as well.
I turned off the water and dried myself off. I smeared the steam off the mirror and looked deep into my own eyes. I still looked like me. That’s what was so fucking scary. Because underneath the flesh, I was not the same. And I never would be again.
A shudder passed through me as I pulled on a tank top and a pair of panties. I opened the door and froze. Raine sat at the foot of my bed, barefoot and shirtless. Fuck. The top of his jeans were unbuttoned. Every inch of his skin was covered in tattoos.
We locked eyes and my belly fluttered. He leaned back on his elbows, his posture relaxed, but his gaze was feral. I’d never seen a man hunger for me the way that he did.
“Hi,” I stammered.
“Come here.”
