Page 10 of The Revenge
It’s tempting to leave them there to wrestle it out on my bed, but it’s only fun if there are no clothes and plenty of oil. Leaning over, I open a desk drawer and pull out two pairs ofhandcuffs. Before either of them know what’s happened, I’ve handcuffed each of them to opposite bedposts.
“The fuck, Gemini?” Royal snarls at me.
“You should be grateful,” Syn snaps at him.
As they continue to insult each other, I walk over to a box in the corner and fish out the two ball gags I have. With them hanging off my index finger, I hold them up as I walk back over. “Are you two going to shut up, or do I need to use these?”
“Have you switched your ADHD meds out for crack?” Syn asks me. “Let me go before I—”
“Kill him?” Royal offers. “Wouldn’t be the first, right?”
“Fuck’s sake.” I toss the ball gags to the side, picking up a riding crop. From this angle, I’m able to whip Royal across the ass, but Syn’s lands on his thigh.
“Oh my fucking god, Gemini!” Syn bellows.
“You’re fucking unhinged,” Royal cries, rubbing his ass.
I roll my eyes. “I didn’t hit either of you hard enough to hurt, but I will next time.”
“I’m going to chain you to the bed and whip your ass,” Royal tells me.
He means it as a threat, but under different circumstances, I’d be stripping and laying down with my ass in the air. Maybe I can persuade him another time?
“Royal doesn’t really think you tried to kill Vixen, do you?” When Royal doesn’t answer, I raise the crop.
Royal huffs, shooting me a glower before he turns his attention to Syn. “No.”
“Good.” I nod. “Because we know Syn was with us and couldn’t possibly have done that,and, if he did give Salaway the orders, we both know he’d tell us, right, Syn?”
Syn’s eyes narrow. “I didn’t try to kill her, and I didn’t give any orders.”
“So why has it taken our entire lives to get to this point where we throw fists at each other? If we’re going to throw fists, we throw fights.”
“Becausehe’ssuddenly decided he cares about Tori,” Royal snaps.
“Cares?” Syn arches an eyebrow. “I care that the sister of the person who I thought killed my brother spreads her legsonce, and Royal decides that pussy is more important than friendship. He cared first.”
Royal doesn’t say anything, instead, he looks away.
“Well, huh,” I say.
Syn switches his attention to me. “Don’t pretend you haven’t when you’re the one who’s given her a fucking pet name.”
Before he can move out of the way, I reach over and whip his thigh. “I was huhhing at the fact you saidthought. Past tense. Which means you don’t think her brother killed JP.”
Syn goes to hit me, but I step back out of his reach. He lets out an annoyed grunt then sits down on the edge of the bed and rubs at his temple with his one free hand. “Sometimes, Gemini, I genuinely wonder if your parents adopted you from Area 51.”
I shrug. “They’ve never mentioned it, but it’s not completely impossible.”
“Is it too late to disown him?” Royal asks Syn.
“You can try and get rid of me, but I’m like herpes. I’ll keep coming back.”
Royal stares at me in disbelief. “Have you ever tried to filter what comes out of your mouth?”
I point at the discarded ball gags. “They work sometimes.”
“Okay, enough,” Syn says with a half-hearted snap. “I appreciate a lot happened very quickly, and you have the attention span of a fucking gnat, but I did tell you that I was starting to doubt that Cole Reynolds murdered JP.”
