Badlands next generation.., p.17
Badlands: Next Generation Collection, page 17
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Nyx snarled.
He smiled at her, not remotely fazed by the murderous look on her face.
Beside me, Maliki had gone statue still. I hugged Bella tighter to me when she turned her head to see what was happening.
“He’s been telling them everything,” she mumbled, eyes trained on Butcher. “He stole the phone Dad gave you. He told them you were coming.”
“He’s the reason Annie’s dead,” Nyx stated, her tone now disturbingly calm.
“I tried too many times to get you on board, Nyx. You just can’t see what’s in front of you. I got tired of fucking a corpse. Then came Gwen.”
“Motherfucker,” Zane seethed.
I shared his sentiments. The few snickers from the Stags around him didn’t outwardly affect Nyx, but I know that hurt deeply.
“Take her for me,” I said to Trix, who hadn’t uttered so much as a peep during this whole thing.
The frown on her face and anger directed at the group in front of us was apparent, though.
She did her best to smooth it away, wrapping an arm around my baby sister. “You’re good, girl. Auntie Trix got you.”
I paid no attention to the title.
I was trying to piece together who the fucking blonde was, but I really didn’t give a shit.
“What do you want with Cam?” I shoved my way to the front and stared the man behind the mask down.
“He’s mine, my diligence,” Butcher answered.
Luce grabbed the gun from me before I could squeeze the trigger and put a bullet between Butcher’s eyes.
“Addy, you can’t,” he stressed, pulling me into his arms.
I couldn’t not.
“Let’s get on the road, friends. My Lilith is cooking possum tonight,” Creed called, eliciting cheers from those around him.
“She isn’t his. None of them are,” Nyx muttered darkly to herself.
Cameron swallowed, throat bobbing. He was beginning to struggle with his temper.
Butcher stepped forward, taking some rope from Gwen, and began wrapping it around his brother’s wrists, biding them together.
“No hard feelings, Cam. I just chose the better side. If you were smart, you’d do the same. I wouldn’t want to be a Savage when the new queen goes down in flames.”
“He doesn’t know,” Luce whispered to me only. “He doesn’t know about the alliance. He thinks it’s something else.”
I wouldn’t have been dumb enough to spit that out of my mouth, but it briefly made me wonder if Luce knew something was coming that the rest of us didn’t.
I felt Zane’s presence a second later, standing beside me but not revealing our relationship.
Everything thereafter seemed to happen in slow motion and all at once.
I didn’t notice the hook on the back of the large truck until Butcher attached the end of Cam’s rope to it.
“See if you can keep up, bro.”
My pulse spiked, understanding too late what he was saying.
“Cam!” I tried to run towards him, breaking free from Luce only to be grabbed by Zane.
“You can’t,” I heard from the other side of me where Maliki had moved to restrain Nyx.
Luce helped him, shielding Bella’s view with his body.
The Stags piled into the vehicles, Gwen giving Maliki one sad, pathetic fucking smile before joining Butcher.
I screamed internally, begging my satanic god not to let him be hurt. He didn’t deserve this.
But that wasn’t how things worked. Fair or unfair, life could hit hard.
I watched Cam expel one large breath before his body was dragged forward.
We followed the screeching tires through the streets, moving as quickly as we could on foot.
Trix was going for the van with Bella, each equipped with a gun.
I kept seeing the acceptance on his face as his brother openly betrayed him, tied him up like a piece of bait and let them drag him.
It didn’t take long for the blood to appear on the pavement, the scraps of denim from his jeans—one of his shoes.
I didn’t want to keep moving, but I knew we had to. For once, I was terrified. I didn’t want to lose him, too.
Zane and Maliki proved to be pillars, lending as much support as they could, even to Luce, who looked distraught for once.
I knew he blamed himself. I knew Nyx would blame herself, and honestly it was no one’s fault but Butcher’s and that goddamn blonde.
We found him when we turned the next corner. Only it looked nothing like our Cameron. The rope had been severed clean through.
His face was bloodied. Large portions of skin had been completely torn away.
Both his arms were twisted at unnatural angles. His clothes were merely tattered rags clinging to his lean frame.
My heart cracked open inside my chest.
I didn’t realize I was crying until Zane pulled me into him, not bothering trying to soothe me with words.
Nyx got down on one side of him, Luce the other.
“He’s alive,” she gasped. “He’s alive, and he needs to stay that way.” She looked up at me with tears shining in her honey eyes.
He was alive, but I couldn’t fathom the pain he had to be in. His eyes were shut. His breathing seemed shallow but even. I wanted him to live as much as she did, but I couldn’t get my hopes up.
“We take him to our place,” Zane said suddenly. “We do the best we can for him until then, and when we get him there, we can have our guys start treating him.”
Maliki was nodding in agreement.
As if the universe had given a small mercy, the van came spinning around the corner, rubber burning as Trix hit the brakes.
Bella was out, using one arm to slide open the rear door as the Luce, Maliki, and Zane lifted Cam as gently as they could.
“How did you find us so fast?” Nyx asked, climbing into the van.
“I followed the same trail you did,” Trix replied quietly.
We piled into the van, none of us really sure how to feel or what was going to happen next as we dug out every first aid kit we had.
Bumping Annie’s gun with my knee, I was the first to realize someone else was missing.
“Where is Ace?”
If possible, the van got even quieter.
Trix glanced at me in the rearview mirror and shook her head.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Viginti Duo
The man who claimed he had medical training said the first forty-eight hours would be the hardest.
I don’t think I breathed until I heard the words, “He’s stable.”
Had it not been for a gentle older woman named Meg, I wouldn’t have eaten. Her exact threat was, “Either you eat or I shove the food from your throat to your stomach myself.”
All I’d done was sleep and consume after that, and yet I felt drained and exhausted.
Stepping into Zane’s cozy room in just a towel, I gave him a small smile.
He wordlessly spread his legs so I could sit between them.
I crawled up onto the bed he’d insisted he had to put clean sheets on when I first arrived, letting the towel drop away as I settled my back against his chest.
“You feel better.” A statement, not a question.
I nodded, leaning back into his embrace as he put his arms around my waist. “I love the smell of me all over your skin,” he murmured, breathing in the scent of his soap.
“Me too.” I turned my head and kissed his cheek.
While we were blissful in this moment, and he had been a whole new person over the past four days, he was still a giant asshole.
I laughed, remembering his statement about my pussy being sad, too.
It hadn’t been as amusing in that moment.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, sliding a hand down my stomach.
“You. You’re an asshole.”
“I know. Get used to it. When you come back, you’ll be dealing with it for the rest of your life.”
When I…?
“What do you mean, when I come back?”
“I have some things to handle, and I think it would be best if you weren’t here then.”
“Oh,” was all I could think to say. That was ominous as hell, and it bothered me.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” he said, as if he’d plucked my brain again.
“Mmm,” I hummed, settling back further against him.
“Don’t start that shit, Addy. I’m not trying to get rid of you. Fuck, I’m never getting rid of you.”
I turned my head to look at him again. “Never?”
He regarded me silently for a few seconds before leaning in and kissing me, slipping his hand the rest of the way down my stomach to cup my pussy.
My legs spread on their own accord, need already blossoming between them. He hadn’t attempted to fuck me once, even with his pussy statement. The last time he was inside me was nearly five days ago, and felt far too long.
“Not ever,” he finally replied, pushing to fingers inside me, twisting them to stretch me.
“Zane,” I sighed on a moan, spreading my legs further.
Beneath me, I felt his cock grow hard through his sweats.
I reached back, feeling the solid outline and making my way beneath his waist band as his fingers worked.
“You’re fucking dripping already, princess,” he mumbled, kissing the side of my neck as he added a third finger.
I whimpered, slightly lifting my hips. Pulling his cock free, I shoved his arm, forcing his fingers out of me so I could flip around. I grinned at the surprise on his face as I lowered my face between his thighs, sucking his cock into my mouth.
I’d never done this before—but how hard could sucking dick be? Turns out it’s a vigorous workout for one’s jaw.
The few curses he let slip as I took him down to the back of my throat, pulled out, and teased his piercing with my tongue repeatedly. I think I did fine.
He grabbed a fistful of my hair, taking control and forcing me to bob up and down, fucking my throat.
I gagged, and he thrust himself deeper, a masculine moan sending a rush of fluid right between my legs.
I gripped his thigh with one hand and his saliva slickened base with the other, jerking him while he thrust. I’d intended to swallow every bit of come that shot down my throat.
He ripped me away by the roots of my hair and forced me onto my back before I could swallow fully. My roots tingled from the sharpness of his grip.
He didn’t let them go as he lined himself up and slammed inside me. I swallowed a hiss of pain, expelling it on a moan as he ground his hips against mine, settling as deep inside my pussy as he was able.
He didn’t give me any time to adjust, driving me into his mattress with every thrust.
I would never get over the stretch, the delicious burn as he roughly took me—the overwhelming sensation as he filled me to capacity and fucked me as if he hated me.
The way his muscles flexed beneath my fingertips had me digging my fingers into his back. A hand wrapped around my throat, grip growing tighter as I told him to fuck me harder.
“You’re mine,” he growled in my ear, reaffirming what I had come to accept already. His piercing hit my G-spot, and his name became an uninhibited moaned chant.
He braced his arms on either side of my head, and I wrapped my legs around him. We stared at one another, the feeling inside my chest doubling.
The orgasm was unexpected, sweeping over me as his cock bottomed out. I became limbless under him, letting him do whatever he wanted until he finished, cock buried fully inside me.
I needed to get on some type of contraceptive since he didn’t seem inclined not to make babies.
He didn’t pull out, turning onto his side instead and taking me with him.
I shut my eyes, taking a few minutes to get my bearings. “I’m going to miss you,” I said boldly, finding myself right where we started, him hovering over me between spread thighs.
“Don’t miss me. Miss us.”
I popped my eyes open.
“Is there a difference?”
“Yes, missing me implies you’re the only one doing it. Missing us should let you know I’ll miss you, too.”
That was an odd way of putting it. I wasn’t entirely sure it made sense, but his words made my heart swell nonetheless. And that felt so good right then.
Without him, I’d be back to reality. Cameron would still be in a coma. Nyx would still be an almost completely different person. Bella would still be haunted by memories only she could see. And Ace and those kids were still missing, along with Darrian.
“Is it about her?” I asked quietly. He’d told me his full story, not leaving out anything. It was amazing what you could learn about someone in forty-eight hours.
I knew his little brother was sixteen—just two years older than Bella. And I knew about Darrian.
“Yes and no. Yes because she is someone who would search for me. No because the only woman I see is right underneath me. I wouldn’t do that to you no matter how badly I wanted you to hurt.”
I nodded, placing my hands on his shoulders. We definitely needed to work on that ‘hurting me’ thing. He slowly lowered his mouth and kissed me, softly for once. It was his way of saying a temporary goodbye.
I moaned contentedly when he began to move inside me, my pussy contracting around him as he grew hard again. I held onto him, wondering in the back of my mind when I would see him again, holding back from saying something that might send him running in the opposite direction.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Viginti Tres
I shoved another shirt in my bag, forcing the zipper up.
Meg hovered about, trying to make me take every meal imaginable. I could hear Maliki across the hall getting his own shit together. Trix should be doing the same—Greer, too.
Running a hand through my hair, I heaved a sigh and brought my boot up to lace it. It’d been the longest three weeks of my fucking life. I felt like I was going through Savage withdrawal.
I got too accustomed to having my princess right beside me twenty-four seven.
Fucking incredible how quick a mindset could change when you got to know a person. Her apology for what happened to my parents was still fresh in my mind. That wasn’t something that needed to be done; I’d be apologizing to the world for my fucking parents’ mistakes if that were the case.
Hearing a heavy knock from the front room, I grabbed my bag and carried it down the hall.
“You good in there?” I called to Maliki on my way past.
“Yeah, ready.” He swung his door open and shuffled into the hall with his bags.
The bang came again, followed by a voice this time.
“Who is that?” Maliki asked, trailing after me.
At least he looked remotely interested in something. Maliki had always been a bit more fucked up than me in general; he just hid it extremely well. After what he’d been doing to the chicks in his room lately, I was giving him plenty of space to work out his shit.
“Fuck if I know.”
Meg shuffled out of the kitchen, and I waved her off. “I got it.”
Tossing my bag down, I walked over to the door and peered at the screen Gizmo had installed to see outside.
What the fuck were they doing here?
I cranked the handle, pushed down, lifted, and then swung the heavy door open, coming face to face with Addie’s father.
“Oh, wow,” came from behind him, followed by a light smack.
“Is there a particular reason your ass is at my door?”
How the fuck did he even get up here in one piece? As soon as I asked, I saw em. The black robed fuckers—but there were only two. This guy had balls almost as big as mine for pulling that off.
“I like him already, Rome.”
Damn, was this Addie’s mom? She looked nothing like her, except the long ass hair and that angelic shit they had going on. Bella, on the other hand, was a carbon copy.
I could definitely see the appeal.
“You’ve already stared at her for two seconds too long, you little shit.”
“Rome. You can play nice or go wait your ass in the car.”
He glared at her as she shoved past him, flashing a smug grin when she did the same to me.
“You never get used to that. You just deal with their antics,” he said, pushing past me.
“Come right the fuck in then,” I said dryly. I’d been ready to knock his ass over the banister.
“You know both of you fucked my mom?” I checked after Nyx’s clone stepped past me with a giant motherfucker at her back.
“Yeah, bit strange, isn’t it, Rome?” She smiled at him wide. He didn’t return it, shaking his head at her with a muttered, “Can’t take your ass anywhere.”
“You boys going somewhere?” Grimm asked, his dark eyes landing on the duffel bags.
“Nah, we just toss our shit in bags when we get bored,” Maliki replied lazily.
As if they realized he was in the room for the first time, they all turned to look at him.
“Ohhh, you’re goin be trouble,” the woman with all the daisy tattoos intoned. He stared at her a second before diverting his gaze to me.
It was strange as fuck being in the room with the man responsible for my father’s death—and, indirectly, my mother’s. Oddly enough, I didn’t feel rage towards any of them.
Maybe it was me coming to the realization that not only were we aligned now, but his son was something almost like a friend, and I wasn’t my fucking father at the end of the day.
More importantly, his daughter was rapidly becoming the sun in my fucking sky. Cheesy, I know.
“I was actually here to thank you for saving our nephew.
His father would have come, but he isn’t able to leave the compound right now. He’s more grateful than you could imagine—Blue, too.”
Damn, this was the last thing we ever expected.
“I’m a terrible man, but I would do anything for my family.”
“The best man,” his wife was quick to correct, stepping under his arm.
It was almost like seeing my future self with his daughter, which was weird as fuck. I knew he was including her in that family part.
