Miscreants: Next Generation (Badlands 8)

Hearing someone approaching, I looked over and spotted Amo and Rory. If double trouble was a person, it was these two.

“When did you get here?”

“Maybe a half hour ago. Everything’s a go for the move.”

“Good.”

“How is she?” Rory asked.

“What about you?” I retorted.

Her grey eyes narrowed. “I’m still breathing, ain’t I?”

I laughed softly. She couldn’t stand anyone showing concern for her wellbeing, but she was quick to show concern for our faction and her siblings—Butcher excluded. She made sure we kept tabs on Cam, who was surpassing both his father and twin brother in terms of brutality.

As for her and Lilith, one was wary and the other didn’t know how to bridge the gap between them. This was one of the rare kinships I hoped would resolve in a good way.

For both their sakes.

Rory had been through her fair share of shit. She deserved a chance to show she was genuinely interested in having them in her life. She was a slum baby. She’d run with some Venom boys before they split and took their own paths.

The Badlands didn’t have great statistics for loners. Women had even less of a survival rate. Aurora was a rarity for making it on her own. It was no surprise my uncle had taken a keen interest in her.

“Sore. Tired,” I finally answered.

“Not all information is good information, babe.”

“You’re the one who asked,” Amo replied to her. “You owe me, by the way.”

I slammed the back end of the Brabus closed and turned towards them. “For?”

“I kept that snippety bitch entertained.”

He had to be referring to Takara.

“Aw, don’t pretend like you haven’t been eyeing her for weeks,” Rory remarked.

“You ready for the big meet?” he asked me, changing the subject.

“It is what it is.”

I wasn’t going to mention that I’d noticed his fascination with Kara too. When or if he wanted to talk about it, we would. That’s how we worked—respecting each other’s boundaries enough to know when to push an issue and when to shut the fuck up.

Unless he had a major personality switch up, that pairing would never happen, anyway. Amo had made it clear the only people of the opposite sex he cared for were his baby sister, Rory, and Lilith—who would never believe that.

Intimate relationship-wise, he killed off every girl he fucked after he got tired of them. My cousin Bella had been an exception.

“You tell her yet?” Rory questioned.

“Nah.” I looped the duffel over my shoulder and started back for the fief. “I will tomorrow…maybe.”

“You sure you’ll be okay?”

“I was invited. If they wanted me dead, they wouldn’t have gone through that much effort.”

It wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but I didn’t have the desire to discuss how I felt or thought with anyone. If my uncle wanted to get rid of me, he wouldn’t keep it a secret. I told them I’d see them in the morning and returned to the upper bedroom.

I laughed to myself when I saw how she’d fallen asleep, partially buried beneath the comforter, long ways against the headboard.

She hated the wet spots from fucking. Usually, she’d use my body as her buffer. I sat the duffel down and perched myself on the edge of the bed.

With her hair framing part of her face, she looked peaceful. Effortlessly beautiful like she always did. I wanted to make this kind of peace her reality, but that was going to take a lot longer than one night to achieve.

When I first met Lilith, she was nothing but my cousin’s best friend. I never intended to fall for her. We started off friends too, and before I knew it I saw her in a different light. She was the girl I couldn’t stop thinking about, my entire fucking world.

I was told I wasn’t allowed to have her. I’d been warned countless times. Those in my way never stood a fucking chance in keeping her away from me. She couldn’t fathom how much I valued her. I never meant for her to deal with the side effects of my baggage or pain that didn’t belong to her.

What she’d said before was the tragic truth. I was damaged. Mentally I was so fucking gone. Demons lived in all my scars, self-inflicted and otherwise. They dwelled inside my head, never giving me a moment of silence unless I was with my Lilith.

No one knew the battles I fought every single day. I didn’t want them too. I was the only one who could face me. I was the one who chose to go down this road.

From the beginning, all I wanted was to be something bigger. It was a long-winded pipe dream, an outcast’s foolish fantasy.

She became a pivotal part of the daydream.

That’s all it was.

Until it wasn’t.

I was offered the chance to make it a reality, and I took it. I did the groundwork. I studied and plotted—still to this day.