Tacet a Mortuis (The Elite King's Club 3)

“Bishop. I swear to God, if I get a riddle text, I’ll kill you. I’m not playing around anymore.”

I chuckled because her paranoia was valid. “Get out of the car.” I opened my door and stretched out. The old parking lot had hay barrels drifting in the wind and old dirt was kicked up in the air from us driving in.

Madison got out of the car, holding the pizzas. “Wow. How did I not know about this place?”

I walked around to her side and took them from her. “This place used to be the spot to hang out when we were kids. They shut down years and years ago, no one really knows why because business was always good. Tate climbed out, straightening her skirt.

“I haven’t been here in years.” Then she opened a pizza box and took a bite.

Madison was still staring at the old amusement park. I followed her line of sight. The entryway to the park was a rainbow-colored sign that read “Cranksy Klanksy’s Fun Park” in circus font. There was a single chain that linked one side of the entry to the other that had a panel with the words: “Trespassers will be prosecuted” on it.

“Come on.” I took Madison’s hand in mine and walked toward the entry, just as a few cars pulled up behind us. Doors shut and then Hunter and Eli ran up to us, taking a box of pizza as the rest of them laughed, heading deeper into the amusement park. I rolled my eyes.

Madison cranked her head over her shoulder to check on Tatum but she was already under Nate’s arm. I shook my head and sighed. He was walking on dangerous ground unless he was serious when he said he was over Tillie

“Is it safe here?” Madison asked me as I led her deeper into the gloomy park. It was a full moon, so it wasn’t too dark and the boys had torches and were running around like a pack of hyenas in heat.

“Yeah.” I pulled her under my arm and kissed her head. Dropping the rest of the pizzas onto a small table, I grabbed one box and jerked my head toward the old Ferris wheel.

“Nope.” She shook her head. “No, Bishop. I don’t do heights.”

I grinned. “Do you trust me?”

“No. Yes. No and yes.”

I stepped closer to her until I could smell her sweet perfume covering the old musk smell of the park. “What is it, Kitty, do you, or don’t you trust me?” I tilted my head. My eyes fell to her lips when she licked her lower one and tugged it into her mouth. My dick swelled in my pants. “Fuck,” I cursed under my breath, stepped forward and yanked her in the direction of the Ferris wheel.

“Promise me we will stay low.”

“I promise.” This time. The next time I brought her here, we were going to the top. She finally relaxed and stopped fighting against my hold. I ducked under the chains and she followed.

“Bishop…” she warned as we got closer to the floating chairs.

“Get in, Kitty.”

I stepped in first and sat down. It swung from my weight, but I was forty percent certain it was safe. Madison slowly stepped onto the thick plastic. When it moved, she squealed and then pounced on my lap.

“You’re cute as fuck.” I swiped her hair out of the way from her face and she blushed before sliding off my lap and sitting beside me. After a few seconds, I felt her body visibly relax from under my arm.

“Not so bad, huh?” I asked her, my eyebrow quirked.

She looked behind us, her eyes running over all the metal and hinges—that were no doubt rusted. “I guess not.”

“Next time, we’ll go to the top.”

She faltered. “Sure.”

I laughed again, then my laughter died out. “Shit might get ugly tomorrow, Mads.” I turned to face her. The beam from the moonlight hitting every angle of her features. Her swollen lips, sunken in cheekbones, slightly pointed chin and thick eyelashes. I always noticed that she had two prominent points on her forehead too. She was by far the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on. There wasn’t a speck of imperfection on her, but the thing that I loved most about her, was that she was oblivious to how beautiful she was. She never flaunted it like Tate did, and never tried to hide it like Tillie did. She was just… Madison. Herself, constantly. It was intimidating and inspiring how secure she was in her own skin.

She looked straight ahead, grabbing the strands of hair off her face that had swept up with the wind. “Doesn’t it always?” She smiled briefly, then turned serious, her eyes coming to mine. “I can’t have anything bad happen to you or Daemon, or Tate, or Nate, or—” she laughed, shaking her head. “Or any of the Kings. God, Bishop.” She brought her attention back to me. “My list of people who I give a shit about has extended extremely.”