“That can’t be done.”
My fists clenched in my hands until crescent moons were splitting open my skin. “Not. Her.”
Lucan moved out from behind the camera, a cigar in his mouth. He dropped to my level and bile rose up my throat. I should tell Uncle Hector about him, but Lucan had made it clear no one would believe me. No one. Not Hector, not my brothers, not one single person, because he was Lucan Vitiosis, and not one single person ever wanted to cross paths with him.
But I would.
For her.
I was sure of it.
She annoyed me. I hated her. I couldn’t stand her. But I was okay with those feelings, because I was in control of them. I didn’t like not being in control of anything to do with Saint. She was mine, not Lucan’s. I didn’t know where she fit in my world, all I knew was that she belonged there. Here. With me. I must protect her.
“Why?” Lucan asked, and I hated looking at him. Not because he resembled me, because he didn’t. At least I didn’t think so, but because every time I looked into his eyes, I’d see my memories being played back. I couldn’t cope. It made me weak. I had to harness my pain to make me stronger.
“Because. Not her. Anyone else but her.”
“What will you give me if I agree to this?” I knew Lucan didn’t agree to me keeping Saint for the sole purpose of filming. He could get any young girl or boy and toss them in with me. I could offer him something, though.
It’s something he’d wanted since he started on me.
“You’ll have my compliance.”
He chuckled, standing to his full height. “Deal. Clean her up and we will take your precious child home.”
“No,” I roared, and the feral tone that came out of my body didn’t match my age. “I need your agreement that you will never touch her. Ever.”
He flipped the camera closed and turned on the light. “You have my word.”
Present
Loading up more weight on either side of the barbell, I lie back down onto the bench and flex my fingers around the bar. Marilyn Manson’s “Say10” drowns out the noise inside my head as sweat drips down my temple and lands on the floor. I raise the bar above my head before lowering it to my chest and arching my back to drive it up again.
I showed her the tip of the iceberg last night, and all she wanted to do was dive right in and see the rest of it. Saint has always been an unusual character. She talks when she shouldn’t and doesn’t when she should. She dresses like she’s been around fashion her whole life some days, and others she could look homeless, yet with all styles, she’s always confident. Her fucking eyes. They’re wolf-gray with dark rings around the edges. She may not be the first girl you look at in the room, but that’s not because she’s not obviously attractive, because she is. It’s because she’s the type to sit in the corner and do some weird shit then get drunk and make noises like Tillie and Madison. After we killed Lucan, I hardly ever came back. I maybe saw her three times in all of that time; otherwise, I had workers fill in the gaps for me. In that time, she practically took ownership of Hades, too. Because that’s the witchcraft she possesses. She’s able to snatch the soul out of you without you even realizing. Dogs included.
She and I always worked because I have no soul.
Bishop’s head pops up over my bar and I tear my pods out of my ears, standing from the bench. “Thought you went home last night.”
“Slept in Saint’s room,” he announces easily, yawning while moving around the bench.
“What?”
He’s wearing no shirt with his jeans unbuttoned as he rubs the sleep from his eyes.
He snorts. “Fucking chill. You don’t need to call red on her just to get me away, or have you forgotten? Incest isn’t my thing.”
I run my fingers through my damp hair, dropping down onto the bench while wiping the sweat from my chest. I can literally feel my heart rate descend as realization seeps in. “She doesn’t know that.”
Bishop moves to the front of me, picking up a dumbbell. “We can’t tell her yet.”
“Why?” I ask, though I’m sure I already know the answer.
“Because Hector doesn’t want her knowing yet.” He drops the weight onto the floor. “Think it has something to do with the old university reopening, and with Riverside Prep moving back to the old building. Has him on edge, he’s even keeping me out of the loop with some shit.”
“He’s probably keeping you out of the loop because of other shit, not that shit.”
Bishop ignores my Madship blow, resting his head on the wall. “You won’t have to worry about anything happening to her, Brantley. I see it in your eyes anytime she’s around or her name is brought up. She turns you into a monster.”