Damnable Grace (Hades Hangmen 5)

“Try it,” he said encouragingly, placing a plate of food before me. Bacon and eggs. He shrugged and sat down opposite me. “I ain’t a good cook, but even I can't fuck this up.”

I tentatively cut into the food. I brought a small amount to my mouth and made myself chew. It tasted like sawdust on my tongue. It felt like razorblades to swallow. But I ate it. I knew that I must.

AK stared out of the window of his cabin while I ate as much as I could—it was not much. When I could eat no more, I placed down the cutlery and asked, “Why?”

AK slowly turned back to face me. I swallowed a small amount of the coffee, wincing as the hot liquid burned my throat. But I liked it.

“Why what?” he echoed. My eyes fell to his naked torso and the mass of tattoos marring his skin.

“Me?” I said, finally fixing my attention back on his eyes. “Why . . . why did you help me?” Instinctively, my hand ran over the marks on my inner arm. “Why did you take me from . . . him?” I dropped my gaze and stared into the dark abyss of my coffee cup. “Why did you care? You do not know me.”

“Just did,” he replied finally.

I could see by his stiff posture that he would say nothing more on the matter. And that was okay. He did not have to explain anything. He rescued me, for whatever reason, from Meister. In the end, that was all I needed to know.

“Thank you,” I whispered, keeping my eyes from meeting his. “Thank you for saving me.”

I heard his breathing quicken, and I felt his need to say something to me from across the table. But before he could reply, there was a knock at the door.

My head snapped up. I wondered who it could be. AK got up and opened the door. When the visitor stepped inside, my heart filled with light. He saw me sitting at the table and stopped dead.

“Phebe,” he breathed.

My hand shot to my mouth in disbelief. I saw a woman enter behind him. She was beautiful, with long black hair and blue eyes. But before I could wonder about her any further, Cain crossed the room and took me in his arms. Tears spilled from my eyes as I fell into his familiar embrace. He wore a black shirt and denim pants . . . and his long hair was gone. I cried into his shoulder, racking sobs, until he stood back. His eyes swept over me, and he smiled.

I recognized that kind smile.

Then the woman was pushing past him. “Phebe,” she breathed and embraced me with the same vigor. I frowned in confusion, wondering how she knew me. Then she pulled back, and I studied her face. Her hair was the wrong color, as were her eyes, but she was, this was . . .

“Harmony?” I whispered in disbelief, then held her as close as I could. Harmony stepped back and smiled at me. Her hand ghosted down my face. “It is Bella, Phebe. My true name is Bella.” She pointed at her hair and eyes. “I was in disguise in New Zion. This is the real me.”

“Bella?” I shook my head in confusion. I did not understand.

“It is okay,” Harm—no, Bella—said. “We will explain in time.”

I looked at Cain, but I immediately saw Judah staring back at me. I swallowed, and Cain shifted on his feet. “He killed them all,” Cain said, reading my mind. His expression filled with agony. “I . . . I killed him, Phebe. I . . . I had to stop him.”

Shock rendered me motionless, speechless. Bella took Cain’s hand in hers and lifted to her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. They were together, I realized. A foreign pang of envy traveled through me. So much so that my heart actually ached. Cain closed his eyes under Bella’s caress, then took a deep breath and turned to me. I searched his eyes for the answer to the question I did not dare to ask. “She is safe,” he said. I held my breath, finding it impossible to believe. “We got her out.” He smiled. “She is with your sister. Here. Safe and happy.”

“Grace.” I closed my eyes as relief swept through me. He had gotten her out. Grace was safe. She was with Rebekah. “I need to see them.”

“When he’s checked you,” AK’s strong voice said from the back of the kitchen. His posture was tense, and his eyes were tracking every move Cain made. I didn’t understand what was wrong. “Check her,” he said to Cain. “She’s through the worst of the shit now.”

His tone was cold, almost cruel. I furrowed my brow in confusion. Cain came toward me holding a large bag, his cheeks red with embarrassment. “I was trained as a healer, Phebe. I’m here to check you’re okay. Meister had you on a lot of drugs—I’m not entirely sure of them all. AK helped you rid your system of them.”

I nodded, still confused as to why AK had replaced kindness for anger in Cain’s presence. But I did not say anything on the matter. Instead I watched AK as Cain examined me. I watched as AK’s attention never left mine.

And it made me feel . . . warm.

I was not sure why; I knew him not at all.

But I knew that this feeling, this warmth he gave me, was real.

Chapter Eight

AK

“And I was like, bitch! You realize how lucky you are to be fucking down there?” I laughed at Vike as he sat back in his seat. “Fucking took off nearly all of my pubes with her fucking teeth! Could have slapped the slut.”

“Maybe you need to fucking trim your bush so your pubes wouldn’t get caught in her teeth, you ever think about that?”

“Fuck off.” Vike shook his head. “I’m rocking the fucking eighties bush and I’m proud of it.”

“The only fucking one who is,” I said. “You know if you shave, your cock looks bigger, yeah? Pubes hide the true girth.”

Vike’s arm stopped, drink almost at his mouth, and he looked at me. “That true?”

“It’s science, brother.” I waggled my brows.

“Then shit! Goodbye, bush, is all I gotta say.” I laughed, fucking laughed at my brother as he downed his beer. I could tell by the serious look of concentration on his face that he was planning to weed-whack his fucking bush the minute he got into his cabin.

“How about you, Flame?” I looked at Flame over the fire pit. But he was already watching me. Fucking black eyes boring into me. “What?” I asked, my cocky smile still on my face. I saw his jaw clench, then he was up out of his seat. Without looking back, he stormed out of my backyard and toward his cabin.

“What the fuck is up with him?” Vike asked. I shook my head and stared in the direction he’d gone. “No fucking idea.” I drank the rest of my beer and cracked open another.

Vike reached into the pocket of his cut and pulled out something in a Ziploc bag. I squinted, trying to see what it was. Vike opened the bag, and I saw a slice of pineapple inside. He started chomping on the fruit. I couldn’t help it. I laughed so fucking hard my stomach ached.

“What?” he asked, shoving the last of the yellow fruit into his mouth.

“Is this abou

t what Cowboy said in the truck?”

Vike swallowed then wiped his mouth with his forearm. “This makes my cum smell all tropical and shit, I’ll be ordering crates of the stuff.” He smiled. “In fact, I’ve been feeling the need to test it out. You wanna head to the clubhouse?”

I shook my head. “Gotta stay. Phebe leaves tomorrow. She’s going to Li and Ky’s. First time she’s seen her sister since Judah tried to crucify her in the cult.”

Vike got to his feet. “Good. Then we can all move on from this shit and get back to normal. Fucking hated this week. Flame ain’t left Maddie, and you ain’t left the ginger. I’m bored as fuck with y’all gone.” Vike threw his empty bottle into the trashcan. “At least the bitch will be gone from your hair. Don’t like how she’s been making you act. All moody and shit. At least you’re back to normal now.”

I winked, smiling, as Vike left my yard. I waited until I heard the sound of his bike then dropped my fucking smile. I slouched in my seat and ran my hand over my face. My stomach tightened when I thought of Phebe on that fucking bed. Thrashing as I pinned her down, eyes fucking livid one minute, then lost the next, as the smack left her veins.

I wondered if that’s how he’d been too. Wondered if he looked like that, fucking broken yet wild as he tore up the bedroom, demanding more drugs. Wondered if he’d needed cleaning afterward because he was too weak. Too fucking gone in the head to do anything, think about anything but his next fix.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to purge the thoughts from my head. The sound of the cabin door opening cut through the quiet of the night. Phebe stepped out onto the deck, dressed, but wrapped in a blanket.