Tacet a Mortuis Read online

  “—don’t have to explain right now.” I offered her a small smile. “We have a two-hour flight you can fill me in on. For now, we need to go look for the boys.” Just as the words left my mouth, the door smashed open and Bishop stood on the threshold, shirtless with blood splattered all over his abs and his chest drawing in and out. His shoulders lifted and dropped as he sucked in each breath. I jolted to him, going on instinct to see if he was okay, but his eyes cut to mine and I flinched. His eyes were black orbs of hell and in that moment, he was barely recognizable. I stilled, my fists clenching together.

  “Bishop…”

  He shook his head at me, and then kicked the door open wider to let Nate, Jase, Hunter, and Saint walk in behind him. They looked like they had just stepped out of World War III.

  “Fuck,” Nate coughed out, stepping backward to stabilize himself.

  There was a long pause until Tillie finally broke the silence. “Do you want to hold her?”

  Nate’s eyes closed, a hiss escaping between his teeth. He dropped to his knees, the silence was enough to haunt me.

  I began slowly drifting to Nate, ignoring the pull I was feeling between Bishop and I. “Nate?” I whispered, although my voice came out shaky. “You can hold her…”

  “Can’t.” He shook his head, choking on his words and standing back to his feet. “Not like this. We need to leave. Now.”

  “He’s right,” Bishop agreed. “We only got rid of who was there, and amongst all the bullshit, Katsia slipped away.”

  “Well, of course she did.” I rolled my eyes. I hated her.

  “She doesn’t know Micaela is alive. We just have to make sure we can sneak out before then.”

  “And what the fuck makes you think you should be alive?” Nate seethed, his eyes cutting to Tillie. The energy in the room immediately shifted. Unease oozed through me.

  “Nate!” I snapped. “She’s the mother of your child and my fucking best friend!”

  “She was nothing more than a walking sack of amniotic fluid. She doesn’t need to be alive anymore. Her job here is done, oh” —he cut his eyes to me— “and I don’t fucking trust her.”

  “Trust her?” I yelled, a little too loudly because Bishop came closer to me. “You fucking loved her!”

  Nate barked out a laugh. “Watch the way you use that word, sis. You and I both know that if I loved her, I wouldn’t have been sinking my dick into Tatum every day of the fucking week.” His eyes narrowed at me, and I shot daggers back at him. He wasn’t only being rude, but he was lashing out. I expected something to happen with him in the brief moments we were standing here waiting to decide to find the guys, but I didn’t expect him to lash out quite like this—I especially didn’t expect him to take his anger out on Tillie. I could see it now, though. The change in his demeanor. The monster that always lurked beneath the surface, cloaked under his cool swagger, was now prowling back and forth with fire seething between its lips. The rage that was pelting off him was igniting smoldering flickers of anger inside of me.

  “That was a shit dig, Nate,” I mumbled in disapproval, shaking my head. Bishop threw a shirt on, and it was then that I realized why he didn’t wear one. So he didn’t get blood on it. He was way too good at this, obviously.

  “We need to leave, now,” Tillie said, not giving Nate a reply. “There is underground access that can take us straight to the airstrip, but we have to leave out this window.”

  “Done,” Bishop started to the window, grabbing my hand on his way.

  “Nah uh.” Eli shook his head. “I’m with Nate. I don’t trust this bitch.”

  “Trust me or not,” Tillie finally said, giving the baby to Daemon. “But I’m all you have right now.”

  Eli looked to Nate, who then looked to Saint and Jase. I shot Jase a glare who then nodded. Hunter joined him.

  “You ambush us, woman, and I’ll show exactly why you should be afraid of me—you hear?” Nate answered, slowly making his way to the window.

  Tillie nodded, her eyes going to her feet before she’s leaping out the window. Daemon handed the baby out to her and then followed. Nate went to jump out, but my hand flew to his chest. “Hey! I get that you’re angry and confused but try to simmer the anger down. We don’t know what she has just endured, Nate. Try not to be an arse.”

  He winked at me, gripping onto the edge. “I’m always an arse, sis.” Then he leaped out the window.

  “That’s it. I’m calling it. He has schizophrenia.”

  “Your turn.” Bishop pointed out the window.

  “Bishop…” I whispered. “Look at me.”

  He wouldn’t, his eyes remained on the window. “Get out of the fucking window, Madison.”

  “What have I done now!”

  “Jesus Christ, girl! For once, just once, can you do as you’re fucking told!” Hunter gripped my arm and shoved me toward the window. “Get out. Now!” I shrugged my arm out of his grip and jumped out. My feet hit the dusty ground with a thud and vibrations shot up my leg from the impact. Nate took my hand and pulled me into him.

  “What’d I do now?” I asked, looking up at him. Daemon was on the other side. He took my other hand.

  “He’s had real life hit him in the balls over the last thirty minutes.”

  “What does that mean!” It wasn’t my intention for my question to come out as a whine, but it did.

  “It means don’t fucking ask until we’re back on our soil.”

  Then Nate pushed me into Daemon and scrubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. Nate had never handled me in any threatening way, but again, the energy felt different tonight. There was an obvious change in the dynamic and I was dreading coming to terms with whatever was about to go down. Bishop was the last one to exit the window and as soon as the soles of his feet touched the ground, we all shot off, following Tillie and Daemon, who still had the baby in his arms. It was strange, but I sensed a story there. The Lost Boys had a job to do when it came down to it, and that was to end all of the Swans—or get rid of, as they would say—and I knew for a fact that Daemon had done it before, so why was he hesitant with this one? My legs continued to carry me forward in the silence with nothing but the heavy pity patting from our shoes hitting the road.

  Tillie stopped, and that’s when my eyes flew around the place, taking in everything. We were outside, running through a meadow, which was odd, considering. But if I had to guess, I would say we were in the backyard, only the backyard looked to be the size of a damn football field. Tillie pointed toward a barn that was hidden discretely at the back of the house. “In there. There’s a manhole in the floor that leads underground. It’s where they transport stuff that they don’t want documented—ever.”

  “Are you saying that some shit has been going on here behind the Kings’ back, or are you saying my dad knew about it and they’re hiding it from The Circle?” Bishop asked from behind me, where he had been the entire time. He had barely touched me since coming back from his slaughtering, and if it wasn’t for the dire situation we were all in, I’d overthink the fuck out of it.

  “The latter and then some,” Tillie admitted. She started jogging toward the metal barn. We all followed and waited as Daemon opened the heavy tin door. There was a loud creaking sound that filled the deserted meadow, but once it was open, we all ran inside. Tillie kicked off the manhole cover. It was large enough for us all to jump down and walk through. She went first, and then Daemon handed her the baby before jumping in himself. The order went much like the window, and before I knew it, we were all walking down hidden tunnels. The walls were made of dirt and there were rail tracks that lined the clay ridden rode. Smaller than what you would find for a train, but definitely big enough to hold a small cart.

  “These tunnels have areas that curve off to not only all four factions of Perdita but every section too.”

  “Every section of this area of Perdita?” Bishop wanted to clarify.

  Tillie shook her head, hiking the baby higher. “No. I mean, everywher
e on the island.”

  “That’s messed up. What the fuck is going on here.”

  We continued our trek deeper into the tunnels. Twenty minutes later, the air was tight and sweat was falling off my flesh with every step.

  “Tillie,” I called out, wiping away some fallen dirt that had dropped onto my face. It smudged into my sweat and turned it to soft clay. “Is the baby ok?”

  Tillie gave me a small smile over her shoulder. “She will be fine once this is over.” Then her legs picked up. “There it is!” We all jogged to an opening archway to the left of the trail. I looked up above, seeing a small metal plate that had “Airport” engraved into it. I let out a sigh of relief just as Tillie pushed open a door and walked through. The space was small, so small that we couldn’t all fit inside at once. Tillie banged on the manhole above her head, and then banged another three times. A lock slid open and daylight slammed into the small enclosure.

  “You’re all ok?” Tinker asked, worry evident on her face. “Come on, you’re running low on time.” She reached down and pulled Tillie out, and then Daemon, again, they both switched who was holding the baby—who hadn’t made a sound through the whole way. I was impressed, she obviously got that side from her mother. I grabbed Tillie’s hand and she pulled me up until I was out of the hold and sucking in crisp air again. My chest loosened and relaxed. I turned back to pull Tatum out and then we both grabbed Nate. While the guys were coming out, I took this moment to turn to Tinker.

  “What’s your deal?”

  “My deal?” Tinker smiled. “Not all of us get to choose our path, Madison, so” —her eyes went over my shoulder before coming back to me— “choose yours wisely.”

  I turned my head over my shoulder to see who was there. Bishop.

  “Thank you for the advice, but it seems, I can’t choose mine either.”

  “You can’t.” Bishop shoulder barged past me. “But I can.”

  I swallowed past the hurt that crept up from my chest and into my throat. Sadness gripped to my bones. He cannot be serious.

  I hung toward the back on the way home. My hands sunk into the pockets of my hoodie and my eyes squeezed shut. I think over the day. I was stuck between two fucking walls in my life. One was the path I knew I should take, and the other was the selfish part of me. I couldn’t say I was battling with either side, because the truth was I wasn’t. I loved Madison, which meant I wanted to be with her at all costs, but when the equation was made up of eighty percent being the risk her life, I wasn’t with it. My mouth felt dry and my palms were sweaty. My shirt clung to my flesh, the residue of blood acting as glue.

  Fuck. I hit my playlist. I was being unsociable, considering I really should be asking Tillie how she was holding up. I needed a moment to gather my thoughts. The Weeknd “I Was Never There” started playing and my fingers tapped to the beat. My hoodie remained low, above my eyebrows. I continued to chew my gum as thoughts flashed through my head with the song. Madison. Without her, none of this would fucking matter. I shuffled in my seat. Gripping her ankles, I tugged her body down the bed, flipped her onto her stomach and grasped her hips. Her ass perched in the air, her legs spread wide. “This sweet little cunt is mine, Madison.” She rubbed her bare ass into my dick and I grunted, biting down on my bottom lip before dropping to my knees and turning. I began slowly running my nose up the back of her thigh and felt as her muscles twitched with uncertainty. I would too. She was getting used to being blindfolded under my command, but there was always a small part of her that would never fully let go. Was probably her survival instincts. They were, after all, always right. I smirked at that thought. I rode her ass so hard about her instincts being shit with me when all along, I was just throwing her off. The tip of my nose came to the curve of her ass and I inhaled, the sweet scent of her pussy igniting every dominant strand I had hanging inside of my body. My eyes flew open and I drew my tongue out, licking the split of her pussy from her clit, all the way to the skin that separated her ass. I growled out when the tang of her arousal assaulted my taste buds, licked my lips and then dove back in. I stretched her legs wide, laying onto my back and then wrapped her thighs with my arms. My hands came to her ass cheeks as I pushed her weight down onto my face.

  My chewing was harder, my knee jiggling at Olympic speeds, and my finger still tapped at the song that was now playing. “It’s a Vibe” by Ty Dolla Sign. Fuck. I shifted in my seat again, stretching my neck up but keeping my eyes closed and pulling my hoodie lower to cover my eyes. I let my head rest back, so I was facing the ceiling. My other hand came to my jean covered cock and I squeezed the bulge that was fighting to rip through my zipper.

  “Ride my face, baby.” Madison started rubbing herself against my lips, her hands still bound to her back and her eyes still covered in the red silk blindfold. Her hair was up in a high messy bun with loose tresses falling around her face. Sweat covered every inch of her lean body, and her abs tensed as her thighs clenched around my face. She was close, I could feel it in the way her legs trembled and her pussy squeezed my tongue. I flicked it inside higher. My hand came to the back of her ass as I rubbed the nub of her from behind. I sucked and licked her like she was my favorite fucking dessert. And she was.

  “Bishop!” she exhaled, her slow ride now turned harsh. Her pussy lips rubbed over my mouth and I pushed my finger inside of her ass. She tensed but carried on. “I’m goin’—I’m—” I pulled away and stopped.

  “You’re what?” I growled from underneath her.

  “Bishop! she screamed out in utter frustration.

  “That’s right, you’re Bishop’s. You’re mine, Madison. Play any kind of shit like you did with Nate, and all these punishments will look like child’s play, are we clear, baby? ‘Cause make no mistake, I will fuck your shit up if you ever so much as bat those pretty little eyes in the direction of anyone that has a cock.” I slapped her ass loudly and she squealed out in shock. “Do we understand each other?”

  She paused, her hips slowly grinding against air.

  “Mad—”

  “—yes! Fuck. We understand each other.”

  “Now tell me what you want.” I slowly ran my hands up her thighs, my eyes burning with need as I watched her cum slide down the inside of her thigh.

  “I want you to make me come.”

  “Come where?” I grinned, even though she couldn’t see me.

  “In your mouth,” she semi-snapped. There was my sassy little bitch. I squeezed her ass cheeks until it felt like jelly in my hands and pressed her pussy down onto my mouth. I feasted on her like a starved man, licking every inch, my mouth salivating as I took in more. She was made for me. Only not in a romantic way, in a way poison was made to kill a specific person. She was my goddamn anti-venom and I was the serpent that hunted. She was everything pure and I was everything bad.

  A groan escaped from my lips slightly, my cock pulsed in my jeans. I need to get fucked, but since the only girl who I’d want to do the fucking with is not on board right now, I’d have to make do. Ripping the ear pods out of my ears, I shot out of my seat. Not looking at anyone else, I turned straight into the small confinement of the bathroom, flicked the lock down and looked down at my crotch. My cock was swollen and pressed against my jeans, throbbing to be sucked, fucked, or touched. Yanking down the zipper, I pulled out and slowly tugged. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as memories flashed through my brain. Madison.

  The sheen of sweat that soaked her skin and dripped onto mine as she rode my dick. The head of my cock massaging her entry before slamming against her cervix. The little cry she would make as I hit the border. My pulling sped up and my breathing was heavy. Sweat tickled my temple. “I’m yours, Bishop. I always will be.” My balls tightened and my cock jerked as hot cum shot out of me and toward the toilet. My racing heart slowed to a deep throb and I quickly cleaned up, washed my hands and went back to my seat, feeling a lot less tense than I did a few minutes ago.

  “B, you ok?” Hunter asked over his seat. They
were all scattered everywhere, but I could see Nate was on the other side of Madison who was near Tillie, looking at the baby and chatting with her. So much had happened over the day that I couldn’t process it all with everyone near me. First thing’s first, I needed to text Madison’s dad.

  “Yeah,” I answered Hunter, picking up my phone and putting the ear pods back in. I slipped that Weeknd song into “Madship’s” playlist, and then clicked on his new album. Opening up a new text, I quickly shot one to Joseph.

  You’re right. I’ll try to let her go.

  Then I opened up Spotify again, ignoring the notification that pinged almost instantly after. Thanks or no thanks to Wi-Fi in the air. I pressed play on “Hurt you” by The Weeknd and let it play, closing my eyes again.

  “I don’t know what to do, bro,” Nate exhaled, burying his face in the palms of his hands. We had dropped everyone else off. Me without saying shit to Madison, but managing to sneak a look at Micaela—as did Nate. I could see it, even if he couldn’t, I saw what happened when he laid eyes on his daughter. It was love at first sight, which was why I knew what his issue was right now.

  “What do you mean? About Tillie or about Micaela? Which by the way, I need to talk to you about that.”

  He shook his head, bringing one foot up to rest on the dash. He ran his index finger over his upper lip. “No need to explain, B. I know that there’s always reasoning to your chaos.” He said it as if he would explain the weather—with ease.

  “Alright, but just so you know, what happened tonight was always the plan. Daemon had been helping Tillie since she gave birth. Apparently, he, Tinker, and another nurse were the ones who helped her through the birth. He called me up and let me know what was happening,” I paused, my eyes flying out to the side window before I took the onramp to a new highway. I needed to get the fuck out of here for a while, and going home right now wasn’t an option. Out of all the Kings, it was no mistake who my numero uno was, and he earned that on more than one occasion. If there was anyone whose company I didn’t mind when I was feeling this fucked up in the head, it was Nate’s.