Page 84 of Princes of Carnage

I feel like I’m reeling all over again, the last several months rewriting themselves in my head. I always felt like I was lucky to have found Phantom at the club and to have had that outlet. But now that I know it was Killian’s hands on me… Killian’s cock inside me… I don’t know what to think.

I want to know why. I want to know what the fuck he was thinking, and why, me and so much other shit.

I open my mouth again, not even sure what I’m going to say. But before I can get anything else out, there’s a shout from downstairs.

“Killian! Quinn! Where the fuck are you?”

It’s Nico’s voice. I hear Atlas’s voice too, a bit quieter but full of agitation as he says something to Nico, and then there’s the furious beat of shoes on the stairs.

“In here,” Killian calls. He still hasn’t looked away from me.

The bathroom door bursts open a second later, and Nico and Atlas stop short in the doorway.

There’s a second where they both take in the scene, and I can only imagine what it looks like to them. Killian wet and clothed, me wet and in a towel, water all over the floor, and so much tension thickening the air that it’s hard to breathe.

Nico opens his mouth, his gaze darting between the two of us. Then he shakes his head sharply, holding up a hand.

“We’ll come back to this later,” he says shortly. “There’s been another attack.”

“Fuck,” I hiss, my head whipping toward him. “What happened? We didn’t have any jobs lined up for tonight. Did Carnage?”

“No.” His mismatched eyes glitter with anger. “This attack seems like it was completely random. There was no job, no drop, nothing for the attacker to sabotage. A small group of Enigma members were out with a Prince of Carnage. One of our guys named Jeremiah. He just sent me a distress call.”

My stomach drops. Fuck. This is bad. I thought our people would at least be safe when they weren’t doing official gang business. But clearly, I was wrong.

“Did he says anything else?”

Nico shakes his head, looking grim. “Just their location and that it was bad.”

“Fuck. Okay. Okay, we have to—”

I break off and stride out of the bathroom, pushing past all of them as I head to my room. I throw on fresh clothes as fast as I can, my mind on overdrive as I try to process the wild turns this evening has taken. I shove all of my feelings about Killian’s revelation into a box in my mind and lock it, separating it from what I have to focus on right now.

When I emerge from my room, he’s dry and dressed too, but I barely even spare him a glance as I meet Nico’s gaze.

“Let’s go,” I say, my voice tight.

We all head outside, and I clamber on the back on Nico’s bike without a word, since mine is still near the place where Killian and I questioned Tobias. I wrap my arms around him as Killian and Atlas hop onto their bikes too, and we break the speed limit several times over to get to the spot where Nico told us the attack happened. It’s at the end of a long block that’s home to a few dive bars and run-down laundromats, and we pull our bikes over to the curb near a spot where several street lamps have burned out and never been replaced.

Glancing at the three Princes around me, I put a hand on the gun I hastily shoved into the waistband of my pants, sizing up our surroundings warily.

The first thing I notice is how quiet it is. There’s the faint sound of music and voices in the distance, spilling out of the bars, but that’s it. I was expecting to hear the sounds of fighting or yelling or even sounds of pain in the aftermath of the attack. But there’s nothing.

It sends a chill down my spine, and I tug my gun from my waistband as Nico gestures silently with two fingers, directing the rest of us into a loose formation as we approach the mouth of a shadowy alley nearby. We post up on either side of it, two on each side, then peer around the corner.

It’s empty… or at least, that’s what I think at first.

There’s no one standing in the alley, and it isn’t until Nico lets out a low curse beside me that my gaze drops down to the oil-stained and pocked pavement.

I suck in a breath, my stomach pitching.

There are four bodies sprawled out on the ground.

“Motherfucker,” Atlas bites out, his tone furious.

“It’s clear,” Killian says from beside Atlas, and I start a little at the sound of his voice. Even with everything else going on, it’s still a shock to hear him speak. His gaze sweeps the alley again before he adds, “There’s no one here.”

“Don’t let your fucking guard down anyway,” Nico commands as all four of us step into the alley and stride toward the bodies. “This could be an ambush, meant to draw us out.”

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