Page 23 of Dust to Dust

Absolutely, Ghost beamed.

Once again, insert an evil laugh here.

Chapter 17

Flour dusted every single surface of the kitchen as well as me. It scattered and danced in the air like falling ashes. I didn't understand why people turned to baking to calm themselves or eating. A cupcake and sugar high was nothing compared to the high from taking down those who deserved it. Sugar was short-lived, like a bad one-night stand. You think at the moment it is good, but the next day you wake up having had no orgasms piled on with a weight of self-pity.

Now revenge, that is vastly different. The high lasted for life, like marriage to a sex god.

So what would you choose if given a choice, a sugar high or a lifetime of orgasms? I bet that cupcake isn't looking so sweet now, is it?

"I hope you're not planning on feeding us any of…whatever that is," Dash grunted.

More footsteps sounded behind him. I turned and caught Damian entering the kitchen, Mila by Dash's side like the well-behaved puppy Dash thought she was. When they arrived, the kitchen and breakfast were a proper mess. "Happy wife, happy life," I cheered as I turned back to attend to the burning patties that were supposed to be pancakes. A breakfast of lipgloss with a side of black coffee was so much easier, but this was an added step in making them all miserable. Titan was my war prize, but that didn't mean he'd get to relish in every second with me. I still had to play naughty, which meant making everyone's lives a bit more tortured. Thus, the burnt smell and floured mess that rifled their noses caused them to wake. I scurried around the kitchen as if I owned it. I had to play the role of content wife until I could make my move, slip away and take care of Lucas tomorrow morning.

Everything was happening too fast to play catch up. Tomorrow was April 1st. I had only today to plot how I'd reach the great Lucas King. Mila, the lucky bitch, got to continue to attend school. I was on house arrest at King Manor. Well, Titan was fast asleep. I snuck out of bed and scooped the house. The men were on high alert; I spotted a dozen guards around the permitter of the house. But I knew more were lurking in the trees that surrounded it. My mind looked for holes in their security well I pretended to play the typical housewife role and be a proper hostess. I'd make them all a breakfast…filled with my hate.

I picked up the spatula, but since the pancake was stuck to the pan, I tried to scrape it off so I could flip it. When that didn't work, I improvised and changed them from pancakes to pan scramble. I chopped the patty and scrambled it in the pan using the spatula.

I heard Damian approaching closer as he dared to glance at what I was concocting. What I didn't hear was him pulling his knife out. He had it pressed to my neck before I could react. Since I was only wearing a red lace bra with a pair of Titan's boxers, I could feel Damian's hard body and the heat rolling off it. "If you want to share Damian, you'll have to ask Titan first," I joked. "I'm a loyal wife." Nothing about my tone suggested I was being honest. However, I'd use my burning hot pan to teach Damian a lesson if he thought I would let him touch me. I didn't reveal my hand yet. I remained relaxed with the blade pressed against my flesh until Damian showed me what he was up to.

His unflinching body told me he wasn't playing around, nor did he think my joke or suggestion was funny. "If you hurt my cousin," he whispered a hateful hiss, "I will kill you very slowly." He slid the blade down my neck to the swell of my left breast, just above my heart.

"Hmm, that's an intriguing offer, Damian. If I ever get tired of this life, I might take you up on that." I looked down at the knife that hovered over my heart. Unlike the matte black knife I had always seen Damian playing with, this blade looked like it was made of gold.That's odd.The hilt had jewels incrusted within like some old relic from the past that a king would have been gifted. I didn't take Damian for the kind of man who liked the privileged things in life. He was simple. All the King men were, minus the enormous houses and expensive cars, but that was for show. Deep down, Titan, Dash, and Damian would have been content to suffer in a tent if need be. So that meant this embellished knife meant something very special to Damian.

"I understand your need, Nova. So does Titan. If you continue to slip, it won't only kill you, but it will trap you in a purgatory of hell." Damian turned me around, not removing his knife but letting it gently glide over my skin as he turned me. His movements were so precise not even a paper-cut sliver appeared on my skin. My eyes gazed upon him. Compared to Titan and Dash's blonde hair Damian was darker. It made me wonder what his mother must have looked like. Thick short black hair, eyes so dark blue they looked black most of the time. Damian was consumed by the shadows, whereas Titan and Dash fought to be in the light; they twisted their deeds into false lies, thinking it was for their family's good. Damian didn't need to bend any of the facts. He knew the Kings were demons and accepted it.

Under this light, his skin held a touch more olive tone than Titan's golden boy tan, making it look more Greek or European. Yet behind his ethereal beauty was a demon like my own. After all, the devil was once an angel, and so much beauty could mask great darkness.

We were troubled souls, stuck together under this roof now. We could spot another one from a mile away. I didn't know Damian's past, but I knew his present, and it was full of pain and rage barely contained. Unlike Dash, who lashed out, Damian held it all in. Like a trapped geyser below the earth's crust, the pressure slowly grew until the foundations cracked, and he would blow like a volcano.

"You're slipping," Damian eyed me, but he wasn't looking at me. He was digging too deep. Damian could see a part of me buried and hidden, even from myself. It was a dirty part even Ghost didn't acknowledge. I cast my eyes away from his as worry sickened my stomach.How the hell did he do that?

You're playing in the big leagues now, Nova.Ghost chimed.Your walls are being tested to see if they even still stand.She laughed.

The cocky bitch was too strong now.

Avoiding Damian until I could compose myself, I spotted Mila, who looked tense as she didn't look at me, but the knife Damian held against my heart. Dash sat next to her, looking gleeful and at ease, but it was who was behind Dash that surprised me. My heart beat faster as a bead of sweat broke on my forehead. Titan lurked in the entrance as he watched the scene that was unfolding. I wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, but he trusted Damian enough not to interrupt or worry about the knife he pressed against me.

Titan leaned with ease against the door frame as he watched his cousin try to rip me open. His jaw was tense, but curiosity in his eyes allowed Damian to continue. "I see you duck and hide inside your mind," Damian whispered. "I see you plotting and scheming. It's the only thing that keeps you going, but the fuel is running out, and soon you'll need another source." He stated confidently as if he was a God who knew my every thought.

Keeping my eyes on Titan, I responded to both men, "And you think you're that source?"

"I think my cousin is. I think he is the only person you care about, and let me tell you this," Damian took a step back, removing his knife, "I don't know what you went through, but I know what my cousin went through. His love for you never died; it only grew, and that love will save you one day."

"So why are you so worried for Titan if he's going to save me?”

Damian's forehead creased and something dark flashed in his eyes that made my blood run cold. At that moment, I saw the killer that lurked so deep within him it claimed his soul. "Because some of us don't want to be saved. Some of us just wanted everyone to go down with us." He tipped my chin up, forcing me to look into his eyes. "So don't you dare fucking fight Titan when he breathes life back into you because there's an army behind us that you can't fight nor destroy. You failed. This is your punishment. You will accept it like a good girl."

"And if I don't?" I provoked.

Damian smiled a feral grin that even sent chills down my hardened spine. He dipped his lips closer to my ear, "There are worst things than death, worst than torture. You hurt him, and I'll show you pain like you have never felt before."

I held his stare as I studied the top predator in the room. His short black hair was pushed back, giving me a clear view of his sculpted face. Cheekbones peeked so high they looked like an arctic wind had sculptured them. Damian would burn to the touch like dry ice. How could a man so full of demons speak such words? A poet, buried amongst dust and ashes of sin.

Our stand-off ceased as Damian turned to exit. Titan reached his arm and stopped him. "Do you want me to help you?" Titan murmured in a low voice to Damian.

Concern and a flash of worry replaced Titan's confidence; Dash glanced over his shoulder to give his unspoken support. Damian looked at Titan and Dash before he shook his head and gripped the golden knife. All the men eyed the blade as if it were a ghost in the room. You could taste the shift in the air. The knife was a bad omen, and the tides of war were about to batter the men that forced me into their freakshow of a family.

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