Page 70 of God of War

Rev doesn’t say anything. What seemed so jovial and playful about him before now feels pointed and dangerous. Like he lulled me into a false sense of security, only to claw me open and pick through my guilt. He takes a long, slow sip, his watchful eyes never leaving me. The house is quiet. A dog howls in the distance somewhere.

I take a shaky breath. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. Any of it.”

Rev swallows. He leans forward, his bottle landing on the table with a dull thud. He groans as he sinks back, flipping a lever on the recliner to make the footrest snap out.

“I know, kitten. Sometimes life has a way of just fucking us.” His head falls back, his tattooed throat just a slash of color in the light. “Sometimes all you can do is lie back and let it happen.”

I finish my beer and watch the slow rise and fall of Rev’s chest. Five minutes later, he starts snoring. His words repeat in my head, swirling round and round and making me want to throw up.

Sometimes all you can do is lie back and let it happen.

What does he know about it? Nothing, that’s what. He knows fuck-all about what it’s really like to ‘lie back and let it happen’. Like all those nights I did just that, forcing myself out of my body to some place else, just to escape the horror of what was happening to me. Or how I almost let Aaron happen, until I was saved by the switchblade Ares gave me.

Until I saved myself.

I move slowly so as not to wake him. Grabbing my blood-flecked sneakers between my fingers, I tip-toe to the front door. I turn the lock and it thunks so loudly that I’m sure it’s given me away, but Rev just snorts and shoves his hand beneath the waistband of his jeans.

Outside, I pause at the top of the stairs to slide my bare feet into my sneakers. The evening air is cool, the breeze drying up the nervous sweat gathering on the back of my neck. Rev’s going to be in trouble when the others find out I’ve gone. Ares is going to kill him, then he’s going to kill me.

There’s a chance Ares will never forgive me for this, that he’ll never understand that this is the only way to not only protect myself and Lilly, but to protect him too. I feel a sad pang of regret as I hurry down the stairs and onto the street.

“I’m sorry,” I mutter, my words whipped away on the breeze. Maybe they’ll make it to Ares. Probably not.

At least not before I’ve killed my father.

26

Ares

Wastelanders are efficient at crime scene clean-up. Aaron Flores is loaded into the trunk of his own patrol car, then the whole thing is covered with a tarp and hitched to the tow-truck. It takes only minutes, and then I’m standing at the edge of the clearing, watching the evidence of his murder literally disappear down the road. The car and body will disappear too, somewhere, and I don’t much care where. The only thing I care about is that none of this comes back on Delaney.

“Hey.” A hand claps down on my shoulder and my instincts kick in, jerking it off and whipping around to see Reaper stepping back, hands raised. “Just me, brother. You good?”

“Yeah,” I grunt back, then shake my head. “No.”

Reaper’s eyes flick to my hand. “Let’s get back to the clubhouse. Get someone to look at that hand.”

I nod mechanically and follow Reaper to the plumber’s van. I climb into the back and settle with my back against the shell, the heat of the day warming me through the metal. Reaper slides into the front and I catch him checking his phone.

“How much shit am I in with Griff?”

Reaper chuckles as he shoves his phone away and starts the engine. “Forget about Griff. The real question is, how much shit are you in with the girl?”

I shrug, but my jaw clenches. Even hearing another brother talking about Delaney sends a flare of fierce protectiveness through me. It was hard enough letting her go off on the back of Rev’s bike.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I reply.

Reaper makes the turn onto the main road. From my position in the back, all I see is blue sky through the windshield.

Reaper sighs. “Look, I don’t need to know what happened between the two of you out here—”

“Then don’t ask.”

“But Flores going missing is going to make things worse for her. For all of us. I need to know everything so we can deal with what’s coming.”

What’s coming… The words echo in my ears, taunting me. Because he’s right: this shit storm is about to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. I don’t care about myself, I just need Delaney to make it out alive.

***

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