Page 31 of Sick Bargain

“You’re not a virgin,” he says.

Close enough. I’ve had actual penetrative sex twice, and neither time was enjoyable. I’m afraid to fuck Remiel because it will twist his vision of me. Right now, he’s falling in line because he’s scared of me. But if he sees how insecure and inexperienced I actually am when it comes to sex, he’ll use it against me somehow.

Riot grins, setting down the crust of his club sandwich. “A lot of lube, stretch him open, and stick your dick in. Not much more to it than that.”

“Fuck you, Kill. What guy have you ever fucked?”

He laughs at me and signals for the server to close out our tab. “An asshole is the same no matter the gender,” he says. “Still want my help with G… Soren?”

The server brings the bill and my brother pays. “Can I get you guys anything else?” She avoids looking at me but eye-fucks my brother. No one ever holds eye contact with me for long.

“No, love. Thanks, though.” He smiles at her and she melts. My god. When I smile at people, they cringe. But Killian is on the sociopathic scale, according to his psych records, and even though he pretends not to be selfish, he is. Charming people andmanipulating them to do whatever he wants them to do is his greatest gift. One I don’t have.

I take one more look at Reeven Matterson before following Riot out the door. We walk down Death Row, and I pause when we pass The Ambient Raven. Remiel is at the front counter talking to a customer, so I narrow my eyes to make sure no touching is involved. Riot lights a joint and passes it to me, reminding me to calm down in public.

“Well?” he asks. “Soren?”

“Maybe. Remiel wants him incapacitated so he can’t kill himself. Wants someone on him all the time. I don’t really trust you to be around him that much without killing him.”

Riot laughs again. It’s no secret they hate each other. I don’t know where the hate stems from, but they fight the most out of anyone in Vile House. Director puts up with it to a degree, but he often punishes them for the trouble they bring. None of us know what the punishment entails.

“If I kill him, it’ll end the Sauder curse and Remi can go free.”

I bristle at his words and stare at Remiel through the window. “Remiel will never be free.” Yes, free from the curse somehow, but never free from me. I worded the deal to make it sound like I might free him, but now that I have him, I know I never will. But I’m not at the point of sacrificing Soren for the sake of Remiel.

“Let’s go before Director rips us apart for being late.” I inhale half the joint in one breath, tearing my eyes from Remiel at work.

There’sa theatre room in Vile House, with a platform used as a stage and row seating bolted to the floor. Back in the day, it was used to teach the staff about new protocols and illnesses, to host staff meetings, and to do monthly briefings. Now we use it as a meeting room, and Director is at the front while the rest of us sprinkle throughout the seats—the ten of us closer to the front, and some of the lower ranks filling out the back. The initiates aren’t welcome here yet, but if they pass their tests and do well in their training, they’ll be allowed to sit in.

“You reveal yourself to Cain?” I ask Menace, cringing at the C name.

“Nope. Kept the mask on but gave him exactly what he wanted. Pain and pleasure,” he whispers, rubbing his dick in fond remembrance. At least he kept him alive. “Fuck,” he groans, rubbing himself harder.

I look away and shake my head, baffled by how easy sex is for everyone but me. Yet another thing that’s wrong with me without me knowing why.

“Benton Wentworth,” Director starts, standing at the podium. “He survived the night, but barely survived Kyd and Facts. They interrogated him all day, and we finally got some answers.”

Facts is like an AI come to life. He knows everything, and because of how full his mind is, he’s batshit crazy. The guy can barely form a coherent sentence without blurting out a bunch of information, and his IQ is so high he’s never challenged enough, which makes him bored. Bored is deadly around here, but Facts also has a whole slew of warped realities because of his upbringing. Kyd, on the other hand, is a whole pot of crazy that comes with the biggest smiles and the most energy. A lot of unbearable colours, too.

“Hello,” Facts says from his seat, barely containing everything he wants to blurt out. “Benton Wentworth is justthe tip of the iceberg. Turns out he works with a whole group of megalomaniacs who want to take our town and turn it into something… else. One of them is Dr. Axel Graves.”

My eyes widen at that, and curses fill the room.

“Yeah, that Axel Graves,” Kyd says, standing up front with Director because he can’t refuse the spotlight. “Born and bred in Moros, presumed dead for the past four years, and now back to haunt us with his evil little brainwashing games.” He claps his hands in sinister glee. “Oh, god! He’s going to become my bestie with a mind like that!”

“Sit down, Kyd,” Director says. “Axel Graves is the one responsible for the weird behaviour in some of our residents. Including your mother, Ghost.”

We all look at him, but he keeps his face blank, waiting for the rest of the explanation.

“The group we’ve been studying are all chipped. We don’t know how Axel got his chips implanted, but according to Wentworth, Axel has been working out of a lab not far from here. He created the chips and is now using Moros citizens to test them on.”

“Mind control?” Seven asks.

Director nods while Kyd skips around the theatre to burn energy. “Mind control. Small things at first, but since you led us to your mom’s strange behaviour, we’ve been watching her,” Director says to Ghost.

Facts takes over again. “Hello. She’s somehow receiving subliminal messages. Maybe they’re coming straight through the chip, but they could be coming from an app on her phone or a demand sent to her through her phone. Maybe nothing like that, but I’ll find out. It’s what is making her do things her sane self wouldn’t do. Hurting Remi, burning her hand, stealing that baby from the hospital, things like that.”

I tense at the reminder of Remiel being hurt by his mother. A few months ago, she slashed his wrist with a kitchen knife when she was at his house for dinner. It’s the scar I ran my thumb over the other night, and I know Remiel is ashamed of it. He hasn’t made any suicide attempts, but he still bears the scars. Ghost glances at me, and I meet his eyes. We might not agree on my bargain with his brother, but together, we’ll do everything to keep him alive. He already warned him away from his mom, and I’ll be tracking him everywhere he fucking goes when he isn’t with me.

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