Page 63 of Reign of Psychos

“Oh my god, my dress is ruined,” she bitched, frowning at the bloody mess all over her pretty pink frock. Then the tears came.

I pulled her close and rubbed the back of her head. My arm stung like a motherfucker, but I ignored it. We both needed a moment to recover.

“You OK?” I asked when she eventually stopped crying.

“I think so. Fuck, what are we supposed to do about that?” Wiping tears away, she grimaced at the mess. “It looks like Hannibal Lecter’s hobby shed in here. Maybe we should call Declan.”

“Are you sure you want Declan knowing about this?”

“Not really, no. But I also don’t want to end up in prison, so…”

Headlights flooded the yard outside. We both froze. Fuck, had Torrance been working with someone? Was this our transport?

I reached for Torrance’s gun as Eden picked up her metal bar.

“Are we doing the Thelma and Louise ending?” Eden asked, sounding panicked.

“Huh?”

“What the actual fuck?” Kyril appeared in the doorway with a gun cocked and loaded. His jaw dropped when he saw the state of us.

“Cara? What happened?” The guys lined up and stared at the carnage.

“You’re too late, boys. Me and the Pink Power Ranger here handled it.”

“Girl Power!” Eden giggled, giving me a fist bump. “Thank fuck we don’t have to drive off a cliff now.”

I had no fucking clue what she was talking about.

Ronan, Conal, and a clean-up crew arrived an hour later to deal with the crime scene, Torrance’s car, and the Mercedes I’d stolen. The twins had not been happy about Eden’s role in the show but agreed to play it down for her sake. She didn’t want Declan to force her back to Ireland.

“I’m going to need counseling,” she groaned as we sat in our underwear, wrapped in blankets.

“Probably.”

“I don’t feel guilty.” Her lip wobbled. “He was a bad person.”

“He was,” I agreed. “You did the world a favor. Thank you.”

“You saved me before, so I guess we’re even now.”

“Can we have no more saving of anyone, please.” Landon shuddered. “It was like walking onto the set of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I’m going to have nightmares for weeks.”

“There was a lot of blood,” Milo agreed from the front seat. “An average-sized man contains about 12 pints of blood.”

“Shut up,” Eden muttered. “I already feel ill.”

“Right, we’re all done,” Ronan announced, wiping his hands with a bloody towel. “We’ll take Eden and you guys go on your way.” Conal yawned in the background before stretching. The pair of them wore identical black tactical gear. If not for Conal’s slightly longer hair, I’d have struggled to tell them apart.

“You can come with us?” I told Eden.

“No.” She sighed. “I better head back to college and pretend I had a normal night.” Although it was still dark, she was right. There would be too many questions if she strolled through the main gate in her underwear with blood splatters all over her face. We’d both used disposable wipes to clean ourselves, but a hot shower was well overdue. I felt certain I still had brain matter in my hair.

I hugged her one last time and then she got out and climbed into Ronan’s car.

Kyril shoved Landon aside so he could pull me into his arms. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

We were due a conversation about why I’d left them again, but right now, all I wanted to do was sleep for a few hours. Once I’d slept, we could talk.

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