Page 2 of Soulless Angel

Despite the night we’d had, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Go for it. All the power to you.”

Without even trying, Blaze had managed to lighten the mood. Still, I kept seeing that woman slash the throat of the man beneath her. Over and over.

Once we pulled up to the house, I hurried inside. It had become my safe space. My retreat from the horrors of the world. Blaze followed me in, a bag of fast food clutched in one hand.

The sound of the door and doorbell camera alert drew Daire. He peered around the corner from the living room, a brow raised. “You’re back. How did it go?”

I groaned. “Well, we made it out alive. So that’s a plus.”

“What the hell does that mean? Start talking.” Daire barely let us get inside and take our shoes off before bombarding us with questions and demands.

We joined him in the living room where Cash sat on the couch staring at his phone. He looked up when we sat down, eager to hear what we had to say. Blaze shoved a chicken nugget in his mouth, motioning for me to speak.

“The Sinners were right,” I began, settling back in the armchair. “They are definitely making snuff films in that place. I saw it for myself.”

Cash and Daire hung on my every word as I told them about our visit to Paradise. Of course they wanted details about the kind of activity that went on there and what Blaze and I had done to fit in. I didn’t like the wicked glint in Daire’s eyes when Imentioned the many ways to tie a person up in order to sexually torture them.

“You saw a man get his throat slashed?” Cash asked, making me repeat that part of the story. “And you’re sure nobody knows you saw this?”

“I don’t think they’d have let us leave if they knew,” Blaze pointed out, dipping a nugget in honey mustard. “We’re all good. The problem is that we have to go back. We didn’t plant any cameras.”

“I don’t even know how that’s possible without being seen,” I added. “Even if we got back there again, we’d never get into one of those rooms. We could plant a camera in the hallway outside the rooms I guess, but we’d need to get in, do it, and get out without getting caught.”

Daire pulled a joint from his pocket and lit up, taking a long drag. “How do we know they don’t already have cameras of their own back there?”

“The Sinners don’t seem to think so,” Cash said. “They’d have hacked into them by now. These people most likely know that’s a risk. It would also provide evidence to be used against them if they were caught.”

Daire took another hit off the joint before passing it over to me. “I don’t want you going back in there. It’s too dangerous. The Sinners are on their own for this shit.”

“We owe them a favor,” Blaze reminded him. “They’re not going to give us an out on this one.”

“Too fucking bad. They can go fuck themselves. I’m not risking Clover for their shit. It’s not worth it.” A muscle twitched in Daire’s jaw. Veins stood out on the back of his hands as he clenched them into fists.

“Maybe we should call them,” Cash suggested. “Tell them it was a bust. That we’re out.”

I sucked on the joint, hoping it would help me relax. The tension had yet to completely leave my body. Maybe a hot bath would help. I doubted the Sinners would let us out of this so easily. While Daire pulled out his phone to make the call, I crossed my fingers.

He put it on speaker phone so we could all hear the conversation. It rang a few times before Riot O’Hare answered.

“Hey, Riot, we have a little problem here.” Daire launched right in, not bothering with small talk. “They are definitely making snuff material at Paradise. Clover saw it herself. I’m not sending her back there. We’re done.”

Sounding annoyed, Riot snapped, “We will discuss this in person tomorrow. Jesus Christ, get a burner phone, dumbass.”

He ended the call before Daire could reply. Daire stared at his phone, his expression darkening. “That motherfucker.”

Although I wasn’t going to say so, Riot had a point. Openly discussing this stuff might be dangerous. We had to take precautions.

“We’ll find them on campus tomorrow. Let’s call it a night.” Crumpling his empty food bag, Blaze stood up. “Care to join me in the shower, Rainbow? I need to wash that place off me.”

Rising from my seat, I passed the joint over to Cash. “Me too. I feel filthy, and not from the sexy stuff.”

I caught myself yawning as I ascended the stairs behind Blaze. This evening had sucked me dry. I hoped we were able to convince the Sinners to let us out of this favor when we saw them tomorrow, but I wasn’t holding my breath.

CHAPTER TWO

CASH

I kept checking the time on my phone, counting down until class ended. Usually, I found my marketing classes interesting. Today I felt impatient, wanting to be anywhere else.

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