Page 91 of Raine
“Fuck! Get in the car, Raine! We have to get to him before he has bullets raining down on him.”
Not needing to be told twice, I round the car and jump in, his car moving even before I’ve closed the door. The gates open agonizingly slowly, but once they’re open enough, Justyce floors it, whips the wheel around, and we’re fishtailing it up the street.
We drive toward Avernus’s house in tense silence, and it’s not because of what I’ve told him but because we are both scared for Acheron, my fucking brother.I nearly had sex with my damn brother.
The thought curdles my insides, and I’m thankful for the small silver lining amongst the mania. I didn’t fuck Acheron; I didn’t fuck my half-brother. As if sensing my inner rambunctious thoughts, Justyce speaks into the silence.
“Don’t, Raine. You and Acheron didn’t know you were fucking siblings. I’ve been joking about it for years with the way you two fought each other, but to find out it’s true is madness. I’m so sorry, Rainey, for this and for what your mother went through at the hands of that piece of shit.”
I don’t say anything because I don’t know what to say. I thought my life was a colossal screw up before, but now, I can’t even wade through the fuckery that it actually is. My mind wanders to dark blue eyes, and I wish more than anything I could fall into Gabe’s arms and forget the past twenty-four hours.
My body is wound tighter than a nun’s pussy, and I’m fighting the nausea swimming around in my guts. I’m fucking petrified about where this leaves all of us, what will happen and how we are going to navigate through this shit pile.
When we pull up to Avernus’s dark and broody mansion, we see Acheron’s car in the driveway. Justyce climbs out before me and I follow quickly behind him, needing to keep up and make sure Acheron is alright.
A roar sounds from inside, and my body locks up momentarily before I break off in a sprint toward where it came from. The dark, ominous looking door is wide open, and Justyce and I stop and pull our guns out with our backs to the wall before creeping in. Glass litters the floor, photo frames and pictures have been pulled from the walls, and there are blood droplets leading inside.
Looking at Justyce, he motions for me to follow him. There’s a loud crash upstairs, and we check our surroundings before running across the formal area, but I don’t miss the chains hanging from the ceiling or the cages in the corner.
The food I ate the night before threatens to come back up, but I swallow it down, walking up the emerald green carpeted stairs to reach the second story. When we reach the top, we’re graced with another loud crash and glass shattering.
Justyce sighs, places his gun away, and I do the same. “Avernus isn’t here.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Acheron is ripping apart the house.”
“Oh.”
“Come on, follow me.”
I do as he says, peering into the rooms as I do to find them either filled to the brim with bedroom furniture or more chains and other sexual torture items splayed across the floor.
The place looks messy and unorganized, and I don’t remember a time I’ve entered this cold house that it wasn’t ever the picture of perfection.
We reach the last door, and Justyce pushes it open. We glance in to find Acheron sitting on a bed with his head in his hands while his elbows rest on his knees. One look around the room solidifies the noises we heard because the room is in shambles; turned over dressing tables, the mattress is hanging off the frame and there are clothes strewn all over. I track him to the bed and see blood dripping from his hand.
His heavy breaths fill the space, and when I walk around to the front of him, I see a note in his hand, bloodied from his cut hand. Moving in front of Justyce, I kneel down and wrap my hands around both his wrists.
Acheron lifts his face and I see so much emotion in his wet eyes, his lips pulled back in a grimace, accentuating his scar. Removing one of my hands from his wrists, I wipe a wayward tear and he shudders under my touch.
“I’m so sorry, Raine. I…I didn’t know. I promise…”
“Sshh, Ach, I know.”
“But how?”
“Because you’re an asshole, but not that much of an asshole.”
His grimace breaks, and he laughs lightly before the humor bleeds away and is replaced with agony and defeat again.
“He’s gone, Raine,” he says, handing me the note in his hand as Justyce’s hand lands on my shoulder.
Releasing my brother, I sit back on my heels and unfold the note, my hands shaking more than a leaf on a tree during a storm.
Justyce, Acheron, Arrow and my darling daughter, Raine,
I guess you think you all have it figured it out — that I didn’t know what you were all playing at and cooking up; that I didn’t have contingencies set up in case this ever occurred.
