Page 77 of Dance With A Devil
He laughs, a slow, mocking sound that cuts down my spine. “Ourmess? No, Bash. This shitstorm is yours. You couldn’t keep it in your pants long enough to wait.”
“You’re still an Elder of Cliffside, aren’t you?” I snap.
“Yes. Are you?” The venom in his voice makes my blood boil.
“Don’t fuck with me, Archie. Just get your ass here. Bring the others.”
I hang up without waiting for an answer, wishing it were a rotary phone so I could slam it down and shatter his eardrums through the receiver.
I stare down again.
The boys are entering my house.
My fucking house.
I scroll to another number. This one is worse. Dangerous in a way I’d hoped to avoid unless I absolutely had to.
The line doesn’t even ring.
I hear the breathing first, slow, thick, animalistic.
“I know you’re there. No need to speak.” I lean against the window frame, voice low. “She’s here. It’s time to start your part of the deal.”
A pause.
Then, “Do not instruct me, boy.You forget your place. Shall I rip your spine out and show you?”
“No need.” I exhale through clenched teeth. “We’ll be in touch.”
I hang up.
Downstairs, the door crashes open.
“We know you’re here, old man. Might as well crawl out and face us,” Wyck’s voice echoes like a promise of war.
I don’t hide. Never have. Never will.
I smooth my cuffs and take the stairs slow, deliberate, letting each step crack beneath my heel like I’m walking toward judgment, and not the other way around.
At the landing, I see her.
Athens.
The source of all this madness. My fire. My ruin.
I tilt my head, sneering. “Athens, darling. Come here and give your husband a kiss.”
She rolls her eyes like she’s forgotten who the fuck I am.
She’ll remember.
“Don’t you dare speak to her,” Wyck snaps, stepping between us. “You’ve got a lot of nerve after the shit you pulled.”
“Exactly.Ipulled it.” I stay calm. I always stay calm before the kill. “This isn’t recess. My wife and I have matters to reconcile.”
“There’s noreconcilingshit, old man,” Karter bites, all sharp teeth and juvenile rage. “She doesn’t belong to you. She belongs tousnow. Five real men who make sure she forgets you ever existed.”
He smirks. That smug little stain of a child. “Don’t look at me like that, you limp-dick motherfucker.”
