Page 378 of Vicious Saint
“I’m not just any eighteen year old boy, trust me.”
“Maybe so, but you’re in no position to carry out threats being tied to a chair.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Through a yawn, Nikolai responds, “In spite of what the princess did to my restaurant, I’m in a good mood, and good moods make me do nice things to those about to die.” He gestures to Boris, his trusty torture-executioner, covered in what I’m sure is Hendrix’s blood. “So Boris and I will give you some time with the princess before you watch him continue to have his way with her.”
They walk out together, muttering some shit in Russian, and the second the door closes I’m working the bindings around my wrists.
Moments pass as I wiggle and scratch them up and down the chair, the only other sound in the room being water dripping in the distance.
That is, until I hear Hendrix’s faint voice.
“You should’ve told me…” she says groggily, still hanging her head.
I suck in a deep breath, wanting nothing less than to waste precious time I could be using to get Hendrix out of here. But the fact of the matter is, I’ve already accepted I may not be leaving with her. Therefore, no time like the next two minutes to spill my guts again.
“I was gonna tell you, I swear. So many times, but shit just kept getting in the way.”
Hendrix finally manages to lift her head, and when I see how swollen and bruised her face is I have to fight every molecule inside me not to burst into flames.
The only reason I win is because I’m transferring the energy into my wrists trying to break free.
“Tell me about which part, huh? Luca or Bex?”
“Jimi…the thing with Bex is not what you think.”
She huffs. “Doesn’t really matter now, does it?”
“It does fucking matter.”
Hendrix chokes a few times, then spits a wad of blood on the ground. “Fine. Then go ahead and tell me when you fucked my best friend.”
“I didn’t fuck Bex. I swear.”
“Annalie told a very different story before I knocked her ass out.”
“I don’t give a fuck what that bitch said. What happened between Cray, Bex, and me was simply an attempt to help my best friend be there for his girl.”
She lets out a derisive huff. “Seriously? You expect me to believe you hooked up with my best friend because your best friend, who’s even more possessive and psychotic than you are, asked you to?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. Just without having sex.”
“I’ll bite.” She spits more blood on the ground. “When did Crayton ask you to ‘help him be there for his girl’?”
“The night of Bex’s birthday.”
Hendrix pierces me with the only eye still open. “The night she was—?”
“Yes,” I answer instantly, not wanting to put any more negative juju into the air around us. “Cray needed to comfort her…and needed me to teach him how.”
Hendrix stays quiet for a few beats, amidst a struggle between thinking and fighting to hold up her head.
“Okay…” she responds, with a lot less coherence than she had seconds ago. “I don’t need to hear anything else.”
“I love the fucking shit out of you, baby. I need you to know that…in case I don’t walk out of here with you.”
“Walking…where?” is all Hendrix responds before her head gives out again.
