Page 29 of Rising Queen (Blood Empire 1)

Chapter 9

Dean

“This is degrading!”Axel grumbles as he puts all his force into the toothbrush as he scrubs the floor. “She is making us do this in the hardest way possible just to fuck with us.”

After Harlow's warning, I didn't say anything more. I went back and got changed, although it's taking everything in me not to snap. I'm so far out of my element that I feel like I'm spiraling out of control. I’m the one in charge; I'm used to being the leader of our company and the one who makes the hard decisions that affect all of us. It’s me who finds the best option for us to pursue. So, when Harlow said she would do to us whatever she does to others who disobey her orders, I believed her and did what was best for our family and company and forced myself to suck it up.

She owes us nothing and is doing us this favor. I'm not a fan of how she's going about it, but it's not like we don't deserve it. My idea and me forcing the others to comply with it is what sent her down a never-ending hole of horror. In a way, I killed Harlow, at least the one we knew. Queenie is a hard and ruthless woman, showing only a glimpse of humanity for the family that she’s formed. We are not a part of that group. We lost that chance the moment I sent her away, and the others by default.

I know the things she's planning to make us do will be ridiculous, but we have to do it with no more complaining, or we will be screwed. Honestly, this company isn't worth the embarrassment we are going to have to endure. Normally, I would be stubborn enough to lose everything, just to avoid getting down on my hands and knees to scrub the bathroom floor in a maid outfit. But Rosie is on the line too, and I would do anything, and I mean every single gross, degrading, embarrassing, pathetic thing if it meant being in that little girl's life. She's our Princess, and we live to make her happy. She has kept us from becoming the men we were trained to be. Growing up, Harlow was the one that kept us grounded, and with her gone, for a while we started to slip, but the moment Cass found out about his daughter, we all started to change for the better.

“Just be happy that Harlow has a compulsion with everything being so clean you could eat off every surface,” Lucas says from the doorway. He's standing there, leaning against the wall with his arms folded and a look of amusement as he watches over us. I don't think he was told to babysit us; he's just doing it, so that we have an audience for our humiliation.

“Yeah, every room but this one!” Axel growls. “There's so much fucking glitter! Who needs this much fucking glitter?!”

“How does she expect us to get all this out only with water and a toothbrush? Glitter is one of the hardest things to clean. And this is really more of a fine dust. It's never gonna come off,” I say, sighing as I keep scrubbing with my own toothbrush.

“Stop being baby back bitches! It could be worse; we could be cleaning up piss or shit. And I do enough of that at home with Susie,” Neo laughs. Lucas looks at me with a raised brow.

“His llama,” I explain.

“Alpaca!” Neo growls as he stands up and looks in the mirror. He's covered in glitter. He has it all over his face too. Basically, he looks like a pile of unicorn shit.

Lucas looks even more confused. “Trust me, it's better if you don't ask too many questions when it comes to Neo. He's just as random as he is crazy. Essentially, he makes no sense.”

Lucas huffs out a chuckle. “Maybe he is the perfect reliever for Harlow.”

“Damn right, I am. Her crazy speaks to mine.” Neo puffs out his chest and looks back to the mirror. “Hey look! I’m a vampire.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Axel asks, irked that Neo has stopped working.

“A vampire, you know, like Edward from Twilight,” Neo says, as he shifts back and forth so the light makes the glitter sparkle and shine around the room.

“You watched Twilight?” Lucas laughs.

Ah, fuck. Neo is in Lucas' face in a flash. Neo takes him by surprise and slams him against the wall, hand tightly gripping him around the neck. “You got a problem with that?” Neo asks, his voice deadly. Neo is an oddball. He loves what he loves, and just because he can snap someone's neck in the blink of an eye without thinking twice about it, doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy girly movies and tea parties with Rosie. If anything, I think he likes them even more than her.

Lucas tries to shake his head but can't because of the tight grip Neo has.

“Neo, man, let go of him,” Cass says, his voice calm as if trying to coax a wild animal. Which is pretty much what he is. “He's turning blue, and if you kill him, Harlow kills all of us. Think about Rosie.” With that last part, Cass’s voice sounds panicked by the risk Neo is taking on his daughter’s fate.

At the mention of Rosie, Neo relaxes his grip on Lucas, and when he finally lets go, Lucas bends over in a coughing fit as he tries to take in air. “Do that again-” he coughs, “And you're dead.” Lucas staggers out of the room.

Fuck.

“Way to go, you crazy fuck. You're gonna get us killed,” Axel growls.

“He laughed at me,” Neo says with venom.

“He was probably just surprised that you would know what Twilight is,” Cass says, trying to defuse the ticking time bomb that is Neo. Cass is the best one out of us all to coax Neo’s monster into doing what is needed.

“The man is gay! He should never judge someone just by looks. Because he sure as hell doesn't look gay, but you don't see me assuming he's straight,” Neo grits.

“So not the same, man,” Axel says. “But let's not touch on that subject because none of us are a part of the community, so it would be disrespectful.”

Neo bares his teeth at Axel. Cass puts his hand on Neo’s shoulder, guiding him back to work. “Just think, Harlow is due for another kill soon, I'm sure, and then you’ll get your moment to shine,” Cass says, trying to get Neo’s mind onto something else. Neo’s smile is a scary, wicked one.

“I can't wait. She says she needs at least three orgasms before I’m allowed to come. I'm gonna one up it and make it four,” Neo loudly cackles when Axel gives him a death glare.

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