Page 55 of Rebels & Rejects

Oliver moves between us again, preventing me from getting any closer to Cain. I don’t know if he’s acting to protect Cain or if he’s just trying to stop us from gouging each other’s eyes out, but whatever. I’ve had enough of this shit.

I came here to offer my help. The help they’ve been fucking hounding me for. If Cain doesn’t want to accept that because I’ve got a vagina instead of a dick between my legs, then that’s his loss.

“You know what.” I hold my hands up in front of me. “I’m done with this shit.” Ignoring Cain’s hateful glare, I focus on Oliver. “You know where to find me if he ever pulls his head out of his ass.”

Casting a quick glance across the desk, I notice the keys to my bike and hastily snatch them up, wanting to get the fuck out of here. Turning, I pull open the door and glance back over my shoulder, making sure to raise my voice loud enough to be heard all the way down the hall, “By the way, I hope I did give you an STD, and it makes your dick blister and blacken before it falls off.” Grinning, I slam the door closed in Cain’s furious face, and with a pep in my step, I saunter down the hall through the now-silent crowd of Reject members, and out the front door.

Chapter 20

I bite my lip to hold back my snort as the door swings shut behind Red.Pretty sure Cain won’t find the same humor in her departing statement as I did.He deserves it, though, for being such an ass to her. Cain does naturally have a barbed attitude, one that has gotten a lot sharper since we were kids. Understandably, he doesn’t trust anyone outside of the family he’s created in the Rejects, but he’s being particularly dickish to Red, and I can’t figure out why.

His words from when she walked in, about how they fucked, come to mind. Surprisingly, I don’t feel any jealousy at that notion. Maybe it’s because she slept inmybed, and we had our own intimate moment this morning. Or the fact that, even after whatever happened between them yesterday, they still glower at each other with such undisguised hatred.

“Fucking bitch,” he grumbles under his breath, leaning down to open the bottom drawer of his desk and lifting out the bottle of whiskey he stores there, along with two tumblers. He pours a measure into them both and pushes one across the table toward me.

With a sigh, I sit down in a chair on the opposite side of his desk, but I don’t reach out to touch the glass he poured me. Unlike the effect Red seems to have on him, which has him downing his drink in one go, she doesn’t push me toward alcohol at ten o’clock in the morning.

“Do you think she really is the Reaper?” I ask, thinking aloud.

“Hell no,” Cain scoffs, setting his now empty glass on the table. “There’s no way. She’s playing us.”

“Why would she do that?”

His brows draw together, “How the fuck would I know? She’s clearly not right in the head.”

I manage to hold back the natural instinct to roll my eyes. He’s letting his anger toward her cloud his thinking. As far as I can tell, she has no reason to lie. All this time, she’s just wanted us to leave her alone, and now that she finally got what she wanted, she shows up here offering to help? Something must have changed her mind. I recall the scratches and bruises on her arms from yesterday. I’d heard G&T had been targeted by the Antonellis. News like that spreads quickly. They rarely leave their part of the city to bother us, but when they do, they like to leave carnage in their wake, ensuring we never forget just how powerful they are. They want us to know that, if they wanted, they could destroy us with a flick of their wrists. Of course, they don’t just target us randomly. The owners of G&T must have done something to get on the Antonellis’ radar. And the innocent patrons that just so happened to stop by at the exact time of the Antonellis’ strike are just the necessary casualties of war. It seems Red was one of those casualties. She’s seriously fucking lucky, and if she knew the Antonellis were behind the attack—which she apparently does—then it would explain her showing up here.

But hearing her say she’s the Reaper? Holy crap, that’s a shock. Not because she’s a woman, it’s just that we’d always assumed it was a man. Everyone does. Men are more likely to engage in violence than women, and it just seemed so much more likely that a man was going after gang members.

Although, now that I think about it, a woman makes sense too. It would explain how most of the men she’s killed are found without defensive wounds. Most men wouldn’t let someone they don’t know or trust get that close to them... but a woman? Never mind a woman like Red, with all her feminine wiles. Those suckers wouldn’t have stood a chance.

As Cain reaches across the desk to snatch up my abandoned drink for himself, I realize he’s not in the mind frame to talk about it today. He won’t be reciprocating anything I have to say in favor of Red. So instead, I ask, “So, what happened last night?”

He frowns into his glass, swirling the amber-colored liquid for a moment before he knocks his head back and downs it in one. “I did it for you,” he bites out, his words catching me by surprise.

“You fucked her for my benefit?” I ask in a slow, disbelieving voice.

He scowls at me. “You said it yourself that you were getting too attached.” He waves toward the now-closed office door. “But she clearly doesn’t give a shit about you if she so easily climbed aboard my dick last night.”

I frown as I think over what he’s saying. When I first found Red in my bed, I thought she’d come here for me, but now I’m beginning to realize that’s not quite the case. Even so, there was something about her this morning that was different. She wasn’t as hostile as she has been ever since she found out who I am. For the first time, she dropped her guard and let me just seeher. I could see how hard it was for her to do that, and yet she did it... for me.

“Well, what a sacrifice you made, brother,” I retort dryly. The smug smirk that plays along his lips before he smothers it is telling enough. He can tell himself he did it for me all he damn well wants, but he wanted to fuck her.

I snort out a laugh as realization dawns—Red’s under his skin. “You’re a fucking idiot.” The smirk drops off his face as he glowers at me. “You’re fooling yourself if you think you fucked her for my benefit.”

“Seriously?” He gapes at me with wide eyes. “It doesn’t bother you?”

“No,” I admit in all honesty. “We’re not in a relationship, she doesn’t owe me anything. Hell, she’ll barely talk to me. She’s free to fuck whoever she wants.” An uncomfortable weight shifts on my chest, not liking the sound of that. “Uh, well, you... she’s free to fuck you.” It bothered me a hell of a lot more when I thought she was at the Satan’s clubhouse to fuck Python. I have to admit, knowing she was there to kill him instead sits much better with me.

Cain just looks at me like I’ve gone completely fucking insane, and maybe I have. But sharing a girl isn’t a completely new concept to me. I have several friends involved in such relationships. Not that that’s what I’m suggesting. Based on the confounded look on Cain’s face, it’s not something he would even consider—at least, not with Red. It just maybe explains why I’m so unbothered by the fact he slept with the girl I’ve been chasing after relentlessly.

“So, what happened last night?” I ask again. I can’t deny I’m curious to know how he convinced himself fucking her would help me, but instead he surprises me. His shoulders drop at my question, and he leans back in his chair, tilting his head toward the ceiling as he lets out a frustrated groan.

Before he responds, he pours himself another hefty measure of whiskey, knocking it back before he focuses on me again.

“Fuck if I know,” he grumbles, banging the bottom of the glass against the desktop. “She caught me off-guard, just after a fight. The adrenaline was still racing through my system... and suddenly she was just there, scowling at me with those blue eyes that seem to be glowing with fury.” He shrugs casually, but the tight lines on his face give away how bothered he actually is by his actions. “She was the ideal outlet for the last of the energy buzzing under my skin. If she didn’t wanna get fucked, she shouldn’t have followed me back there.”

His expression is pinched, and he hasn’t lifted his gaze from the table as he most likely replays the events of last night in his head. I know Cain well enough to know that loss of control won’t sit well with him. He can make out that it was deliberate all he wants, but I can see the truth in his eyes. The fact he had sex with her without a condom is telling enough of his lack of control.

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