Page 85 of Demons in My Bed
“Ash, you need to get the fuck off of me. Now.” I spoke as calmly as I could, not wanting to escalate his already fragile state of mind. Whenever we got too pissed—or too much of any emotion, really—it could trigger a feral reaction, much like what I had just been through.
Howls drifted to us through my ruined doorway, and Ash threw his head back and practically wailed.For fuck’s sake.
“Listen, Rhodes, I’m telling you right now… If you know something, you need to tell me. I need to know where she is.” His hands were shaking, and if I didn’t know better, I would’ve questioned whether he was on something… or withdrawing from something. Why was he so weak over this lying bitch?
“I smell like her because she was all over me earlier during that fight. You know this,” I explained, pushing him off of me. “Where was she last?”
The others barged in as I stood up, and started filling me in on what I already knew. That she’d healed herself, that they tied her up in Ash’s room and when they went back in to get her, she was gone. And now nobody knew where she was.
Misha was stone-faced as he stood against the wall, while Talon and Felix seemed especially distraught, given the way they were pacing and bouncing on the balls of their feet. Ash was tapping away at his phone, likely sending out alerts to our crew to keep an eye out for her, asking if anyone had seen her in the building.
I knew the exact moment he opened the security app and saw her walk out of the front doors. His jaw ticked and his eye twitched. He didn’t want to believe it, even though the proof was right there in front of his face.
“She left,” he said with no emotion.
“What?” Talon demanded, walking over and grabbing his phone. Felix and Misha watched over his shoulder as he played back the video.
Felix ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe she wanted to go to the store or something?”
Ashland snorted. “She’s gone.”
“But how can you be sure? She could’ve just gone for a walk to clear her mind or—”
“No,” Misha said quietly. “She begged, and we didn’t listen.”
Everyone was quiet after that, and my phone vibrated again. I pulled it out, ready to tell Hawthorne to chill about the fucking envelope, but the notification was for an email, from a sender who wasn’t in my contacts. My brow pinched, and unease began to build as I opened it.
Just thought you should know… your girl is a snake.
Below that sentence was a picture of Palmer from that first night at Haunt, standing in line outside of the club, wearing that damn bunny mask. Frank—the rat who’d been working with Scorpio—had his arm around her waist as she laughed. It looked like he was bending her back slightly… to kiss her?
What the fuck?My head felt like it was going to explode. I thought back to when Frank had shown up at the VIP area. He’d gotten handsy with her. Was that all a fucking act? A ploy to do what, get her an in with us? Was that part of their fucking plan?
“Yo, Rhodes, you alright, man?” Felix asked, waving his hand in front of my face.
“She was a rat,” I gritted out, pissed off all over again. Now I had confirmation of what I already knew, but actually seeing it was a slap in the face.
“Don’t say that,” Talon barked. “I know you don’t like her, but calling someone a rat—”
“Look for yourselves,” I snapped, shoving my phone into Felix’s hands. His face fell when he saw the picture.
Tal grabbed the phone next, his horns growing slowly as he stared at the screen. Misha looked for only a second before turning on his heel and heading for the door. His fist slammed into the wall, leaving a huge, ugly hole to match my fucked-up door.
“Mish, we need to talk about this!” Felix yelled at his retreating back, but the big guy didn’t stop.
Ashland was sitting on my bed with his elbows on his knees. Talon offered him the phone, but he shook his head. “I can’t look at that right now.” His leg was bouncing up and down, and I knew his mind was going a mile a minute. “She lied.”
“She did,” I replied gravely.
“She broke our deal and ran.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
Ash looked up, his eyes now completely black. “I want her found and brought back here. I have questions, and then we can decide what to do with her.”
“Ashland,” Felix murmured, taking a step closer.
“No, Felix. Don’t fuckin’ start with me. I will never tolerate liars!”
