Page 31 of Darkness I Become
He carried a black bag beside him. She could hear something rolling around inside when he moved.
“What’s in the bag?”
Cade smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “A message.”
She frowned. “What do you mean? What kind of message?”
“The only kind of message a guy like Angel understands,” he answered, and her blood chilled. “Don’t worry about it.”
That definitely means you should worry about it. Just so we’re clear.
“Are you ready?” he asked, heading for the door. “It’s time to go.”
She nodded nervously, pulling his jacket tighter around herself as she followed him out of the house and back toward the clubhouse. As usual, the party was in the courtyard, and she bit her lip to keep flashbacks of the last meeting they’d had here. The horror she’d felt, knowing Cade would leave her to the wolves that roamed this place. The pain and humiliation she’d suffered in the aftermath.
She was afraid of what Angel might do.
The bonfire reached sky-high just as before, and there was music and dancing already in progress when they arrived. Angel sat indulgently on his ugly throne, surveying his subjects with all the interest of a cat watching flies. There was always something predatory in his gaze, no matter who he was looking at.
For a moment, she thought they would slip in unnoticed, and that Angel would ignore their presence. Instead, he slowly turned his head, and upon seeing them, his mouth curled into a small, sick little smile that turned Asha’s stomach.
As if Cade sensed her unease, he wrapped a hand around her elbow.
“Cade!” Angel boomed, his tone jubilant. “You made it back. And from what I hear, Rockland is mine now. That true?”
Cade tensed, and Asha tried to look anywhere but at Angel. The party fell silent.
“It’s true,” Cade finally replied. He sounded like the words caused him physical pain. “We took Rockland. We have a new weapons supplier, and a new source for product.”
Lana had informed her thatproductmeantdrugs.Asha grimaced. Filling the Settlements with drugs was probably one of the ways they kept them under control, if she had to guess.
“Impressive,” Angel said, eyebrows raised. “And you did it in the two-week timeframe. I guess Asha’s yours now…if you still want her.”
He looked to the men of his inner circle and gave a cruel laugh. “Now that she’s been rode hard and put back dirty.”
Asha cheeks flamed with a shame she knew she shouldn’t feel, but it crept up on her nonetheless, like the ivy that slowly but surely infiltrated the exposed nooks and crannies of every building in this place. It got into the soft, vulnerable parts of her that she didn’t know how to protect.
Cade froze, every muscle in his body taut. His jaw worked as he reached into his black bag and withdrew the object inside. In one smooth motion, he tossed it in a tall, wide arc. It landed just shy of Angel’s feet and bounced, then rolled until it just kissed the toe of Angel’s boot.
“She’s mine now,” Cade said, his voice smooth as silk, yet somehow more menacing than if he’d yelled. “Here’s a reminder of what happens to those who take what belongs to me. Consider it next time you want to come after her. Goodnight.”
He pulled on Asha’s elbow, leading her away from the spectacle, but not before she caught a glimpse of Angel’s face. He looked dumbfounded as his eyes traveled downward toward the thing at his feet. As he nudged it with his toe, there was a collective gasp.
On the shrivelled grass at Angel’s feet, there lay a severed head, its mouth hanging open uselessly, and its eyes half-closed. Yet even death could not erase the look of shock from the corpse’s features; its facial muscles were lax, yet somehow still frozen in alarm. A chill went down Asha’s spine.
The head belonged to Dax, Angel’s doorman.
Chapter 10
That night, a thunderstorm blew in. Lightning splintered the pitch-black sky, and rain fell in fat droplets as thunder rumbled in the distance. Despite her predicament, Asha was thankful to be inside Cade’s small house, even if the roof leaked a little. She sat on the edge of the bed in her nightgown, two candles burning on a squat bedside table while Cade impatiently shoved a metal bucket under the small leak in the far corner of the room.
“Have to get that fixed,” he muttered, more to himself than to Asha. “Place is a shithole as it is without adding water damage into the mix.”
Asha almost laughed, but the image of Dax’s severed head still lingered in her mind. Cade had shown off his mettle and his capacity for brutality today. But he had done it with the intent of keeping her safe from Angel. In a strange, fucked up sort of way, it was touching.
That didn’t make sharing a bed with him that night any less nerve-wracking. She was still injured and sore from her ordeal, particularly in the genital area. She wouldn’t be able to fuck him without screaming in pain.
You’ll just have to blow him,she told herself, resigned.He probably won’t be bothered after that anyway.
