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Exactly where he belongs.
In the fucking dirt.
I pull out the origami I prepared earlier and find an open wound on his chest to tuck in part of it, so the head is sticking out of his flesh.
“Oh my God. Is he…?” Bowie’s voice comes from behind me.
It didn’t take a brain surgeon to find us, considering Mickey screamed loud enough to wake the dead, so now here they are.
“Not yet, but he soon will be.” I stand and approach her, careful not to transfer any ofhisblood to her beautiful skin as I cup her cheek. “I know you didn’t wanna do it, and that’s okay, but he had to die, Little Rabbit. You’re ours now, you belong to us just as much as we belong to you. And that means we take care of each other. Nobody gets to touch you the way he did and continue living.”
She’s blinking a lot, her forehead creased as though she’s trying to process what’s happening, or her own emotions, I don’t fucking know.
“I think I’m okay with him being dead. I couldn’t do it, but…yeah…I’m not mad that you did. Does that m—”
“We just had a whole conversation about you putting yourself down, Diamond.”
One corner of her mouth tips upward as she tilts her head and side-eyes Hayes. “I love your idea of a conversation.”
Tightening my hold on her face, I encourage her to look at me and allow my eyes to dance between hers before kissing her. She’s fucking stunning.
“Can we deal with this later and go back inside? It’s fucking cold.” Orion pats me on the back and he’s lucky I don’t stab him for interrupting the kiss.
“I should definitely be more bothered by this, shouldn’t I? Wait…is that…did you put an origami on his chest? Is that a vulture?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Bowie
“You a fan?” Did he just…?
“That’s a vulture…inside the flesh.” My chest is heaving and this now feels like deja-vu from thirty minutes ago. How many near-coronaries can one heart sustain? “You’re him?”
“If by him, you mean the star of the season, then yes, Little Rabbit. You’ve got a celebrity in your midst.” Hadley gets even closer than he was and flashes that devilish grin of his. “Want an autograph?”
I’m stunned into silence, my mind reeling with memories. Every year, the news goes haywire over The Vulture and his serial killings. It all starts mid-March with people throwing around hypotheses about who he’ll kill this time and if the police are protecting some of the well-known criminals in the tri-state area.
Eyes are trained on the missing persons reports, some even going as far as denouncing abusers around them in the hopes that they’ll be the next victims. The news cycle this time of year is fucking insane and here I am…in love with a serial killer.
What the fuck?
“Sweetheart, we know what you’re thinking. But we keep him on a leash, we promise. He’s not that dangerous.” My head snaps toward Orion so fast I get dizzy from it. The light of the full moon is like a bright spot illuminating us in this alternate reality that is my new life.
“Not that dangerous?” I push Hadley away because I need to take in deep breaths and the delicious smell of Hadley’s Tic Tacs is distracting me. “He’s the most notorious motherfucker in this state. Hell, fuck that. In this fucking country!” My voice rises higher and higher the more I speak and it isn’t until I’m quite a distance away from them that I realize I’ve been backing away this whole time.
“Fuck this shit.” In a flash, Hadley is back in my space, his hand on my throat and all attempts at keeping Mickey’s blood off me forgotten. “You don’t get to push me away and you sure as fuck don’t get to walk away.” My back is slammed against the trunk of a tree and now my breaths are more and more shallow and it has nothing to do with the shock I just received.
“I can do whatever the fuck I want, Hadley. This is a free country.” I wish I could say my words had a bite to them but, fuck my life, this man pressing up against me with his palm squeezing either side of my neck is frying my brain cells.
“Oh, Little Rabbit, you keep believing that. You gave yourself to us. The time for walking away has come and gone.” With those words, his lips slam against mine in a brutal kiss. Shoving his leg between my thighs, he makes sure to put enough pressure on my clit to send shivers up and down my spine. I try to fight back, my palms pushing against his chest but he’s trapped me with the weight of his body. With a hand pinning my throat to the tree, he leans in close. The other is busy with the switchblade.
“The fuck are you doing, Hadley?” The fact that Orion just used his best friend’s whole name has my fear spiking to concerning levels.
“Fucking some sense into our girl. After all, she needs to know exactly what she’s signed up for.” My cheeks are wet, it’s the only proof that I’m crying and, to be honest, I’m not afraid for my safety. I’m afraid the guys can no longer control Hadley and worse, I like that.
No. I love that he’s giving me his true self. That the thought of losing me has him baring himself in the most primal of ways.
“What if I say no?”