Page 43 of Blood and Thorns (Twisted Ever After #1)

Sebastian

The brooch had been one of my mother’s, a gift on her wedding anniversary.

That was what had made me almost lose control, my mind giving into the darkness that I had to purge regularly if I didn’t want to lose myself entirely. Not Margot’s face, but the fucking brooch that I went with my father to choose only a month or so before my life turned to ash.

Ryder was a prick, but he was known for his skills.

Luckily, I didn’t have to retaliate because he didn’t speak directly to Arabella again, but I forced myself not to react when he shot her a wink as he stood to leave.

Which was fine, because I’d just wait for him to finish the job, then carve out his fucking eyeball.

“Speak to her again, and I’ll cut out your tongue,” Arabella mocked, making her tone deeper. “Honestly, you’re like a barbarian.” She turned on her stool to smirk up at me, those golden brown eyes dancing with amusement.

I leaned down to whisper my next words, my hand curving around the side of her throat to feel her pulse. “ Belle , if I was a barbarian, I would’ve sat you on this bar and eaten out your pretty cunt in front of everyone. ”

She sucked in a breath, her pulse rapid against my palm. She wore my collar, as well as my bruises. Her lips were no longer swollen, and I wanted to bite them so everyone could see who she belonged to. As if the collar just wasn’t enough.

But I didn’t, if only because of our audience. No one deserved to see how Arabella reacted so viscerally to me. She liked to fight it, and when she did, her submission was that much sweeter.

“I would spread your legs, use my tongue and fingers to make you scream my name just so every man here knew you belonged to me. Want to know why I don’t?” I brushed my lips on the opposite side of her throat. “Because I don’t share.”

She swallowed, and I reluctantly released her.

“Noted,” she muttered, a flush darkening her cheekbones, and I knew she was currently imagining me doing just that.

It was tempting to get the privacy of a side room, but it was true I didn’t share.

She may not be in the view of the patrons, but they’d hear her cries, and that just wasn’t acceptable.

Maybe I could make her come on my face just like I’d promised, and then simply kill everyone who’d overheard? Tempting.

“Are you okay?” she asked, warily watching me as I imagined her spread out before me like a feast.

Her hair had been pulled into a high ponytail, with only a few strands framing her makeup-free face. She was beautiful, made more so by the choker, as well as my teeth marks along her delicate throat. She didn’t seem to care for my grip on her neck, at ease with my hand there.

“Was that her?” she continued. “The woman in the photograph?”

I could feel eyes along my back, prickling with awareness.

I’d never stepped foot in the Fluffy Duckling, a somewhat amusing front for the Russian Bratva within London.

Many of the patrons were members of various criminal organisations and firms, dangerous men and women who knew not to approach without risking a territorial war.

“Margot Laurent,” I answered, keeping my voice low. “My father’s mistress.”

Arabella tipped her head back to better meet my gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“Why? You didn’t ask him to fuck her.”

“For what she did. Nobody deserved that.”

My thumb reached up to brush along her bottom lip. Arabella knew nothing of what had happened, and yet her words were achingly sincere. People like her would be eaten alive in my world.

“You can’t choose your family,” she added, her eyes holding mine with utmost sincerity. “I would know.”

“Hmm,” I hummed, dipping my head until my lips almost brushed hers. “Careful, you’re going to make me believe you actually like me.”

A gentle laugh escaped her lips, and I stiffened knowing I didn’t want to share that sound with anyone else, either. “We can’t have that now, can we?” she teased.

“What the fuck is this?” a voice snarled, and I turned to find Graves standing there dressed in a cheap suit.

“Detective,” I greeted, coldly. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Arabella tried to stand, face paling. “What are you doing here?”

“I didn’t believe it when someone tipped me off that you were out in public,” Graves sneered, his badge flashing just enough to remind us of his role, even if his authority behind it was rotten to the core. “Yet here you both are, slumming it with the plebeians.”

“Have you been following me?” she demanded, staying by my side .

“You haven’t been answering your phone.” His eyes flicked between us, restless and alert, clearly aware of the growing attention from nearby patrons.

The Fluffy Duckling wasn’t exactly a place frequented by law enforcement, and everything about Graves, from the stiff posture to the barely concealed arrogance, screamed cop .

“Have you even spoken to your dad lately?” he asked, tone darkening. “Or have you been too busy screwing Sebastian to remember who you’re supposed to be protecting?”

I lunged forward, grabbing Gabriel by the lapels and yanking him up until he was forced onto the balls of his feet. His breath hitched, but then he laughed, sharp and unsteady, the sound just a little too wild for someone who pretended to be in control of the situation.

“That’s right,” he goaded, eyes gleaming. “Go on. Give me a reason to put you in cuffs.”

A slap of a palm on the bar echoed through the room. “ Достаточно! Take this outside or use the back room,” the bartender growled in our direction. “I mean it.”

I clenched my jaw, noting how Graves stared over my shoulder at Arabella with a viciousness I didn’t appreciate.

I already knew they were once an item, but from his expression he saw her as nothing but a possession that he’d lost. A strange lump formed in my gut at their history, but then I remembered that she was now mine.

Reluctantly, I dropped him, and he staggered back, a flush darkening his expression before he wiped where I’d gripped him with disgust. “Touch me again, and that’s assault on an officer.”

I swept out my arm, allowing Graves to go first so I didn’t have him at my back. Arabella was a flurry of anxiety beside me, but she remained uncharacteristically quiet as she kept to my side. Like Graves was able to steal her light.

“Gabriel, what are you doing?” Arabella asked, her voice low and strained once we had privacy. “You shouldn’t be here.”

His eyes didn’t leave mine, his smile tight. “I was checking to see if you were okay, baby.”

I arched a brow. “Is that why you’ve been skulking around outside my club?”

Langdon had mentioned it days ago that he’d caught Graves lurking in the alley, loitering like a dog looking for scraps.

I hadn’t thought he was worth the effort, not until he’d been spotted outside a few of my other clubs too, ones not as publicly tied to me, which told me he wasn’t just aimlessly watching. He was digging .

“Where’s Lennon?” he demanded, suddenly turning to Arabella. “I know he spoke to you, but he never came back.”

Arabella stiffened beside me, and I didn’t need to glance down to know her expression. She was an open book, with every emotion etched across her features whether she meant it or not.

“I told him no,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t interested in your offer.”

Graves didn’t react immediately, instead his eyes hardening as he stared at her a beat too long.

“You sure about that?” he asked, voice softening just enough to make it sinister.

“I want to protect you, baby. You have to let me before you’re caught up in everything.

Because if you’re lying to me, I can’t help you when things turn ugly. ”

There it was, his ulterior motive. This wasn’t about her safety. It was about leverage.

“Careful, Detective. The last time we did this, you almost lost your badge, and I walked away with an apology,” I drawled, my face twisted into a sneer .

“You really think you’re untouchable, don’t you?

” Graves hissed, something desperate flickering in his eyes before he shifted his gaze back to Arabella.

“You wouldn’t have anything to do with his disappearance, would you, baby?

” he asked, reaching across the narrow room like he could still touch her.

But I was already there, pulling Arabella to my side before he got too close.

“We both know how you have this little vicious side when pushed,” he continued.

“Your friend hasn’t been seen since he cornered Arabella at my fight weeks ago,” I growled.

Graves’s nostrils flared. “Where did he go after?”

“That isn’t my concern,” I replied, voice like ice. “Maybe check the Thames. I’ve heard it’s pretty busy this time of year.”

Graves whipped his eyes to mine, violence thickening the air. “My offer still stands,” he said to her, despite his attention remaining on me. “I can save you, all you have to do is–”

“I don’t need saving,” she cut in sharply. “Now just go. Please.”

His features hardened, but before he could comment further, I warned, “Careful, otherwise you may meet your friend sooner than you think.”

Something sinister flashed in Graves’s eyes, and a smile cut across his face, cruel and devoid of civility. “Just so we’re clear, baby, you’re really choosing to stay with a known murderer and drug lord instead of coming home with me?”

“As opposed to a dirty cop?” I said, my voice low and steady.

Graves chuckled, the sound mocking. “This isn’t over,” he murmured, his eyes lingering on Arabella before he turned to leave without another word .

As the door shut behind him, Arabella pulled away from me, crossing the room to create distance. “Was that really necessary?” There was a bite to her words, her lips pressed into a stern line when she looked up at me.

“Why? Care about him?” Seemed I wasn’t quite over the jealousy of her being with Graves first. It wasn’t something I was used to, and it made me step closer until she was forced against the wall. Still, she jerked her chin up, her eyes narrowed.

“Stop acting like a caveman,” she snapped.

“Is that what I am, belle ?”

“It’s Ara,” she growled, and I bit back a laugh.

“You can’t be benevolent to everyone in this world, especially pricks who’ve caused you harm.”

“Stop acting like being kind is a weakness.” Her hands clenched at her sides, and I kept myself from smirking at her little show of frustration.

“It is in my world.” I dipped my head but purposely kept a cushion of air between us.

She kept pushing, and the only reason I wasn’t punishing her against this wall was because I was patiently waiting until we were alone. Where she’d take her punishment where no one else could witness.

“There was no need to tell him Lennon was dead. It was cruel.”

“I never said he was dead.”

“You implied it.”

This time I did smile, dipping my head closer to feel her breath feather across my lips before my phone vibrated in my pocket.

I ignored it, my attention entirely on her.

Arabella let out another sign of frustration. “Gabriel means nothing to me. He asked me to marry him last year, and I said no. ”

Rage boiled through me at the idea of this fucker claiming her. “Why?”

“Because he wasn’t the guy I thought he was.” Her voice was quiet. “My dad was furious. Gabriel offered him money, which was obviously taken away when I declined.”

“He ever hit you?” The thought sent white-hot fury through my core.

Arabella frowned. “My dad?”

“Gabriel,” I gritted out.

“Oh… no.”

“Your answer isn’t convincing.”

She met my eyes, her jaw set. “I would never have let him hit me.”

“Hmm.” I wanted to know why she flinched in his presence, or why the light in her eyes dimmed whenever he was near. “Graves is up to something.”

She blinked, looking up at me like the observation had caught her off guard. “He’s always up to something,” she muttered. “When he gets an itch, he doesn’t stop. He becomes–”

“Obsessive,” I finished for her. “Impulsive.” That was how he’d fucked up the first time he tried to investigate my empire. He got caught up in the thrill, too blinded by his own ego to be patient. Instead, he wanted to be the hero, and failed, even when he tried to play it dirty.

He’d fail again, too. I’d make fucking sure of it.

My phone started to vibrate once more, which I ignored until it stopped, only for it to immediately start up again.

“You going to get that?” Arabella asked, and I found I was amused with the indignation in her gaze. “Or are you just going to interrogate me on my ex all day?”

“Your mouth’s going to get you into trouble,” I muttered, knowing who was calling before I’d even answered .

“What the fuck, Bas? You dismissed the guards?” Caden exclaimed on the other end of the line.

“What do you want?” I snapped. “I’m busy.” And by busy I meant getting Arabella worked up so I could take her home and do exactly what I’d described earlier.

Caden snorted. “I want you to not be a cunt, but I think it’s impossible.”

Arabella burst into laughter before she caught the sound, and I stared down at her to stay quiet.

“Lang’s burning shit again. I’m worried , ” Caden added, and my expression darkened.

Fuck. Lang burning shit wasn’t uncommon, but if Caden was concerned it meant Langdon was pushing it. “He hurt anyone?”

“Other than what’s been approved, no, I don’t think so.”

Arabella frowned, and I smoothed the line between her eyes with my thumb. “I’ll speak to him, but for now let’s just keep a closer eye. Make sure he sticks to reality rather than getting lost in his own mind.”