Page 30 of Broken Highway (Cult Boys #1)

SEVEN

Noah rips the cross necklace from his neck, breaking it. He tosses it onto the stone floor beside us. “Are you ready to go do something stupid?”

“With you by my side, I don’t think there’s anything we can’t overcome.”

“Where you go, I go.”

“You say it like you don’t mean it.”

“I say it like that because I think you’re being stupid.” He bats his eyes. “Come here. Let me tie that for you.” He grabs both sides of my black tie, does some kind of magic trick, and then tightens it around my throat when he’s done. “You know we’re probably going to die, right?”

I smile as I take his tie in my hands. “Just like Bonnie and Clyde.”

“Just like Thelma and Louise.”

“It’s my family we’re talking about.” I step back and admire my work. It’s not as clean as the knot he tied, but it’s good enough. “I have to try.”

“If I had a family worth fighting for, I’d do exactly the same.” He adjusts the tie, pulling it up to clench at the base of his throat. “Hell, maybe I do have a family.”

“That is the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“I’m trying to turn over a new leaf,” he says with a shrug.

I kiss him, short and sweet. There’s not enough time for anything else. “Let’s go get ourselves killed.”

I know Silas’ house like the back of my hand.

Spent so much time here before it became his house.

Before he and his mother moved into the compound, the house belonged to a single father and his son.

They vanished in the middle of the night and never came back.

Sometimes, I wonder what happened to them.

Senya moved into the house five years ago, pregnant and unwed.

Silas found in her what he couldn’t find in me, and she took him without a second thought.

In his younger years, he was charming in the light, deviant in the dark.

Through hushed whispers in the pews of the Cross, she heard the rumors.

She swore up and down the gossip wasn’t true in public.

When it was just the two of us, in privacy, she swore the same.

Deep down, she knew the truth. It’s why she married Silas.

It was her fucked up way of saving me from a life of sin, as if being a cocksucker wasn’t who I was, as if Silas’ cock alone was the reason for my diagnosis.

I think she even knows I was still sucking his cock under her own roof.

The house is dark, lit only by candles on the dining room table. The flames cast shadows upon the walls as Noah and I climb the creaking staircase to the second floor.

At the top of the landing, there’s an oval window overlooking the food hall.

I take a quick glance outside and watch as a stream of men, women, and children walk to their doom.

They’re all dressed to impress, falsely believing their god is waiting on the other side for them.

Sheep marching to slaughter. The head of each household, the oldest male, carries a lit torch in one hand.

“Let’s go,” Noah whispers, placing a hand on my back.

I lead the way into Silas’ room. A single black candlestick burns on the nightstand, half-melted and leaking hot wax onto the aged wood. Handcuffs dangle from each of the four bedposts.

It’s the same room he used to sleep in when he was younger.

All bedrooms in all the houses in the compound are all the same size.

After all, a home is nothing more than four walls and a roof, and a bedroom is for sleeping and sleeping with your wife once a year.

So, there was never a reason for Silas to switch rooms when his mother died.

A bedroom for Silas was so much more than a place to rest his head.

It was a shrine, a place of worship, a place where the laws of the Sinless Children were more like suggestions.

Guns are prohibited to all members except the enforcers, and even they are required to keep their guns in a safe in the basement of the Center.

I open the top drawer of the dresser, dig through a not-so-varied collection of tighty whiteys, and find two guns. I keep one for myself and pass the other to Noah. He pulls the magazine from the bottom, checks for ammo, and slaps it back into the gun.

He rummages through the closet and comes back out with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. The same duffel bag I last saw at the church. One of the two men must have picked it up and brought it back to Silas. But what does a dead man need a bag full of money for?

“Your boyfriend appears to be a thief as well,” Noah says.

I pay him no attention as a choir begins to sing a familiar hymn.

Noah steps to the window and peels the sheer white curtain back. “Time for the big show.”

I meet him at the window. Silas’ room offers the best view of the compound.

The entire congregation is gathered in the courtyard, standing in front of tables decorated with linen cloths and magnolia centerpieces.

Torches light a path leading up to the pulpit where Silas, Senya, and Silas Jr. sit.

Each of them wears a silver crown, signifying their status at the top of the hierarchy.

Noah points. “Who’s that hot guy?

“That’s Silas,” I groan.

“He’s kind of fine in a I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll meet the devil kind of way.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

A shit-eating grin passes over his lips. “I see why you were so obsessed with him”.

I regret telling him everything. Looking back, there were things I definitely should have left out of the Odyssey of Seven. Can’t go back and change that. Can’t go back and change anything at all. Learned my lesson the hard way.

“If you’re done ogling the psychopath, can we go?”

He reaches out and tugs me back to him. “You know I’m kidding, right? Just trying to find some light in this darkness.”

“The night isn’t over.” I glance out the window as the song comes to an abrupt end.

Silas motions with his hands and everyone takes a seat at their respective tables in unison.

“It’s only going to get darker from here.

I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done, even if I have to kill him myself. ”

“Nobody else has to die.”

I look up at my knight in shining armor, the guy who would kill for me. The guy who has killed for me. There’s a softness to him now, the rough edges peeled away to reveal a changed man.

Right now, I don’t need a soft man. I need the Noah who jumped out of his car and beat a trucker to a pulp. “I just think you should know that when I was in the Box, Silas kissed me.”

He squints. “Say less.”

I raise both hands in the air. An innocent party to the kissing. “Completely against my will.”

“Okay, new plan.” He points in Silas’ general direction. “We kill that motherfucker, grab your sister and your nephew, and get the hell out of here.”

There’s that spark of darkness I require. He can turn over his new leaf come sunrise.

Outside, Silas motions downward with his hands—a call for silence. I slide the window up to get a better listen as he speaks.

“Before we begin, it appears we are missing two very important guests. Timothy, would you please go see what’s holding our guests of honor up?”

Timothy, sweet, stupid Timothy. He’s been Silas’ lapdog since they first met. Silas barks orders and Timothy wags his tail. Now, though, there are signs of apprehension in his body language as he slides out of his chair. He walks away from the dinner of doom with his head hung low.

I glance at Noah out of the corner of my eye. “One of us should probably take care of that.”

“I’m guessing you want me to do it.” He takes my hand in his. “What happened to us doing this together?”

“There’s not enough time. If he finds Rory, he’ll squeal. If he does that, we lose the element of surprise.”

He grits his teeth, knowing I’m right. “I’ll be back for you. I’m going to go make sure that guy keeps quiet, and then I’m going to find us a car. Go get your sister and nephew and I’ll meet you somewhere.”

He breaks away from me and heads for the door.

“Where?” I ask. “You can’t just say you’re going to meet me and not have a meeting point. That’s just chaos.”

“I thrive in chaos.”

“Yeah, well, but can you survive it?”

“Fine,” he sighs. “Meet me in the parking lot. I hope I can figure out which one of the cars is Silas’ without setting off alarms.”

“He drives a black sedan.”

And then he’s gone, turning around the corner.

“Noah?” I call out as I sprint for the door.

He pokes his head back around the corner. “Yeah?”

I purse my lips in contemplation. “I kind of want to fuck on Silas’ bed.”

He glances at the bed and shakes his head. “No time for that, but I promise if we survive this, you can have this dick anywhere you want. Any time you want. ”

That beautiful big-dicked man sure knows how to make my heart melt.

“Stay safe and don’t do anything stupid,” he whispers.

“I can’t make any promises.”

“I’m being serious.” He raises his voice, approaching me. “Where you go, I go. Remember that.” Grabs me by the waist and pulls me against him. “If you get yourself killed, I’ll take everyone in this place out in a blaze of glory and meet you at the gates of heaven.”

“I don’t think we’re going to heaven.”

If looks could save one’s soul, I’d be saved.

The clouds roll back, the storm dissipating in Noah’s eyes.

There’s a light there that pierces through the darkness.

A twinkle that reflects like the gleaming of the sea.

Blue eyes unobscured by pain. And it dawns on me, my beautiful broken man isn’t so broken anymore.

Makes me yearn for what’s on the other side of tomorrow.

His mouth opens. Falls back closed, a single breath of air wheezing through his lips, warm against my nose. I choke on my breath, waiting, just fucking waiting. Ponder the idea of skipping out of this place in an instant, leaving everyone else behind. When he inevitably lets go, I know I’ll break.

His hand dances along the small of my back, grabbing onto whatever he can. His fingers curl into the thin cotton of my shirt. I place a shaking hand on his chest. Feel his heartbeat raging like a river.

“Noah—”

He throws me against the wall, sending a photo of Silas and his perfect family to the ground.

The frame shatters. Noah’s boots crunch over broken glass as he smashes his lips against mine.

Breathless, hungry, heaving, like it’s the last time he’ll ever kiss me.

Like we both know we’re marching toward the inevitable.

This road was only ever going to go one way, and straight to hell it went.

I claw at his chest, begging for an intermission.

Just enough to catch my breath. He grants me a quick reprieve, panting as he tightens his grip on me.

Then he’s right back at it, wet and wanting, hot and needy, chewing, lapping.

We, the insatiable duo, fuck with our mouths.

Fuck until there’s nothing left. Fuck until we’re breathless, weak, and ready to march to war—albeit with inconveniently hard cocks.

He leans his head against mine. “Like I said, don’t do anything stupid. Be safe, punk.”

And then he disappears into the shadows, for real this time, leaving me alone in Silas’ room.

I say a silent prayer to a god I stopped believing in long ago.

Pray for him to watch over me and mine. Pray to live to see the sunrise.

Pray for a new life far away from this place.

And in my prayers, I refuse to repent. I’m not an ass kisser.

I check the gun. It’s empty.

Groan. Should have checked that when Noah was still standing beside me. I toss the empty and useless gun onto the bed. As I’m walking out of the room, the candle catches my attention. Truth be told, I could use a distraction.

We could all use a little distraction.

I knock over the candle on my way out of the bedroom and do the same to the candles scattered around the house.