Page 19

Chapter 18

Trey

The bastard locked the door.

As soon as I heard his scream, I grinned and strolled to the cabin to give my little demon a hand.

But now she’s the one screaming, and my heart drops. Flashbacks of that night in Ned Miller’s shed come racing back. Almost losing her. I won’t let that happen again. None of these motherfuckers are going to lay another finger on her.

I scramble to a window, but it doesn’t budge. The next is locked too. My pulse is ready to beat out of my neck when I finally find a window that squeaks open and heave myself inside, landing with a hard thud on the wood floor. A few of the nails in my tool belt scatter, but I don’t have time to grab them.

On my feet, I sprint out of the sole bedroom to find Brandon wielding a knife and Juliet a long poker. With both hands, she swings it and manages to smack the knife from his hands, sending it flying and skittering across the floor.

She takes the opportunity to lurch forward and stab him with the poker.

He screams over the hiss of burning skin.

I grin and stride toward the knife resting against the wall. The blade is bloody, but a quick scan over Juliet tells me it’s not her blood.

That’s my girl.

Brandon’s wild gaze darts between me and Juliet, unsure which one he should fear more. “You?”

I freeze. But he can’t know me. That’s impossible. He’s never met me.

“Me.” I nod at Juliet. “Hers.”

She bares her teeth in a maniacal grin. “He’s my devil.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Brandon simpers over the burn on his chest and the stab wound on his hand, unsure which one hurts more.

As I slowly close the distance between us, his eyes widen. Realizing which one of us is bigger, stronger, faster.

He attempts to make a break for it, but I grab him. He screams, his shoulder out of place as I drag him and shove his ass into a chair.

Juliet keeps the hot poker trained on him, the threat imminent, while I wrap one of his hands under the arm of the chair and reveal my tool belt.

“You know what’s going on. Did you really think you’d be able to hurt her and get away with it? Her ?” Not my little demon. Not my strong, brave, beautiful demon. “Not a chance.”

Brandon’s throat bobs, but his sinister eyes blaze with ire. “I didn’t hurt her. She wanted every second of it. Did she tell you that part? How she threw herself at me and then cried assault?”

Beside me, she stiffens. I bet Rachel would say the same. Groomers think because they didn’t pin us down and force us, what they did wasn’t wrong.

We’ll show him how wrong he is.

“She told me everything I need to know.”

I hold a nail to Brandon’s hand and reveal the hammer from my tool belt. He whimpers, a frightened, pitiful sound.

“This is for trapping me in that house,” Juliet purrs, before I smack the nail with the hammer.

He bellows, jerking in the chair in a desperate attempt to escape. But his hand nailed to the chair, my elbow against his throat, and my knee in his gut keep him in place.

He’s sobbing by the time I’ve nailed the other hand to the chair, red-faced with snot dribbling out.

“She told me how you took advantage of a vulnerable girl with no one around to protect her.” I raise my voice to be heard over his cries. “How you manipulated her into believing she was the one who started it, that she was the one to blame, that you actually gave a shit about her, even though every second of it was all for you. How you handed her over to monsters like you. You didn’t give a fuck about her, you hurt her, and that’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made.” I slam my elbow into his throat, making him choke on his sobs. “You underestimated her. But that’s a mistake you’ll never make again.”

Beside me, Juliet blinks away tears. We understand each other like no one else ever has. I don’t need to walk in her shoes because I’ve lived it too.

We both grew up with monsters in our closets, but now we’re slaying them. Together.

“Never,” she agrees.

From the tool belt at my waist, I pull out a machete with a soft hiss. The blade long and imposing. Sharp enough to hack through brush. To turn flimsy skin into ribbons.

Brandon’s feet scramble uselessly in an attempt to escape the impending threat. “Please, don’t! Please don’t kill me!”

I tip my head back with a laugh loud enough to make him freeze. Juliet beams at me like I’m the one she’s been searching for too. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you.”

His eyes dart between us, terrified and confused. I can practically hear his heart pounding.

I hold out the machete to Juliet. She tosses the hot poker and accepts the new weapon with a wicked grin. My heart soars as her fingers wrap around the handle.

“She is.”