Page 22 of Dirty Little Secret (The Devils You Know #1)

FOURTEEN

SAVANNAH

Guilt.

That's all I felt as they placed my stepfather's coffin into the Jagger family crypt, sealing him behind stone forever. My mother is completely broken, and I don't think she'll ever recover from this.

Kale and Reign stand off to the side, accepting condolences from their father's business associates, while Jackson stands beside my mom, offering her the support that she needs as she says her final goodbyes to her husband.

I did this.

I selfishly made last week’s dinner about myself, and even though I won't miss my stepfather, it doesn't change the facts.

He’s dead because of me .

I haven't spoken more than a sentence to the guys since that night, and it's eating me up inside. I didn't realize they would play such an important role in my happiness, even before the masks. Now that their father is gone, I won’t blame them if they never forgive me.

I wanted the men behind the masks to be them so fucking bad that I didn't stop to think about what things would be like if it were actually true. When I saw Kale’s mask, I felt like I had been stripped and laid bare, and I wasn't at all prepared for it. I felt everything all at once, and I couldn’t shake the part of me that thought that by learning their true identities, I'd have to choose between Jackson and my stepbrother’s, or the men behind the masks, and I didn’t want to lose either.

That’s why it hurt.

Because I had fallen in love with all of them, and I jumped to conclusions as I always do, panicking because I thought I’d lose them forever.

“Savannah, honey, it’s time to go.” My mother’s voice startles me, and I turn to face her.

“We’re all headed back to the house for Kalvin’s wake, would you like to ride with us?

” My eyes flick to my grandparents, waiting for us in their car, but the last place I want to be right now is the house where this whole mess started.

I don’t deserve to celebrate the life of the man whose death is on my hands.

“Mom. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, Savannah!” She pulls me into a warm hug, then draws back to look into my eyes.

“Kalvin’s accident wasn’t your fault, honey.

Accidents happen to people every day, and unfortunately, that’s just a part of life.

We may not have ended on the best of terms, but nothing about what happened was your fault.

Please, find it within your heart to let that go, because life is way too short, Savannah.

Jackson explained everything to me in a way that I’d understand, and I get it, honey, I really do.

You deserve happiness no matter what that looks like for you, and I am not going to stand in your way.

You are my daughter and I love you, no matter what. ”

I stare at my mom, utterly perplexed. I thought she’d be against all this. I thought she’d tell me how wrong it is to be in love with her stepsons and their best friend, and blame me for ruining her family.

Well, I guess they aren’t her anything anymore.

I gnaw on my lip, debating her request to head back to the house.

Movement catches my eye, and I flick my gaze over Mom’s shoulder to see Kale, Reign, and Jackson all enter the crypt where their father now lies.

The only way we can all move forward is to see where the four of us stand, which means that I need to talk to them.

I can’t keep freezing them out, because the elephant in the room isn’t getting any smaller.

“Is it okay if I meet you back there?” I search her eyes for signs of her disapproval, but instead, a small smile touches the corner of her lips.

“I think that would be best. They need you more than ever, honey.”

“Thanks, Momma.” God, I don’t deserve this woman. How she can be so understanding in all of this is beyond me. I don’t deserve those guys after what I did, either, but I’ll be fucking damned if I don’t live the rest of my life earning the right to call them mine each day.

I wait for everyone to leave before heading toward the crypt, my nerves going haywire. I feel like I could throw up what little food I have in my stomach at any moment with how nervous I am. Still, I push it down because I have to do this.

As I reach the entrance, I close my eyes and exhale one last steadying breath before putting one foot in front of the other and crossing the threshold. The second my eyes register what’s in front of me, I freeze. All three of my guys stand there in their masks!

I open my mouth, but no words come out. I’m speechless and confused. Why are they wearing the masks?

“You fell in love with us when you had no idea who we were.” Even with his mask on, I can tell that it’s Jackson from the clothes he is wearing. His perfectly tailored suit clings to his muscles, and fuck, it does something to me.

“You saw us, the real us, as we hid behind the masks,” Reign says, his voice low, as if each word he says to me is a piece of his heart.

Kale steps forward until he is standing directly in front of me.

I shiver in anticipation as he slowly reaches out and cups my cheek.

“Now that you’ve seen who we are beneath it all, I wouldn’t blame you for walking away.

But we have to try, baby girl. We have to let you know just how much you mean to us.

But if wearing a mask is the only way I get to keep you, the only way we get to keep you, then so fucking be it, because we won’t let you go, Savannah.

I won’t let any cunt take you from me, not even that piece of shit ex of yours. ”

My eyes widen at Kale’s tone, and a thought tugs at the back of my mind, telling me that Blake’s disappearance wasn’t random .

“He isn’t really missing, is he?” I breathe out, and Kale’s honey colored eyes darken behind his mask.

“That stupid cunt signed his death warrant the moment he put his hands on what belongs to us, baby girl, and I have no fucking regrets.” He speaks with such conviction, and it only drowns out the possibility that he might be lying.

“If I recall, you enjoyed watching and partaking in my punishment at the beach that night. Do you remember, baby?”

I gasp. “When you lit the bonfire and I rode both their cocks? Of course I remember.” They all laugh at my words before Kale clears his throat to continue.

“How does it feel to know that your ex was lying lifeless at the bottom of that cliff while we fucked you?”

I’m sick in the head.

I’m so fucking twisted because I don’t even feel any remorse. Hell, I’m not even shocked that he’s fucking dead. That asshole was bound to have it coming someday. The way he treated women was alarming, and he was on a one-way ticket to turning into my stepfather.

My pussy throbs at the thought of them claiming me while Blake’s dead body was nearby, and I shouldn’t be so turned on, but I am.

These fucking guys drive me crazy.

They push my boundaries in a way that awakens something dark in me, that nobody will ever understand. Who the fuck am I to say no to this, when I want whatever this is between us more than anything?

I reach and push Kale’s mask up, resting it on the top of his head. The sight of his handsome face has me smiling, because seeing him like this, all dressed up and staring down at me like he loves me, makes me never want to risk losing them again.

Before I met the masked version of them, I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to love them the way I had always wanted to. But now that they are standing before me, their hearts on their sleeves, I realize that I was never alone in this, even when I felt like I was.

I can’t let them go.

“If I choose this… Do I get to have all three of you? Because I don’t think I could ever choose.

I am in love with you all. Kale, Reign, and Jackson.

You have my heart. I’ve never loved anyone else.

” My stomach sinks when they take a while to answer, and panic sears through my chest at the possibility of having to choose, but when Reign and Jackson both remove their masks and come to stand on either side of Kale, the panic slowly eases .

“We’re a package deal, Little Viper. If you want one of us, then you have to take all of us,” Reign growls, sending a delicious shiver down my spine.

“We’ve been obsessed with you for years.

You had us hanging on your every word like a bunch of lovesick fools, begging for a shred of your attention.

We loved you then, we love you now, and we’ll love you till we’re a pile of fucking bones in a box inside this crypt.

You have us, Savannah. And there is no way out,” Jax declares, causing the other two to nod their agreement.

Kale and Reign take one of Jackson’s hands, holding it in their own.

They are reaching for comfort in a moment shadowed by uncertainty, and I decide to put them out of their misery.

“I want this,” I blurt out. “Almost my whole fucking life, I’ve wanted this with you. All of you. Please. I know that I fucked up with your dad, but I promise I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you.”

“Savy, baby, stop. No,” Reign’s voice breaks over my raging thoughts, and my eyes stare up into his dark ones.

“Savy, you beautiful woman. That man does not matter to us. The accident had nothing to do with any of us. Shit happens, Savy. He will not be missed by us, that much is true. Please, Little Viper, believe me when I tell you that I would have walked out on him years ago if I could have taken you with me,” he says, his voice raw, but still comforting.

“Me too, Savannah,” Kale adds.

“You already know it, baby girl,” Jackson says, and my heart is beating so fast behind my rib bones that I think I am having a fucking heart attack at how full it feels.

All three of them grin when they realize from my expression that I am all in, then they each exchange a glance before focusing back on me. I swallow audibly as they pull on their masks and step back, leaving me feeling cold without their warmth.

“Ready or not, Little Viper,” Kale says in a seductive tone.

“What?” I ask.

“You have thirty seconds to run or we’ll fuck you right here as a final goodbye to our father,” Reign says, reaching behind him to grab the chain hanging on the wall.

My jaw unhinges, and my pussy pulses with pure, unadulterated need at the thought of them chaining me to this crypt and fucking me senseless before their freshly buried father.

I know I shouldn’t, but after the years of abuse he has forced the twins and my mom to suffer through, I can’t help but think that maybe my guys need to do this for them.

To settle whatever score they have with their father, that will never be settled now that he’s dead.

Besides, this can be our dirty little secret.

I reach up and push the straps of my dress down my arms and let it fall to the ground, loving the way all three of their gazes darken at the sight of me in my strapless bra and black lacy panties. I stretch my arms out before me, palms facing upward, ready for their chains.

“Chain me. I want you to chain me to this crypt and fuck me till I’m screaming your names loud enough to wake the dead.

Let’s send that motherfucker to hell with a bang.

” They are the devils I know, and I would gladly burn for all eternity if it means I get to feel their cocks moving inside every one of my holes each day.

I will always belong to them—Kale, Reign, and Jackson—and they will always belong to me.

Together forever, with no exit.

A vow that only we understand.

There is no salvation in a bond like ours, and we don’t want to be fucking saved.

Because the dirtier the secret, the sweeter the sin.