Page 42 of Pretty Lies (Watch Me Burn #1)

“You think cars and money mean anything to me? I fucking own this town. We let you rich cunts think you’re in charge because it keeps you occupied, but that’s it.

We could burn your houses down while you sleep in them, turn your flashy cars into scrap metal, or I could even put some guys into that school of yours and let them take over.

You’d fall fast and you know it. You’re at the top because we allow it.

You think I hold the value of a car over a person? How shallow are you guys?”

“My mom—” Caden started, but I got to my feet and towered over him, my voice low.

“Your mommy can’t do shit, Caden. It would be easy for me to pay off Max to get me alone with her.

I could cut that pretty face of hers to pieces, fuck her pussy with my knife until she bled out, or even plant shit on her and get her thrown into a cell for the rest of her life on bullshit charges.

Don’t act like you’re better than me. You might piss me off,” I warned, his eyes flashing with rage.

“Don’t you dare bring my mom into this.”

“I didn’t, you did. Hide behind your mom all you want, but I could deal with her in seconds. Don’t push me.”

He glared at me in silence for a moment before speaking, his voice firm.

“If you don’t send Rory packing, I’ll be sure to report her as missing to the cops.

Maybe an anonymous tip will come in and let them know that the notorious Skeeter Maddox has a runaway teenage girl in his bed and he’s using her to make money off illegal cage fighting.

You’d be hit with raids at all your locations. Who knows what they’d find.”

I fisted the front of his shirt and yanked him to his feet, losing my temper. “You want to rat us out to the cops? Do you know what we do to rats?”

“You don’t scare me, Skeet. You act like a tough guy who’s running the show, but it’s Slash. You’re just his fucking bitch,” Caden threw back, not seeing my fist coming until it slammed into his face.

I wasn’t expecting him to start swinging so damn fast, and he managed to uppercut me, my teeth clacking together and really pissing me off.

“Okay, this has to stop,” Tyler said firmly as he tried to get between us. “This is out of hand.”

“Get your buddy out of here, Ty. Before he doesn’t have the chance to,” I snarled, giving him a shove.

“And if we have any cop trouble, we all know it was you four. You want Rory to go home, Holloway? Fine. Your fucking funeral. Enjoy her company while you’ve got it because she’ll just run straight back to me.

She’s almost eighteen, what will you do then, huh? Kidnap her from my bed?”

“She’s not yours!” Jensen roared, and I couldn’t help the laugh that left me.

“She’s more mine than yours. Her pussy has a permanent imprint of my cock in it.”

The sudden fist to my face made me stumble, but I snapped out of it fast and started swinging back at Jensen, forgetting how goddamn scrappy he could be.

All the guys could fight, but they’d never have the balls to end someone’s life.

They could beat me up all they liked, but at the end of the day, I was the only one who had the balls to kill, and I’d sleep like a baby afterwards too.

It had been a while since I’d thrown hands for the sake of it though, so I was kind of enjoying this.

“Go and get her. What you have with her is over,” Jensen demanded as we stepped back from each other, and I rolled my eyes as I rubbed my tender jaw.

“Like I said, I can send her home. Your right hook hurts like a bitch, asshole. You should be proud of it.”

His mouth curved into a smirk, tilting his head to the side. “Says the guy who I’m pretty sure just cracked one of my ribs.”

“I’ll do you a deal,” I said lightly, turning to Caden as everyone's stances relaxed. “I respect you for standing your ground and not being all talk. I’ll send Donovan home with you and make her stay there a while. That way you feel like you’ve won, but in reality, she’ll likely kill you in your sleep and do me a favor. ”

“You’ll seriously just hand her over after that bullshit alpha show you just put on?” Lukas deadpanned, making Jensen snort.

“It’s just a powerplay to him. He doesn’t even want her, he’s bored.”

That wasn’t true, surprisingly. If I got them to occupy her for a few days, it would get Slash off my ass about her. He was one bad day away from putting her in a hole just to spite me at this point, and it would also prove to Caden and his friends that she would always come back to me.

Rory would never admit it, but I owned her ass. She’d never own me though.

She could fuck them for all I cared at this point, but she’d be thinking about me the whole time, and that would hurt them more than anything. Especially when they’d only come in two seconds and she’d come running straight back to me.

I was a genius.

“You know what? You’re totally right. She’s all yours, guys. I’ll get her for you. I hope I taste good,” I smirked, turning and walking along the hallway to the bedroom to find Rory getting dressed. Her high was starting to wear off and she looked exhausted.

“Are they gone?” she asked as she pulled her shirt over her head.

“Nope. They’re waiting for you. I need you to do me a favor.”

“If it means leaving this house, then I’m not?—”

I stalked towards her and grabbed her throat, her eyes going wide with surprise.

“You’ll do as I tell you. Holloway seems to think Josie will bring cops into this, and you can imagine how bad that would be if they started sniffing around me and my crew.

I have shit to do over the next few days, so go home and tell Josie all about where you’ve been and make it obvious that you’re not missing. ”

“You want me to leave? I can if you want, sure, but that doesn’t mean I’ll go home.”

Her pulse spiked under my fingers as I tightened my grip, keeping my voice low.

“Cops will think I fucking killed you or something if you vanish, you’ll make it worse.

Everyone knows you’ve been on my dick for the past week, so it wouldn’t take much convincing for the cops to raid my properties.

Do me and my crew a favor and behave until your birthday.

Once you’re legally an adult, they can’t do shit. ”

I glanced at the door as Caden walked in, and Rory tilted her head in thought as she stared him down.

“Fine, I’ll go home, but if you think you’re safe to sleep at night, Caden Holloway, you’re in for a rude fucking surprise. I won’t hesitate to gut you open in your fucking sleep and?—”

I was regretting this already. My dick was painfully hard all the damn time and she wouldn’t be here to deal with it for me.

I groaned, pulling her against me and kissing her neck, ignoring the filthy look that Caden sent me. “You’re making me horny all over again, baby girl, stop it.”

My phone buzzed and I pulled it from my pocket, sighing when I saw a message from Slash.

Slash: Did you forget about that thing you’re supposed to be at?

I cursed, remembering that I was supposed to be at a drop off and I’d forgotten because I was too caught up in Rory’s pussy. He was going to kill me.

Skeeter: Just throwing Donovan out the door then I’m leaving.

Slash: About time you came to your senses. Hurry the fuck up.

“You’ve gotta go. I’m late to something,” I said sharply, making Rory frown.

“What’s wrong?”

“None of your business.” I was being a dick, but Slash had been right. She was distracting me, and in this life, that could get you killed. “Grab your shit, and bail. Before I lose it and kill Holloway and the rest of his boys.”

She shrugged, a taunting glint in her eyes that I would’ve found amusing at any other time. “Might just take my fucking time then to see what happens.”

This girl was going to be the death of me.

I started shoving her things into her bag, needing her gone before Slash got pissed and came looking for me.

“Take the Corvette and get out of here. Don’t crash it.”

“Why are you in such a hurry? Jesus, Skeet. I can just call Josie and tell her I’m fine,” Rory finally snapped, apparently not too happy about being sent home. “You know what? That’s what I’ll do.”

“What the fuck did I tell you about arguing with me?”

“Not to do it in your cage. This is different, and you know it.”

“Like fuck, Donovan. I’ll still slit your throat and watch you bleed out in the kitchen just as easily as I would in the cage.”

She kissed me, confusing me for a second as she let out a small giggle, ignoring Caden, who was staring at us like we were crazy. I was pretty sure I was rubbing off on her a little. “You’d miss my pussy too much.”

A sinister smirk pulled at the corners of my mouth as I swatted her ass with a firm slap. This girl really liked pushing my buttons, and my fingers itched to make her bleed again. She drove me insane, but part of me loved it.

This game was becoming fun.

“I can still fuck you once you’re dead, babe. Don’t you forget it. Get out of here before the cops kick my door down or Slash shows up and puts a bullet in you. I really am late for something.”

Caden cringed as she laughed and blew me a kiss on her way out, and I followed to make sure they all left, watching her climb into the Corvette without waiting for the others, taking off into the night and giving them no choice but to speed to keep up with her.

I quickly showered and headed to the edge of Rawson Grove, killing the engine before stepping out into the cool night. We were hidden by trees here, but we could see our surroundings well for drop offs.

“You’re late,” Slash bit out when I approached him and Diesel, and I waved a dismissive hand at him.

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Holloway and his boys gave me some trouble, and Rory was being a pain in the ass.”

“Did you get rid of her?” he asked, and I noticed Diesel eyeing me, waiting for an answer. It seemed my guys were starting to doubt me, and that couldn’t happen.

“Yeah, sent her packing back to Holloway’s.”

“Good. Keep it that way,” Slash grunted, but I didn’t miss the amused smile on Diesel’s face. Slash mumbled something about needing to piss as he walked off into the dark, and Diesel finally spoke.

“I assume it’s not permanent? I thought your plan was to make the guys leave her alone, not take her with them.”

“Holloway got cocky and threatened to bring in the cops. She’ll be back, she craves our lifestyle too much. It’s familiar,” I said with a shrug. “What did I miss? Sorry, man. I should’ve been here on time but I was distracted. Won’t happen again.”

“Yeah, it will. She’s not just pussy, and don’t even fucking lie to me and say she is,” he chuckled, opening the van to reveal the bricks of cocaine stacked in the back. “Buyer’s on his way. Matteo and Liam are down the road in case we need backup.”

“Fat lot of help that will be. Liam can’t hit the side of a house,” I scoffed, headlights lighting up the trees as a car approached. “I guess we’ll find out any minute now if we’ll need them or not.”