Page 66 of Property of Necro (Kings Of Anarchy MC: Illinois #1)

Chapter

Forty-Four

“Be a good girl and come on.” Rot drags me by the hand through the backyard, in my t-shirt and Crocs, to the clearing where my shed and chickens live.

“What are we doing?” I huff, trying to catch my breath as Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather circle my legs, searching for food in the grass.

“Let me show you.” Releasing my hand, Rot saunters to the coop and opens the purple door adorned with a girly sign in the middle of an evergreen wreath that reads Queen’s Castle.

He ducks inside and returns with the fluffy chicken they handed me the first day I was gifted this place.

Her name’s Elvis, thanks to Rot, and she’s a silkie, one of the four we have.

But she’s secretly our favorite. Sometimes, Mama sneaks her into the kitchen and straps her to his chest like a baby when he’s doing his thing.

It’s been eight months since then.

Eight months of us.

Can you believe it?

Winter has come and gone. Spring is here, and Rot is worked up about something when he shoves our chicken into my arms and backs away like we’re diseased.

She rubs her fluffy face against my chest like she always does.

Cooing at her, I pet her white, downy feathers.

“Hey, sweet girl.” Something catches my fingertip, and I lift Elvis to find a sparkly, blinged-out necklace dangling around her neck, and on it…

A ring.

“What…” I sputter and suddenly feel lightheaded.

Necro and Coffin emerge from out of nowhere, and then it’s the four of us, and I’m staring at a bird’s neck and the… massive red ruby ring there.

Necro gets down on one knee.

Coffin lines up beside him, and Rot’s the last to join.

Holy hell.

All three of them look up at me expectantly from the soggy ground and smile—even Necro, who’s removed his mask for this, but not his wraparounds to protect his sensitive eyes.

Chewing my bottom lip, I hug our chicken way too tightly against my chest, causing her to bite my t-shirt to give her an inch to breathe. “Wh-what are you doing?” I squeak as my stomach tumbles like a dryer full of bricks.

Asking you to marry us, Necro signs.

Oh. My… I…

“Y-you want to marry me?” I croak.

Yes, he signs, flashing me a lopsided smirk, which is somehow far sexier since his lips are scarred and don’t work just right.

It’s endearing and, dare I say, adorable.

It’s my kryptonite, and he knows it. That’s why he takes off his mask whenever things get serious…

when he me ans business. It gives me goosebumps and turns me on.

I can’t stop staring because he’s outside.

During the day. Again. Sure, it’s overcast, and there are plenty of trees providing shade, but he hates the sun, and the sun hates him.

“You’re ours. We wanna make this official,” Rot adds softly like he’s afraid I’ll run.

“But… I can’t… Legally.” We live in America. I can’t have three husbands.

Coffin waves me off. “Legally, you’ll be the property of Necro. It’s safer that way, since he’s the club president. But you’ll still be ours. ‘Til death do us part, and even after. ‘Cause you’re not visitin’ the afterlife without me. I’ll cut a motherfucker,” he growls.

Butterflies erupt in my middle at his sincerity. “I know you will.”

“For you, I’ll do anything,” Coffin vows, bowing his head like a knight.

“So, what do you say, Red? You gonna be a good girl and marry us today?” Rot asks, and my eyes grow even bigger, if that’s even possible.

“Today?” I squeak.

My dark-haired hottie nods. “Yep. Today.”

“Today. Today? As in right now?” Are they out of their flippin’ minds?

“Yes.” He smirks. “As in right now. In the church. Mama got ordained and everything for this.”

Hold up.

“Mama’s gonna marry us?” Since when does he have that authority? Why didn’t he tell me? Isn’t this something I should’ve known before today ?

“Well, yeah,” Rot replies. “Who else would you want to do it?”

I wave for them to stand. “Get up. Get up right now so we can talk about this.” We need to talk about it. A lot. For days. Possibly weeks. This isn’t something to decide on a whim. This isn’t Vegas.

They all share a look, speaking without words. Necro shakes his head and signs, We’ll get up when you agree to marry us .

Fuck.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Sweet Cheeks, just say yes. You know you wanna. I have the perfect honeymoon planned. I’ve been planning it for months,” Coffin adds.

“A honeymoon? Months?” They’ve been planning it for that long? Somehow, I didn’t notice, and they never let it slip. How’s that even possible? I spend every waking hour with at least one of them or Mama.

“We leave tomorrow,” Coffin confirms, resting a forearm on his knee.

“No… No. We don’t. I… What the hell? You just got back from a run yesterday.” I point to Coffin and swing my finger to Necro. “You just slaughtered an entire truckload of men last night, live. You haven’t even slept yet.”

My bald executioner shrugs. I watched you sleep. That counts.

I stomp my foot. “No. No. It doesn’t.”

It most certainly does not count.

This is insane.

No.

That’s not even the right word for it .

I’ll sleep when I’m dead, Necro adds.

“Which better not be for a long damn time.”

If you agree to marry me, it won’t be.

Oh. That’s how it’s gonna be, huh?

“Necro.” I stomp my foot again, and all three of them grin at me like they’re a bunch of hot, shirtless assholes.

Wait.

They are.

Hot.

Shirtless.

And

Mega assholes.

Ugh.

Say yes, he signs, taking off his glasses, which forces him to squint. Somehow, that simple gesture turns the seriousness from a five straight to a ten. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without glasses in broad daylight.

“Put them back on,” I order, and Necro’s scarred grin broadens as he snaps the wraparounds in half and discards them in the grass.

“That was unnecessary. You need those.”

I need you more.

Oh. My. God.

He did not just say that.

Not knowing how to respond to all this… insanity, I glare at Rot instead and try a different tactic. “Don’t you have like a billion body parts to process? How can you go on a honeymoon when you have those to deal with?”

The jerk barks a hearty laugh. “Red, I broke the bodies down this morning and sent the rest to the crematorium.”

“When? ”

“When you were sleeping.”

I sputter and flap my free arm. Merryweather circles around my ankles like they’re a go-kart track as I stare at the men, trying to come up with something valid to say.

When nothing comes, I grumble a low, “What the hell, guys?” and finger the ruby around our chicken’s neck.

She makes the sweetest little sound like she approves of my choice of husbands—old men.

Whatever lingo you wanna use. I’m not a biker chick, so I’m gonna say husbands.

They’re not old, even if they’re closing in on forty, far sooner than I am.

I also like the word better. It rolls off the tongue, don’t ya think? Husbands.

The entire club emerges from the tree line, including Mama in his chef’s coat.

“Say yes!” he hollers, smiling ear to ear.

“You called in reinforcements?” I shake a finger at the three of these insufferable buttholes.

Rot blows me a kiss as if that’ll somehow soften me up. “We know you, Red. You’re a fighter. You’re also stubborn as fuck.”

“Why does it have to be today?”

“So, you don’t change your mind and overthink it later. Necro designed the ring. We’ve been plannin’ this for months,” Rot explains.

“Put ‘em out of their misery, Sola… Ma’am,” Creature calls.

Oh. Fine.

Fine.

Flippity.

Fuckin’

Fine .

I suppose I can marry them today.

I suppose I can… say yes.

I… I just can’t believe they picked me.

Pick picked me.

They went to the lengths of attaching a ring around our chicken’s neck.

My bottom lip wobbles, and my nose burns.

Coffin groans. “Stop it. Stop it right now.”

Rot leans over and whispers to him, “You ate the gummy I gave you, didn’t you?”

“No.”

Reaching around Necro, Rot shoves Coffin’s shoulder. “Fuckin’ idiot. You should’ve known she was gonna cry.”

Yes. Yes, he should have.

I cry. That’s what I do when I can’t process emotions.

They did this to me with all their… muchness.

“Sweet Cheeks, stop. You know I can’t handle it when you…” Pushing off his knee, Coffin gets up and takes a walk. “I’ll be right back. I promise. I love you. Just… Fuck… I need a minute.”

Giving Coffin whatever space he needs, I flash Necro a watery smile. “You’re sure you wanna do this? Be legally tied to me?”

Yes.

My heart sinks, knowing he isn’t gonna like what I have to say. “Then we can’t do it today. Because I’m still married to Ted.”

“Ted’s dead,” Rot replies far too calmly, as if he’s talking about rainy weather. Not the fact that my ex is no longer breathing.

“He’s what?” I squeak, trembling .

“Dead.”

“Wh-what…When? How? Ar-are you sure?” I prattle on, far too fast for my tongue to keep up. “What happened? How’d he die? When? How? Wait. I already asked that…”

I always wondered what had happened to Ted, but I was too much of a chicken to look or ask anyone else to do it.

What if he wasn’t dead, and all those memories came flooding back?

What if he was hurting someone else? What if he wasn’t?

With his influence in the police department, there’s no telling what could happen.

What if he found out I was looking into him and somehow traced it, then showed up and kidnapped me?

I’d be dead. He almost killed me twice before.

After leaving him, he would finish the job.

It’s over.

He’s gone.

Forever.

And I’m safe.

My shoulders deflate as I release a shuddery sigh.

He’s gone.

Ted is gone.

He’s… dead.

I… I can’t believe it.

Rot lifts a finger to give him a minute, and he gets up and jogs to my shed. He dips inside and returns, holding a glass specimen jar to his chest like the ones in Coffin’s trophy room.

“Get your ass back here, Coffin. Or you’ll miss it,” he yells, stopping before me and holding out the vessel. Inside, floating in liquid is a…