Page 114 of Their Little Ghost

Lex and Eli drop to the floor next to me, and Acacia’s daughter crosses her arms.

“You took my cigarettes,” she says, pouting at me. “I want them back.”

I laugh coldly. “You’re in our territory now, Acacia. You don’t get to make demands.”

“Pity.” She sighs. “I fancy a smoke.”

Uneasiness settles in my stomach. This isn’t how I expected our meeting to go. Where is her quivering bottom lip or begging for her daddy?

“Am I supposed to be scared?” she asks, reading my mind and stepping closer. She trails a red, manicured nail down my chest, sending a jolt of electricity coursing through me as her eyes meet mine in defiance. “Because I’m not.”

For the first time in a long time, I’m speechless.

She looks over my shoulder. “Are these your enforcers?”

“Fuck you,” Lex snarls in his most menacing voice. “You don’t know anything.”

She laughs, swishing her blonde hair.

“Does my dad know you skulk around the asylum at night?” she asks, raising her eyebrows. “This is the second time I’ve caught you. What’re you locked up for, anyway?” She screws up her nose at my necklace. “Are those rat skulls?”

My fingers fly to my skulls. There are only three of them hanging on my chain. I have many more skulls stashed in our cell. I can’t remember when I started collecting them. Until I had Eli and Lex, the rats were my only friends, and keeping a part of them with me brings me some comfort. I never take the necklace off and, no matter what happens, I’ll never be alone again while they’re with me.

“We don’t have to answer your questions,” I growl.

“No, you don’t,” she replies. “But it’ll help pass the time.”

She reaches into her bra to retrieve a cell phone.

“What?” She winks. “Do you really think I only have one phone with a father like mine?” She holds it above her head. “Shit. No signal.”

“Aren’t you worried about being locked up with three men who hate your father?” I ask. “Three men who’d do anything to see him suffer.”

“If you wanted to hurt me, you’d have done it already,” she says. “Besides, we’re on the same side.”

Eli splutters in disbelief. “The same side?”

“Doesn’t sharing an enemy make us friends? We all hate my father,” she says. “I’m Sarah, by the way. If you don’t remember.”

“We’ll never be friends,” Lex hisses. “And we don’t care what your name is.”

She saunters over and whispers in his ear, “I think you do.”

He flinches, but his eyes light up. He’s intrigued. We all are, and I find myself jealous that he’s gotten so close to her. Close enough to feel her breath on his skin. Close enough to smell her.

Fuck, I want her. No, Ineedher.

“The way I see it, you have two options,” Sarah says, exuding the same arrogant self-confidence she did the first time we met. “You can keep up your little circus act by trying to get me to fear you, or we can spend the night really getting to know each other.”

I clench my jaw. “What do you have in mind?”

She undresses slowly. First, she pulls off her wet T-shirt to expose her toned stomach and perky tits. Next, she unzips her boots, drawing attention to her toned calves, before wiggling out of her hot pants to reveal a pink thong. Fresh cuts cover the tops of her thighs, and a rush of protectiveness surges through me. She’s damaged. Broken. Just like us. An unexpected burst of rage makes my hands curl into fists. Whoever made her want to hurt herself deserves to bleed out.

“You can put your tongues back in your heads. What did you expect? I’m soaking wet.” She cocks her head. “I need to warm up before I catch a cold.”

She’s a fucking psycho. Perhaps even crazier than we are.

I wrap my fingers around her neck. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”