Page 10 of Whips and Chains (Saint View Murder Squad #2)

X

M y truck was about as depleted of sweet treats as one would expect, given I’d allowed an entire underprivileged neighborhood free rein in it. There were candy bar wrappers and sticky puddles of melted ice cream from one end of the truck to the other.

But the thing still started, and I thanked whichever gods watched over Saint View that the little hoodlums hadn’t stripped the entire thing for parts.

I needed to get my baby cleaned and restocked but instead found myself parked out in front of Scythe’s house in Providence.

He opened the door before I was even halfway down the path.

His gaze skated over me, and without even asking why I was barefoot and shirtless, he just ducked back inside, emerging with a pair of sneakers and a hoodie.

He tossed them at me, closing the door behind me. “Come on. I’ve got to do school pickup. It’s the girls’ early release day, and I’m the only one here to do it. You can talk on the way.”

I trailed along after him, hoisting myself up into the passenger seat of his SUV that had two baby seats in the back. I pulled on the hoodie before drawing the seat belt across my chest and clicking it into place.

Scythe put the car in reverse and then with his hand on the back of my seat, he twisted so he could look over his shoulder.

He winked at me. “Don’t go falling in love with me.”

I frowned at him. “Why would I?”

He shrugged. “Bliss always gets giggly when I put my hand here to reverse. Apparently, it’s a thing.”

I frowned at him. “But your hand is just on the back of my seat. And reversing a car isn’t a big deal. I don’t get it.”

“Me neither. But it has resulted in head while I drive before, so I just wanted to be sure you weren’t getting any ideas.”

I raised an eyebrow. “No shit? She likes it that much?” I tucked that little tidbit away for future reference. Then sighed when I remembered Violet wouldn’t be giggling at me, let alone anything else anytime soon. And being alone in a car with her was now completely off-limits, after what I’d done.

I sighed again, making it as dramatic as possible.

Scythe rolled his eyes. “Talk, X. And make it quick, because in about five minutes, we’re going to be surrounded by minivans playing Taylor Swift and teachers trying to herd swarms of kids into them.”

I grinned. “That sounds like a vibe. Do you have an entrance song? You know, like one you always play as you slide on in through the school gates, with it blaring out the window?”

“This isn’t a wrestling match.”

I shrugged, fiddling with the music switches on his dashboard, flipping through the playlist to find some Tay Tay I could crank up loud.

Scythe glanced over at me, a frown crinkling between his eyebrows. “It’s bad, huh?”

“Taylor’s stuff is never bad! Wash your mouth out.”

“I meant whatever you’ve done, and you know it. I’ve never seen anyone procrastinate so hard on spilling his guts.”

I breathed out heavily, forcing every bit of air out of my lungs until they ached. “I choked Violet, then her best friend died, and then we had a foursome.”

He spun the steering wheel, taking a corner. He peeked at me once he had the car straightened again. “That’s a lot for one sentence.”

“You said to stop procrastinating!”

“Well, I can see why you were, if that’s what you’ve been up to! Just to clarify, when you said you choked Violet, then had sex with her, she was still alive during the sex? Or no?”

“What? Of course she was!”

“Okay, okay! I was just checking we weren’t dealing with some sort of ‘fucking dead people’ kink. I’m not one to judge.”

“I’m kinda judging you for not judging! That’s not a kink, that’s messed up.”

“Agreed. What were we talking about again?”

“Me choking Violet. And the fact I’m never going to be alone with her ever again.”

Scythe stopped in the car pickup line. “Right. Gotcha.”

“You ever do that to Bliss?”

Scythe shook his head fast. “No. Never.”

I slumped in my seat. “Great. I’m a monster even among monsters.”

Scythe let the car roll forward a few feet as someone farther ahead of us in the line drove their kid away. “You stopped though, right? You didn’t actually kill her. That’s a good thing.”

“I put my fingers around her throat and squeezed. And liked it.”

Scythe shrugged. “So you have a choking kink.”

“What if it’s more than a kink?” I asked, voicing the fear that had plagued me ever since I’d done it.

He didn’t say anything for a long moment. He didn’t need to. We both knew the answer.

Scythe tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and crept us forward a few more inches. “What if she liked it?”

“She didn’t,” I said quickly. “I scared her.”

“Do you know that for sure or are you just projecting your fears onto her? You said you had sex with her last night. She wanted that, right? I know you didn’t fucking force her. You might be a monster, but you aren’t that sort of man.”

I nodded quickly, remembering the way Violet had opened her thighs for me, showing me how wet her pussy was and inviting me into it.

Scythe pushed further. “If she was scared of you, do you really think she would have done that?”

He had a point.

But it was kind of moot, considering she’d stormed off this morning, after she’d realized what we’d kept from her. “Bliss ever get so mad at you she ran off to her brother’s place and swore she never wanted to see you again?”

“Bliss’s only living brother is about thirteen…so no.”

“Violet’s brother is Fang.”

Scythe snorted on a laugh. “You’re so fucked.”

Didn’t I know it.

We reached the top of the car line, and two dark-haired little girls ran over. Scythe got out of the car and rounded the hood to the sidewalk, scooping both of them up in a hug.

He opened the back door, setting down the oldest to wriggle over to her seat, and helping the younger one into hers, strapping her in tightly.

The older one looked at me curiously and then held her hand out to me. “Hello. I’m Lexa.”

I took her little fingers in mine and shook them seriously. “X.”

She nodded at that. “X is a weird name. But so is Scythe. And that’s one of my dad’s names.”

Scythe chuckled beneath his breath. “Hey, Lex? X likes Taylor Swift too.”

Her eyes widened. “You do?”

I nodded. “Sure do. What’s your favorite song?”

Lexa launched into a detailed description of all of her favorite songs, which turned out to be pretty much every song on every album Taylor had ever recorded.

Scythe got back behind the wheel and got us onto the road again. He glanced over at her proudly.

“You love her, huh?” I asked him, watching him stare at his daughter.

He grinned and nodded. “Mila too. And Ridge, our son. They’re the best kids.”

I envied him, and the family he’d created for himself. He and I were similar in a lot of ways, but I couldn’t see me ever getting to where he was. He had Vincent, his other personality, to offset his crazy and keep him in line.

What I wouldn’t give for a second personality I could just trade out with. One who wasn’t as messed up in the head as I was.

A saner personality would have been able to stay away from Violet. But I knew I couldn’t.

I didn’t want to share her. It had been fucking torture watching her with Whip and Levi last night.

But it had kept her safe. Their presence had been the only reason I could be with her at all. Because I’d known and trusted neither of them would let me hurt her.

I wanted what Scythe had with Bliss. I wanted to be alone in a car with her, and to have her watch me reverse it and find it so sexy she couldn’t wait to have me and had to blow me right there.

I couldn’t have that without Levi and Whip.

But right now, none of us had her.

Which was a problem we really needed to fix.