SWNOVELS Fear The Reapers: Chapter 39
I awoke to the distinct smell of decay surrounding me. My head throbbed as my eyes peeled open and my blurry surroundings came into view. A lone lightbulb swung above me, creating a halo of light in what looked to be the center of a dark and empty room.
I didn’t know how long I was out or who attacked me. Whoever brought me here had left me with my wrists bound above my head and my feet just barely touching the floor. I wiggled my fingers, trying to bring them back to life as I yanked the ropes biting into my wrists.
“Don’t bother.” A feminine voice hissed. “There’s no way in hell you’re getting out of those.”
Like a caged animal, I whipped my body around in a circle, trying to see where the voice was coming from. Still disoriented from the blow to my head, I recognized the voice, but I just couldn’t place it.
A slight figure stepped into the light and I had to do a double-take, just to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me..
“Jessie?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “What is all of this?”
“Sorry, Love.” She smirked, circling around my body. “It’s really nothing personal.”
How the fuck was bashing me in the head and chaining me up not ‘personal’? We hadn’t known each other long, but I considered her someone I could trust. Someone that I could’ve one day called a friend.
“Where the fuck is my sister?” I hissed, moving my body to follow hers, “What did you do to Alex?”
“Alex? Hmm… The name rings a bell…” She said, flashing me a sinister grin. “Relax. When sissy came by, all my men did was snatch her phone and kick her to the curb. She’s probably still alive out there looking for you. Such a shame that she’ll never know what happened to her big sister. ”
My chin quivered as rebellious tears raced down my cheeks. Jessie was going to kill me. I could see it in her eyes and I knew my time was fleeting.
Alex was alive, and for that I was grateful, but it hurt that I was abandoning her. That I was leaving her out in the world alone with no answers and no clue as to what happened to me. I failed her; I failed everyone.
“Why are you doing this?” I screamed, baring my teeth. “Why me?”
“It’s simple, really.” She stated matter-of-factly. “I told you to stay away from The Reapers, warned you they wouldn’t want to be with someone like you, and you didn’t fucking listen to me.” She hissed. “Here’s a little clue, Stevie. I don’t like being ignored!”
“But why would that matter?” I asked, still not understanding her logic. “Why did you want me to stay awa-”
“Did they tell you we grew up together?” She asked, cutting me off as she dreamily stared out into space. “Oh, who am I kidding?” She asked, shaking her head with a smile. “Of course they didn’t. They never like to talk about the past. But our history together goes way back.”
The shift in her demeanor was jarring, but I nodded along anyway. She was obviously unhinged, and I knew that the longer I could keep her talking, the more time I’d have to figure out a plan. I needed a fucking plan.
“I only saw his brothers a few times before they were fostered, but Atlas and I were as thick as thieves growing up.” She beamed, circling around me. “Like two peas in a pod.”
“Atlas was a few years older than me, and at first, he hated it when I’d follow him around. But after a while he understood my need for him. He was the only one who could stop my monster from visiting me each night.”
“David, my monster, was terrified of Atlas. I quickly learned that as long as Atlas stayed close by, David wouldn’t go near me. Eventually, though, we grew up and went our separate ways. Atlas had his brothers to take care of and I went out to live on my own, but we still kept in touch here and there.”
“I didn’t know it at the time, but my monster had gotten meaner and angrier after he left the group home. He hated that he couldn’t have me and was simply biding his time until the opportunity struck.”
“David nearly killed me the night he found me alone outside of a nightclub. He and his friends beat me and raped me so brutally, that by the time they finished, I was barely recognizable. When I showed up on Atlas’ doorstep, he and his brothers took one look at me and went out looking for blood. They killed David and his friends for what they did to me and from that day forward, The Reapers promised they’d always protect me. Always.”
“Even after the engagement news, I never worried that they wouldn’t be able to keep their promise. Anyone with eyes could see that Atlas couldn’t stand Melanie. But then you showed up and everything fucking changed.”
“It doesn’t have to change.” I said, trying to appeal to her. “Nothing has to cha-”
“I’ve never been to their house, you know.” She said, cutting me off. “After everything we’ve been through, they still keep me at a distance. But not you. No, you get the VIP fucking treatment. You get the rags to riches makeover. And you get to be in their hearts and under their fucking sheets.” She spat, cutting her eyes at me.
“The Reapers are the only family I know.” She hissed, vibrating with rage. “I will not stand by and have you rip that away from me.”
Not only was Jessie delusional, her attachment to The Reapers was borderline psychotic. I had enough with hearing her sob story, and no amount of past trauma she had would make me forgive her for tearing me away from my sister and my men.
“If you’re going to kill me,” I hissed through clenched teeth, “just fucking do it already.”
“Oh, Love,” she laughed, “I’m not just going to kill you. I’m going to fucking destroy you. Well, technically they are.” She said, casting her eyes at the group of men who stepped out of the shadows.
“It’s the price I had to pay to get them to break in for me.” She offered, wrinkling her nose. “You understand, right?”
And with that, she stepped away, allowing the group of men with their faces shrouded in ski masks to step forward and surround me.
“They’re going to find out!” I called out in a last ditch effort to talk some sense into her. “Once they find me, it won’t take long for them to figure out who did it. And when they do, they’ll never forgive you. You’ll lose them forever.”
“You don’t think I’ve thought of that?” She screamed, rushing back towards me as she shoved the men out of her way. “As far as they’re concerned,” she hissed, inching close to my face, “I’m three states away, visiting a friend. If they somehow find out you came here, they’ll never trace it back to me. This whole building belongs to The Diaz Cartel and after your fight with Mel, they’ll assume it was her.”
She was right about one thing, The Reapers would never suspect her. Hell, even I had a hard time associating the girl I met at Hell’s Tavern with the crazy bitch in front of me. Her obsession with them was strictly one-sided, and she would be the curveball they never saw coming.
“Boys, do your worst.” Jessie ordered, turning on her heels. “Just be sure to call me back in before you kill her, I want to watch the life drain from her eyes.”
The masked men surrounded me, trapping me in with their bodies. A set of rough hands reached for my dress and ripped the thin fabric off with one swift tug, and cool air hit my skin all at once. I knew that there was no point in struggling. Trying to fight them off would only end up making it worse.
The sound of a pant zipper sliding down made my skin crawl, and as much as I wanted to pretend I was unaffected by it, I couldn’t stomach the idea of a strange man’s hands on me. A body pressed against mine and I shuddered, repulsed by the contact.
The Reapers were going to come for me, I could feel it in my bones. But I needed to bide my time and keep myself alive for as long as I could. I needed to survive this, by any means necessary.
Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to fall deep into the recesses of my mind. I pushed myself deeper and deeper until I wasn’t in this dark room at all. I was in the safest place I could think of. At home, with The Reapers.
The thought surprised me. When I first arrived, everything about their home terrified me. It housed the most cruel, dangerous, and murderous men I had ever met, and I never expected the ostentatious and cold space to feel homey. Yet in my mind, there I was, standing in my bedroom and smiling as I felt Atlas, Ezra, Cyrus, and Tristan surround me.
The Reapers were the reason I was in this mess to begin with and yet; I knew in my heart that there was no place I’d rather be right now.
A set of hands gripped my bare hips, but I no longer felt the surrounding strangers, I felt my men. Cyrus stepped up behind me, capturing me in his embrace and as I inhaled, I could almost taste his delicious citrusy-spicy scent in the air. Tristan pressed close to my left, and I smiled, relishing in the masculine scent of freshly cut grass and leather that almost felt real. Ever the wild card, I didn’t even have to try in order to feel Ezra’s presence on my right. I breathed in his lavender and smoke scent like he was the oxygen I needed to survive. Then there was Atlas, the man that I loved first. His rich scent of sandalwood and amber brought me back to the time before any of this existed. When it was just me, him, and a cute little coffee shop. I was sad that our first time together had to be like this; I had always envisioned it differently. But I guess nothing in life goes exactly as planned.
I wouldn’t take back the events that lead to this moment, because without them, I wouldn’t have met The Reapers. They were my home. They were my safety net. And they were exactly where I wanted to be right now.
“I fucking love you,” I proclaimed, with a trembling chin as the tears rolled down my cheeks, “each and every one of you.”
I felt the bodies around me stiffen, swiftly ripping me away from my fantasy.
“What the fuck did you just say?” The man behind me boomed, turning me around to face him.
I laughed as I spat in his fucking masked face.
“Those words weren’t for you, asshole!” I hissed, baring my teeth. “They weren’t for any of you and when my boyfriends find out what you’ve done to me, they will bathe in your fucking blood!”
The man smirked, pulling a knife from his back pocket and swiftly pressing the blade to my throat. The other men backed away, as I felt his blade pressing into my skin, almost as if the man holding me was the one really running the show.
“No one is coming for you, little girl.” He hissed, licking my face with his slimy tongue. “And the only blood that will be spilled tonight, is yours.”
My mouth had always gotten me into trouble, but this time, I had no doubt in my mind that it was going to get me killed.
There was a quiet certainty that hit me the moment I knew I was going to die. It wasn’t a brief flashing of all of my wonderful memories, like I had always expected. It was long and excruciating. All I could envision were the people I was leaving behind. Alex. Ezra. Atlas. Tristan. Cyrus. Their smiling faces kept flashing in my mind, making me smile while simultaneously breaking my fucking heart.
At least I knew what true love was now, and it didn’t scare me to feel it. I loved them. All of them and I didn’t care if that seemed selfish or wrong. There was room in my heart for all four of them and what we had was beautiful, intense and ultimately tragic, but it was fucking ours.