SWNOVELS Twisted Games: Chapter 21
I unlocked the door, and we pushed through into my apartment at Briar Hall. I held it open, ushering the guys in. Rook was held up with his arms between the shoulders of the others, looking not the least bit bothered about a damn thing.
“Do we need naloxone?” I asked, unsure what to do, my heart thundering in my chest as they laid Rook down on the couch and his head lolled to one side, a loose smile attempting to twitch up at the edges of his mouth. “I-I think they have some down in the nurse’s office.”
Grey knelt next to Rook, checking his pulse, his temp, and lifting his eyelids to check pupil dilation and light response. “He’s going to be fine. Fuck. Why didn’t we see this coming?”
He stood, swiping a palm over his face.
It was bad enough having to see my mother’s face after all this time—bad enough to find out that my aunt could’ve prevented my father’s death, but this?
This was a whole other level of bullshit to deal with.
Those cunts were just lucky my priority was Rook after we saw the syringe in his arm or I would’ve shoved their heads up each other’s asses. I still might.
As it was, I hoped the nasty cut I’d sliced into my mother’s neck got infected and she died of sepsis. I wasn’t sure what kind of monster that made me, and I didn’t care. I knew she hadn’t changed, but for a second, just a second, she almost had me.
If it weren’t for the suspicion in Rook’s eyes, I might’ve bought it.
And now look at him.
I felt sick.
“This is bad,” Corvus said, perching on the edge of the coffee table facing Rook. “He’s been clean for almost two years.”
I knew only a little of Rook’s past, and I wasn’t surprised he’d found solace in drugs. I didn’t judge him for it even though I could’ve, but that was probably because he’d done the work. He’d gotten clean. He didn’t let the drugs consume him, turn him into something else. But heroin?
“He was addicted to smack?” I asked, confused.
Corvus shook his head. “Blow. Doesn’t matter though, this high could destroy all his work.”
“We can’t let that happen,” Grey gritted out, starting to pace the floor. I hated how his pain was pinching his face.
“We won’t,” I assured Grey. “We’ll lock him up if we have to.”
Corvus’ head snapped up. “We tried that once,” he said. “Not a good fucking idea.”
“Urghhh,” I growled, wanting to rip the hair out of my head. “I just want to go back there and… and…”
“They aren’t worth it,” Corvus said. “But if you want them dead, just say the word, and we’ll make it happen. You don’t have to be the one to do it.”
The monotone way he made the offer made me pause. He wasn’t joking in the slightest. The promise was there in his eyes, clear as a brand new day. He’d wipe them from the face of this earth. All I needed to do was say the word.
“Don’t decide now,” he added. “Think about it. If you’d rather do it yourself then fine.”
There was no third option. Corvus wasn’t going to let what my mother did to his brother go unpunished, but I knew he wouldn’t kill her unless I gave him the green light. He’d hurt her, though, I could see it in the beast pacing behind his icy blue eyes. It wasn’t like she didn’t deserve it, but…
“I think I have a better idea,” I found myself saying, but right now, revenge wasn’t the priority. They’d get what was coming to them. Both of them.
Corvus nodded without asking anything else as Rook began to gag.
Grey rushed to the kitchen, ransacking through the cupboards. He came rushing back with a silver handled pot and held it next to the couch as he guided Rook over it, holding him up by the shoulder as he vomited into the pot.
My throat burned.
I didn’t like this.
Rook was supposed to be invincible.
And I realized in that moment that I’d been counting on him as the one person who wouldn’t leave me. By choice or otherwise. Because I’d believed him to be something he wasn’t. Immortal. Immune to the things that could send mere mortals to their knees.
But no one was immortal. Not even Rook.
I wished I could unsee all of it.
He vomited again, and I felt bile rise in my own throat.
A key turned in the lock to the front door, and I was so out of it that I didn’t even reach for a blade as it swung open.
Corvus did, though, he launched over the couch, stepping in front of me, his gun raised.
Becca screamed, dropping into a crouch to cover her head with her arms.
Becca.
Corvus lowered his gun, all his air rushing from his lungs in a hard pant. “Fuck, Becca.”
“Becca?” Grey asked.
I struggled to believe what I was seeing, blinking and swallowing past the bile to see her more clearly. She shakily pushed back to her feet, a small carry-on suitcase resting on the tile behind her. Dressed in leather leggings and a flowy printed top, she looked amazing. A heavy contrast to the peacock I was still wearing. The mixed emotions tangling behind my breastbone were almost too much for me to handle right now.
I didn’t want to see her.
I was so fucking glad to see her.
“Becks?”
She was still struggling to catch her breath. “Hey, babe,” she said, her voice pitched high, looking tentatively deeper into the apartment. She swallowed. “Bad time?”
Unable to stop myself, I pushed past Corvus and went to her, wrapping my arms around her, holding my breath to stop the sudden ridiculous urge to cry. “Shit, girl,” she muttered, put off balance in her heels before she wrapped her arms around me too, hugging me tightly. “Are you okay?”
She rubbed my back. “Honestly, I expected you to kick my ass out,” she muttered into my hair, her voice watery.
Maybe I should’ve, but it was too late now. She couldn’t go anywhere unless it was on another airplane with a Saint escort.
“What’s going on, babe? And what are you wearing, it’s tragic as fuck.”
Behind us, Rook vomited again, and she stiffened, pulling back, taking her essential oil perfume scent with her. Fuck, I’d missed that smell.
“Um, who’s sick?” she asked.
“Rook,” Corvus replied, stepping past us to drag Becca’s suitcase into the apartment and shut the door behind her, locking it. She eyed his tailored blazer jacket with a raised brow, but made no comment.
“You’re a fucking idiot,” I told her, wiping the back of my nose over the sleeve of the dress.
She recoiled as though stung but then nodded, a tight smile on her lips. “Think we kind of already established that, but I did say I was sorry, like, a million times.”
I shook my head. “No. I mean, you’re an idiot for coming back here, Becks. Your guy is still on the loose somewhere, and you’re the only person who can ID him.”
“Yeah and apparently an all-out gang war happening on the streets of Thorn Valley,” she added for me, indicating the bruise and cut on my face. I frowned at her.
She shrugged. “Daddy said not to come home because it wasn’t safe. He said there was a whole ass gang fight in the streets and a bunch of people died and you weren’t answering texts, so…”
“So, he said not to come back because there’s a literal war going on so you… what? Hopped the first flight home?”
She rolled her eyes. “Look. This mess is as much my fault as it is anyone else’s. If I can help or at least just be here for you, then that’s what I’m going to do. You’re my best girl, Aves. I couldn’t stay there, knowing you were here dealing with all this shit alone.”
I snorted. “Well, not alone.”
She eyed Corvus. “Not the same,” she said, and she was right. It wasn’t the same.
They meant something different to me than Becca did, and I didn’t realize how much I needed her here.
Had no idea that despite trying to hold onto my anger, I’d already forgiven her.
The bitch. I fucking loved her.
Rook had been right about that, too.
“You’re still an idiot,” I told her. “Now I’m stuck babysitting your ass.”
Becca winced, but I just shook my head at her. “It’s okay. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Glad someone is,” she muttered, her gaze jerking from me to Corvus and back again before she cleared her throat and sighed. “Good. Now, what can I do to help?”
Becca took the handle of her suitcase and rolled it further into the apartment, her nose turning up at the smell of vomit on the air. “God, what did he eat?”
Corvus’ haughty stare followed her, his jaw muscles flaring as he clenched his teeth. I grabbed the arm of his jacket and pulled it hard. “You don’t have to forgive her, but don’t be a dick,” I whispered.
He pursed his lips but nodded.
Becca gasped, and the suitcase dropped to the hardwood as she caught sight of Rook for the first time. “Holy fuck,” she said. “What happened to him?”
“He’s been drugged,” I said, going around to the other side of the couch as Grey helped ease Rook back down onto the cushions.
“Can you grab me a cloth?” he asked, but before I could go for one, Becca was already rushing through to the kitchen, running a kitchen towel under the hot water. She came with it and knelt next to Grey and Rook, lifting the cloth to wipe away the bits of vomit stuck to his chin.
Grey watched her with narrowed eyes for a moment before holding out his hand for the towel. “I got this,” he said, and she dipped her head, getting uncertainly to her feet to pass it to him so he could finish the job she’d started.
She swallowed hard, tapping her wrists against her thighs. “So, uh, I’m just going to address the big fat fucking elephant in the room and say—”
“Becks, you don’t have to do this now.”
“I do. Just let me say it.”
I shut up, wrapping my arms around myself at a sudden chill in the room.
“I fucked up. Really bad. But I think you should know the reason why I thought I was doing the right thing. I mean, at first. And really only for a minute.”
“You were manipulated,” I corrected her. “Used. It’s—”
“No. It wasn’t just that. I wanted to hurt them. If it weren’t for the Saints, my mom might still be here. I blamed them even though she brought it on herself. She was only caught in the crossfire because she was cheating on my dad with a Saint.”
“What?” Corvus demanded. Clearly, he hadn’t known this and there was very little Corvus James didn’t know.
Becca nodded. “My mom never took my dad’s name. Her last name was Matthews. Eden Matthews. She was with Damien St. Vincent before he left to go start his gang chapter somewhere else. Her death was probably why he left.”
Recognition flashed in Corvus’ eyes, and I wondered what he knew about her. About what happened.
“I didn’t find out about the affair until a few years back. It just made me hate the gang even more,” Becca added, tucking a loose strand of her long straight hair back behind her ear.
I hadn’t known this, and a part of me ached for her, but another part of me wondered why she’d omitted this part. Though, I hadn’t exactly given her a chance to explain herself since all that shit went down.
Her brown eyes found mine, the apology clear there. “It wasn’t just him influencing me. I was angry, and I wanted someone to hurt for making me have to grow up without her. I was wrong. I didn’t know you guys, but when I did get to know you I knew I couldn’t go through with what he wanted me to do. Especially not after—when I knew it would hurt Ava Jade.”
“If you’re asking for us to forgive you…” Grey said, his tone harsh as he trailed off.
“I’m not,” Becca said. “But I wanted you to know why I agreed to help him. And ultimately, why I didn’t go through with it all. You can forgive me or damn me, but either way, if my girl will have me, I’m not going anywhere.”
I offered her a sad smile, and she returned it.
“I’m sorry about your mother,” Corvus said. “If it helps you to know it, Damien St. Vincent loved her. He was broken after she passed. And you’re right, it was the reason he left. Because he couldn’t stand living on these streets anymore, knowing that he would never see her on them again. At least, that’s what Diesel told us. It’s a common story. The women we love are taken from us. It’s dangerous business, falling in love with a Saint.”
A knot formed between Becca’s brows, and I could tell she was trying to rectify what Corvus had told her with the narrative she’d constructed in her own mind. She’d placed Damien St. Vincent in the villain’s role in her head, with a wicked devil tongue that seduced her mother ultimately to her death.
She shook her head, clearing it. “Well, that’s why I’m here. I’m not going to let the same thing happen to Ava Jade. Not if there’s anything I can do to stop it.”
Corvus nodded darkly. “And you would give your own life to save hers?”
It was a loaded fucking question.
“Corv,” I said, giving him a what the fuck look, but he didn’t retract his question, still waiting for Becca to reply.
Becca’s lips pulled down at the edges, but when she answered it was with a conviction I hadn’t seen in her up until now. “Yes. I would. She’s my family, and I owe her my life.”
Her words hit me like a fist to the chest, and a breath caught in my throat.
“You’re forgiven,” Corvus said. “But if you betray her again, I’ll gut you myself.”
She swallowed. “Um. Okay?”
“Grey?” Corvus hedged, waiting for his brother to weigh in.
Grey’s gaze landed on me briefly before he spoke. “You’re good,” he told Becca without looking at her.
She smiled, relieved and pressed her hands together as though giving thanks to god above. “Fuck. That’s so good to hear. I half thought you guys would be the ones to kill me if I came back so…”
She wipes the back of her palm across her forehead, laughing awkwardly. “Dodged a bullet here. Literally.”
The room fell silent, and I went to kneel next to Grey, brushing stray black strands of hair away from Rook’s face. Becca grabbed her suitcase, muttering something about going for a shower to give us some privacy.
“He’ll really be okay?” I asked again, the ashen tone of Rook’s skin making me think otherwise.
Grey took my hand, squeezing it. “Yeah. We’ll take shifts keeping an eye on him, but he’ll be just fine. We’re all going to be.”
I wish I believed him, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were only going to get worse.