Creed
“I see your taste in women hasn’t improved since Josh’s mother,” Kelly said, his face filled with wicked humor. I was too tired to put up with Kelly’s shit today, and he seemed to know it somehow. It was like he could feel everything Creed was feeling. I knew that manic look in his eyes better than anything.
He was looking for a disobedient underling to punish.
I refused to be that underling.
Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “She’s hot, though,” I answered noncommittally. I refused to let him get under my skin.
“I bet. I wouldn’t mind taking her for a ride. I bet she’s a slut behind closed doors, isn’t she?” Kelly licked his lip exaggeratedly, his eyes locked on the back of Ivy’s neck.
I raised my eyebrows, a small smile playing across my lips, but I didn’t say anything. Inside I was seething. “Speaking of sluts, where did Christine wander off to?” I asked, my eyes roaming the room. She had entered the Edge on Kelly’s arm like she owned the place; it was odd she hadn’t clung to him like the tumor she was.
Kelly chuckled darkly, completely ignoring my question. “Does that Ivy let you tie her up? I think she’d look nice doubled over, ropes around her wrists and ankles.”
“I’m sure she would if I wanted that.” I did my best not to look as disgusted as I felt; I’d seen some of the victims of Kelly’s little fetish after he was done with them. I would give almost anything to save Ivy from a similar fate. Fucking sadist.
His eyes gleaming with madness, Kelly grinned at me like an idiot. “I see; you like it when she has her hands free. I bet she knows exactly what to do with those hands.” He turned back again to look at Ivy, his eyes running too freely over her body. “I like sluts that let you choke them. I bet she would look beautiful as I strangled her.”
I swallowed my gut reaction to his twisted fantasies as he kept spelling them out. I wanted to punch him, to kick in that smirk. It took everything I had just to keep my face neutral. Just as Kelly’s sick, twisted little mind got too much for my control, Christine made an entrance, interrupting his train of thought. I could have kissed her as she walked over toward Kelly, moving his mind from Ivy to cartel business.
Unfortunately, Christine also had a few things to say about Ivy, none of them I wanted to hear.
Slithering forward on her impractical heels, Christine’s eyes darkened as they fell on me. She watched me through her thick, black lashes, her eyes nearly black with some kind of emotion. “Well, well, gentlemen. It’s good to see the clubhouse being put back together.” Her manicured fingers wrapped around Kelly’s left arm, even as she tried to stare me down. But I wasn’t in the mood. I kept my eyes locked on hers until she gave up and turned away.
“Where is your tag-a-long, Creed? Or did she give up and go back to Mommy and Daddy?” Christine asked, her mouth turned up in something that looked more like a threat than a smile. She was still wearing that blood-red lipstick, her green eyes surrounded by glittering eye shadow. Her blonde hair fell around her shoulders loose in long, golden waves.
“Ivy spent the whole day helping us clean up the clubhouse,” I answered calmly, doing my best to keep my face bored. “She did more than some of the others,” I finished, pointedly, wanting to piss off Christine enough that she would leave. Instead, she seemed to see my reply as some kind of challenge.
“Amazing that someone so weak and brittle could manage to do anything constructive,” she snapped, her emerald-green eyes narrowing at me.
I could feel my shoulders tighten at the pathetic jealousy in her tone, but I forced myself to breathe. “Yes, she injured both hands, but still managed to help with the construction. I think I misjudged her.”
Remember, if they kill you, both Ivy and Josh will no longer be protected under the Edge’s rules. They’ll either kill them both or worse. If I repeated it to myself enough, perhaps I would be able to remain calm through the rest of this horrible conversation.
Christine bristled at my words, fire in her eyes. “That bitch still has no spine, and you know it.”
Kelly was amused, watching me closely for the telltale signs of me losing my temper. But the thoughts of Ivy and Josh’s faces cooled my temper as fast as ice water.
“I’d like to help her find her spine,” Kelly whispered, his eyes too wide, his smile too big. He looked like some kind of crazed cartoon villain. I shivered a little, but managed to keep a lid over my disgust.
“Come now,” Christine answered, batting her lashes up at Kelly. “You could do much better than that little piece of trash. She can’t even stand up for herself!”
I made the mistake of glancing over at Ivy; her shoulders were tense and her head hung down. She’s heard Christine’s words, and I could feel my rage at that choking me as it filled my throat.
“It’s true,” I whispered quietly, my eyes locked on Christine. “I could never really want some girl who doesn’t know how to get what she wants. Someone who is afraid to grab life and just take it.”
A shiver went through Christine’s body as I eyed her. Thankfully, it subdued her jealously long enough to get her to shut up. Her mouth seemed locked closed around her words, like she was too surprised to say anything properly. Wide-eyed, she just stared at me, then glanced at Ivy, then back.
Before either she or Kelly could come up with something else to say, I nodded to them both. “Bax has a bottle of beer with my name on it.”
Kelly dismissed me with a wave of his head, his mad amusement still stretching his features. I shivered, unable to suppress it. I made my way over to when Bax was sitting with Josh. My eyes automatically looked for Ivy, but she was no longer there.
“Hi, Dad,” Josh whispered as I walked over. His eyes looked glazed over, like he was exhausted and doing his best to hide it. The poor kid’s eyes seemed to stick closed every time he blinked.
Bax chuckled at Josh, looking him over with eyes full of affection. It was odd to think that Josh had more than just me to defend him. Maybe, even if something happened to me, Josh would make it out okay. I really hope so; that last conversation with Kelly and Christine had made up my mind.
I was going to meet with Carlos.
It was insane, and I was almost guaranteed to be caught and killed. But I was running out of good options. I wanted Christine away from Ivy, away from my son, and away from the Devil’s Edge forever. And if that meant coming together with Carlos to make a plan to take out Kelly, then so be it. I would make a deal with any devil to keep my people safe.
They are my people. As little as I want to run this place, I’ve been thinking like a leader a lot more often these last few months. Perhaps it was because Kelly had spent so little time acting like one. Or maybe it was something else.
If only Kelly had left me another choice. But there was more crazy in his eyes every single day. And now, looking down at my son, I could see the worry in his tiny face. I saw it echoed in most of the eyes of every in the Edge; they would fall or rise by Kelly’s actions.
And his actions weren’t ever going to any one of us any good.
I could feel the weight of my decision heavy on my shoulders, dragging me down along a river of self-doubt. I questioned myself again and again, and yet always came to the same conclusion.
“Come on, Josh; time to get some rest, kiddo,” I told him. He nodded sleepily, his head lolling a little on his neck. “Before you pass out.”