Fourth a Lie

A guard grabbed my elbow, dragging me away from Sully.

And Sully let go of his leash.

Even with imperfect eyes and bound hands, he still moved like the immortal ruler of this island. One second, he stood stoic. The next, he charged past me and threw himself at Drake, knocking both of them to the tile.

With his hands tied, he used both in a single strike. A heavy club of knuckles crunching right into Drake’s cheekbone. “I’ll fucking kill you before you touch—”

“Get off him!” Three of the guards bolted to the grappling brothers, jerking Sully off Drake and kicking his legs out from beneath him to slam him to his knees. Sully howled as blood bloomed through his bandage on his thigh. Three guns wedged against his skull as he kneeled, panting and snarling, a true wolf hidden within a human skin.

The fourth guard continued trapping Jealousy and me, his attention on the chaos, but his weapon sweeping between us.

Drake cursed and shoved himself to his feet, touching his swollen cheek and smearing the streak of blood from his perforated skin. “That’s the last time you touch me, cocksucker.”

Sully seethed on the floor, his chest drenched in sweat from pain and adrenaline. “The last time I touch you is when I take your godforsaken life.”

Grabbing a handful of Sully’s roguish hair and yanking his head back, Drake spat directly into his face. “I’m tired of your bullshit, Sullivan. I’m tired of being nice to you. You just ensured I’m not just gonna fuck your girl tonight, but I’m also gonna kill her all while she rides my dick. And the best part? She’ll be so fucking high on whatever you’ve created in your special little labs that she won’t even care. She won’t remember you. She won’t miss you. She’ll thank me for giving her the best fuck of her miserable little life.”

Sully punched Drake square in his guts.

Two guards punched him in return.

“Stop!” I dashed forward, earning a gun to my temple. “Stop it. Just...leave him be and I’ll—”

“Hear that, Sullivan? Your whore is begging for your life. She’s fighting your battles for you because you’re a worthless piece of shit and always have been.”

Turning his back on Sully, Drake commanded, “Bring her here. Now!”

The guard dragged me away from Jealousy and across the sandstone tiles, dumping me in front of Drake as the three men ringing Sully kept their guns digging into his nape, making him bow forward, his bound hands between his spread legs, blood oozing through his bandage, and his eyes sparking red and blue fire.

He’d never been so inhuman, so consumed with nefarious wrath.

I trembled as Drake grabbed the rope around my wrists and untied me. “Do you like watching him be hurt, pretty Jinx?”

Gritting my teeth, I swallowed back the temptation to return the favour of spitting in his face. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re a temptress and a fighter. I think you’re not above using your body to get what you want. I think you’ll do whatever it takes to save him...even if it means sacrificing yourself.”

I balled my hands, glad they were no longer tied. “You know nothing about me.”

“Oh, no?” Arching his chin at the guards ringing Sully, he barked, “Shoot him in the foot.”

Spinning around, I ran as fast as I could. I leaped through the sky and landed on Sully’s lap. He grunted as I hurt his stitched leg. He shuddered as I shouted with every passion and pain in my lungs. “Don’t!” I glowered at the men with guns. I straddled Sully and stared them down. “Don’t you dare!”

Drake’s applause filled my ears, his laughter sent sickness washing through me. “Thanks for proving my point, Jinx.” Snapping his fingers again, he barked, “Bring her back here. Don’t shoot my brother.”

It was the worst pain imaginable being torn from Sully’s body. Removed from his heat, his power, his love. Our eyes locked, even as I was dragged away and shoved back into my position in front of Drake.

Sully hadn’t spoken a word, almost as if he couldn’t remember how to articulate, too consumed with the feral savagery of ripping out his brother’s throat. His nostrils flared with every breath. He never surrendered even as the three guards once again dug their guns into the back of his head, making him fold over his knees.

Jealousy padded toward me and Drake, the only one of us with some margin of freedom. She stopped beside me, staring at Drake with a coldness I’d never seen on her. A familiar hate that said she’d known men like Drake before. That she’d endured her own torment and come out the other side intact.

Her voice snipped with disgust. “I’m tired. I’m hungry. I’m not feeling very well, and I’m sure I speak on behalf of both my master and my friend that no one wants any more bloodshed.”

“Jealousy...” Sully growled. “Shut up.”

She didn’t look at him, keeping her stare pinned on Drake. “Sullivan won’t be cooperative, no matter how many guns you point at him. He only cares about Eleanor, so unless you’ve figured out how to work Euphoria on your own, you need someone else to help you.”

“Jess!” Sully bellowed.

Oh, God, what is she doing?

Drake smirked. “And I suppose you know how his virtual reality works?”

Jealousy flicked me a look, hiding her loyalty or her deception, I didn’t know. “I do. Sullivan regularly trusted me to load a guest’s program and insert a goddess into his VR.”

My heart hammered as I whispered, “Jealousy, please...”

“I’ll show you. I’ll load you safely into any program already cyphered by Sullivan...if you promise to leave Jinx alive once you’ve had her.”

Sully stayed silent, his anger pulsing behind me.

Drake snickered. “And why would you do that? You’re in love with her too?”

“She’s my friend. I don’t want her to die just because you have a feud with your brother.”

“Jealousy...Jess.” I reached with my unbound hands, touching hers. “He’ll kill all of us, or make us wish he had. Don’t bargain with him—”

“Done,” Drake snapped. Reaching for Jealousy’s rope, he released her and smirked. “Show me.”

Jealousy swallowed hard and padded toward the cupboards hiding the trolleys stocked with sensors and reality distorters. Sully groaned under his breath as she wheeled one toward me and flicked me an unreadable look.

What the hell is she doing?

“Jinx...” Her voice cracked, but she arched her chin and cleared her throat. “Can you remove your dress...please?”

Sully snarled, “For fuck’s sake—”

“Quiet, unless you want another hole in your leg,” Drake yelled. He waved his hand at Jealousy. “Continue. I like where this is going.”

I shuddered as Jealousy moved toward me, resting her hands on my shoulders and plucking at the straps of my dress. Her lips touched my ear; her whisper slipped into my being. “Please...just trust me.”

Whipping back, I narrowed my eyes. I needed to know what she had planned. What was her end goal? What did she think this would achieve other than Sully’s last life force on the floor?

Her hazel gaze held no secrets or sins as she stared at me with imploring need, risking herself so I would risk accepting her help.