Third a Kiss

Neptune bowed her head. Jupiter stopped crying, her despair quaking until her teeth rattled.

Releasing my cock, I fisted the shirt over my heart, and confessed to them, even if I would never have the balls to confess to Eleanor. “And this…this also belongs to her. No one else, do you understand? It happened against my will. It happened despite your tricks. It’s done, and no matter your schemes, it can’t be undone, which means you’ve just signed your death warrants because how can I let you live after you tried to kill the owner of my goddamn heart?”

It was Neptune’s turn to cry.

Big droplets spilled from her eyes, dipping into the curve of her mouth. “We’re sorry, Sullivan. We made a mistake.”

“You did. A huge fucking mistake.” I nodded and dropped to my knees in front of them. Calico remained in the dirt that’d become her coffin, but there were two other goddesses to end.

“Don’t. We promise we—”

I cut off Jupiter’s plea with a hand around her throat. Two hands curled around two necks.

If I had another weapon, I would’ve used a different method of extermination. I was tired of such gentle homicide. A blade would be sharp and deliver a quick message. A gun would be brutal, sending them to the afterlife with a squeeze of a trigger.

Strangulation was personal.

Far too intimate with the way my skin glued to theirs, their pulse hammering against my fingers, their feeble attempts at freedom leaving marks upon my body.

They both thrashed, both scratched, both tried to run, but my arms were strong from scaling waterfalls and miles of swimming. My fingers ruthless in power.

I kept squeezing until their attempts at breathing grew weaker.

Footsteps crashed through the jungle, trading the pristine path for unkempt undergrowth. “Sir…stop.”

Sir.

Cal’s insider joke.

He liked to call me sir when he believed I needed reminding of my place as ruler. Either as a mockery because of how high and mighty I’d acted, or a slap to make me human after slipping into hell.

I’d never liked him calling me sir. It unbalanced our friendship. But in that moment, it did exactly what he’d intended.

It woke me up.

It brought me back.

I ripped my hands from the two girls just as they toppled into silence.

Ah, shit.

He jogged to my side as I stood up, rubbing sweaty palms on my trousers. The heat of their terror still soaked into my palms, twisting my guts.

I’d killed women before.

But only those who’d proved too far gone to be redeemed. Jupiter and Neptune…they weren’t evil. Just two girls who had the unfortunate fate of being sold to me.

Cal slammed to his knees, laying both on their backs and performing CPR, going between the two. I grabbed my phone and called Dr Campbell.

He answered on the first ring, as if he’d sensed I’d done something monstrous. “Bring four stretchers and staff. You have a few patients to attend to. We’re off the path by the main beach.”

I hung up before he could ask questions.

He’d give me grief about this. He might even quit, but as my eyes once again landed on Eleanor, I didn’t give a fuck.

They deserved their lesson even if I wasn’t owed their life.

I honoured the value of Goddess Jinx, the girl who could never know the power she held over me.

Going to her side, I helped her into a sitting position. “You okay?”

She groaned and rubbed her throat, swallowing a few times before croaking, “Yes, I think so.” Looking past me, she blanched. “Oh, God…Sully. What did you do?”

I didn’t look over my shoulder at the three bodies. “They hurt you. They were punished.”

Cold.

Factual.

The truth.

Chapter Eleven

DR CAMPBELL KEPT ME for observation for three hours.

He flatly refused Cal and Sully to enter his surgery after he witnessed the four of us, all with fingerprints around our throats, all strangled to unconsciousness, all at the mercy of a monster.

Only difference was, Sully had touched me with aggression in the height of lust. Our pain was mutual. Our pleasure shared.

Unlike the three goddesses who he’d almost killed. They’d had no mutual lust; they’d felt nothing but fear.

I knew I should feel vindicated. I should be honoured by what he’d done to extract vengeance in my honour.

Instead, I just felt terribly sad.

Sad for them.

Sad for him.

Sad for this whole messed-up island.

“Are they okay, Doctor?” I asked quietly as Dr Campbell returned from the closed door leading to where Jupiter, Neptune, and Calico had been taken. I didn’t remember anything after I’d passed out. The next recollection I had was waking up here with a splitting headache and a very sore neck.

He smiled gently, his weathered face crinkling behind his half-moon glasses. “How are you? That’s the answer I’m more interested in.” He came over to me, ignoring my enquiry. Taking my wrist, he counted my pulse before smiling gently. “Your vitals are good, and your tests came back clear. I’m confident you’ll be no worse for wear.”

“And them? Will they be alright?”

His gaze shadowed. “Maybe it’s time to send you back to your villa. You can continue recuperating in a nicer environment than a boring doctor’s surgery.”

My temper grew a little. “Will you tell me how they are?”

He patted my knee. “In a little while. Patient confidentiality and all.”

His refusals made my thoughts go wild. Had Sully killed them?

Oh, God.

I agreed they deserved to have consequences. After all, they’d tried to kill me.

But murder?

It sat like a slime-covered boulder in my belly, seeping noxious worry into my blood.

Was Sully that literal? That black and white?

A life for a life.

The awful part was, I already knew he was capable of such a thing. I’d sensed it the moment we met. He lived his life firmly between those two colours. There were no shades of grey to him, no leniency or second chances.

My stomach clenched.

I’m going to be sick.

My body wanted to expunge the slime inside because how could I be in love with a man who could be so vicious? A man who could kill so easily that it didn’t steal a large chunk of his soul?

I didn’t find that romantic.

I found it barbaric and frankly…fucking terrifying.

If he could eradicate three women who’d lived with him for years…what would he do to me if I did something he didn’t approve of?

Was that why he was so adamant against feeling something for me? Because he knew what he was capable of? That the first sign of an argument or disagreement could result in my heart being stopped by his ruthless hand?

I trembled in silence as Dr Campbell picked up the phone by his desk and called someone to escort me to my villa.

For the first time, I wanted that someone to be anyone but Sully.

I’d be fine with Arbi—the over diligent third-in-command. I’d be fine with Cal and his cool mocking stare. I’d even settle for one of the many inconspicuous guards who patrolled the shores, keeping us safe but also preventing us from swimming away.

But of course, my wishes went unanswered.