THE SACRIFICE: Secret Society Romance (4Horsemen Series Book 3) Read online

  Grimm and Kennedy exchanged a look that was so clear I could have eaten off it- they had joined forces against me.

  Pushing past me, I felt her purposely brush against my legs trying to get a pan from the lower cabinets, “I’m still mad at you if it wasn’t obvious…” She buzzed around the kitchen gathering supplies and making breakfast like it was normal. We never cooked breakfast before, that was Indigo's job.

  “Where’s Indigo? Why isn’t she doing that?” I quipped, still eating my cereal, not at all jealous she was cooking for Grimm, her new teammate.

  I got voted off the island while I was asleep apparently. Who knew we were playing Survivor.

  Fucking Survivor as if my life wasn’t on the brink of death as it is.

  Kennedy got this look in her eye, seething with anger, when she turned towards me. “Oh, I’m sorry, did you not get to say goodbye while you were sulking in your room? Indigo is gone. So is Aubrey, Claudia, Dahlia, Heidi, Jasmine, Maisy, Tessa, Nicole, Olivia, Frankie, Sophia, Uma, Winter, Rosey, and Xylia but you were too busy stuffing your fingers in your ears singing la la la.”

  “Fuck me. What did I do to you? Shark week isn’t for another few weeks, don't chum the water now.”

  My cereal bowl flew out of my hands, landing on the kitchen floor in pieces, soggy, with almond milk spilling all over making me wanna cry despite the popular phrase. “What the fuck, Kennedy!”

  She stood right in front of me looking worse than when she was when determined to kill Grimm, only holding a spatula this time. “You really are dense. You still don’t get it. I’m not your mom, girlfriend, or camp counselor, Khaos. I’m supposed to be your friend. You couldn’t even just be there to say goodbye and help with their luggage because moping around worked better for you while you must’ve eaten whatever the fuck was on the floor of your room for the past few days. Old chips and Starbursts? These girls ranked lower than that? Where do I rank?”

  Jumping down from the countertop, I wrapped my arms around Kennedy as she cracked eggs into the pan for her and Grimm. “I’m not giving you any. Go clean up your mess.”

  That was the thing about us, we would fight and make up a few times a day, nothing that bad but I knew how to fix it. I pursed my lips against her ear, whispering, “I’m really sorry, okay? I avoided it because it’s the end of an era and I shouldn’t have forced you to deal with it. You’re my best homie. Always will be.”

  Kennedy practically melted in my arms the way she always did. See? No babying and more touching, always works.

  “I’m still mad at you…” her voice rang out with less anger this time when I shouted to Grimm to jump aboard. We were going on a trip in my favorite rocket ship - hugs.

  Grimm broke off, “I’m allergic to whatever it is you’re doing right now. I’ve already fucked her and let her try to kill me so that’s enough touching for a lifetime. I need to shower before the fuckery tonight. Where are the normal clothes?”

  He refused to get in on the group hug, picking his poison, so now he had to dress up. I was going to let it slide.

  “If you’re staying, you have to dress up,” turning around with Kennedy still in my arms I watched his face turn from bored to sour.

  Standing up, he pushed his phone to his ear walking out of the room. I could hear Abigail’s voice on the other end probably wondering if I kidnapped her husband. I followed him, leaving Kennedy in the kitchen, snatching the phone from his hand to talk to Abigail while I grabbed a rag off the stove’s handle.

  Kens doesn’t repeat herself with words, normally punches come next, so I dropped to my hands and knees. “How’s Miss Daisy?” Pushing the rag into the almond milk I was already annoyed this wasn’t working. Messes weren’t easy to clean up and Kens made it real fucking clear with this task.

  Abigail’s voice was like angels singing, calm with every bit of knowledge wrapped up into innocence- well, as much innocence as you could have while married to the Reaper.

  Okay, maybe a fallen angel.

  “Daisy? How about where is my husband, Khaos? We have a baby...,” her voice dropped into a whisper crawling into my ear. “He can’t hear me, right? Thank god. I needed a few days to myself. What’s going on?”

  I almost laughed, but I stifled it in my throat when I shifted right into gear, “There’s no reason to yell. I’m taking accountability all day today.” Pushing the broken bowl and cereal into the rag, I dumped it all in the garbage before I jogged to the couch throwing myself into privacy with Abigail.

  Whispering into the phone, “I’m in love. It’s an adjustment period. Your man is here making sure I don’t off myself or some shit.”

  Abigail’s voice vibrated with enthusiasm as she filled my ear with excitement. Finally feeling relaxed, I felt my body sink into the couch, all this accountability left me tired again. This was the hardest working day of my life.

  GRACE

  The party was in full swing, DJ blaring remixes from the top of the water slide, and the smell of a taco bar trying to convince me to not drink on an empty stomach, but I was a mess. Every time someone walked by me into the party, I lost all focus on caging the butterflies in my stomach.

  Khaos spotted Ears wearing a windbreaker pushed up his elbows, a thick smear of sunscreen, and red trunks - a dead giveaway he was from Baywatch. I watched their fists pound as he looked around him for me. I even heard him ask where I was before I came out of hiding behind Ears’s tall frame.

  He had been studying my figure for weeks now and this bathing suit was a billboard for every curve I knew was only a sharp turn into something worse. With my short blonde hair pushed to one side I was putting in a lot of effort to look comfortable even though I wasn’t.

  Not really.

  No, this was for him and only him. It might as well have been lingerie and this party a bedroom with the way I felt putting this much effort into my outfit.

  The suit was like a glove fitting like latex, well enough to make sure his eyes would scan down between us. I went all out minus the wig, adding the windbreaker on my boyish frame with fluffy socks and 80’s shoes. My natural tan just amplified the whole vision of being a Baywatch girl.

  “Whoa… there's my girl,” His smile grew as his eyes met mine before they slowly took in my body, making me blush as he walked closer pushing Ears out of the way.

  I felt like a wet dream and his expression was making me feel hot like Halloween.

  I wanted him to wrap his arms around me and hoist me up against him again, but I was fully aware there weren't overalls between us this time. He couldn’t possibly be playing by his rules anymore though, not after our texts. Albeit I was ready to break all of them even if he wasn’t.

  The thought of being his girl already had me smiling as he stood so close to me that I was inhaling his scent of fabric softener, fruity candy, and pot stuck to his skin like leftovers.

  With a smirk tugging on my lips, I asked him at a distance that made my knees buckle, “It’s obvious what I am but what are you?”

  Leaning into me even more, I felt his fingers push my hair back behind my ear with such a gentle touch I thought I imagined it, “A lovesick victim… Cupid is around here somewhere shooting off arrows. Better watch out, babe.”

  That small laugh he always got out of me had my hand flying up to cover my mouth like it was some kind of horrible dysfunction. I watched his tongue smooth across his lips as his eyes dropped down to my mouth remembering the conversation we had last about where those fingers were. Whispering into my ear again, I finally caught up to my ragged breath when I heard him say, “You look fucking beautiful.”

  The laugh I had watered down to a smile when I realized if I didn’t get some space, I was going to combust right against him.

  Walking by without any push back, I heard his grated voice shout above the music, “Run, I’ll keep chasing.” That’s all it took for a second glance at Cupid’s victim when I threw him the same smile over my shoulder.

  I didn’t expect to be greeted
by Kennedy when her hands brushed against my cheeks and our lips collided. Her lips were covered in a grainy kind of lip gloss I could feel trying to exfoliate mine when her mouth opened to taste me. Surprisingly, there was no Molly or any other kind of pill on her tongue sneaking its way into my mouth this time.

  Pulling away, I saw her look at Khaos like she was starting a war and now I was in the middle.

  Whispering between us I asked, “Do you have any more Molly? I like the way it makes me feel…”

  Kennedy laughed, wrapping her arm around my neck and showing me to the bar, “The party is only just getting started, Birdy. Khaos is hoarding the party favors because of what happened last time but maybe if you ask really nicely, he’ll let us have some fun.”

  She followed my eyes looking at the tattooed hottie popping something in his mouth and chasing it with water. I wanted to chase anything down with the amount of Khaos I still had lingering on my body and that was only in my imagination.

  Introducing the stranger, Kennedy pushed me closer to him, “Grimm, this is Birdy, Khaos’s special friend.” The guy apparently went by Grimm, but I couldn’t say shit when Birdy, Ears, Khaos, and Dove weren’t even our real names. All fake names to protect some part of us too raw for this world.

  I heard the word special, loud and clear. It had a nice ring to it.

  Grimm looked me up and down but not in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. He was taking inventory for any obvious ways I could hurt Khaos.

  Only the least obvious - with my name.

  “So, you’re the girl he chose over a house full of girlfriends.” I looked around the party for the normal faces that surrounded Khaos but I came up short.

  A tightness around my heart flexed and I wondered what he meant by that. I was too afraid to ask and get the confirmation I wanted. We weren’t breaking rules anymore, we were rewriting the whole damn book and we didn’t have to consider anyone else anymore.

  I bit down on my lips to stop from smiling at all the mini fantasies blooming in my mind.

  Grimm didn’t look nearly as annoying as Khaos which was begging the real question of how they were friends. He protested with us a few times without saying even that many words. “And you’re the strong silent type, right Birdy? We all have our parts in his play.”

  I made a good impression regardless of not wanting to impress his friends. The only person who needed to feel impressed was already stalking me and now we were a few texts off from phone sex so whatever I did and said now was a free for all.

  I wouldn’t want him to feel like he needed approval and vice versa. Us wanting each other wasn’t subject to our gatekeepers giving us a thumbs up.

  Grimm stood up taller before a sideways smirk took over his face making him almost look friendly, “I like you for him. Hardass in a way he needs.”

  I felt someone’s hands on my hips and a body at my back when a head rush sent my body into a kind of euphoric state even without the Molly as I realized it was Khaos. Focusing on his touch grasping around my hips he spoke, “Don’t get any ideas. I like this one.”

  Not moving, I whispered to myself when I meant to just think it, “I thought touching was against the rules…” Grimm popped an eyebrow, and my eyes came up to join in the conversation when I realized I did in fact speak out loud.

  Letting myself fall back into him more, I soaked up being this close as the music only fed to speeding up my heart rate. I felt his hot breath on my neck, “I always break my rules for you.”

  “Just not the ones I want you to break…” my entire mouth went dry and my voice choppy like I couldn’t breathe with him this close to me.

  “Okay, that’s enough. I have guys I want to introduce Birdy to so no monopolizing all her time, Khaos.” Kennedy tugged at my wrist and I could still feel the warmth from his hands on my hips even though she cut through all the tension like a knife. Her devious smirk shouted make your move to Khaos as I got dragged away.

  I didn’t say a word when Kennedy handed me her solo cup calling it liquid courage, prepping me to meet some guys. “I only ever see you around that guy Ears, so I figured you needed some other male energy in your life, not more chaos so to speak.”

  Girlfriends with your best interest at heart that don’t want to shank you because your shower had hot water? Juvie was the only example I had of girls who were supposed to be friends.

  Now I was waiting for the sharp edge.

  Putting on my brave but bored face, I walked along with her until she stopped in front of a very cute guy who was clean cut and didn’t smell like cigars or pot. If Khaos and Dove were ends of the spectrum then this kid was smack dab in the middle somewhere. If I said gang gang he would think I was using slang and not alluding to my real life.

  Smiling softly and awkwardly, I let him be interested in my costume more than he was me.

  Kennedy smacked my ass, leaving us to chat when she whispered, “Go with it. I’m on team Khaos.”

  Squinting at her, I tried to figure out her game here when it smacked me right on the ass along with her hand- jealousy, the oldest trick in the book. I wanted to be good at this - fake flirting, laughing, letting guys like me, but I wasn’t. I was awkward and trying to hide my curves in an outfit that made that impossible.

  An outfit made for Khaos not for this guy to gawk at.

  “How’d you get roped into this?” I was trying to focus on his words when my eyes drifted off trying to find Khaos in the crowd.

  “Talking or the party?" His eyes popped open wider and I realized I just insulted him when I insinuated he was forced into this conversation. He was, but now he was thinking I was a bitch instead of just lacking social graces.

  Backtracking, I ate my words, “Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I know Khaos, kind of.”

  The guy wagged his brows like it was a curse not a blessing to know someone so over the top. “Kind of? Least you aren’t one of the delusional girls living in his house. That’s not going to end well.”

  I was soaking up the conversation while still scanning the crowd for Khaos, Kennedy, Ears, or Grimm. It was like trying to find fucking Waldo.

  That’s who he should have gone as, not a victim of Cupid.

  Either way he was still wearing a shirt.

  “They signed up for it. You can’t fault him for liking what he likes,” now I was defending him.

  The clean-cut single guy I was supposed to be flirting with made a face before taking a step closer to me, letting his fingers brush my hip.

  Just go with it, I kept telling myself even though I tensed up the same way I did when Dove touches me.

  Just when I prepared myself to take it and trust Kennedy, I heard a wild splash into the pool behind me. Turning out of his touch I saw Khaos pretending to drown, “Help! Help! I need a lifeguard…”

  Khaos had a way of minimizing your insecurities in a way that made you feel so much taller. Strutting over to him I stood there looking at him when Ears appeared by my side.

  “What do you think? Should we call it? I’m not getting in and you’re the only one who can swim.”

  Khaos was convincing, if I didn’t know he surfed then I would believe the performance.

  “It’s a crime to fake your own death…” I watched him spit out water as I squatted down in front of him.

  All the glitter was coating his face and the highlighter on his sharp cheekbones was a spotlight on his features. His plain black shirt with a bleeding heart was on the edge of the pool and the glitter had traveled down his body.

  I was admiring him from the dry edge when his hands on the tiles helped his muscles tense. “Romeo and Juliet, babe. The plan is always to fake our deaths and be together.”

  Before I could blush or smile, he pulled me into the warm pool. Breaking out above the surface I tousled my hair back and found the ledge trying to let my lungs expand.

  How was I supposed to swim when no part of my body seemed to work right in his presence?

  It didn’t take
Khaos long to bully the space between us, caving me in against the side of the pool, his wet lips looking like they’d devour me.

  He was a mess, a beautiful one that was going to get me killed if I wasn’t careful with reality.

  Water droplets were rippling off between us when he whispered, “I’m not a violent man but if he touches you one more time, I’ll muster up something.”

  My mouth was still gaping open, staring at him with his wet hair invading his features from not being pushed back, his tattoos even glossier, and the fact that he still smelled like candy.

  I felt his hand at the small of my back as he snuck a few more inches between us. “Wasn’t my idea…”

  “You’re the most powerful woman I know, you don’t sit pretty and take anything. You wanted me jealous.”

  His words drained me of all the power he gave me and I was bleeding out into the pool.

  You don’t sit pretty and take anything. If he only knew everything in my life I have to take and pretty is just a cherry on top of that shit sundae.

  I wanted to be the way he saw me all the time, but it was just a symptom of him, of Khaos.

  “It’s a good look on you but maybe not for your girlfriends’ sakes.”

  He didn’t flinch or tense but something in between the two happened when I mentioned girlfriends. “I’m working on that… I owed them one last night of fun.”

  I watched his eyes look around with the upbeat music playing and party ensuing, yet his body was mourning.

  In one move I pressed my hands to the tiles and lifted myself up not realizing my ass was barely above water and eye level for him.

  Looking over my shoulder, I saw him biting his knuckles still trying not to touch me.

  I should have felt bad about robbing his girlfriends of their last meal before whatever kind of life waited for them outside of these protective walls. I guess stealing wasn’t just my second nature - it was first...