Invictus, page 15
“You can’t leave your weapon behind like that, you stupid bitch.” His eyes blaze, and he tosses my knife into the water beyond us. Then his mouth is covering mine, his tongue plundering me as he seals his long body with mine.
I push him back and slap his face hard. We stare each other down, the animal in me mirroring the one in him. I see a kindred lost soul, and my hands grip his neck, pulling him closer again, kissing him with violent ferocity, biting his lip. He growls deep in his throat, his hands slipping up into my skirt, tearing my gauzy panties to shreds and tossing what’s left of them overboard to follow my knife. I hear the bodice of my dress rip as he exposes my breasts to the night air, his warm mouth immediately covering one of my nipples, sucking hard enough to make me hiss.
Someone clears their throat, and we both freeze. Turning slowly, we see August standing a few feet away. I can actually hear my pulse thudding in my ears as Robbie shoves me away, and I stumble back against the frigid metal. August strolls up to us, and his uncharacteristic casual stance has me ready to jump overboard, regardless of how cold the water must be. Robbie sucks in a breath.
“Aug—” he starts, his tone begging forgiveness, but August holds up a hand and shakes his head. He turns to me.
“The sight of blood.” August smiles down at me, like I’m the loveliest thing he’s ever seen. “It’s her aphrodisiac.”
He directs the observation to Robbie, who turns to me, considering, while August runs his hand across my exposed breasts.
“Mine too.” Robbie’s wide eyes find mine, shining with excitement, like we’re kids on a playdate that just found out we have the same superhero.
“She tastes good, doesn’t she?” August asks him, a small smile toying with the corner of his lips.
“Yeah,” Robbie concedes, still looking at his brother as if he might erupt. When August nods, pulling my hair out of its up do, Robbie continues with more confidence. “Really, really good.”
“Wait till you see how she feels.” August kisses me, lingering and sensual. He pulls back and gestures at me, as if offering Robbie his place in line. Robbie pauses, but then a devious grin appears, and he nears me, taking another ravenous taste. Our teeth click against one another’s, and when he pulls away, he looks at his brother, seeking approval.
“You keep asking why Tash is here, Robbie.” August is emphatic, his cool façade cracking, as he puts a hand on the back of his brother’s neck. Their foreheads touch, and Robbie’s eyes glisten in greedy response. “I saw her and I tracked her…and I just knew. I had to have her…for you.”
Robbie and August stare each other down, and I wonder if I should be afraid, flattered, or insulted. Before I can formulate a sound opinion, Robbie is nodding, his wide smile returning and he circles behind me.
August steps up before me, his eyes snaring mine as his hands snake into my hair.
“I’m so sorry we don’t have more time.” August whispers in my ear as I feel the back of my skirt flip up. Confused, I open my mouth to demand explanation, but August claims my lips, breathing his secret wants into me, while Robbie’s nakedness presses against my bare ass. I moan against August’s salty lips, fumbling with his fly, as I feel Robbie’s rock-hard cock pressing against my entrance.
A frenzied mass of lips, hands, and tongues is all we are now, and it’s not long before they’re both buried inside me, rocking me between them in rhythm with the lapping waves beneath us.
The first rays of sunlight appear over the water as the driver pulls up to August’s flat. Robbie is asleep on my shoulder, which is throbbing from his deep teeth marks. I shiver beneath his tuxedo jacket, which is all I’m wearing. I’m ready for him to turn and rip out my throat, that’s how little I trust him even now. I still ache deliciously from the waist down, my body recovering from their lustful assault, yet I’m ashamed to admit I crave further abuse. I’ve disposed of my bloody, ripped gown and trashed shoes, burning them in the boiler room while the brothers disposed of Dick. The anchor they placed in his suitcoat pretty much guarantees no one will ever find him.
“You should really be more careful,” August had lectured as he’d hosed Dick’s blood off of the deck after dousing it repeatedly with a bleach-water solution. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to Robbie or me, but I guess it didn’t matter, since it applied to both of us equally.
After every detail was dealt with, all three of us walked a few miles around the lake to have breakfast at an all-night diner. The place was pretty empty, so it was a quiet affair, as we ate in remarkably comfortable silence. After, we hailed an Uber, and August kept me armed with his body until they arrived while Robbie smoked a cigarette a few feet away. The driver gave me a long onceover when he saw what I was wearing, but Robbie’s coat was longer on me than some of the gowns women had been wearing the night before, so I wasn’t feeling particularly embarrassed.
Now that we’d arrived at the flat, Auggie tips the man generously in cash, while I cautiously nudge Robbie awake.
“We’re home.” I watch as his head snaps up, an innocent expression making him look like a young boy. He blinks rapidly and shuffles out of the car after me. The driver pulls away, and we gravitate to August, who’s already at the front door with the key in the lock. He’s standing stalk still, and suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end.
“August?” I croak, just as he collapses on the spot, his body slapping the ground.
“Auggie!” Robbie blurts, as August spasms and convulses on the cement before our eyes.
“Seizure,” I snap, recognizing what was happening from yet another blessed experience from my foster days. I rip off the tux coat with no concern for my nudity.
“Help me.” I demand as I struggle to put the coat under August’s head in an attempt to protect him from the abrasive surface. The crotch of his trousers darkens, and the smell of urine is overpowering.
“Help him!” Robbie cries, both of his hands in his hair. “Please! You’ve got to make it stop!”
My legs won’t stop shaking.
No matter how much I dig my fingers into my fucking knees, they won’t stop.
I never knew that August was sick because he seemed normal, on the outside at least. He’s resting peacefully in his bed right now since Atasha managed to work some kind of Hail Mary bullshit on him to help him through the seizure.
I haven’t cried as hard as I did when his body crumpled in years. Hell, maybe in my entire fucking life.
I’ve never seen him in such a vulnerable state and it scared me. I can admit that to myself now.
I, Trent Robert Grant, was afraid of something for the first time in my fucking life.
I let out my breath in a rush and run my hands back through my hair, yanking at the collar of the dress shirt. It feels so fucking tight around my neck now and I have to choke back another sob as the memory of August’s body shuddering on the cement floods my mind again.
I lean forward, placing my head between my knees, and bite down on my tongue, drawing blood. I can taste the copper as it begins to gently flow, but I don’t care. If it means saving Auggie from whatever the fuck just happened to him—if it means never having to see that shit ever again, I’ll gladly bite my own tongue off along with whatever parts of myself I’d have to sacrifice to make sure that my big brother is okay.
“You alright?”
I gasp as I sit upright again, using the back of my hand to wipe the blood from my lips. Atasha is leaning in the doorway of the living room and she looks genuinely concerned for my well-being.
“How’s Auggie? Can I see him?” I ask, ignoring her question.
“In a little while,” she replies with a sigh as she enters the room, dropping into Auggie’s spot across from me.
I resent her for sitting in his chair, but I can’t help but appreciate her for saving his life.
How I feel about Atasha is becoming a fucking conundrum because she’s the reason I haven’t been able to spend time alone with him, yet her actions will give me another chance to do so.
“Thanks,” I say with a solemn nod. “For, um—”
“Don’t mention it,” she responds, holding up her hand. “I figure it’s the least I can do.”
I raise an eyebrow at her. The least she can do? Does my brother’s life mean so little to her that she’s reduced her heroism to a random favor?
“I’d appreciate it if you let me finish my thought,” I snap at her. Atasha rolls her eyes and leans her head back on the chair, but relents and waves an arm in the air. “I was trying to thank you for saving Auggie’s life—even though it apparently doesn’t seem to be as valuable to you as it is to me. Is this your gag? You run around saving rich men that you’re fucking so you know you’ll be taken care of when they die?”
My voice catches in my throat.
I can’t believe that those words came out of my mouth. Not because of how cruel they were to Atasha, because I don’t care about that. It’s because I just realized that I’ve accepted Auggie’s mortality and that he’s not the indestructible superhero I’ve idolized since childhood.
I can feel a fresh set of tears threatening to spill over and I get to my feet. I’m going to sit in my brother’s room and watch him for a while because regardless of what she says, I know that Auggie needs me right now. He’s always been there for me and now it’s my turn to be there for him.
“Robbie, I really wouldn’t go in there right now,” she says as she gets to her feet.
I close my eyes for a moment and focus on the sound of Auggie’s laughter. On the feeling of being hugged by him. On the way we were as kids.
I have to focus on the good shit right now because Atasha is testing the waters a little too much right now and if I don’t think of my brother, she’s going to drown in the boiling undercurrents of my rage.
“Stay the fuck away from me,” I tell her quietly as I open my eyes again. “And until I say so, stay away from my brother.”
Atasha crosses her arms loosely over her chest and shakes her head. “No can do, Robbie.”
A smile starts to slip across my lips as I take a step closer toward her.
“Let me say this in a way you’ll understand—stay away from my brother or I’ll fucking kill you.”
I cackle at Robbie’s threat, not because I doubt his sincerity…he’s an impulsive little shit, capable of pretty much anything. He’s just really sealed the deal for me. This threat of his solidifies the plan I’ve been formulating since his mother threatened me in the restroom. I’ve overstayed my welcome in Seattle, and it’s time to get the fuck out of dodge. It’s only a matter of time before that old bat sicks the cops on me for rattling her inbred skull, and our little ménage was just a fond goodbye. Who knows when I’ll meet anyone who gets my blood pumping like August does?
My time with August has come to an end, regardless of Mommy Dearest. The body count keeps mounting around the three of us, and though I have complete faith in August’s ability to make shit go away, I have equal confidence that Robbie could fuck up a wet dream. The only thing keeping Robbie level is August, and he’s not going to be here forever.
After I’d helped get August into the shower, he thanked me. I could feel myself pulling away. The intensity in his sky blue eyes was just far too real for me to deal with. The last thing I’d ever wanted to be was a caregiver…frankly, not giving a fuck is a policy I live by. August has somehow penetrated the vault I keep my feelings in, and though it makes no sense at all, I care about what he cares about.
After I got him into bed, I snooped through his medicine cabinets. Obviously, Robbie has never seen August have a seizure, so this situation is a new development at their Mad Hatter tea party.
When I Googled the prescribing physician for the various pill bottles I found lining his shelves, I wasn’t shocked to see that Dr. Katz is one of the prominent oncologists in the city. I breathed through a wave of nausea at this news. I still don’t know what August was trying to prep me for, but I want nothing to do with his plans for me if it means he won’t be around to see the results. Curiosity is the only reason I’ve hung around this long, and though I’m grateful for all he’s taught me, this social experiment, which might have been something amazing if we’d had more time to explore it, is a colossal failure now that Robbie came to town.
The last thing August asked me to do before his pale eyes fluttered and he drifted off to sleep was to make sure Magda got fed. I’d almost completely forgotten about his captive, in light of all the other dirty bombs going off around us. I don’t understand why he hasn’t killed her yet, unless he doesn’t plan to. I have no idea who she is or why she’s in the basement, and though I’ve been watching the papers, I’ve seen no reports of her going missing on the news. If August dies, someone will come through this place, likely his bitch of a mother. It sounds bonkers, but I don’t want the girl in the basement to be his legacy.
Maybe I should just take care of her now. Knock that particular chess piece right off the board. Kind of a going away present for the one it seems I won’t get to keep.
Or maybe I should just leave her to Robbie, since he seems to enjoy that sort of business as well. Regardless, she needs to go, and I need to hit the road soon myself.
With a surprised huff at my peeling laughter, Robbie stomps off into August’s bedroom, and I watch him go, wondering why I let him fuck me. Was it because he handled Dick like he was disposable? Because he played my body like a finely tuned instrument? Because August made it seem alright?
I sigh heavily. August made a lot of things seem reasonable that were anything but. That alone was reason to put miles between me and him.
I move into the kitchen, as I heat up food for August’s pet, I wander into his office. I tell myself I’m just killing time, but the truth is, I’m hoping to find something to shed some light on what’s wrong with him, and if I’m lucky, what he really wants from me.
It takes me a couple of minutes to pop the lock on his bottom desk drawer, and that’s where I find the explanation of benefits, along with a few bills. Head CTs, MRIs…a letter from his physician begging him to reconsider radiation and chemo.
I’ve seen all I need to see.
The microwave dings, and I hurry back into the kitchen, welcoming the mundane distraction. Pouring the piping hot soup into a bowl, I added some buttered French bread to the plate. I place all of it onto a tray, along with plastic silverware and a solo cup filled with orange juice, which is all I can find besides expired milk.
Once I retrieve the key from the silver box, I stroke seductive fingers along the stack of cash inside, drooling over thoughts of what I could do with it for a good long while. I won’t take it now, not with August in the state he’s in. But I have to return the key once I’ve fed Magda, don’t I? August would want me to be safe, far from the fallout after his gone, wouldn’t he? He’d put himself in harm’s way to intervene when those two perverts came to rape me, and he sure as hell hadn’t had to involve himself in any way. He’d be glad to fund my escape, would he not? I’m feeling like he would, but I’m feeling guilty at the thought of bailing now when he seems to really need me around.
Maneuvering down the stairs, I hear the rain beating on the steel roof yet again. I can’t help but wonder how I ended up this far north…how the hell I got here at this very moment, playing nursemaid and fucktoy to some rich serial killer, taking abuse from his bitch brother who I’d just as soon push off of a bridge as talk to, and now, playing waitress to some crazy captive hidden under the stairs.
I have got to get the fuck out of this gloomy ass city, sooner rather than later.
I sit the tray down to unlock the heavy door. I pull it open just enough to see the girl is on the bed, face down like she’s asleep. Grabbing the tray, I enter the room.
The room smells like b.o. and terror, and memories of many a foster home rear their ugly heads. Squaring my shoulders defiantly, I press on, my stomach in knots at the sight of her scrawny body and messy hair. Maybe I’ll get her to tell me her story.
Maybe she’ll convince me to let her go.
I creep forward, feeling like the stupid bimbo in every slasher movie who the audience is screaming at…a mantra going through my mind as I sit the tray on the floor beside her.
Please don’t wake up. Please don’t turn around.
As if she can read my thoughts, she sits up, whipping around and coming up onto her haunches with lightning speed. I jump back on instinct, nearly tripping over my own feet.
Her green eyes are sunken, yet feral, and without a pause, she picks up the soup bowl and flings the scalding offering in my face. I shriek at the searing pain, my eyes slamming closed on impulse. I wipe the stuff away with both hands, and when I can see again, she’s standing in front of me. Arms whipped behind her as if she’s a batter in backswing, the last thing I see is a close-up of the tray I’d brought down to her catapulting toward my face.
I settle down on the bed next to Auggie and push the hair out of his face. He stirs slightly and I pull my hand away, worried that I’ve woken him up before he’s ready, but I don’t move from where I’m sitting.
My brother’s skin feels slightly cold and I’m pretty much a human heater, so I’m more than willing that he take as much heat from me as he needs to get his head back on straight.
Auggie’s eyes open slightly and he mumbles something I don’t understand.
“What?” I ask softly as I lean in closer to him.
A smile creases his tired lips as he slowly turns his head toward the sound of my voice. I have to take a deep breath to keep from crying again because it’s obvious that something as simple as hearing me speak is enough for my big brother to feel better.
Auggie fumbles for my hand and I take his firmly in mine, even bringing it up to my lips to kiss it gently. I love my brother more than I love anyone in this entire world and I want to be sure that he knows it.
