26. BONES

26

BONES

I can’t do it.

Standing inside the girl’s room I stare at her sleeping peacefully in bed. Her parents are sound asleep in the next room. I’ve put this job off for as long as I could. Dmitri’s finally had enough of waiting and threatened both Wynter’s and my father’s lives. I can’t risk his bluff. But I can’t do this either. This girl’s just a kid.

Her bedroom is pink for fuck’s sake.

I can’t take her to be sold off and raped. Death would be a better outcome, but that’s not what Dmitri wants. And it's not what I want.

I’ve never cared much about who I’ve killed. Chances are if someone’s got a hit on their head then they deserve it. Children are different. They make mistakes, but they've got the rest of their lives to figure shit out.

I leave the house the way I came in. Its occupants all still breathing in their beds.

This has to end and I need to get ahead of it before Dmitri finds out I’ve not followed through again.

When I get in my car I call Kai and he answers straight away.

“Kai, I’ve got another request for you.”

“Bones,” he sighs. “You know I don’t like being in debt to anyone. I’ve not finished compiling everything for your first request. It’s taking way longer than I’d like to get access to some of the restricted files.”

Putting him on speaker I pull away from the house and head home. “You don’t need to worry about that. I know who it was.”

“Oh, you’re sure? Pretty crazy right? Like a soap opera,” he laughs.

“Yeah, I guess. Look, I need you to go into my company’s files and wipe some things.”

I hear Kai tapping on his keyboard. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s still on his computer this time of night. He probably sleeps with it glaring in his face. “Like what?” he asks.

“There are some records with my father’s name on that I need gone. Can you make it look like an actual error in the system and not a cover-up?”

“That’s easy enough if it’s all digital. Send me over the details of exactly what you want wiped and I’ll sort it. Does this count as two favors now?”

“No one actually keeps track, you know that right? Just call me if you ever need anything.” I hang up and scroll through my contacts. A plan is starting to form in my mind. As much as I want to leave Wynter out of it, I know she needs closure. I’ll let her be a part of it as much as she wants. To be honest I don’t think she’ll give me much of a choice.

I’m exhausted by the time I get home. So exhausted that my brain only registers that the front door’s already open when I’m standing right in front of it.

“Wynter?” I don’t wait for a reply before I get my phone out and bring up the tracker app.

She’s in the woods.

Why the fuck is she even out of the house?

When I reach her location I keep one eye on my phone and another on my surroundings. It’s hard to pinpoint where she is exactly, but she’s here. She has to be.

“Wynter?”

There’s a rustle of leaves to my right and when I look I see her facedown in the dirt.

“Fuck.” Dropping to my knees I scoop her into my lap. She's frigid from the cold in only her pajama shorts and a thin t-shirt. How long has she ben out here? “Open your eyes for me, my love.”

“Noah?” She mumbles sleepily. "You're here. How are you here? The basement's always locked." Reaching out for me she touches my face. Her hand is wet. I grab her wrist and see a cut on her palm.

“What happened?” I try to stay calm for her sake, but it’s almost impossible knowing that someone’s fucking hurt her.

There’s no one else here. The gate was locked when I came in and I could have sworn I locked the front door. But I’ve been running on fumes lately and could have forgotten to lock it.

“Is someone here? Did they hurt you?” I ask as I look around us.

Surely Dmitri couldn’t have heard about tonight already?

Wynter blinks and tries to look at me, but her eyes won’t focus. It’s like she’s been drugged. I check her body for marks. For any indication someone’s touched her. “Wynter, is someone here?” I ask again, more impatient this time as I struggle to keep my anger at bay. If there’s someone still on the grounds or in the house I need to find them, but I can’t leave her like this.

“Yes. She was me and then she wasn’t. I got her though. Cut her hand and she ran away.” She’s rambling like she’s drunk. Sniffing her breath, I smell sweetness. Wine . I pull her eyelids back to check her pupils. They’re dilated. This is more than just being drunk though.

“Did you drink something? Take something?”

“Some wine. My head hurt so I watched some wine and drank a movie. No, that's not right. Drunk some…drunk some—oh! I had medicine as well. You don’t have much in the cabinet.”

What the hell is she talking about?

“Medicine?” There were some painkillers in the kitchen. I bought them when we ran out after our fun in the woods. Wynter had a few sore muscles after that night and needed pain relief for days after. I don't remember putting them in the cabinet.

It all clicks into place.

The fucking pills that Kai gave me. He said they give one hell of a trip. I should have flushed them already. Instead, I stashed them at the back of the cabinet. Not to take at a later date. At least that's what I told myself.

“How many pills did you take?” I quickly ask.

Her forehead scrunches up as she thinks. “Two.”

If she’s remembering correctly then that’s not too bad. Two’s not enough to seriously hurt her or to need the hospital.

“Let's get you inside.” I lift her up and a piece of glass from a mirror catches my eye on the ground. Is that what she cut herself on?

“Is she gone?” Wynter asks. She’s trembling against me, her teeth chattering. I need to get her inside.

“Who?”

“The one I cut.”

I look down at her bloodied hand that’s clutching at my chest. “Wynter, I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”

“I’m not sure. One second they were me and the next they were all sorts of people. They ran so I chased them here.”

I believe that she saw someone, but whether that was a figment from the pills she took or an actual person I can’t be sure. “You’re safe now,” I reassure her.

Fury has a tight hold on my nervous system. If anyone was here it had to be Dmitri or one of his men. But the gate was locked when I arrived. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get coherent answers until she’s sobered up.

Inside I set her down in the shower to warm her up as quickly as possible. Once she’s no longer freezing I start taking her wet clothes off. She lets me do it all without a fight.

“I’m sleepy,” she mumbles. “But I can’t sleep. I want to sleep.”

“I know. Let me fix you up and I’ll get you into bed.”

“You always want me in bed.” She giggles as she smiles up at me.

“I didn’t mean like that.” Even my cock knows it’s not an appropriate time to be hard and is actually soft for once.

I quickly wash her feet to get rid of the dirt and run her hand under the water. Thankfully the cut doesn’t look deep enough to need any real medical attention. But there's glass in her knuckles. I take my time to remove it and disinfect the wound. Once I’ve wrapped a towel around her hand and another around her body, I strip out of my own clothes and carry her to bed, bringing the first aid kit with me.

“I like it when you're gentle with me,” she mumbles through a yawn. “It’s always been me taking care of everyone else. But you do everything for me.”

I try to give Wynter what she needs, but I know it’ll never be enough. She deserves the world and I’ll never be able to give that to her. Not after what I’ve done. I can only hope I've been successful enough in making her mine that she'll forgive me in the end.

“Did you mean to take the pills?” I ask gently as I help her lie down.

“My head hurt. I was missing Summer and he was on the news.” She sounds less slurred now and more sleepy.

I breathe a sigh of relief. I’d been imagining the worst. Her trying to end it all with them, but it really was an accident.

“What do you mean? Who was on the news”

“The monster’s house. I was watching a movie and there he was. Daniella and Dmitri were here as well.” She doesn’t say any more than that as she drifts off to sleep. I tuck her in and go fetch my phone to look for a news report.

A girl’s body was found on Tommaso’s estate. Pregnant. No wonder Wynter spiraled if she saw this.

Those pills must have really fucked her up if she thought she saw anyone in the house. The gate was secure and there’s no sign of a break in. Everything was in her head.

Still I do a walk through of the house and drive down to the gate. The only things out of place are in the house. The television and mirror in the lounge room are destroyed. A trail of blood leads me back outside to where it abruptly stops in the drive before picking up again around the side of the house toward the woods.

I should have been here for her tonight. This solidifies in my mind that my deal with Dmitri needs to end. I’ll make sure that Wynter doesn’t get hurt in the process, even if it costs me my own life.

After going back inside to check on her, I try to sneak off to do some research while she sleeps but she calls out for me. “Noah. Don’t leave me.”

“Noah?” she says again when I don’t answer.

It doesn’t take much persuading for me to get under the covers and curl my body around hers. “I’m here.”

“I need to feel you.” She squirms against me.

Her body’s still too cold for my liking and I pull the blanket higher until it’s tucked under her chin. “I’m not leaving, I promise.”

“I want to feel all of you.” She persists. Her ass pressing back against me to tell me what she wants.

“That’s not a good idea.”

“Please,” she begs and my cock twitches. I know she feels it too as she wriggles again.

“Wynter,” I warn her as I pin her hip in place.

“I just want you inside of me. I want to know you’re in me while I’m sleeping so I know no one else can take me away. Let me be tethered to you. Please .”

Fuck.

My cock’s rock hard now. Not from her begging, but from her admitting to needing me in that way.

I’ve always loved her hate. But fuck it feels good to have her love.

Brushing my hand over her outer thigh, she shifts her leg forward, giving me access to her pussy. With a finger, I feel if she’s wet first and fuck she is. It's only slightly, but I can't help admiring what I've created. She's so dependent on me that the slightest thought of me inside her turns her on.

I stroke her softly and she whimpers, her head burying into the pillow as she finds comfort from my touch.

As gently as I can I ease inside her. It’s an agonizingly slow speed for me, but for her it’s perfect. Tiny little gasps and whimpers escape her with each inch that fills her. When I’m fully inside she empties her lungs with a long content sigh. Her pussy pulses around me, a warm sheath that I find my own peace in.

We spend each night like this, but this time feels different.

I watch as she falls back to sleep. Her muscles relax and her breathing softens. I'm more than content to stay like this forever.

“Stop doing that,” I say firmly as Wynter flexes her hand.

“But it hurts.”

“It’s going to hurt if you keep moving it. Just sit back and rest your hand on this.” Lifting her arm, I place a cushion on her lap and rest her hand there. Then I grab a blanket and tuck it around her shoulders.

She rolls her eyes as I keep fussing over her. Her hand didn’t need stitches, but the large bandage around it reminds me of my failure. Just the sight of it makes me angry. If I was here she wouldn’t have been hurt.

My phone buzzes and Wynter sits up. “Is that Dmitri?”

“No,” I tell her as I check the screen. “It’s the pizza guy.”

It only takes me a few minutes to collect the food and return to the lounge.

“How are you feeling?” I ask her as I set the boxes out on the coffee table.

“I’ll be fine. You look tired. Come sit down, you've been doing stuff all day.”

She’s right. I managed to get a few hours of rest inside her last night, but I got up early and cleaned up the glass and broken television. I went out to buy a new one as I picked some cameras up from Kai.

She caught me installing them when she came downstairs earlier and she surprised me by thanking me for putting them up.

Wynter’s already told me everything that happened last night and I really think she hallucinated the entire thing. But I’m not risking anything happening in the future. Plus now I get to see her whenever I want.

“Did you find anything out about Evie?” she asks as I sit next to her.

“Unfortunately there’s not much information available. I was able to get into the coroner’s database earlier and saw the examination report. She miscarried and bled out.”

“Down in the basement?”

“I don’t know,” I say harsher than I mean to. Rather than take it to heart she takes hold of my hand with her good one and squeezes.

“How did they find her body? Why did Tommaso bury her on the grounds?”

“I don’t have all the answers. I'm sorry, my love. I will look into it all. I promise you. Right now I’m making sure you take it easy for the rest of the day and that starts with you eating pizza.”

Out of nowhere, she starts to cry. “What’s wrong?” I ask, my voice tense.

“That was what Summer and I were meant to do. She even asked for cheese and pineapple pizza.” She motions to the exact same pizza that’s in front of us. I didn’t think. I just ordered the same as last time.

“I’m sorry, Wynter.” I pull her closer to me and kiss the top of her head.

“It’s okay, you weren’t to know. I’d never told you that before.”

She wipes her tears away and grabs a slice.

“What would you like to do today?” I ask.

“Video games,” she mumbles through her mouthful.

“That’s probably not a good idea with your hand.”

Ignoring me, she grabs a controller and plops it onto my lap. “You can play and I’ll watch. I’m a terrific backseat gamer.”

I let her pick the game and with an evil grin on her face she loads it up. It’s dark, gritty, and surprisingly difficult. I’ve died six times already and lost my progress each time.

“No, you have to roll towards him, not away!” She laughs as I fail to dodge the boss's attack.

“Surely that’s the opposite of what I should do.”

She raises a brow at me and I give in, doing what she says and rolling towards the boss. I manage to avoid the attack this time.

“Looks like you were right, little viper. Want a prize?” I smile at her and lick my lips. Her legs close together as her cheeks brighten. She knows exactly what I’m getting at.

“I’ll let you eat me out, if you beat the boss. But if you die you have to answer a question of mine.”

“Deal.” It’s simple enough and I’m sure to win. Feeling sure of myself I focus all my attention back on to the game. The boss only has one hit left and I rush in, using up my stamina bar to finish him off.

“Rookie move,” Wynter says, distracting me and the boss wipes me out with one attack. I glare at her and she holds her hands up. “Not my fault you need more practice.” The smile on her face lights up my entire world.

“You’re better at it than I thought you’d be,” she says.

With a shrug, I tell her, “I’ve had a lot of hobbies, nothing ever seems to stick other than killing people.” I’d add her to the very short list, but that would be an insult. Wynter’s more than just a hobby for me. She’s my everything. I’m certain that I’ll never get bored of her.

“Why did you start?” she asks.

“Killing people? I guess because of my mom and sister.”

She nods and I know she wants to ask me about what happened. I’ve shut her down every time before, but maybe now is as good a time as ever to open up to her?

Taking a breath I set the controller down and shift my hip so I’m looking right at her. “You asked me before about my tattoo. The moon on my shoulder. It’s for my sister, Kimmy."

Wynter looks sorry for me. I'm well past needing condolences and the last thing she needs is more pain in her heart. But this is what she wants. To know all of me.

"She loved dancing, but she was terrible at it. One Christmas recital, she had to play as the moon. All she did was stand there at the back of the stage and twirl around a bit. I was annoyed that they’d given her the worst role, but she had this huge beaming smile on her face the whole time. I teased her after that by calling her moonbeam and it just kinda stuck.”

“How old was she when she died?” Wynter asks quietly.

Every muscle in me seizes up at once, keeping my secrets and pain locked tight inside. But all it takes is Wynter’s sad eyes to have each one loosening.

“She had just turned ten.”

I see Wynter’s heart break for me. That’s the same age as Summer is now. I know she’s missed her birthday, but I’m not sure if she knows that. I haven’t had the heart to tell her. Once this is over she’ll get to celebrate each one with her.

Taking her hand, I lead her upstairs. “Where are we going?” she asks behind me.

“It’s about time I showed you something.”

There are plenty of unused rooms in this house. Most of them left to gather dust on the various things that have grabbed my attention over the years. One room is a half finished recording studio from when I thought it would be fun to learn the drums. That lasted about a month. Another is full of comic books, my attention already moved onto something new before I finished collecting an entire series.

This place has become a graveyard of my life. Each room a long forgotten era, but there’s one room that can never be forgotten.

Unlocking the pale blue door at the end of the West wing of the house, I open it and show Wynter my little sister’s room. She steps in first and looks around the untouched space.

“My father wanted to get rid of it all. To move on and forget, but I made him leave it as it is.” Kimmy's bed is still made, her makeup and dolls a mess on the dresser, her shoes piled up in the corner where she’d always kick them off rather than putting them in the closet like Mom told her to.

“Noah,” Wynter says through a breath as she turns to face me. I lean against the doorframe and take the room in. I’ve not stepped foot in here since I tried to kill myself. My wrist twinges from the memory of pain. It’s something that never disappears no matter how hard you try to push it back. In the end, pain always remains.

“I kept it locked up like I was expecting her to come home any day,” I scoff, knowing how stupid an idea that is now. “I realized a long time ago they aren’t coming back, but rather than let go I locked it all away.”

Wynter places her hand on my shoulder, I’m not sure if she intends to touch the scar from that night, but the heat from her fingers soothes me anyway. “You really want to know what happened?” I ask and she nods.

Slowly I fill my lungs and take her hand in mine once more, leading her back downstairs and to my office.

“The rug was dry cleaned and put back as if nothing happened, but they never could get all the blood out of the floorboards.” Flipping one corner of the rug over I show Wynter the dark stain beneath. She doesn’t make a sound as she stares down at my feet. Her eyes fill with sorrow for me. “Remember what I told you. Eyes on me and never down, my love.”

Her gaze locks on mine and I can’t stop myself from smiling a little. “I don’t need you to feel sorry for me,” I tell her. “I’ve been doing enough of that myself.”

I catch the tremble in her legs as she leans back against the wall. She’s still exhausted from last night and here I am dragging her around the house on a trauma tour.

Taking her back to the lounge room I make sure she’s comfortable before sitting next to her.

“I wasn’t supposed to be out the night it happened. I was fifteen and had snuck out to get high at my friend's house. When I came home the front door was wide open. My father was out, he spent most evenings working late at the office so I knew something was wrong. Rather than do the smart thing and call the cops or even my father, I went inside. I heard my mom crying in his office then I heard the men threatening her. I ran in there hoping to stop them, but I was just a kid. What was I actually going to do?”

Wynter places her good hand in mine and grips me tightly. Staring down at her fingers I tell her more. “Kimmy was on the floor, not moving. A dark shade spreading underneath her on the rug. It wasn’t until later that I realized it was blood. Mom was pinned down on my father’s desk by one man while the other raped her from behind. When they saw me they stopped. Mom fought back and they killed her, shot her in the stomach. I couldn’t move. I was fucking frozen to the spot.”

Wynter’s grip on me tightens further.

“They shot me before running off. Got me in the shoulder. I lay there staring at my mom and sister’s lifeless bodies as I bled out. Somehow I managed to crawl to the desk and I called my father. I wanted to hear his voice before I went. Next thing I know I’m alone in the hospital, no idea where my father is and I have to hear from a police officer that Mom and Kimmy couldn’t be saved.”

My throat closes up and it takes everything in me not to break. I thought I was immune to these feelings. Thought I had become numb to despair. Recounting it to Wynter, to the love of my life makes me feel everything again.

“I’m so sorry,” she says as she squeezes my hand. “Thank you for telling me.”

Letting out a shaky sigh, I wrap my arm around her shoulder and press my nose to her hair. She smells like a mix of us now. My spicy musk from my shower products and her natural sweetness underneath it.

“I should have just told you the first time you asked, Shouldn’t have been such a dick.”

“Noah, I understand.”

I truly believe she does.

“I’m not losing you, Wynter. We’ll put a stop to Dmitri, but I’d rather die than have him take you. I’ve spent years trying to avenge my family only for every lead to dry up. I won’t let that happen again. We will destroy Dmitri and you’ll have your vengeance.”

Pulling away Wynter grabs my shoulders, wincing as she puts pressure on her hand, but she doesn’t ease her grip.

“Noah. You are mine. Which means I’m never letting you go. Don’t forget that. We’re ending this together.”

I’m filled with so much pride as I look at the woman Wynter’s become. The woman I've helped mold her into.