Chapter Twenty

I stick around the house for a little longer, keeping an eye on Dahlia and ensuring her mother doesn't try anything. She said something to Dahlia that made her cry before I walked into the room. The image of her crumpled face, sagging shoulders, and tears shimmering in her brown eyes will haunt me for a long time. No one who makes Dahlia cry can live.

I want to beat Evelyn's face in with a soldering iron. If she doesn't die from that, I'll finish the job by cutting out her tongue and watching her suffocate on her blood. She's talked long enough, and it's time the bitch shuts up and chokes on her words.

My father will not be happy about it, but his disappointment won't last for long since he's next. Our parents are standing in the way. Dahlia and I can't truly be together as long as they're still in the picture. But that's okay. I already have a few aces up my sleeve to ensure she's completely mine and that no one stops us from being together.

When Evelyn doesn't come out of her bedroom—being the drama queen she is—I slip out of the house and ride into town. I can't wait to see Dahlia wearing the gifts I had someone make for her.

I park outside the small shop that's overlooked far too often. It's an eccentric jewelry store that stands out from the rest of the shops in town. Maybe the way they make things deters most people, but since they haven't permanently closed, they're getting enough customers to stay afloat.

The chimes tinkle above me as I walk into the store. Tiffany pops her head up, and she brightens when she recognizes me.

"It's good to see you again!" she says as she grabs a black bag from the holding case and waves me over.

I cross the room and stand on the other side of the glass case. She pulls jewelry boxes from the black bag with the shop's logo on it.

"This has been so much fun to make," Tiffany says as she opens the smaller box with the diamond ring tucked between the cushions.

It's larger than I thought it would be, and I can't complain.

"She's going to love it," Tiffany says with a giggle. With two fingers, she pushes her glasses further up her nose. "It's perfect to show your devotion, and if she's a jewelry gal, I'm sure she'll appreciate the size."

I tilt my head as I gaze at the ring, picturing it on Dahlia's left hand. "The earrings?"

Tiffany sets the ring box aside and opens another, revealing diamond earrings about the same size as the ring. I imagine my sister wearing this jewelry for me and how she'll always carry a part of me with her, no matter how far apart we are.

"Perfect?" Tiffany nervously smiles.

"Yeah. She'll love them."

She perks at the praise and grabs the bigger necklace box. I picked out the thin silver chain to signify how delicate Dahlia can be. Clusters of smaller diamonds cradle the larger one that forms a skull. Hearts and other shit aren't her style.

After I've approved everything, she wraps the boxes in tissue paper, puts them inside the black bag, and says I'm all good since I paid when I placed the order.

I leave and stuff the bag under the seat of my Yamaha motorcycle.

I have a few more errands to run before I head back home to check on Dahlia. The Reckoning is quickly approaching, and I need things perfect before then.

Glancing at the crowd, I spot Exodus members blending in with the others. Unsuspecting people are clueless about the presence of wolves hiding in sheep's skin amongst them. Only a few regular people know about the secret society. They've lived here all their lives and have been through a few Reckonings. It's bound to happen that someone pieces things together.

The crowds have thinned over the last few days. People have skipped out of town so they won't be around when the Reckoning happens. For ten hours, the laws won't apply to us and we can do whatever we want without consequences—killing, stealing, kidnapping, and so much more.

Ten years ago, I joined Dad during the Reckoning to learn more about the secret society and to prepare for this one as an adult. That's the same night Dahlia kissed me. It was then that I realized she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

By that time, my feelings for her had already taken root and grown into a need. I'd claimed her as mine not long after by beating the shit out of Mickey for the first time.

Dahlia had been bold that night. She'd faced her fears and run from me, thinking I'd get upset over my sister kissing me. The only thing that pissed me off was her bolting away from me. If she can take what she wants from me, then I can do the same. I want her. She wants me. So why let laws and societal expectations stop us from being together?

During my last errand, I walk past a sex shop and pause. Lingerie displays stand in the large window. Spider-web designs run through the lace of one set, and it has Dahlia's name written all over it. My mind creates an image of her wearing the skimpy outfit with a garter belt I want to pull down with my teeth. My cock twitches, and I curl my fingers into a tight fist. It'll give me an eyeful of her large breasts, the curve of her round stomach, and all that ass begging for my teeth marks.

I'm walking through the door before I realize what I'm doing. A bell chimes, announcing my presence to the pink-haired girl behind the counter.

She pops her gum and looks up at me. "Hey. Do you need help finding anything?"

"The outfit in the display case."

She leaves her spot behind the counter and leads me to the back, where all the clothes are. "Do you know her size?"

With a nod, I give her Dahlia's size. I've gone through her clothes enough to memorize her size in pants, dresses, shirts, and underwear.

She goes through the rack, then pulls out Dahlia's size. "She's a lucky girl."

I raise an eyebrow.

The young woman shifts nervously and looks anywhere but at me. "Are you wanting to get anything else?"

I point at a pink vibrator. "This too."

Jealousy fills her gaze as she grabs it and hands it to me. "Anything else, Jaxon?"

I narrow my eyes. "You know my name."

She nods, a nervous smile lifting the corners of her lips. "Yeah. We went to school together. "

It's a small town and I'm surprised that I don't remember her, since I have an excellent memory.

She clears her throat when all I do is stare at her. I refuse to ask how she's doing or try some small talk with her when I really don't give a fuck. "It's nice to see you dating. Like I said, the girl is lucky."

I say nothing.

"How's Dahlia doing?"

She's fucking me. That's how she's doing. "Fine."

After striding to the counter, I wait for the girl to scan my items. I don't wait for her to ask another question. I'm ready to get the hell out of here and get back to my sister.

She goes to the register and rings in the items with a sour attitude. "Last I saw Dahlia, we were a few days from graduating. Kyle cornered her when you weren't around." She gives me a pointed look. "I wanted to make sure she's okay after what he did."

My spine straightens, and I focus on her.

" What he did ?" I drawl.

She nods and takes my bank card. "I don't want to say more since it's not my story to tell. But I'm guessing she never told you, and maybe for a good reason."

Red fills my vision, and I cling to the present. I don't want to lose my shit while I'm here, and Dahlia isn't around to bring me back. I hate that I have to depend on her like this, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Then the girl folds like a deck of cards when she meets my harsh gaze. "He and his friends had her in the boy's changing room. They..." She hands the card back to me with a trembling hand. "They undressed her and took pics to put on the internet. It's been floating around since."

Everything in my mind blanks. It's quiet, which is new because I'm always thinking. I'm rarely on social media and never check in with the people from school, so it figures that I haven't heard about the photos. Why didn't Dahlia tell me about it?

"I see," I say. "Who else was there?"

She raises her gaze to the ceiling as she thinks. "Mickey, Kyle, and Connor."

I grab the bag with all the items and leave without another word.

Ryder shuts the door and locks the deadbolts behind me in the abandoned home. I cross the room and head to the bathroom Kyle has been staying in.

"Jaxon," Ryder calls.

"Unlock the door," I say.

Ryder comes to my side and rests his hand on my shoulder. "What's going on, man?"

I tense and glare at him while I grind my molars. Rolling my shoulder to get him off of me, I growl, "Unlock. The. Fucking. Door."

"What's going on?" Aiden says behind us.

"He's losing his shit," Ryder says.

I grab him by the collar of his shirt and jerk the keys out of his pocket. My friends dive in and hold me back from getting into the room with Kyle.

"You need to calm down, Jax!" Ryder yells directly into my ear.

I twist my body and punch him to get him the fuck off me. Aiden charges toward me and pulls me against his body, dragging me away from the small bathroom. The bastard whimpers inside the room, knowing that death is coming.

Black spots creep into my vision as I get closer to blacking out. My blood roars in my ears, along with the pounding of my heart against my ribcage. I throw my elbow back into Aiden's gut, and he lets out a wheezing grunt.

"Come back to us, Jax!" Ryder moves into my line of vision and whips off his mask. He puts his face in mine, forcing me to look at him instead of the door that's calling my name.

"What the hell is going on? Oh, shit ." Hawk sprints to us and holds me back as I loosen Aiden's death grip.

I jump and kick my boots out, slamming them into Ryder's and Hawk's dicks. Aiden loses his balance and stumbles backward. We careen to the ground in a tangle of limbs and flying fists.

Kyle's chains rattle, but the fucker doesn't say a word. I'm sure he's shaking in fear as my friends hold me back from killing the asshole for what he and his friends did to my sister. When I'm done with him, I'll find Mickey and Conner and kill them, too. After that, I'm punishing Dahlia for not telling me about this.

"We need to call Dahlia," Aiden says, then grunts when I punch him.

"It'll be too late," Ryder says.

I get on top of Aiden, and Ryder hooks his arm around my neck, holding me in a headlock. Aiden punches me in the gut. All the breath in my lungs wheezes out, and I grapple with Ryder's arm as I gasp for air.

"I'm getting her," Hawk says.

"No! She can't fucking know about this!" Ryder yells, and squeezes harder.

"I'm still getting her, asshole. Do you want him to fucking murder us?"

My lungs burn for oxygen, and everything spins. I scratch my blunt nails on Ryder's arm. Seconds later, I slump backward into him and everything goes dark.

I don't know how long I'm out, but when I come to, I'm surrounded by my friends on the couch. Ryder tilts his head back with a bloody napkin held to his nose. The fight left Aiden with a scuffed and bloody face. His limbs stretch out while he leans against the cushions. Hawk lights a cigarette, blood dripping from his eyebrow. He winces each time his busted lip wraps around the smoke as he takes a drag.

Hawk's the first one to notice my open eyes. He sighs in relief. "He's back."

The other two look my way, sharing the same relieved expression.

"Want to tell us what the fuck that was?" Aiden growls.

I move to swipe my hand under my nose from a tickle–most likely blood—but my wrists are bound behind my back. I huff and drop my head against the cushions to look at the ceiling. "Someone untie me."

Hawk guffaws. "For you to lose your shit again?"

I narrow my eyes. "I'm not going to."

"What the hell happened, Jax?" Ryder asks.

Rage fills me at the reminder of what set me off.

"Jesus, not again," Aiden whines. "I don't have it in me to get my ass kicked for a second time."

I rein back the anger, which takes more energy than I can spare. When I don't feel like I'm about to black out, I say through clenched teeth, "Kyle and the others touched Dahlia."

Ryder snaps his head toward me with a knowing and concerned expression. I give him a warning look, urging him to keep his mouth shut. He hasn't said it aloud, and when I confronted him a few days ago, he couldn't say it then, either.

Hawk blows out smoke and leans forward. He rests his elbows on his bent knees while he pins me with a glare. "What do you mean, touched her ?"

I'm not saying any more than that. I love my friends, but I don't want them to know there are photos floating around on the internet. Curiosity will kill the cat, and if I find out they searched for her photos, I won't hold back on them like I did earlier.

Aiden swallows loudly, and Hawk looks seconds away from taking revenge himself.

"Fuck," Ryder whispers with a shake of his head. He looks at the ceiling like it holds all the answers to the questions in his mind.

Aiden bounces his knee, a nervous habit he picked up in middle school and hasn't stopped since.

"Untie me." I shift in my seat, searching for a way to escape the bindings.

Ryder drops the bloody napkin onto the arm of the sofa, helps me to my feet, and turns me so I'm facing away from him. Using his knife, he cuts the ropes.

"Has anyone found Mickey?" I ask. The rope falls away from my wrists, and I drop my arms to my sides.

Hawk huffs a sarcastic laugh. "The fucker is in hiding. I haven't found him."

My lips flatten. "What about Connor O'Hann?"

All three of my friends swing their gazes toward me, each one having a similar expression of shock that morphs into rage.

"He's in college, living on campus. Do you want us to get him while we look for Mickey?"

I nod. "If we can't bring them here to us, we'll find them during the Reckoning and end them."

The room goes quiet, full of solemn agreement. We all direct our gazes toward the bathroom at the same time, where Kyle is currently locked inside.

"We can have fun until then, yeah?" Hawk asks as he puts out his cigarette.

"Yeah," we all say in unison.

"Then let's get dear old Kyle out to join the party," Aiden says. He jumps out of his seat, his steps containing more of a pep now that he understands why I lost my shit.

I search the room for something to use on Kyle, then notice my discarded helmet. I don't remember throwing it off.

That'll do.