60. Hayden

After triple checkingthe car"s locked, we head into the woods feeding Saylor some crap about wanting to hike to my cabin. Saylor"s whining about not having the right shoes or some bullshit, but neither Kingston nor I are giving her the attention she wants.

About ten minutes in, she stomps her foot like a child and crosses her arms. "I"m not going another step. You seriously couldn't get us a, like, a hotel or something? Take me back."

I move closer to her and lean down into her space. "Aw, what"s wrong, baby? Thought you could handle a couple of elite athletes in bed, but you can"t hack it on a little hike?" I smirk at her as I straighten back up. "You"re going to keep walking until we get to where we"re going. And then you"re going to do exactly what I say or I"m going to kill you."

Her eyes widen, and she takes a step back. "What?" She looks at Kingston like he"ll save her, but he just shrugs.

"You heard him."

She glances between us and must realize we"re not fucking around because instead of doing what I told her to do, she screams and turns to run. I sigh and then two steps later, I"ve got my hand slapped over her mouth and my arm around her waist. "The last in a long line of bad decisions."

Then I turn to King. "Can you grab the tape out of the backpack?"

He steps up and digs around in the bag on my back before reading my mind and tearing off a piece of duct tape and slapping it over Saylor"s mouth when I take my hand away.

"Thank fuck," he mutters. "If I had to listen to any more of her bullshit, I was gonna slit her throat myself."

She"s got mascara tracks down her cheeks as the tears flow, but I feel nothing. I"m empty inside. Well, that"s not really true—I"m fucking seething, but her suffering gives me satisfaction and what I suspect is an insatiable hunger for more.

After she stumbles and falls to her hands and knees with a muffled cry, I get tired of how slow she"s walking and throw her over my shoulder. I figured she"d have more fight in her, but then she"s not my Princess. My little liar. My wife.

After today, I doubt I"ll ever think of Saylor again.

Eventually, we go off trail and walk into the woods deep enough that it feels like we"re miles away from anyone or anything. That"s when I toss Saylor at the base of a huge fir. "Strip," I tell her, digging the gun I used to kill Roman out of the backpack and aiming at her when she refuses to move.

Kingston says nothing, just stands nearby watching to see what I"ll do, ready to step in if necessary to subdue Saylor or help with whatever. He really is going above and beyond with this teammate thing.

Saylor"s shaking her head frantically, her arms wrapped around herself as her wide eyes dart around like she"s going to find someone to help get her out of this. But there"s no one here but me and Kingston, and neither of us are going to save her.

"You want me to do it for you?" I ask as I hand King the gun. I pull a switchblade out of the backpack and pop it open. She shakes her head again and starts yanking off her clothes until she"s standing in front of us naked, shivering in the cool air.

I don't even look at her body, keeping my eyes locked on her face. I won't betray my wife that way, but Saylor being naked is a critical part of the plan. Not only is the ground littered with sharp pine needles, but it's cold and wet as fuck up here in January in the mountains. I don't want her to have any kind of protection from the elements.

"Sit down," I order, reaching back into my bag and pulling out some spectra rope. I toss the backpack aside after slipping the blade back inside and then I approach Saylor, kneeling down in front of her and waiting until she meets my eyes. "Do you know why I"m doing this?"

She shakes her head as tears continue to flood her face. She looks wrecked with a red nose, mascara smeared under her eyes, swollen skin from her crying, and messy hair.

"Because you fucked with my wife." I clench my teeth. "You put my baby at risk. I can"t risk you fucking up everything I"ve taken for myself, the things I"ve done to have her." I glance back at Kingston, nodding at him to start wrapping the rope around Saylor, tying her to the tree. The spectra rope is notoriously hard to cut, so even if she finds something to try to saw through it with, it won"t work. "I want you to know that you"re probably going to die here in these woods, all alone, with only your regrets."

Her eyes widen as she shakes her head frantically again. She"s trying to say something, but it"s muffled by the duct tape over her mouth. I don"t care what she has to say anyway, so I stand up and help Kingston wrap the rope around her again and again. When we"re done, we knot everything tight and test the strength of it all, making sure it"s impossible to escape without someone stumbling on her and the odds of that are minuscule all the way out here, away from any trails.

When we"re done, I squat down in front of her again, my elbows on my thighs. "You"re only alive right now because I want this to be slow. I want you to spend your last moments suffering. And if by some miracle you manage to get free, you need to run and never look back. Should you come for me, or worse, for my wife, I"ll tell the world about that little scheme you were running before your move to Seattle."

I didn"t think it was possible, but Saylor somehow gets paler and I grin, enjoying the way this is all coming together. Whatever Romeo charges me for his digging still won"t be enough for everything he"s done to help me with this. Last night when I had him dig into Saylor, I never expected he"d find a scam she ran on people from her small town, convincing them to donate thousands to a fund for a made up sickness before they caught on and she had to change her name and flee to the big city.

"What do you think the people of Wallace would think if they found out you bailed with their money, changed your looks, invented a whole new persona and have been living it up with their money?" I stand to my full height. "I won"t hesitate to ruin you if I find out you survived. So if you do, I suggest you don"t draw my attention to you because I will stop at fucking nothing to make my wife happy. Your existence is a threat to her happiness, and that cannot stand."

She"s sobbing as I turn away from her, nearly hysterical with the way she"s losing her shit. I chuckle as I slip the backpack onto my back and Kingston side-eyes me. "What?"

He shakes his head as we start walking back toward the car. "Nothing."

"Don"t judge me," I mutter, shoving my hands in my pockets.

He laughs. "I"m not judging you. You"re just intense as fuck, man." He looks over his shoulder before adding, "And maybe a little crazy."

"You ever been in love?"

King doesn"t hesitate. "No."

I smirk at him. "Just wait. I bet you"ll be worse than I am." We walk back the way we came, through the woods, checking to make sure as we go that we can"t see or hear Saylor.

He laughs. "Fuck, I hope not."

By the time we get back to the car, I"m feeling lighter than I have in days. But then I notice the guy leaning against it. Surprisingly, he's younger than me. He"s got messy hair, light eyes that are somehow darker than anything I"ve ever seen, and a gives no fucks vibe about him. He"s in a leather jacket and worn jeans as he pushes off. He upnods the two of us. "Romeo sent me." He jerks his thumb back at the car. "Said you needed my brand of expertise."

I eye King, wondering if he knows what this guy"s deal is, but he looks just as confused. "What brand is that?"

The guy shrugs. "My name's Grave. Do with that what you will."

Kingston whistles low as he walks around the back of the car. "How does someone get into your line of work?"

The guy laughs, running a tattooed hand through his hair. "It"s as fucked up a story as you"re probably imagining."

"Do we want to know?" I ask, pulling Cassidy"s keys out of my pocket and unlocking the SUV.

He shrugs again. "Probably not." He pulls open the hatch and looks inside, then he grins at us. "Good call with the tarp. I hate it when they leak on me."

I glance at Kingston, who just shakes his head like he can"t believe this is happening. I don"t blame him. It"s been a fucking wild twenty-four hours. "So, what now?"

The guy closes the hatch and turns back toward us. "I deal with our friend here and we never see each other again. Unless you need me again."

"Actually, I was hoping you could deal with getting rid of the car and the mess we left behind at the house. I don"t even know where to start," I say, twirling the keys around my finger. I hate that we"re going to have to drive the corpse mobile back to civilization, but we don"t really have a choice, and this burning itch under my skin of needing to get back to Cassidy is becoming unbearable.

He nods. "Sure, that"s doable. But it"s going to cost you extra."

I huff out a laugh. "Of course it is."

He walks over to the classic matte black Mustang parked beside Cassidy's SUV and pops the trunk before pulling out a shovel and some other supplies and dropping them at his feet. "You guys can go. I"ll get the address from Rome and one of us will text when it"s done."

King and I exchange a look before we both nod at the guy and climb into the car. He starts whistling as he walks toward the woods, dragging Roman"s body and his stuff behind him.

"What the fuck just happened?" Kingston asks as I start driving back toward Seattle.

We bump over the unpaved makeshift road back toward the highway. "I don"t know, but I"m not going to ask questions about it."

"Agreed." King leans back in his seat and closes his eyes, looking like he"s about to pass out. I don"t blame him. It"s been an insane couple of days for all of us. At least we're on the All Star break, so we don't have to be at practice. Most of our teammates are on vacation somewhere warm, so as far as murders of a teammate go, we couldn't have timed this shit better.

"Hey," I say, and he cracks an eye open. "If you ever need anything, you know I"m there, right? You got blood on your hands for me, and I"ll happily do the same for you. No questions asked."

He nods and closes his eye again. "We"re brothers now."

I smile at that, liking the sound of it.

Brothers in blood.