Chapter Seventeen

Atlas

While the new initiates clean up the mess from the party, Riot and I wait for my father in the foyer. We haven't spoken a word since Val left with Maureen. But we don't need words to know how furious we both are with the situation.

She's our fucking firecracker to stalk and bully and mangle. No one else's. And to think my father has the audacity to mess with what's mine… That's one of the main rules we've always abided by in the Thorn house—you only eat from your own plate, or you reap what you sow.

Fuck, if my mother knew half the shit her husband is capable of, she would have a fucking heart attack. I don't know how she's put up with his shit all these years. He must have a golden fucking cock.

"Atlas, please stop thinking about your parents fucking. It's disturbing." Riot paces across the foyer so hard his boots leave scuff marks on the marble.

I forget how deep inside each other's shit we are sometimes. We're not mind readers, but we get impressions. "Fuck, sorry. I'm really wound up right now."

He pats me on the back. "We all are. Our fathers are out of control. It's time we reign them in and teach them a lesson."

I nod and take a long swig of nightshade. "After this semester is over, we're going to give them an early retirement. No more college parties. No more fucking games. We should be in charge of all the business holdings. Everything."

"Agreed. They've been grooming us to take over anyway. Let's just make it sooner rather than later." Riot's head jerks toward the front door as a car engine hums up the driveway.

I stand, my fists balled. "Speak of the fucking devil."

My adrenaline spikes at the sound of his designer shoes traipsing up the front steps. I swing the door open before he has a chance to knock.

"Hello, boys." Pisces Thorn stands before us, a picture of perfection. From the top of his neatly coiffed silver hair, navy-blue, three-piece suit with monogrammed cufflinks, all the way down to his expensive Italian leather shoes. He could have been a movie star.

"Dad." I stand aside and motion for him to enter.

Riot glares at him. "Mr. Thorn. Something to drink?"

Pisces looks us over with that smug grin on his face that I've been accustomed to seeing my whole life. "I'll take a scotch. Two ice cubes."

He skirts ahead of us like this is his house, making us follow him into the sitting room. I swear, no matter how old we get, he still treats us like we're fucking children.

Once all three of us have a drink in our hands, I start in. "You've been keeping some secrets and—"

"Cut the dramatics, Atlas. Why did you summon me here in the middle of the night? You interrupted one of my favorite meals." He narrows his eyes at me.

I feel my cheeks heat. He's the only man who continues to disrespect me. "What the fuck are you eating at midnight? Shouldn't an old man like you be in bed at this hour?"

Pisces purses his lips. "I was in bed. Eating pussy."

Fucking hell. Guaranteed, it wasn't my mother's.

Riot glares at me again. "Thanks for the overshare, Mr. Thorn. We called you here because we have something that belongs to you. And we just wanted to return it."

He chuckles and arches an eyebrow, clearly amused with us, like we're back in grade school, learning how to make poison for the first time. "You two were always so precocious. All right, I'll bite. What did you little shits steal from me this time?"

He thinks this is a game.

All my life, I've watched him steal and manipulate. He's the best con man I've ever known. When I was a kid, I used to take things from him just so I could turn around and sell him back his own shit. It started small at first; a couple of watches, some family heirlooms, and the like.

As I got older, I got smarter. I stole bigger things like his Alfa Romero sports car. I even managed to take over one of his country houses. Had the locks changed and everything. Instead of being angry, he was always impressed and played along with my shenanigans. He'd pay me top dollar for whatever I stole. It was never about the money for either of us. It was about winning.

And this time, he lost.

I shake my head. "Follow us."

He sighs before knocking back the rest of his scotch. "Make this quick, boys. I have an early meeting tomorrow."

We don't take the direct path down. No. Instead, we lead him in circles, disorienting him so he's distracted. The last thing I want is for him to learn his way around here. These are our sacred spaces.

"Can we hurry this up? I don't need a tour of underneath your house," he grumbles.

"Right this way, Mr. Thorn," Riot snickers back.

He reluctantly follows us into the cavern, freezing when he takes in the sight. "What the fuck?"

I stalk over to Barnaby's lifeless body. His chains rattle as I give him a good shake. "Looks like you lost one of your dolls."

Pisces's face pales, but he lifts his chin in defiance. "I have no idea what you're talking about, boy. What is the meaning of this?"

Riot cocks his head to the side, his eyes murderous as he glares daggers into my father. "This is what happens when you fuck with what belongs to us." He takes another step closer to him. "When you plant spies in our backyard and think we won't fucking sniff them out."

"How dare you speak to me that way, Riot. I should call Holden right now and tell him how disrespectful his son is being." Pisces loosens his tie as beads of sweat form on his brow.

My laugh echoes through the cavern. "You're getting sloppy, old man. And the only one being disrespectful is you. Maureen Blackwell is ours. Stay away from her."

Pisces's blue-green eyes flicker with rage. "You stabbed a young man to death over some fucking pussy? For fuck's sake, Atlas. I thought I taught you better than that."

Riot clenches his fists at his sides, using all his strength to not deck my father in the mouth. "Oh, we didn't stab him to death. She did. Now, why don't you tell us what you want with her."

Pisces's gaze travels the length of Barnaby's body as he stalks toward him. "Excellent knife work…" He sighs. "Maureen is leverage. This childish feud between the Graves and the Blackwells has to end. Penny Blackwell owns most of the land in Ever Graves, and she refuses to do business with anyone who sided with the Graves family. I'll never understand why my brother, Gemini, ever did."

I'm fucking shaking. "And you thought kidnapping Maureen for this pervert to play with was going to earn you points with her grandmother? For fuck's sake."

He scoffs and shakes his head. "That's only what I promised him, so he'd be more motivated. As soon as he grabbed her, I was going to kill him myself."

"Unfuckingbelievable," Riot growls. "Maureen is not yours to bargain with. She belongs to us."

Pisces snickers. "You fucking idiots. Neither of you have any idea what you're dealing with. Trust me."

"Trust you?" I roar.

"Calm the fuck down. You, Riot, and Valentin are messing with something that you are too ignorant and immature to understand. She belongs to Nocturnus. To the elders. Not to a silly group of college boys who still walk in their fathers' shadows."

I charge forward and push him hard. His eyes widen before they darken into something so sinister it makes my skin crawl. He catches me off guard. The sigils on his neck glow as he takes two steps toward me and shoves me back, sending me flying to the ground. I feel my shoulder crack and dislocate the second I make impact with the hard cement.

I wheeze as I struggle to get air back into my lungs.

He comes at me again, but Riot blocks his path. "Get away from him before I string you up right next to your little bitch boy."

I take a deep breath and climb to my feet. He's never laid a hand on me before. Not even when I've been at my worst. With a loud grunt, I slam my shoulder into the cavern wall, snapping it back into place.

"We will not hand her over." I pull out a vial of oleander and drink it down. It numbs some of the pain. "And we will kill anyone who tries to take her from us." I raise my good arm up and point at Barnaby.

Pisces's chest heaves as he and Riot remain locked in a match of death stares. "That temptress will be the death of us all. You'll see. Soon… you'll be begging me to take her."

"Get out," I yell. "Get the fuck out of our house. Get the fuck out of Tenebrose. And take your spies with you, or else I'll send them back to you in pieces."

He straightens his tie before slicking back a strand of fallen hair. "I should have had more children because you are a fucking disappointment."

"Oh, fuck you," Riot hisses.

I wince at my father's words. He's been cold and absent my whole life. But hearing him finally admit it out loud… that I've never lived up to his standards… it's a fucking blow that hurts more than the one he dealt to my body.

"It's fine. At least now, I know where we stand."

Pisces snickers. "I'll show myself out. And yes, I know the way. Despite your earlier efforts to distract me."

I bite my tongue as we watch him leave. Lines have been crossed, and new ones drawn. We've spent our whole lives worshipping our fathers. We put them up on pedestals so high that it went to their heads.

"We can't trust them anymore," Riot murmurs.

I nod. "We never should have."

I pull out my phone and dial Val.

He picks up before the first ring. "How bad is it?"

I close my eyes and pinch the middle of my brow as a headache starts to form. "Do not let her out of your sight."

He lets out a deep breath. "Understood."

I hang up and accompany Riot back upstairs. The initiates have gone to bed, and the house is spotless without any hint of a party ever happening. Fuck. What a long fucking night.

"So what's our next move?" I ask.

Riot rubs my shoulder, soothing it with the power from his healing sigil. "They won't try anything again for a while. But we stay alert. After the semester is over, we go to Ever Graves and end this feud ourselves."

The first time I saw our firecracker was in this very room when she came to our first party of the year. She gave me fucking butterflies. I knew she would change everything. I felt it in my bones that night.

"I'm in love with her," I admit.

Riot nods. "I know. We all are… Sleep with me tonight, Atlas. I don't want to be alone."

A warmth fills my chest. Riot doesn't make himself vulnerable very often. I clasp his hand in mine. "Neither do I."

I follow him to his room and shut the door behind us. My heart races as I watch him remove his shirt and pants before slipping inside the sheets. I strip down as well and climb in next to him.

"Atlas, I need release."

I wrap my hand around his hard cock. "Use me however you like."

"Get on your knees and face the wall," he commands.

Fuck, I'm so hard. I push up and grab a hold of the headboard. "Don't be gentle."

He sucks on his fingers before sliding them up and down my ass. "You know I won't be."

I lean my forehead against the wall as all the pain in my shoulder dissipates. "Fuck."

He slides the tip of his cock in first, taunting me with its girth. I scratch my nails down the headboard. Sweat drips from every corner of my body. I want him inside me so fucking bad. I need this ache to subside. This need to be filled by him.

"Relax. Open up for me." He slides deeper in, and I feel like my belly is going to explode. I spread my legs farther apart and arch my hips back toward him.

"Good boy, Atlas. Just like that." He lets out a deep moan as he pushes all the way in, stuffing me to the brim.

I cry out and jerk my hips forward, but he yanks them back, slamming his thick cock back into me. "Yeah… Don't let me get away."

He reaches around and squeezes my cock. "You could never get away from me."

There's a different energy between us tonight. After all we've been through, all we've sacrificed, we both need this more than ever.

He thrusts all the way in till I can feel his abdomen against my ass cheeks. I bite down on the headboard while he strokes me with both hands and his cock throbs inside me. It's the sweetest fucking torture.

"Fuck me. Please," I beg.

Riot chuckles as he slips out, leaving just the tip inside. He moves it in circles, tickling my entrance until I'm ready to fucking cry from need. "Mmm, I love that tight puckered hole."

I moan and jerk my hips, urging him to put it all the way back in. "Show me. I want to see what you've done to me."

He reaches for his phone. "Hold still for me." He fingers my ass, rubbing his tip around it before I hear the click of the camera.

Fuck. I'm so hot. So desperate for his cock.

Riot shoves the phone in my face. "Look how red and swollen you are for me."

The picture unhinges me, unleashing an orgasm so fucking deep, I let out a guttural scream so loud, I'm sure every single initiate in the house hears me.

Riot thrusts back in and echoes my cries as he thrashes into me like a wild animal. "Fuck, Atlas. You take me so fucking well."

His cum is hot and thick and so fucking creamy. I grab my own cock and milk myself, squirting my cum all over the pillows and sheets. He slams into me as he rides his orgasm, knocking me into the headboard. "That's it. Take it all out on me. Give me your fucking violence."

Riot wraps a hand around my throat as he stills his cock inside me. His cum leaks down the backs of my thighs and ass. "No one can break us, Atlas. The four of us are too strong together."

I take a deep breath as my pulse starts to steady. "Only we can break each other."