20. TWENTY

TWENTY

" G et her out of here!" Declan shouts as the two of them struggle. The man in the mask, too short to be Sebastian, slices at the air in front of Declan with a machete as he moves toward the back of the room. Declan grabs the lamp beside the television, pulls its cord from the wall, and hurls it at him.

When the man ducks, he lunges for him, knocking him off of his feet, and they struggle for control over the blade between them.

"Let's go, Teag," Luca says, ushering me toward the door with a tight grip around my wrist.

But before we leave the room, the masked man regains control and ends up on top of Declan with the knife raised over his head. I break free of Luca's grip and lunge at the man, knocking him off of Declan and burying my blade into his right shoulder.

I didn't think about it; I didn't aim, and that was a mistake. It's enough for him to release the knife, but not much more effective than that. He easily shakes me off of him, and when Declan comes up with the masked man's knife, he already has me in a headlock. The man pulls me to my feet, takes my own knife from his shoulder, and holds it to my throat.

"Luca, stop!" Declan yells before he can lunge, unarmed, at the man. He holds Luca back with a hand on his chest. "Easy..." he cautions the man who has me in a chokehold. "Don't do anything rash. Let's figure something out…"

"It's okay," I tell them both, choking on a sob. "It's okay. I love you."

"Shut up," the man says, digging the knife into my flesh. "This isn't a prisoner exchange. You're all going to die. She's just going to go first."

I squeeze my eyes closed. I hear nothing but muffled voices over the sound of my own blood pumping in my ears.

It's painless—that's what I'm thinking when warm blood sprays over my neck and the side of my face.

It's painless. What a relief.

The arm around my neck falls away, and I no longer feel the weight of the body against my back. I fall to my knees, and when I open my eyes, I'm still in the hotel room. I grab at my throat, and my hands come away bloody, but I'm still breathing; I still hear voices in the room around me. I try to wade through the sound of my pounding heart and zero in on them, and it just barely works.

"Get out of here, Teagan."

I turn and look behind me—toward the source of the voice. The man who had ahold of me before lies lifeless on the floor, blood pooling near his body from stab wounds in the side of his throat. Another masked man looks down at me, a bloody knife in his hand.

It wasn't my blood. And this one is Sebastian.

He grabs me under my arm, pulls me to my feet, and shoves me toward the door. "Go, Teagan. You're not going to want to see this."

"Teagan, run," Declan says. "It's okay."

They can't take him. Maybe when Luca was in better shape they would have had a chance— maybe . But not now.

"Please don't!" I cry, stepping in front of Sebastian. "Please just leave them alone. You don't have to do this."

"Teagan, GO!" Declan shouts. "Now."

"That's him, isn't it?" Luca asks. "I'm going to fucking kill you."

"Luca, stop! You can't. " I turn back to Sebastian, tears streaming down my face, and place a hand on his chest. "Please. You're not a monster; you don't have to."

"You're wrong," he says. "Last chance to leave."

I bend down and pick up my knife from the floor. "I can't," I say.

"Give Luca the knife and go, Teagan," Declan says, still holding the machete. "Whatever happens…it's not your fault. I love you."

"You know how quickly I can take that away from you," Sebastian says. "Get out of my way, Teagan. I'll make it quick."

I hold the knife to my own throat.

"Teagan, what are you doing?" Sebastian growls.

"I don't want to," I say. "But if you're going to do this, then I'll have to. It'll kill me. Please. I'll do anything—just don't do this."

Sebastian lifts the knife at his side as footsteps approach me from behind. "Give me the knife, angel," Luca says. He places a hand on my shoulder and goes for my wrist with the other.

"Don't!" I shout, shaking him off. I point the knife at him before bringing it back to my throat. "Get back!"

"Teagan…" Luca says, the hurt evident in his eyes and his voice.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Sebastian laughs, and I watch the hurt shift to pure rage.

"I thought you said he wasn't stupid," Sebastian says.

"Put the knife down!" I scream. "This is your last chance."

"Sebastian, let's talk," Declan says.

"Don't call me that," Sebastian says.

"We have a problem." Declan sets his own knife down, and I flinch as he walks around the two of us. He steps over Travis's head and sits down on the sofa. All swagger, zero fucks given.

He's the guy on stage again.

"What do you want?" Declan asks. "It's Teagan, right? You're obviously not going to kill her. You don't want her to kill herself, so you can't kill us."

"He can't fucking have Teagan, Declan. What the fuck!?" Luca shouts.

"I've had Teagan in every way possible," Sebastian tells Luca. "She begged for it, too, like a little whore. She asked me to run away with her, did she tell you that?"

Luca scoffs. "Yeah, right."

"Didn't you, Teagan?"

"Sebastian, stop."

"Teagan, what the fuck? You were going to leave me? For him?"

"You weren't there! You left me!"

"Not by choice! After I kill him, I'm going to knock some fucking sense into you, too, Teagan."

"Luca, enough," Declan says.

"You're going to be sleeping in handcuffs every night, and I'll spank your little ass so raw you won't be able to sit down for a month."

"Lofty goals. You won't live that long," Sebastian scoffs.

"You want Teagan, right?" Declan asks again.

Sebastian neither confirms nor denies it.

"What the fuck are you going to do with her if you get her?" he asks. "Hmm? Let's say you kill us, stop her from killing herself, and get her out of here alive; then what? You're supposed to kill her, aren't you? That's what your dead friend said."

"I don't have friends—"

"Are you going to leave The Order?" Declan asks.

"No one leaves The Order."

"You can't take care of her," Declan says. "You can't let her go because she's supposed to be dead. You can't trust her to stay hidden or not to harm herself because she's going to be angry with you. You can't move her with you because she's supposed to be dead. You can't keep her tied up somewhere because eventually, you'll have to leave her alone for too long, and she'll die. Or they'll notice, and she'll die. And she'll hate you for it until she does. You haven't thought this through."

"Girls don't like being tied up and held prisoner," Luca says. "Learned that one the hard way."

"So, you're saying my only option is to kill all three of you."

"That's one option," Declan says, propping his feet up on the coffee table. "Help us get her out of here." He turns to me and adds, "Come sit down, honey. It's okay."

I look to my left—to Luca—and shake my head. "I don't think I should."

"Luca, sit down. You're making Teagan nervous."

"And the masked douchebag with a knife makes her feel all warm and fuzzy? Why do I make her nervous?"

"More like wet and horny—"

"Mother fuck—"

"Luca, don't!"

"You're unpredictable—that's why," Declan says. "Sit down."

Luca sits at the edge of the bed. He's still in only his boxers and has that crazy look in his eyes he gets sometimes.

With his long hair and beard, he looks like a deranged, tattooed Jesus.

"Now will you sit, Teag? Put the knife down. I'm trying to be your port. That's what you want, right?"

"Yes," I say, lowering the knife. I wipe my cheeks with the back of my hand and sit—not beside Declan but at Luca's feet, wrapping my arm around his leg. I press my lips to the inside of his knee.

"I love you, Teagan," Luca says. "He doesn't love you."

"I know that," I tell him.

"You're my baby, aren't you, Teag?" Luca says, pushing his hands through my hair.

I nod.

Sebastian glares at me and then Luca. "Maybe I'll let you go if you let me kill that one."

"Like my dad killed your mom?" Luca taunts.

"Didn't you kill your own mom and then fuck your new one?"

"Sebastian, please leave him alone."

Sebastian moves to the other side of the room, pulls out the desk chair, and sits wide-legged with his arms crossed in front of him. I look from him to Declan—their size, their posture…it's like looking in a fucking mirror. How didn't I see it?

"Sebastian," I say, "you should take off your mask. I bet Declan wants to see your face."

"No."

"He remembers you. He's your brother."

Luca scoffs. "They're not brothers."

"You're his brother, too, Luca."

"I really wish I'd let that one die on that plane," Sebastian says. "I despise you. There is something really wrong with you, isn't there, Teagan? You want to die for this guy? Maybe you should just slit your throat so we can be done with this."

"Don't listen to him, Teagan," Declan says. "He doesn't mean it."

"I'm not. I wasn't talking to Bone Saw. I don't want him—I want Sebastian."

"She's right, though. I do remember you, and I do want to see your face. We are brothers."

"I don't want to see his fucking face," Luca says.

Apparently, that's all the convincing he needed. Sebastian lowers the hood and removes the mask.

He's uncomfortable; he doesn't want to look at either of them so he looks at me. The similarities are striking. All three men have the same cheekbones and brow ridge; Declan and Sebastian have the same dark eyes and hairline. Their hair and skin tone is different but still, I don't know how I never noticed it before.

I missed him. He missed me, too—that's why he's here. He disobeyed for me. He killed another member of The Order to save me.

Declan's right—he's not going to hurt me, and so he won't hurt them.

"Sebastian could come with us," I tell Declan.

"Fuck that—"

"He can't, honey. Sebastian is right—no one leaves The Order. They'd kill us all," Declan says. "Do you have a car?"

"Yes," Sebastian says.

"There's a small airport not far from here. Bring her there after the wedding."

"No way. We can't trust him with her," Luca says.

"He came all the way down here to save her. And he's not stupid—he knows this is the only way she'll ever be safe. He's not going to hurt her; he loves her."

I hold my breath and wait—wait for him to say yes, I do love you, Teagan . But instead, he stares straight ahead at the wall, thinking it over.

"She gets under your skin, doesn't she?" Declan asks.

Still, he says nothing.

It's quiet for a few minutes. I cling to Luca's leg and stare at the head on the floor.

I remember the scared girl in the bathroom in Dallas, covered in blood, afraid of what it meant. Now, I'm sitting in a hotel room with a dead body and a severed head, unaffected.

Its eyes are open.

"Fine," Sebastian says.

"Okay," Declan says. He leans forward in his chair.

"No," Luca says. "I'm not leaving Teagan with him. I don't trust him."

"Do you trust me?" Declan asks.

"Are you kidding? No. You left her. I'm not leaving her again."

"Teagan, come here," Sebastian says.

My eyes dart to Declan, who nods.

"Don't," Luca says, his hand closing around my wrist when I stand.

"It's okay," I say. I place a hand on his cheek and lean in and kiss him before moving to Sebastian.

He pats his leg. "Sit on my lap."

Luca scoffs. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

But I do it.

Sebastian grabs the hemline of the back of my shirt and pulls it up to my right shoulder. I'm naked beneath it; I see Luca tense before dropping my gaze to the floor.

"Hold still," Sebastian says, pressing his knife to that same shoulder. I dig my nails into his thighs as he cuts through my flesh, digging at it with the blade's tip.

"What the fuck is he doing to her?!" Luca asks. "You've got about five seconds before—"

"Relax. I've got it." Sebastian sets the knife aside, and I feel his fingers in the wound before he holds out his hand, revealing a small microchip. "It's a tracking device," he says. "Do you trust me now?"

"You chipped me?"

"You can't really be that surprised, Teagan," he replies indifferently. "We need to get rid of the bodies before the sun comes up. It's going to start to smell if we leave them here all day."

"I'll help you," Declan says.

I feel Sebastian tense up. I'm sure he wants to argue against spending time with Declan as this —he's not the guy behind the mask anymore. He leans in and whispers into my ear, "You soaked my thigh, little monster. I hope your boyfriend doesn't see that—wouldn't want him to find out how much you like it when I hurt you."

There are things I want to say to him. I want to lean into him. I want to touch him; I want to throw my arms around his neck and kiss his mouth. I don't think that'd be well-received by anyone.

"Thank you," I say instead, stepping aside so he can get up.

"I'll go get my things from the car," Sebastian says.

"Um, do you want to take a key?" I ask.

Luca scoffs.

"I have one," Sebastian says as he walks out the door. "Got it from the front desk."

"How are we going to get the blood out of the floors?" I ask Declan.

"We don't really need to," he says. "We just need to keep the staff out of the room until after you're already gone. Then, it won't matter."

"Oh…yeah. I guess that makes sense. Um, Luca, can I take a shower now? I'm covered in blood."

"Of course, baby. Go ahead."

I take a couple of steps toward the bathroom, then pause. "Declan? Will you be okay…with him?"

"I told you not to worry about me, kitten." He closes the space between us and presses a kiss to my lips. "I'm going to take care of you now…like I promised."

"Okay."

After stepping inside the bathroom, I strip down and shower quickly. Even though Declan says it's fine, I don't want to leave them alone together for too long. I wring out my hair and tie my towel around my body before the door opens. Luca steps into the bathroom, closing it behind him.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask.

Luca shakes his head. "No."

He places his hands on my cheeks and leans in, kissing me. His mouth explores mine before moving onto my neck and pulling the towel from my body.

"I love you, Teagan," he says. He reaches between my legs and pushes a finger inside me.

"I love you, too, but…where are they?"

"In the room…"

"But—"

"What are you worried about, Teagan?" he asks. "Huh?"

Sebastian. I'm worried about Sebastian—I can't exactly say that. Especially not when I think he's the reason he feels like he needs to do this.

He wants him to know. He wants him to hear it.

He turns me toward the mirror and pulls his own shorts and boxers down over his hips. I feel his cock hard against my bare ass.

"Bend over, baby," he says.

I bend over the countertop, and he thrusts his hard cock inside me. Waves of pleasure start from my core and roll up my spine. I forgot how good he feels like this.

I moan, my eyes rolling back into my head as I reach for anything I can hold onto for leverage and come up with one hand around the faucet.

He thrusts into me again and again, harder each time, the sound of his skin against mine echoes through the space every time he buries his dick inside me.

And if Sebastian is on the other side of the door, he can hear it…each time he slams his massive dick into me. I grit my teeth to keep from screaming.

Leaning over me, he grabs me by my hair and whispers into my ear, "You're my good girl, Teagan. Mine—not his."

"I know," I whimper, my breath heaving. "I know that."

"You better," he says as he drills into my pussy. "I'm going to make sure you do. You're my girl, Teagan. Mine to fuck, mine to use, mine to hurt. Mine to tie up in the fucking basement if you deserve it. Do you deserve it, Teagan?"

"Whatever you want, Luca," I moan, about to unravel. "I'll do whatever you want."

Two brutal thrusts of his hips later, and I'm coming apart. I try to keep quiet, even though I know it's pointless, biting my lip, hoping to stifle my cries while my pussy clenches around him.

"Don't you dare try to be quiet," Luca growls. "I know what you sound like when you come. I'll make you cry, Teagan." He slaps my ass hard, and I scream. "Is that what you want? Huh?"

"Luca…oh, fuck," I moan, giving in as the orgasm rips through me. "Ahh!"

Luca kisses my neck, and I reach back, gripping his hair in my hands and pulling him in closer. "That's my girl," he says. "My sweet black licorice girl."

He groans loudly when he comes, not at all trying to keep quiet while he fills me. If he was trying to prove a point, he did. My pussy pulses around his throbbing cock while I lie bent over the countertop, my body limp and spent.

"I love you," he says. "I love you so much. I didn't leave you—don't leave me."

"I'd never do that."

He stands, takes his shirt off, and hands it to me. "Put this on, honey."

"Thanks," I tell him, pulling it over my head.

"You're pretty," he says, pushing my hair away from my face.

I smile. "You're pretty, too."

I stand on my toes and press my lips to his.

"You're sweet, baby," he says. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Teag."

"It's okay, Luca."

I take his hand, and when we step back into the room together, Declan and Sebastian are stuffing the last pieces of a dismembered body into two black garbage bags. Declan crosses the room and picks up Travis's head by the hair.

"Where's the rest of him?" I ask.

"In the trunk of the other one's car," Declan says. "We're going to get rid of it—the car and the leftovers."

He picks up the bloody machete and tosses it in the garbage bag, too. He's in his element—I can see it in his eyes. He enjoyed hacking that body to pieces.

I bite back a smile, and, noticing, he laughs.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're right," Declan says. "We're still the same, Teagan."

It's sexy as fuck. And not just the laugh, but that, too. He doesn't do it often, and when he does, it's usually disingenuous. But Declan wielding a machete, bloody from cutting up the body of someone who tried to hurt me with his estranged brother…it's fucking sexy.

It's fucking poetry.

"Let's go," Sebastian says.

He doesn't look at me; he doesn't acknowledge me before walking out the door.

"We'll be back soon," Declan says. "Bye, sweetheart. Don't leave the room."

"Bye."

He grabs a bag from the floor and turns off the light as he walks out the door.

Luca grabs another one of those mini liquor bottles from the cabinet and then pulls an orange pill bottle from his bag and shakes a couple out in his hand.

"Hey," I say. "Come here…let's go to sleep. You don't need that, do you?"

He pops the pills into his mouth and washes them down with a shot of whiskey before sitting at the edge of the bed.

"I'm crippled, Teagan," he says, dropping his head into his hands. "I think this is as good as it's going to get, and I'm fucking scared."

"Even if you are, that's okay." I lean against his back, wrap my arms around him, and rest my head on his shoulder. "I know you're hurting, but we'll get through it."

"What if I can't?"

"Well…then…I'll lie down and die with you so you don't have to sleep alone."

"Teag…"

"I mean it. I don't want to live another day without you. My heart can't take it."

He turns, facing me with watery eyes, and wraps his arms around me.

"It's okay, Luca," I tell him. "We'll be okay. And if we aren't, then…that's okay, too. We tried."

"You're so good to me, Teag," he says. "I missed you so much. You're the best thing I've ever had."

"I missed you, too. Lie down, okay? I'll rub your back until you fall asleep."

He pulls back the covers and climbs into the bed. I rub his back and shoulders and run my fingers through his hair until I hear snoring.

Which luckily doesn't take long. My own eyes are heavy, too.