Chapter Twenty-Four

Bailey

I was dead. No…

A hush fell across the room, collective breaths held tight inside trembling rib cages.

Paled faces.

Disbelief.

And then emotions exploding. Voices shouting.

I stood still; my head dizzy, as the room seemed to spin out of control around me. I snuck a look at Maureen. The firelight flickered over her face, highlighting the tears streaming down her cheeks. Her chest heaved as she began to hyperventilate.

But it was with Raine whom I locked eyes with.

My breath steadied as I walked toward him. Flashes of that night filled my head. The smoke in my lungs. The flames blurring my vision…

With every step I took toward him, I recovered another fragment. A chill snaked up my spine as I remembered people pushing and shoving to get out. How no one helped me. All these years I thought the smoke-filled memories were from the fire that killed my parents.

But they weren't.

They were from the fire that killed me.

As I bridged the gap between us and gazed up at Raine, I saw myself at the top of the stairs. I remembered my stomach dropping as I felt the shove from behind. I lost my footing and tumbled down. Every step I hit broke one of my bones. The flames lapped around me, the smoke filling my lungs. And the last thing I remember seeing as I took my last breath, was Billy's snarling face…

"He's telling the truth," I murmured. "I remember now."

Maureen threw her arms around me and sobbed into my chest. "Oh, Bales. No."

Poe sank to his knees in front of the fire. "So you've been dead this whole time? How did we not know?"

Raine kept his eyes glued to mine. "Because she didn't know. Her soul didn't pass over and there was no one there to tell her any different. She got up, walked away, and blocked the whole thing out."

It explained everything. The way I'd been feeling since that night. This emptiness inside of me that I'd been trying to fill. The way Billy's hatred of me grew even more. He thought he killed me. He did kill me . But when I showed back up, he must have thought he'd failed. He must have known that I couldn't remember. And he's been fucking with me ever since.

"Well, how the fuck did you know?" Saint growled .

Raine smiled. "Because I was there the night it happened. I found her body after she fell."

I was getting sucked in deeper, drowning in his blue-green eyes. "I didn't fall. I was pushed."

Maureen broke our embrace. "Please don't say it…"

I nodded. "Yup. It was Billy."

Grim charged the fireplace and with one violent sweep, knocked everything off the mantle. "Fuck!"

I ran to him. "Grim…"

He pulled me to his chest and wrapped his arms tight around me. "Little fox… I'm going to avenge you. I promise you that."

"Why didn't you tell her sooner?" Saint growled.

Raine shrugged. "I like secrets. Thought this would be more fun. But I got so sick of hearing you all whine about her safety every time she left the house. For fuck's sake."

"You really are a bastard, aren't you?" Poe spat.

"I smell bullshit." Saint went to the bar and poured six glasses of whiskey. "You kept this a secret so you could have something with Bailey that we didn't have."

Raine smirked as he snatched one of the drinks. "I still do. We set you free. Bailey and me. Together. She was always mine first."

"Fuck you," Grim snarled.

I pulled away from him and looked around at the mess he'd made on the floor. "What's done is done. We can sort all our feelings out later. Right now we need a plan to get Billy and Chad here so we can kill them."

Maureen smiled at Saint as he handed her a drink. She guzzled the whole thing without blinking. "Halloween's in three days. We throw a party here. Costume only. He won't be able to resist. "

That's why she's my best friend. "That's perfect. Send out a group text to everyone we know."

Poe cocked his head. "You think he'll take the bait?"

I nodded. "He thinks I live here alone. The only reason he hasn't shown up here yet is because he knows I have nosy neighbors. When he saw me and Maureen heading out to my place in the woods, he jumped on it."

Maureen helped herself to another whiskey. "He was going to kill us both tonight, wasn't he? To shut us up after they had their fun."

"That's what I would have done," Raine snickered.

Grim started toward him but I blocked his path. I put a firm hand on his chest. "I need all of you to sort your shit out if we're gonna get through this. No more fighting. Save your anger for the asshole who murdered me."

He grunted and pushed past me, heading straight for the bar. "Fine." His throat bobbed as he knocked back a glass of whiskey. "But you and I need to have a chat later, little fox. Alone ."

These were the moments where I truly felt the weight of having to manage four alpha psychos. "It's settled then. In three days, we finish this with Billy."

After everyone nodded in agreement, Grim grumbled off to his room. Poe retreated to the kitchen, insisting we let him feed us a hot meal. We devoured our food in silence. Except for the occasional moan from Maureen's lips as she gushed over Poe's cooking.

I put her to bed in one of the guest rooms with a promise that we would chat more in the morning. Three whiskeys later and she wasn't putting up much of a fight about it. She could barely keep her eyes open.

Raine wandered off without saying goodnight, which was for the best. He was winding everyone up, and I was too tired to deal with it. I gave Saint and Poe each a quick kiss before heading upstairs.

I stood in the shower and closed my eyes as the hot water sprayed over me. As I breathed in the steam, a sob lodged in my throat. My breath quivered as I exhaled slowly.

I was dead .

My body trembled as the tears finally poured out. I slammed my hand against the tiled wall. "Fuck."

Everything I'd been holding in, rushed out. I sank down and curled myself into a ball underneath the showerhead. I knew something was wrong with me. Just never would have imagined this. It wasn't until Raine said it out loud. When I looked into his eyes and saw the truth. A switch flipped in my head as I accepted it. Embraced it. And now I can't shut the memories off. They've been on a constant replay in my head since he told me.

I was really drunk that night. Billy used that to his advantage when I got separated from Maureen. I had rejected him earlier. He was so angry that I wouldn't fuck him. He was drunk too. But that was no excuse. Pure evil ran through his veins. I saw it in his eyes tonight when he was slamming his fists against my car. He had every intention of killing me.

I rested my head against my knees and sobbed. I didn't know how long I'd been in here, but the steam was so thick I could barely see. A part of me wanted to hide in here forever. But Billy had already taken too much. I wouldn't give him this life as well.

I turned off the water and dried myself off. I smeared the steam off the mirror and looked deep into my own eyes. I still looked like me. That's what was so fucking scary. Because underneath the flesh, I was not the same. And I never would be again.

A shudder passed through me as I pulled on a tank top and a pair of panties. I opened the door and froze. Raine sat at the foot of my bed, barefoot and shirtless. Fuck. The top of his jeans were unbuttoned. Every inch of his skin was covered in tattoos.

We locked eyes and my belly fluttered. He leaned back on his elbows, his posture relaxed, but his gaze was feral. I'd never seen a man hunger for me the way that he did.

"Hi," I stammered.

"Come here."

My breath hitched as I inched toward him. He sat up as I reached the bed. He ran his hands up my thighs. I flinched as he ripped my panties down the middle. "Next time you take a shower…" He grabbed my tank top and tore it in half. "If you don't come in here naked, I will burn all your clothes."

An ache festered in my core. I craved his violence. His brutality. "Do you want to punish me?"

Malice flashed in his eyes. He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me onto the bed. In one quick swoop, he had me pinned underneath him. "Oh, I'm going to." He pushed my head to the side and ran his tongue across my cheek. "And it's going to hurt."

Moisture gathered between my legs. Fuck, I was just as psychotic as he was. " Good ," I spat.

He growled and flipped me over onto my stomach. "Let's make sure you can't run away."

Another spasm rocked through me as I felt the fabric wrap around my left wrist. I gazed up just as he secured the other end of the silk scarf to my bedpost. "Forget about your safe word, Bailey. It's useless on me."

I sucked in a sharp breath as he secured my right wrist to the other bedpost. Panic began to creep into my chest even as my juices leaked between my legs. I tugged on my restraints but the more I pulled the tighter they got.

Raine dragged his fingertips down my spine. "Fight back all you want. It makes me so fucking hard. "

"I'm not fighting this time," I breathed.

I heard the sound of his zipper and him rustling with his jeans. Then the sound of them dropping to the floor. He got back between my legs and pushed them apart. "So you do like being fucked in the ass like a dirty little slut."

A tingle coiled around my clit. " Yes ."

Raine dug his fingers into my ass cheeks and spread them wide open. "I bet the boys were gentler, hmm?"

My heart raced. Fuck. He was going to tear me apart. I just knew it. "There's some lube in my top drawer." Please, fuck, let him use it .

He pushed my ass cheeks farther apart. I could already feel the burn of the stretch. Fuck. "Nah, I've got a better idea."

I clenched as a sudden drop of liquid splashed against my entrance. It oozed down my ass sending a spasm straight to my core. Fuck. "What are you doing?"

Raine chuckled. "Dirty sluts don't get fancy lubricants. They get spit on."