Page 40 of Lay Me Down
I stand up and tower over her while my fingertips brush the scrub fabric on her thighs.You could’ve gotten your head straight while mine was buried in this cunt,is what I want to say back to her.You could’ve talked it out between counting your orgasms. I slide my hands under the hem of her scrub top and feel her silky skin.You could’ve killed your fears with the monster you awoke inside of me.
Her breath hitches, and she squirms under my touch against the table. The skin on her chest and neck blushes, and her muscles tense. Her ability to perform is truly a gift. She really has to actsodesperate, doesn’t she?
“Carter… Can we please talk?” she asks so painfully, like she’s actually sad that I’m not falling over my feet to grovel. My lefthand moves to grip her hip while my right fists her hair and pulls, forcing her head back so shehasto look up at me.
“You want to talk? I think we both know I need more than that for an apology.”
Her lip snarls just a little bit, and her eyes tighten, making her look like the vicious little thing I know her to be.
“Fuck you, asshole,” she seethes, and I push my face down enough to smell the spearmint on her breath.
“Not until you’re begging for it, sweetness.”
I hear the door creak open a little, but I don’t tear my eyes away from her. Sheneedsto understand what she’s done to me.
“Um, we can come back in a minute?” Alex says cautiously. I smirk and release her, but I still don’t back away.
“No need. She was just going back to check on Ash. We’re done,” I retort in a cold tone, and just when I think I’ve got this figured out, I regret it instantly. Her eyes, while still sharp and full of anger, start to fill with tears, and my grin falters. She jumps off the table and pushes past me. Her shoulder knocks into mine, and it’s only a moment later the office door slams closed.
I just hang my head and grip the conference table in defeat. I’m losing my cool, and I can’t afford to. Not right now. We don’t have time for me to get distracted like this. I feel like shit. I know she’s sorry, and I could see the sincerity in her eyes—I just don’t want to look at it right now. It’s easier to be angry. She can’t finish clawing my heart out if I don’t let her.
“You good, Carter?” Alex asks.
“I’m fine. Anything from the search parties?”
“Nothing. They can’t find any trace of D downtown,” he replies, and I just nod my head. I’ve had enough distractions. Our brother needs us, and we’re going to find him.
“Get Zeke and John back in here. Let’s lay everything out.”
Chapter 16
Damien
The Next Day
“Damien?” Ashia’s voice echoes, forcing my heavy eyes to flutter. My entire body aches, and the left side of my chest feels like it’s on fire. Every muscle is pulling and twisting with pain, and it all comes flashing back. The car speeding up behind me, the other car in front swerving into my lane, and then tiny glimpses of being weightless—little blips of flying through the air. “Baby, get up…” she whispers, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from. Her voice seems to be everywhere at once, and it bounces back at me from every angle. Her scream follows. “DAMIEN!”
My heart hammers in my chest, and I fight to regain consciousness. She needs me. She’s in trouble. I can hear her.Fuck, everything hurts. Did they get to her after I wrecked? No,no. She’s with Zeke. She’s got to be okay, but fuck,I hear her screams. They’re everywhere. It’s almost as if the pain isn’t even mine, and I can feel her through the space around me.
I finally force my eyes to open, but the room immediately spins. It’s cold here, like it’s a completely different season, and it’s that type of dry-cold that’s only given off by an electric unit of some type. It makes my body tremble, which only worsens the pain. I try and force myself to move, but either I can’t, or my hands are bound behind my back. I’m sitting up against something hard. Perhaps a chair, or a pole, but I can’t quite tell yet.
The floor, from what I can make of it, appears to be cobblestone, and it’s either very dark in here, or the room is encased in a shadowy ambiance. There are multiples of everything, even of my feet as I stare downward, and it takes a few moments to piece it all back together. Two sets of footsteps, or at least I think that’s what I hear, approach me just before they step into my field of vision. One looks to be female, and is clearly wearing some type of closed-toed heel, while the other is obviously a man by the size and shape of the shoe.
A deep voice makes its way through the ringing in my ears, and I shock myself with the way my spine rattles.
“What is this,cagnolina?” the voice says in low, rough tone. His accent is clearly Italian.
Fucking. Italian.
“This is the new pet,cagnolino. He’ll be quite the addition.” The female chimes in as well, and she’s laced with the same heavy accent. I’m not sure what ‘cagnolino’ is, but I’m assuming from their harsh and unamused tones that it’s not an endearing pet name. The feet appear to step closer, and I try my best not to make any sudden movements.
“Where did you find this one?”
“Technically, he found us first,” the female replies. The bigger set of the two feet stops in their tracks and turns towards the smaller pair.
“Explain. Now, Gianna.” My heart hardens to stone, then drops and merges with the floor. I figured by the Italian thattheywere behind this. They’ve evaded us for so long, and now I’m in front of them, set up for slaughter.
“This…” She trails off. “Is the Hartley boy.”
