Page 33 of Written In Flesh

I blink at my friend. He said she worked here, but in my mind I pictured her as a bartender, or maybe one of the girls who smile at the front and seat tables. “She’s serving tables?”

Aero licks his lips and glances at Heath, neither of them understanding the hostility that edges my words. “Uh, yeah?”

“What are we looking at?” Isaac, one of the guys on our team, steps up to the edge of our table before his eyes do a second take behind me. “Oh, fuck. She’s hot.”

Aero’s eyes widen, and he glances between Isaac and me. My hands are gripping the edge of the table when Heath murmurs, “That’s her,” under his breath.

Tension crowds my shoulders; heat races down my spine, and I have to take a deep breath to push my shadows down and keep my eyes from flipping around this crowd. My head snaps in the direction I know she’s in without even having to scan the room for her. I can feel her, the same draw that she’s always had over me, one of the main reasons I was more than happy to banish her from here. She was dangerous then, and I can only imagine the havoc she’ll bring now.

Skully Morgan. Her skin is still pale, but now with the slightest sun-kissed tan. Despite the baggier jeans, her figure is still on display in the tight, maroon tank top with the bar logo on the front. I take in all of her, the full grip of tits, and naturally curvy hips and ass. Hips that my hands have molded to and handled. My body turns to fucking stone remembering the feeling of her in my hands. Her hair, black as midnight, is now longer, the ends teasing right above her stomach. There’s a natural wave to it now, unlike the perfected curls or tight, pinned-back ponytail with the bows she used to wear. I watch as her head tilts back, those deep pink lips, free from color or tints, laugh along with whatever the bartender is saying. Her chocolatey eyes spark, and there’s a tinge of pink on her cheeks. She looks nothing like the girl I remember, yet she is exactly the same. She still elicits the same response from me, one I’d been powerless to before.

As if sensing my stare, her gaze peeks up and clashes with mine. My brain fires off images at will: our first meeting, our times together, times I promised her my soul, and ultimately our demise. Everything up until she woke up in the hospital. I’m forced to feel it all, relive every memory, and she still doesn’t have a fucking clue about what she did to me.

Anger propels me forward, my stride quickly eating up the distance of the packed bar between us. Skully glances left to right, realizing no one is around to save her. Her gaze narrows, and her teeth sink into her bottom lip, causing my steps to almost falter. She really is as I remember. Beautiful, clever, and a little bit murderous. Just like poison. Once I’m in front of her, her head has to tilt back to meet my eyes. Hers widen slightly. After not being near her for so long, I drink up everything about her, including the faint spray of freckles across her nose and the slight sheen of sweat on her skin from working hard.

“What are you doing?”

Her brow lifts, and her arms cross over her chest. “Working.”

“Your dad said you worked at the library. What are you doing here?” I really wish I could fucking make myself stop asking and saying stupid questions right now, but she’s in my head and right in front of me after two years.

Skully scoffs and, for the first time, looks away from me. “I worked at the school library last year for four weeks to get my camera paid off. Now that I’m back in this lovely town, I’m working here.”

Her shoulders lift and fall with a shrug that very much reads who fucking cares. And I feel like I’m going out of my mind because why do I? She should get drowned in orders and deal with assholes; it would serve her right. I might even get joy out of watching her princess-ass flounder and fail until she goes home crying to Gavin for more comfort. Before, she wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help anyone, which is why this little stunt doesn’t make sense.

Except then I see it. The quick flicks of male eyes on her form as they pass. The way they’re watching her from across the bar, licking their lips as if she’s on the menu.

“Quit. Now,” I grit out, stepping closer to her, my narrowed gaze swinging around at all the assholes who are ignoring my presence.

Skully’s hands land on my chest, and she pushes until I’m forced back, and she sidesteps me. “No.”

“No?” I practically growl, my hands already forming into fists, so I don’t reach out and grab her. My shadows are pressing me, pushing me to throw her over my shoulder and leave right now.

“No. I’m not going to do that. I don’t answer to you, Madden.” Her voice is firm and filled with a fire that I haven’t heard from her before.

“River Falls is mine, Skully. Nothing and no one moves without my knowing it. Things can be easy or hard, that’s up to you, but if you’re here, then you will fall in line like everyone else.”

Her eyes darken, and red tinges her cheeks. I notice her own hands form little fists, and she looks a second away from snapping at me. “I am not yours. You have no hold on me.”

I reach for her at the same time she turns on her heel and bolts to the back kitchen area, where I can’t reach her. My heart hammers in my chest, and that same twisted feeling of anger, frustration, and want merges inside me, making my jaw clench tightly until I can talk my shadows into calming down. They want to go after her, chase her, and make her see that she is ours.

“That went well,” Aero’s dry voice says next to me, his eyes also on the swinging kitchen doors that Skully ran to.

“She’s the same as she always was. A fucking brat,” I breathe harshly, running my hands through my hair.

Aero grunts and side-eyes me. “A brat, maybe, but that girl is definitely not the one who left here two years ago.”

“You haven’t had time to see her true colors again since being back,” I argue, feeling so sure of my words.

“I’m on the fence with this one,” Heath says before sliding the rest of his mozzarella stick inside his mouth. “Maybe she’s matured or some shit after being gone.”

My lips curl at the way he’s talking with his mouth full, and I shrug them both off. “She needs to fall in line just like everyone else. Unlike last time, she doesn’t hold a seat at the table. Starting right now, we set the tone that she isn’t one of us. She isn’t wanted here at all.”

Old resentment and anger flare in my gut and chest, and I can’t help the smirk that pulls at my lips just imagining all the ways I can make her time here miserable unless she follows the rules. My rules. Skully has been gone a long time. And she’s forgotten about the power and influence the four of us hold and wield here in River Falls. I could bend her will and destroy her without even lifting a hand. I’ll start with the things she loves most until she remembers the broken, lonely, attention-seeking whore she always was.

“I don’t know, Madd. Gavin is not going to be happy if you mess with his princess,” Heath grumbles.

A dark, deep chuckle leaves my lips. “Gavin doesn’t care about her, Heath. He only cares about his image.”

No, Gavin has never cared about his only child, just about how he can use her. How he can pit her against us. At one time, I believed that she never wanted anything to do with the council, until I saw the real her. Until I felt the aftermath of the destruction and lies. This time, she isn’t in the manor or under his watch. Skully is on my turf. And she’s going to pay for everything she broke.