Page 99 of Vile Bastards
“I’ll tell them it was Ash,” he says, and then his face darkens into something impossible, something truly terrifying. As normal as he might appear at times, he just pulled a gun on Alexei. I can’t let myself forget that. “I was blamed for every terrible thing my brother ever did. Why stop now? It’s fitting that he finally stole my name the way he always stole my freedom, my life, and my integrity. Put me on like a suit to shield himself against the terrible things he did. At least now, the crimes match the boy. All the crimes he committed under my name are now his sins. I’m cleansed of them.” Ash clenches and unclenches his fists at his sides, fingers twitching.
“Did he really get a girl pregnant and then beat her into having a miscarriage?”
Ash swallows hard, and his face tightens up; he doesn’t look at me.
“He did—and then he blamed me for it, of course.”
“How do I know you didn’t actually do all the horrible things you’re attributing to your twin? How do I know that you’re not just as rotten as he was, that you’re not a snake in the grass? Because everybody and their grandmother wants me to dump you like a hot potato and move on.”
“Doki-doki,” he says again, putting his hand back to his chest. I put my own hand to my chest, listening to my heart beating, furious but steady. “You’re the only person who’s ever seen my true heart, Scarlett. You’ll have to be the judge of that. My word will never be enough.”
I’m not even sure how to respond to that.
“You want to talk about the gun you held on Alexei yesterday?” I ask, and Ash turns slowly to stare at me, his eyes darkening at the memory.
“I knew on a logical level that you were fucking other men, but seeing it?” He scoffs out a laugh and shakes his head, reaching up to run long, pretty fingers through his dark hair. “And Alexei Grove of all people? The germaphobe?” He scowls heavily, and the expression holds tremendous weight, drawing me in like a blackhole. “I want to fuck those memories right out of you.” Ash turns to me, and something about the expression on my face must invite him in because he steps close, running his fingertips down the arms of my jacket. Does he know that it belongs to Widow? Would it change anything if he did? Ash leans in, putting his mouth so close to my ear that his lips brush my skin when he talks. “The faster … the harder I fuck that tight little cunt, the sooner you’ll forget all about him.” He laughs again, low and soft, menacing. “By the time I’m done with you, you won’t even remember his name.”
He draws away from me as I release a heavy breath, watching as he tucks his hands into his pockets and strolls in the direction of the woods. Wherever it is that he’s going, it’s obvious that he wants to be alone.
That, or he just can’t bear to be around me at the moment.
“I’ll come check on you every now and again,” I promise Lemon, squatting low beside the water and reaching out to trail my fingers across the surface. Whether for good luck or bad, I’m not sure. I know better than most that even when it appears that the world is scheming, that things can’t get much worse … they can.
They will.
Bohnes
What the fuck is the mayor’s spawn doing with his dick in his hand? I wonder, lighting up a clove cigarette as Scarlett and Nisha leave the clearing, their engines loud and echoing around the empty space. I’m leaned back against a tree, watching Ash Kelly jerk himself off.
It’s not for pleasure. Men don’t do it for me. And if, perchance they did, I wouldn’t be interested in a rich boy rat like the Kelly boy. I take my time, smoking my cigarette, waiting for Ash to finish. He’s bent over at the waist, head hanging down, his left palm pressed flat to the trunk of a tree.
“Hm.” I muse on the image, him with his slacks down below his ass, right hand fisted on his dick. He’s really going to town over there, panting and muttering in Japanese. It’s the only endearing thing about him really, the foreign language. Other than that, he’s a fucking dweeb.
I’m disappointed to see that his cock isn’t the shriveled, pencil dick I was hoping it’d be. The night I watched him and Scarlett fuck for the first time, I couldn’t get a good look at it. Too dark out. And that reporter—Emma Jean or Emma Lee—was taking all those photos.
I should’ve stopped her.
Really, I was hoping that when she blackmailed Scarlett with them, it’d help keep her away from Ash.
