Beast, Part Two (The Church #5)

Demon

chapter Five

Beast

I pound my bare fists against the bag, ignoring the smeared blood I leave behind and the pain in my knuckles.

“You’re a fool,” the demon in my head growls.

I’ve grown to call the voice a demon. That’s what it reminds me of. An ungodly being that only seeks destruction and death.

“Shut up,” I grumble as I once again slam my fists into the bag.

It’s been a week since I left Summer’s room after calling it off. Since then, I spend my days down here in the gym trying to quiet the demon in my head. At night, I sit outside her door listening to her soft crying. For the longest I fought every urge I had to go in that room. Five nights ago, I’m glad I broke down and finally went in. Finding her kneeling in her bathroom crying as she poured the pills doc gave her down the toilet was hard to witness. But I needed to see it. I walked in that room that night to take back everything I said, but seeing the damage I do to her reminded me why I can’t have her back. I quickly slipped back out without her ever knowing I was there.

“You broke up with her allowing her the chance to find another. He will love her, touch her, and make her cry out his name while he fucks her raw.”

Shutting my eyes, I fight hard to quiet the demon. The vision of what he just said plays in my head. An unseen man strokes inside of Summer as she moans with pleasure. Her eyes take on that glazed look it has whenever I am buried deep inside her. She whispers the words I love you to the faceless man.

When I open my eyes, I’m standing outside the gym with a barbell in my hands. I drop the weight and stumble backward. My back hits the wall as I slide down to my ass.

The demon laughs in my head. “ Kill her so that she may never know another man.”

Placing my hands to my head I beat at my temples. “Mother, where are you?” I again find myself begging for the voice of my mother to return.

“Mother is not here.” The low chuckle of the demon floats through my head.

Shutting my eyes, I slam my head back against the wall. “Get out of my fucking head,” I growl.

“You okay, son?”

I open my eyes to find Priest standing before me. He has on workout clothes. His brow is arched as he stares at me.

I swallow, fighting back the demon in my head. “I’m good. I was just…ugh… letting off some steam.”

“Hmmm,” he hums. “Is that why your knuckles are bleeding?”

I look down at my hands, seeing the damage I’ve done to them. I don’t answer Priest. There isn’t much I can say.

“Let’s go get them bandaged up,” he says turning his back to me.

Standing up from the floor, I wipe the bloody knuckles on my shorts. “I’m good, Priest.”

“No, you’re not,” he snaps turning back to face me. “But I’m not going to beg you to tell me what’s going on. However, I am going to take you upstairs and clean those wounds.”

I go to argue with him again and he holds up a hand to cut me off.

“You have a son here, Beast. One that’s going to notice your hands. And although he will see the bandages too, it won’t be as shocking as looking at your raw knuckles.”

Feeling like an idiot I drop my head. I didn’t think about how my actions would affect Gabe. I don’t want to traumatize him any more than I already have. I’m already the reason he had to see his mother lying on the kitchen floor.

Nodding, I reply. “Okay.”

I follow Priest up the stairs toward the kitchen. We all thought Priest was crazy when he had this house built. It’s an architecturally contemporary home with clean, minimal lines. The house is three levels with ten bedrooms and ten and a half bathrooms. It has a theater room, home office, full gym, shooting range, panic room, and a sex room for Priest.

The house is surprisingly quiet for a Sunday night. It’s nearly eight o’clock. There is no one out in the hallways. Even the dogs are missing.

“Where is everyone?” I ask as we enter the kitchen.

I take a seat at the island. Priest goes to the sink and reaches under the counter. He pulls out a fully stocked first aid kit before coming over to where I’m sitting.

“Fucking,” he says without thought. “The kids and the dogs are in the theater room with Fem and Ms. Reese. Zel and Maksim are probably relaxing. But everyone else is doing what grown folks do when there’s not shit else going on.”

Nodding my head, I don’t reply to that. The image of Summer and the unknown man pops in my head again along with the laughter of the demon.

“Whatever the fuck is going on in your head, you’ve got to fight it.”

I open my eyes to look at Priest, wondering how he knows where my thoughts went. Looking down, I realize my hand is wrapped around his wrist with a tight grip. I release him and shake my head.

“I’m trying,” I simply say holding my hands out to him palm side down.

Priest uses a small spray bottle and sprays my knuckles. The sting lets me know there must be some type of antiseptic in the bottle.

“It’s different from your mother?” he asks.

I nod before replying. “Yes.”

“Is it new?” He puts away the spray and grabs the ointment out of the box.

“No,” I admit. Although the voice was mostly silent, it’s not new.

He dips his chin placing the ointment away, he brings out the bandages and starts to wrap my hands.

“And what does it want?” he asks, looking into my eyes.

“Everything that I love.”

I don’t have to explain that to Priest. He understands what I mean. If the demon only wanted destruction, I could manage that. But this voice wants to take everything from me. It isn’t strangers that I’m brutally murdering when I close my eyes. No, it is the death of my brothers, Priest, and Summer that plague me. The demon does not want me, it wants those around me.

Priest sits back in his seat watching me closely. “How much control do you have over it?” he finally asks.

“Right now, I’m managing.”

He’s silent again. “And when you can’t?”

“I’ll be so far away from this house Lucien will never be able to find me.”

He nods his head. “I’m not going to tell you how to deal with this because I don’t know what it’s like. But I know you, Beast. I know what you’re capable of. You can win this battle. The moment you realize that your greatest weapons are behind these four walls, you will be unstoppable. It doesn’t matter if the voice belongs to this thing or your mother.”

He stands taking the first aid kit back to the kitchen sink. I sit with his words. If only it was that simple. The best thing I can do for everyone in this house is leave.

“Coward,” the voice whispers.

Approaching footsteps has my head lifting toward the open doorway of the kitchen.

“Is every room in this house this bright?”

Her voice has my heart racing and my cock twitching in my workout shorts. The way this woman has complete control over me should be studied. Even when I know I don’t deserve her. It’s been so long since I’ve heard her speak. I shut my eyes to revel in the sound of it.

“Yes they are,” Maksim’s voice has my eyes popping open. “You will get used to it.”

I stand from my seat when I spot Maksim walk into the kitchen carrying Summer in his arms. She’s wearing a long T-shirt and tiny shorts. She hasn’t noticed me yet, but I haven’t been able to take my eyes off her. The way her legs dangle over his arms. The way her good arm wraps around his neck as her injured arm rests against her chest.

My nostrils flare as I watch them.

“He wants to fuck her. You should skin him alive,” the demon growls.

I take a step in their direction, ready to do as the demon says.

“Beast,” Priest barks my name.

I turn to glare at him. His eyes narrow as he slowly shakes his head.

“Hey brother,” Maksim says getting my attention. Summer has yet to look at me. In fact, she is looking everywhere but at me.

“Summer was getting a little stir crazy and wanted to come out of the room,” Maksim explains. “She tried to walk, but after standing she got a little lightheaded, so I carried her in here.”

I don’t miss the fact that he’s trying to explain why he has his hands on her. I’m grateful that he was looking out for her, but I still didn’t like to see her in his arms.

Summer pats Maksim’s shoulder. “Thanks, Sim. You can put me down now. I think I can take it from here.”

“She’s given him a nickname,” the demon points out. “She’s fucking him.”

Taking a deep breath, I ignore the demon’s words in my head.

Maksim lowers her legs to the ground before letting her go. She walks over to Priest, holding her hand out.

“Hi, I’m Summer. I’m assuming you’re papa Priest?”

Priest grins before shaking her hand. “That would be me.”

“It’s good to finally meet you. Gabe talks about you a lot.”

It hurts to see her ignoring me the way that she is. I want her to look at me. I need her to see me.

“He’s a good kid,” Priest says letting her hand go. “I would’ve come in to meet you sooner but I was giving you your….space.”

Everyone in the house knew I had broken up with Summer. I guess they all felt her sadness and were giving her a wide berth. Although, the women of the house have been in to introduce themselves and see her multiple times. My brothers have all been reluctant except for Maksim.

The kitchen grows silent.

“How are you?” I ask.

Her body goes ridged at the sound of my voice. I watch as the smile falls from her face.

She turns to me. Although there are no tears on her face, her eyes are still red and puffy.

“I’m good, Beast,” she replies coldly. “So, Sim, how about—”

“What did you call me?” My question silences the kitchen once again. I can feel Priest’s gaze on me, but I don’t turn away from Summer. She isn’t looking at me, she’s facing my brother.

“Like I was saying,” she ignores my question. “I want to see the rest of the house.”

“Don’t ever call me that,” I growl.

There was something wrong hearing her call me that name. I am not Beast to her. I am not the man the Church made me when I am with her. I’m Gabriel. She is the only person that knows the real me.

“What should I call you then, Beast?” She turns to me and glares. “Obviously not Gabe, because that’s what I call my son and since you opted out of being an active father in his life that doesn’t seem to fit.”

“Uh, Summer maybe we should stick a pin in this till later—” Priest says.

But in true Summer fashion she’s not listening.

“I would call you Gabriel, but I shout that out while we’re fucking and since you decided you no longer wanted to be with me, I felt that might not be appropriate either. So, what should I call you, Beast?”

I growl before charging toward her. Maksim steps in front of me. I go to shove him out the way when a piercing alarm goes off through the house.

“Fuck,” Priest shouts. “Someone just got through our security.”

All my anger drains. I forget about Summer and our argument. Right now, our house could be surrounded by Church members ready to shoot first and ask questions last. Or worse, Corbyn has found us.

“Go to the basement,” I say to Summer. “Don’t come out until one of us comes to get you.”

Before she can comply or argue, Lucien runs into the kitchen with nothing but his underwear and a gun. He’s soon followed by Hawk and Zel. We all headed toward the front door.

“How the hell did this happen, Twin?” Priest asks as he stops by the staircase. He twists one of the banisters counterclockwise and then clockwise. The fourth step opens up. Priest pulls out a drawer filled with guns and knives. He tosses me a knife and gun and then hands Maksim a gun before grabbing one for himself.

“I was a little occupied. My apologies,” Lucien says as he goes into the living room and turns on the TV.

We follow him inside. He presses a few buttons on the remote and the outside of Priest’s house comes on the screen. The first view is the backyard. It’s empty. He then checks the side of the house and when he doesn’t see anything there, he pulls up the camera on the front of the house. Parked in the driveway is a silver BMW with its driver’s door wide open.

“Who the hell pulls into the driveway to do a hit?” Zel asks.

Suddenly, banging at the front door has all of us turning that way.

“I’m giving you five seconds to open this door and tell me where my best friend is or I’m calling the cops,” the familiar voice shouts through the door.

I groan, causing everyone to look at me.

The banging comes again. “I have a bat, and I know how to use it.”

“You might as well let her in. She’s not going to go away,” I say.

“Who is it?” Hawk asks.

“Trina,” Summer’s voice comes from behind me. Apparently, she did not listen to my directions.

“I’m guessing my cellphone is somewhere in this house,” she asks.

“Yeah, Gabe has it,” Lucien replies.

“We always share our location. Sorry guys,” Summer apologizes.

“I’m about to bust the windows out this big fancy ass house,” Trina yells once more through the door.

Summer cringes, and says, “We really should let her in. She will definitely break your windows.”