Lady Killer (Dead Girls Club #2)

23. Luz

Chapter twenty-three

Luz

O n Monday morning, Alister had dropped a bomb on me.

I had been so immersed in trying to figure out the fancy coffee maker in their kitchen that I hadn’t even heard him approach. When his stern voice cut in over my half-conscious ramblings to myself, I was so startled I spilled half my carefully measured coffee grounds on the floor.

“We’re going to the Blackwell Estate early this evening and spending the next two nights there.”

“I didn’t realize the Blackwells went for the early bird special,” I said.

As far as barbs went, it was pathetic but I wasn’t awake yet and I needed to buy myself some time to come up with a reason to stay here.

Alister and Everest were intense enough on their own, and Nixon was mercurial at the best of times. Combined with Locke’s vitriol and Lucian’s overbearing broodiness, I wondered how the six of us would make it through the evening without bloodshed.

“Nixon, Everest, and I have a family meeting first. You may use that time to get settled in your room. Dinner will be served at seven sharp, and your attendance is expected.”

Before I could argue, he was walking away, leaving me still fumbling with the coffee and the sensation of having been ambushed.

The Blackwell Estate lay on the other side of Shady Harbor, and it was a pleasant enough drive.

Minus the company.

As I stared out the window, my phone buzzed in my hand.

Bestie: Are you sure you’re okay ?

Bestie: Simone and I can jump on the train and be there to support you.

I sighed, thudding my head back against the smooth leather of Alister’s Rover. The crunch of gravel under the luxury tires was audible as we tore down the country roads that led to the Blackwell Estate.

Before I could question myself, I typed my response.

Me: You’re the best.

Me: You don’t need to come up.

I watched as the three dots indicating she was typing appeared, disappeared, and reappeared again over the course of the next five minutes.

Awkward .

Finally, her response came.

Bestie: Okay.

Something stirred in my gut, but I ignored it. If Autumn said she was okay, then she was okay.

Right?

When I asked Alister what I was supposed to tell my best friend when she got back from NYC on Sunday night and discovered I wasn’t at our dorm, he told me it wasn’t his problem.

Everest was worse .

“Tell her that you met your Prince Charming, your one true love, the light of your life . . . the hot sauce to your Cheesy Gordita Crunch!”

“Everest.”

“Right, and his grumpy, far-less-handsome, awe-astoundingly less-charming sidekick.”

I smothered a smirk. The man was impossible.

Autumn now believed, I hoped, that I was in NYC for the rest of the week due to a death in the family.

As the SUV slowed as we approached the iron gates of the estate, I frowned, taking in the visibly armed guards standing out front that hadn’t been there before.

“Increased precautions, darling, with all the dead girls and such. Nothing for you to worry about,” Everest said, reaching over the console to pat my hand.

My stomach turned.

It very much was something for me to worry about. It was the whole reason I was here.

Wasn’t it?

“She’s late.” Lucian distinctive baritone cut through the air.

Technically, I had been early and had been hovering just beyond the entrance to the dining room for the last couple of minutes, but I wasn’t about to admit that.

“I believe she’s standing outside the room right now, Lucian.”

Perceptive psychopath.

Quashing down any feelings that might resemble fear, I strode in with my head held high, tossing my waves over my one exposed shoulder.

“You’re late,” the eldest Blackwell snapped, even as his eyes roamed my body.

My plan had been to sit as far away as possible from the man who currently held my life in his hands.

In theory, it shouldn’t have been a problem. The polished mahogany table could double as a runway.

In reality, the table had been made up for six, and five of the spots were occupied. The only one that was open . . .

“That’s my spot, Starbright. I wanted you to have it.”

Did I say perceptive?

I took my seat next to Lucian at the head of the table, which positioned me directly across from Locke, who eyed me as if I were a carcass someone had scraped off the side of the road. Everest was on my other side, across from Alister who sat between Locke and his twin.

“Thank you, Everest,” I said through clenched teeth .

A door swung open, and a pair of neatly dressed staff came out carrying trays.

“The first course is a creamy shrimp and crab bisque.”

Lucian dismissed them with a wave of his hand, and the staff disappeared from sight, leaving me alone with the Blackwell men.

Five pairs of eyes stared me down.

“You start with the outer cutlery and work your way in.”

From anyone else, the advice might have been offered in good faith, but from Locke, it was clearly a snub.

I didn’t rise to the bait.

Instead, I picked up my soup spoon and gracefully dipped it into the broth, lowering the bowl of the spoon into the center of the soup and scooping away from me, as was the proper etiquette. I arched a brow at him. “Amazing what one can learn from the internet these days.”

“And yet you still haven’t—?”

“Enough,” Lucian cut Locke off. “I didn’t bring her here for the two of you to bicker.”

His choice of words set off alarm bells, but I didn’t want to give him a reaction.

Taking another sip, I forced myself to savor the creamy soup first. “Why am I here?” I said, giving him a cursory glance before returning my attention to the soup .

“Yes, big brother, why is Everest and Ali’s latest toy here?” Nixon drawled.

“She is here because I commanded it.”

“Personally, I think it's nice,” Everest said, loudly scooching his chair closer to mine. “We don’t do nearly enough family dinners.”

I turned to shoot him down, but Locke beat me to it.

“You aren’t family. You’re hired help that should have learned his—?”

Lucian’s steak knife drove down into Locke’s arm with such force that the whole table vibrated.

“One more word, cousin.”

Swallowing, I realized that he had stabbed the knife through Locke’s suit sleeve, narrowly missing his wrist but pinning his arm to the table.

A furious-looking Locke pulled out the knife and slammed it down on the table before standing and stomping out of the room.

“That’s fifty dollars you owe me, Ever. I told you he wouldn’t make it past the first course,” Nixon said, leaning back in his chair.

Everest, whose chair was now touching mine, was busy shuffling his plate and cutlery over with him, but he paused to fish around in his pockets to throw a crumpled hundred-dollar bill at him .

It landed in the soup.

“Keep the change.”

“Gross.” Nixon scrunched up his nose as he shoved the bowl away from himself.

Lucian pinched his brow, while Alister continued to eat in silence.

Ten minutes later, when the staff returned to bring out the next course, the bill was still floating there, and the soup was cleared without comment.

I hoped they kept it.

The main course was beef Wellington, perfectly cooked green beans and almonds, and roasted potatoes. The scents of butter and salt hit me, making my mouth water.

There was one upside to being babysat by the Blackwells.

I was enjoying a particularly tender bite of tenderloin when Lucian spoke again. “The killer still roams free.”

The meat caught in my throat.

“I’m sitting right here,” Everest said, elbowing me as if I were in on the joke.

“The clock is ticking down, there are how many more days until the end of term?”

“Eighty-nine.” The words felt like acid on my tongue.

“Your best lead, the Thomson girl, is dead. And we are no closer to ending this mess than when we started. ”

He wasn’t wrong.

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but it was Alister who spoke first. “Our best lead is sitting next to you.”

The eldest Blackwell scoffed. “And did you form that objective opinion before or after she spread her legs for you?”

The food turned to ash in my mouth.

“Lucian,” Everest rumbled next to me, his hand moving protectively over mine.

“Everest.”

The two stared each other down, the tension between them so visceral it made it hard to breathe.

If Everest was a cold winter’s day, then Lucian was the dark, vast night. The latter’s eyes somehow turned impossibly darker, while the former’s sparkled with violence.

“Look another lovers’ quarrel.”

Lovers?

“Nixon.”

What Nixon’s taunt implied, Alister’s reproach confirmed.

Shifting in my seat, I looked at the two men I sat between, taking in their dynamic in a whole new light. Lucian and Everest were . . .

My appetite vanished completely.

Everest never said anything to me. And we had been—No wonder Lucian wanted me dead.

“Excuse me,” I said stiffly, slipping out of his grasp and standing up.

“Starbright—?”

I stopped in my tracks. “No. No, you don’t get to call me that,” I said before rushing from the room.

Alister had known too. They had all known.

Walking as fast as I could, I blindly rushed through the halls of the manor.

I didn’t—We hadn’t . . .

In my stupid naivety, it hadn’t occurred to me to talk to either Alister or Everest about other partners. I had been so wrapped up in denying what was going on that I didn’t even consider what the risks were.

I had an IUD, so pregnancy wasn’t a major concern, but STIs were still a very real risk.

So was Lucian’s wrath.

Oh God, I was going to be sick.

Swaying, I reached out to plant a hand on the wall for balance.

“Lost?”

Swallowing down the taste of bile in my mouth, I turned to face the absolute last person I wanted to see right now .

Leaning against the oak-paneled wall with a brown drink in his hand, Locke smiled at me viciously. His hair was mussed, as if he had run his hands through it, and his tie hung loose around his unbuttoned collar.

He looked how I felt.

“I needed some air,” I said, trying to suffuse a confidence into my voice that I didn’t feel.

“And your keepers let you wander this far?” he said, tilting his head.

“No one lets me do anything.”

I was trying to formulate the path back to the dining room in my head, but the endless hallways of the mansion were beginning to all blur together.

As if he could read the uncertainty in my eyes, Locke stepped off the wall and stalked closer.

I scrambled backward, but before I could escape, he had me trapped.

It was the closest we had ever been, and I was painfully aware of his muscled frame standing inches from my own.

The scent of alcohol was thick on his breath, and I braced myself for whatever vile insult he would throw at me next.

“You’re a weakness.” The lack of venom in his words threw me off guard.

“What?” I stammered, not understanding.

He leaned in closer, angling his head toward mine.

My whole body pulsed in time with my heart as I lifted my chin in a vain attempt to stand my ground. Locke’s jet-black hair had fallen down over his brow, and while I couldn’t quite read the emotion behind those piercing green eyes, the intensity of his gaze was undeniable.

“You’re something we can’t have, and—?”

What Locke was going to say next I would never know, because he was unceremoniously yanked away from me, spinning across the hall to collide with the opposite wall.

Lucian now stood between us, staring down at the other man with disdain. “Stay away from her.”

Locke’s expression turned ugly, but he didn’t argue as he stood up straight. “Whatever you say, cousin,” he said bitterly, before striding down the hall to disappear behind one of the many closed doors, leaving me and the eldest Blackwell alone.

My tongue was dry in my mouth as I tried to figure out what to say or do next.

“We aren’t exclusive.”

Of all the things I might have expected to come out of Lucian Blackwell’s mouth, that wasn’t one of them. “I don’t—?”

“You think Everest was unfaithful,” Lucian said.

Though he stood a good yard away, I felt his presence just as much as I had Locke’s.

“You think that’s why your life is on the line.”

My head spun and I sank into the wall.

“It’s not.”

“I didn’t know,” I said honestly, unsure of how to respond.

Lucian shrugged before adjusting his cuff links. “We’re very discreet. I wouldn’t have expected you to.”

“Oh.” That didn’t sound very much like Everest at all.

“My relationship with him has no bearing on yours.”

Irritation flared in me, and I pushed off the wall, hands fisted at my sides. “That’s not for you to decide.”

He might have been okay with Everest fooling around with me, but that didn’t mean I was okay with him keeping a secret of this magnitude from me.

Lucian frowned, the lines around his mouth crinkling. “Is it because we’re both men?”

I marched forward, planting one finger in the center of his ridiculously firm chest. “It’s because he hid an entire relationship from me !” I said, punctuating each of the last four words with a stab of my finger.

Lucian wrapped his hand around my finger, swallowing my hand completely.

“Let go of me,” I snarled, trying to yank my arm free .

“Don’t poke me, little girl.” His voice rumbled low.

We were at a stalemate, the two of us standing toe-to-toe, neither willing to back down.

My chest heaved with frustration as Lucian’s eyes wandered down before darting up to meet my own. Sparks shot through my spine as I yanked even harder to get him to release.

He refused to let go. “Let me be very clear, Luz.”

Lucian’s pronunciation was flawless, my name sounding like a confession on his lips.

“Killing you will bring me no joy. But I will do it to protect my family legacy if need be.”

My heart beat so furiously in my chest I swore we both could feel it despite the space between us.

“Until then you are mine to protect.”

I didn’t hold back. “You sound just like your brother.”

The muscles of his jaw shifted, but he swallowed whatever sharp retort was on his tongue and shifted his weight forward to bear down on me.

“You are mine,” he repeated, and a heady sensation rushed through me at the declaration. “Just like Everest, just like every other member of my family. I will keep you safe. That is part of the deal, but it would behoove you to show me the respect I deserve.”

The respect he deserves . . .

I pursed my lips into an ugly sneer. “I’m yours?”

“Yes,” Lucian said, one brow creeping up slightly as I stepped forward, pressing my body into his.

Every inch of Lucian Blackwell seemed as though carved of granite, including the impossibly large shaft pressing into my belly button that I ignored as I stared him down.

“Until you have to kill me?”

His expression was unaffected by the venom in my voice as he leaned forward, angling his head toward my own.

I shuddered as he brought his lips to the top of my forehead, pressing a featherlight kiss there.

His voice was full of promise as he whispered, “Until I have to kill you.”