Lady Killer (Dead Girls Club #2)

24. Luz

Chapter twenty-four

Luz

U nable to face another Blackwell, I made a tactical retreat to my room.

It took two more wrong turns to find the stairs, but from there my room was a straight shot down the hall on the side of the landing with a painting of a particularly ugly gentleman who resembled a pug.

I barely managed to force myself into pajamas before I collapsed into bed, worn raw by the evening’s events.

Unfortunately, my body was still strumming with adrenaline, and I spent the next two hours tossing and turning while endlessly ruminating on what everything meant.

Everest should have told me, and I wanted to know why he hadn’t.

Alister? It wasn’t his secret, but he shared me with Everest when we played truth or touch, and that complicated things for me.

Then there was the toxic magnetism between me and the others. Every time my path crossed with the Blackwells, there was this inevitable pull that dragged me into conflict with them.

It couldn’t be healthy, to experience that intensity of feelings with five different men, most of them related.

Like attracts like, so be careful what energy you put out, mija.

The Blackwells were circling me, like predators who’d trapped their prey.

But who was the trap for, if I wasn’t prey at all but a predator too?

I woke up the next morning to a knock on my door.

“Starbright.” Everest’s voice came from the other side. “We need to talk. ”

Ugh, right, of course we did.

I rubbed my eyes again. They felt heavy and grimy, and I realized that in my discombobulated state last night, I’d forgotten to wash my face.

Gross .

“Give me a minute,” I called out, my voice still raspy with sleep as I made a dash to the bathroom.

Brushing my teeth and washing my face was the bare minimum, but it was ritual enough to center myself before confronting the charming psychopath. Something about Everest called to me, and I needed a moment to get myself together.

I didn’t bother getting dressed, instead grabbing a robe to wear over my plain gray lyocell nightgown. It was nothing special but kept the most important bits covered, which was all that mattered.

“Come in,” I finally said, taking a seat at the end of the bed, smoothing the cover out at my side.

The door opened to reveal Everest carrying a large tray full of what smelled like breakfast.

As per usual, he was dressed conservatively but stylishly. Today, he’d swapped the country club chinos for a pair of wool dress pants paired with a simple black turtleneck that made his striking features look even more severe .

His ever-present grin was there as he kicked the door shut behind him.

“Breakfast, my lady,” he said, placing the tray on the dresser with a sweep of his hand.

“What do you want, Everest?” I said, working hard to keep my tone even.

“A lifetime of my name on your lips, to start.”

My nostrils flared as I took a deep inhale. “Be serious, I mean it.”

“So do I, Starbright, and if I were a less patient man, I would be starting to get frustrated that you don’t believe me.”

I was starting to believe him, which was why last night hurt so much.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Lucian?” My throat felt swollen as I rushed out the words.

Everest’s smile flattened and his brows furrowed. “What do you mean?” he said, coming to stand in front of me.

“What do you mean, ‘What do you mean?’” I threw my hands up. “I mean, you were in a relationship with someone else while we were fooling around, and you didn’t tell me!”

Everest looked down at me, confusion written in his eyes. “But I thought you knew? ”

He meant it. The murderous psychopath thought I knew.

“Lucian is the only person I’ve ever cared enough for to listen to, at least since my parents died,” he said, his blue eyes wide.

The earnestness of his confession struck me like a slap, and I swallowed down my protest.

Then he broke me.

“Until I met you.”

The pressure built up in my eyes. I didn’t know why his words pierced me now, when he had never hidden his feelings for me. But there was a clarity about his actions that was impossible to ignore.

Lucian was special to Everest. I was special to Everest.

To him, it was as simple as that.

Shaking my head, I took a second to collect myself, then looked up at him, trying my best to level him with a serious look. “Other partners are the kind of thing you have to tell people before you have sex with them.”

“But there won’t be anyone else but you two for me.”

This man . . .

He opened his mouth to once again send me reeling. “You know you don’t have to tell me when the others finally pull their heads out of their asses. Except for Locke, because that fucker has a lot of groveling to do before he gets even close to that beautiful pussy, and I have some ideas . . .”

“There’s not,” I rushed out, “there’s not going to be anything else between me and others. I shouldn’t even be with both you and Alister.”

Everest tilted his head, taking the seat next to mine. “Why not?”

“Because I don’t— I’m not—?” I didn’t really have a good reason.

“I have Lucian and I have you,” he said, taking my hand, “and I want you to have whoever you need too.”

“But I don’t—?”

“Uh, uh, uh,” he said, bopping me on the nose. “You don’t ever need to lie to me, love.”

I wanted to argue with him, but something about his brutal honesty pushed me to reciprocate.

My fingers brushed over his chest on a trajectory of their own accord. “Why me?” I whispered.

“Your soul is my own. I’ve known you always.”

The pressure built up in my eyes as I drew a shaky breath, before placing a chaste kiss on his mouth.

Everest responded by capturing my lips with a kiss so tender that it shattered through whatever last reserves I had in my heart about the man .

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kissed him back deeply. He tasted like mint, fresh and clean, and for once I didn’t let myself think. I just was.

Like sought like.

Lucian, Locke, and Nixon were noticeably absent from the Valentine’s dinner the staff prepared. Everest, of course, wanted to make it a romantic affair but I begged him off, and true to his word, he listened.

With just the three of us, Alister and Ever and I took our meal in the kitchen. It was a surprisingly subdued affair.

Given that Everest and I had . . . reconciled, my feelings toward Alister were conflicted but slowly mending.

After a light meal, I excused myself to study.

Ever naturally followed.

“Was he your first, by the way? You never told me,” he asked with a salacious smirk, lounging on a chaise in the small library I had chosen to hole up in.

“Who? Alister? We haven’t had sex.” I said awkwardly.

He threw his head back with laughter. “No, no. That Alex guy, or Aaron. Whatever his name was. Was he your first kill, love?”

I froze .

Of all the questions I had anticipated, that wasn’t on the list.

“Ah, cat’s got your tongue.”

“No.”

“No?”

I hesitated, but if anyone could understand . . . “No, he wasn’t my first.”

Everest bit down on his lip as the corners of his mouth pulled into a wide Cheshire smile. He draped himself over the edge of the chaise, arms crossed. “How many?”

“Three. He was my third.”

There was something delicious, decadent about saying the words out loud.

I thought when I came to Hollow Oak that that part of my life was over, dead along with my mother. But here I was, confessing my sins to a man more dangerous than most even dared to imagine.

“Starbright, why didn’t you say so? We have to celebrate!”

He’s lost me again.

“Celebrate?”

“Three kills under your belt officially makes you a serial! Welcome to the club, Baby Killer!”

“That sounds . . . ”

“Okay, so not baby killer. Clearly that name isn’t working, but you made it, the big three, love!”

I shook my head. “I’m not a serial killer.”

“Aren’t you, though?”

I wasn’t . . . was I? Yes, Aaron had been my third kill, but it wasn’t as though I sought him out . . .

Everest tilted his head at me, his ice-blue eyes brimming with interest. “What part bothers you, Starbright? That you’re a killer or that you’re a serial?”

What did bother me about it?

I wasn’t ashamed of being a killer.

“I don’t kill because I want to,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “The men who died at my hands deserved it.”

“Then I am glad you were there to strike them down,” he said, his confidence instilling a sense of pride in me.

Vengeance wasn’t justice, but sometimes it was all we had.

I made it about another hour studying before I found myself cracking my neck and yawning.

It was time to call it a night.

As I stood up to stretch, Everest watched me through half-lidded eyes, and I shook off the flutter it sent through me.

“I’m off to bed. Thank you for today, Ever. ”

The man laughed, rising to stand. “It’s sweet that you think you’re going to bed, Starbright.”

“What do you mean?”

He stepped around to my side and linked his arm through mine as we walked to the door.

“Come now, darling, you didn’t think you were going to get away with sneaking off to bed alone tonight.”

I attempted to wrench my arm free, but he held on tightly, spinning us around, half marching, half dragging me down the hallway.

“Everest, I just want to—?”

“Tsk, tsk,” he tutted. “We would be poor hosts, and you a poor guest, if we called it a night without engaging in some festivities.”

I rolled my eyes but allowed myself to keep moving with him.

“I’m not helping you chop up whomever you have tied up in the basement.”

Everest chuckled. “You’re a liar, Starbright. If I had the right victim tied up in the basement, you would be the first in line for your pound of flesh. In fact, that’s giving me some superb ideas for a future date—?”

“Ever . . .”

“But that’s not tonight’s plan. Tonight, we’re going to play another game.”