The Devil’s Chaos (The Brotherhood #2)

26. Twenty-Six

26

TWENTY-SIX

HAVEN

T here’s a time in every human’s life when everything changes, and that change happens in mere seconds, and nothing is ever the same again. Some call it hitting rock bottom, while others say it’s divine intervention . For some, that change happens only once, but for me, the universe has had too much fun fucking me with no lube. It wasn’t enough that I was born to a cruel father who didn’t protect me and sold me like I was one of the girls he trafficked, but said father brutally stabbed my mother and then left her for the pigs. For me, the first time my life changed was when I watched them tear her to pieces until her screams were drowned out, and there was nothing left but bits of hair and flesh stuck to pieces of chewed bone.

The moment I was presently in was high on the list of life-changing moments.

Gerald had brought me a tiny lingerie set he wanted me to wear, so I spent several minutes putting it on and giving myself a pep talk about going out there and getting this done. With a sigh, I ran my fingers through my hair and applied another layer of lip gloss. When I left the bathroom, I could hear Gerald speaking to someone in a hushed tone, so I assumed he was on the phone. Nothing could have prepared me for what was actually occurring.

Gerald was sitting in a chair placed at the foot of the bed. He was sweaty, red-faced, and shaking. Behind him was Kai, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up, displaying the bright colors of his tattoos and that goddamn knife of his. And the thing is, he was smiling at me. Not like a ‘Hey, I’m happy to see you’ smile. No . I’m talking about a demented, wicked…hungry smile. Like the smile he gave me when he knew he was about to ravage me.

“What is this?” I asked, trying to contain whatever emotions I felt in the moment.

“I’m glad you could join us.”

“Join you for what?”

“Oh, Gerald didn’t tell you?” Kai chuckled darkly. “We are celebrating.”

“Celebrating what?”

“I’m not quite sure. But Gerald here poured two big glasses of wine for the two of you. Why don’t you grab them from the counter, little lamb.”

Puzzled, I walked to the kitchen to retrieve the wine glasses as instructed and held them in my hands awkwardly while waiting for Kai to speak.

“Good girl,” his deep voice crooned, almost too intimately.

I blushed in response.

Get ahold of yourself, Haven .

“Now what?”

“Now, go ahead and give Gerald both glasses.”

Gerald looked at me confused, then tried to look back at Kai, but Kai pressed the knife to his neck. “Don’t look at me. Look at her.”

I handed him the wine glasses and crossed my arms. “What’s the plan here?”

“There’s no plan.” Kai smiled at me before turning his attention back to Gerald. “Drink them.”

“But I—I can’t.”

“Why not? Weren’t you planning on drinking a glass of wine with this beautiful girl right here?”

“That was before…but I’m not thirsty right now.”

“Before what?” he pressed.

“Before you showed up.”

At that point, I was looking at Kai for an explanation, but also at Gerald because he was talking in riddles.

“Oh, that’s right,” he leaned in for effect to whisper in Gerald’s ear. “Do you remember which one you poured the powder in?”

Gerald shook his head.

I backed away slowly, eyes darting between Gerald and Kai, trying to figure out what the fuck was happening. Kai saw my hesitation and smiled his wicked smile, one that should make my skin crawl, but instead, it just turned me on.

I’m fucked in the head.

“Bottoms up, Mr. Beckett.”

“Please, you said you’d take the girl in exchange for my life.”

“What?” I interrupted.

“Who said your life was forfeit? I’m just telling you to drink up. You look thirsty.”

There was an awkward silence for a few moments, and then the light bulbs kicked on in my head.

“Hold on, why wouldn’t you want to drink the wine?” I turned my attention to Gerald.

“That’s a great question, Haven,” Kai responded.

“Wait, how do you know her name?” Gerald stuttered.

Kai looked up at me, allowing me to answer, but I wanted to see where this was going.

“Because I’m fucking her,” he laughed, showing off his white teeth.

Gerald looked at me. “You fucking whore. You set me up,” he sneered, drool coming out of his mouth.

“That’s not very nice, Gerald. I think you owe her an apology.”

“Fuck her and fuck you. Do you know who I’m friends with? One fucking call, and you’ll both be chopped up into little pieces, you fucking fucks.”

“You mean my father, right?”

Gerald looked at me, hatred on his face. “My friends don’t concern you.”

“You’re right, Mr. Beckett,” I stepped closer to him. “But what does concern me is what the fuck is in that wine glass you planned on giving me.”

Gerald didn’t respond.

Kai took his silence as an opportunity to increase pressure with his knife on Gerald’s throat, and blood started seeping down his neck.

“The lady asked you a question.”

“Just something to take the edge off.”

“Something to take the edge off?” I echoed. “I want you to drink it.”

“Fuck you,” he spat.

Kai grabbed him by his throat, forced his head back to look up at him, and, in the calmest voice, said, “Apologize to Ms. Benson, and then you’re going to drink the wine.”

Gerald choked out his apology, his face turning shades of red and purple as pure rage formed in his eyes.

“Now drink, Gerald,” Kai ordered. “I’m losing my patience with you.”

Gerald reluctantly took a sip of the wine and spat it onto the floor. “I can’t do this. I won’t do this.”

“No. You don’t get to refuse. You would have had me drink this wine, and now you won’t. If there’s something in here to take the edge off, why refuse to drink it?”

Gerald stared at me, a wicked grin forming on his face.

“Answer me!” I yelled, walking toward him and settling on my knees in front of him. I unclasped his belt, pulled it out of the loops of his pants, and threw it to the ground.

“Wh—what are you doing?” Gerald panted nervously. “What is she doing?”

Unzipping his pants, I reached my hand inside and pulled out his soft dick. “Give me the knife, Kai.”

Kai watched me with curiosity, and a smirk of amusement played across his lips. He hesitated for just a moment before turning the knife handle first toward me.

“If you try anything, I’ll gut you before you take a step,” he warned Gerald.

I accepted the knife, then pressed the blade against his sensitive flesh. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Tell me what is in the wine, or I will cut your little dick off and feed it to you.”

“You have no idea who you’re messing with, little girl. When I’m done with you, you’ll be manning a glory hole in some trashy gas station, getting fucked by every man in the city,” Gerald sneered in a menacing tone.

“I’m sorry, but are you fucking slow or stupid? I’m the one with the knife to your dick. I don’t give a fuck about your threats. I want to know what is in the wine.”

Silence.

“I think he’s choosing the hard way, baby,” Kai winked at me.

“Hard way it is,” I surmised. “Hold his mouth open,” I instructed Kai.

“With pleasure.”

Kai wrapped his arm around Gerald’s throat, forcing his head to tip back. With his other hand, he wrenched open his mouth. I ripped the wine glasses out of Gerald’s beefy hands and poured the first into his throat. At first, he tried to refuse to swallow, but I pinched his nostrils closed, knowing he would have to breathe eventually or else choke to death. Within seconds, he swallowed the liquid and started coughing.

“I think he wants more,” Kai grinned as he watched me.

I poured the rest of the glass into his mouth, and we played the ‘I’m not going to swallow’ game yet again. Of course, the need for oxygen always trumps stubbornness. After the first glass, he started crying and trying to wriggle out of our grasp.

“Pl—please no more,” he begged, tears coming from his eyes.

“Then tell me what is in the wine,” I demanded, digging my fingers into his face.

“Strychnine,” he mumbled.

“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you,” I said. I did hear him, but I needed him to repeat what he said because there was no way I heard what I thought I heard.

“Strychnine,” he sneered.

Gerald laughed as I stepped back, trying to wrap my mind around this information. He was planning on poisoning me, and I was utterly na?ve to think it wouldn’t happen at some point. I had been living on borrowed time my whole life. I was filled with this rage, rage that needed an outlet. I stared at the empty wine glass in my hand and then at the full one, and a decision was made.

“Open your mouth,” I demanded, hot tears stinging the back of my eyes. I refused to let them fall in front of a piece of shit like him.

He refused, but Kai forced his head back and pinched his nose for me. I dumped the wine from the other glass into his mouth, watching the red liquid pool. I counted the seconds he tried to hold his breath: one…two…three…four…five…six…seven…eight…nine…ten… eleven…twelve…thirteen…fourteen…fifteen.

He swallowed, and it wasn’t until the last of the liquid cleared his throat that I nodded for Kai to let his head go.

“Why?” I asked, my tone flat and emotionless.

“Why? Why do you think, you stupid slut?” he spit at me, and it landed on my cheek.

Kai slammed his fist into the side of Gerald’s face, and in two seconds, I had no doubt Gerald would be dead unless I intervened.

I put my hand on Kai’s shoulder, and he stopped. He stood silently beside me, waiting for my command. Gerald was hunched over, spitting blood and teeth onto the carpet.

“I don’t understand,” I began. “No one would murder the daughter of Abel Benson unless they were really fucking stupid. And I know you look like you have the IQ of a fucking potato, but even you couldn’t be stupid enough to try and murder me, right?”

Gerald laughed maniacally. I almost thought he might suffocate from laughing so hard and not taking a breath. Kai watched me like he was trying to figure out my plan, but I kept my face unreadable. One thing I learned from all my years of growing up and not being allowed to have an opinion or speak when not spoken to is this: rich men love to hear themselves talk, to boast about their intelligence and how they are the smartest man in every room with their plotting and scheming.

So, I waited. I waited for his laughs to lessen and for him to catch his breath. I waited until he sat back up and met my gaze. Even then, I waited. And like clockwork…

“You think you’re untouchable because you’re a Benson whore? No one is untouchable, little girl.”

“Yeah, there’s no way you were the brains behind this operation. Go ahead and kill him, Kai,” I scoffed and turned to walk away.

“I chose Strychnine because it is the most painful of all the poisons and is virtually untraceable in autopsies,” he yelled behind me.

I turned and shook my head so Kai could give me a moment and let Gerald keep speaking.

“Did someone pay you?”

“No, you fucking axe wound. You humiliated me in front of Winston Grey and my friends. They haven’t stopped bringing up how you acted since that night. I wanted to watch you choke on your blood while a violent seizure consumed your body. I wanted to be the last thing you saw before you stopped breathing. I wanted to fuck you in each of your holes while you laid there, knowing your death was coming, and watch you die the same way you lived, like fucking whore.”

“You were planning on murdering me because I fought back when you raped me? Because I humiliated you? I was going to let you die by the poison you planned to give me. But…I’ve realized that I am not a girl that requires peace. I much prefer chaos,” I grabbed the knife from Kai’s outstretched hand and plunged it into Gerald’s chest. The flesh made a squelching sound, and Gerald’s mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air. I remember, as a child, Serge, my father’s right hand man and enforcer, taught me different places to stab a man and kill him if the need ever arose to do so. But I wanted him to die painfully, so I drove the knife into his lung, and then I yanked it back out. Hot blood splattered across my face and poured out of his wound like an overflowing dam. “If the poison doesn’t kill you, this will. Except your death won’t be quick. It will hurt. And the last thing you’ll see before you die, drowning in your blood, will be me…” I stood up, making eye contact with Kai, and like the devil he was, he could see right through my tainted soul.

Maybe it was adrenaline.

Maybe it was death.

Or perhaps it was the blood coating my hands and face.

Whatever it was, my pussy was dripping wet, and the only person who could understand was Kai. The metallic scent of death filled the air, mingling with the intoxicating aroma of power and vengeance.

Gerald collapsed to the floor, blood gurgling from his mouth as he struggled to breathe. His eyes were wide with shock and horror, the life draining out of them with each labored gasp.

Kai’s eyes darkened with desire as he took sight of me, covered in Gerald’s blood, the knife still clutched in my hand. He gripped my waist, pulling me flush against his hard body.

“You’re a fucking vision,” he growled before crashing his lips against mine in a bruising kiss. I could taste the metallic tang of blood on my tongue as he swept into my mouth, claiming me, consuming me.

I dropped the knife, letting it clatter to the floor, and wound my arms around his neck, smearing blood across his skin. “I need you,” I breathed, my voice hoarse with desire. “Right now.”

His hands slid down to cup my ass, lifting me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist, grinding my core against the hard bulge in his pants.

Kai carried me effortlessly, never breaking our frenzied kiss as he walked us over to the bed. He laid me down on the soft surface, his hands roaming over my blood-splattered body with a hunger that matched my own. I arched into his touch, desperate for more contact, more friction. I tore at his shirt, desperate to feel his skin against mine. Buttons popped and fabric ripped as I stripped it from his body. He shrugged off the ruined garment, letting it fall forgotten to the floor.

“I thought there was nothing you could ever do to make me want you more. But watching you be the judge, jury, and executioner,” he murmured against my lips, his fingers trailing up my thighs, leaving fiery paths in their wake. “So fucking beautiful.”

I gasped as his fingers brushed against my soaked core, teasing me through the thin lace.

As he ripped my lingerie apart, my breasts tumbled out, and the cool air hitting my nipples added an extra sensation to my already-overwhelmed body. Pulling the rest of the delicate fabric off of me, he tossed it aside. His mouth latched onto my neck, biting and sucking, marking me as his. I moaned, arching into his touch as his hands kneaded my breasts roughly. He closed his lips around one taut nipple, his teeth grazing the sensitive bud and sending jolts of pleasure straight to my pussy. I raked my nails down his back, drawing a hiss from him. In retaliation, he bit down before soothing the sting with his tongue. My hips bucked against him, seeking friction, seeking relief from the aching need building inside of me.

His hungry gaze devoured my naked flesh as he tore the rest of the flimsy material away, exposing me completely. I was laid bare before him, covered in nothing but crimson blood.

"Kai," I whimpered, my body trembling with need. I ached to feel him inside me, to be filled and claimed by him entirely.

He shed the rest of his clothes with inhuman speed and freed his throbbing erection. I licked my lips at the sight of his impressive length, craving the taste of him on my tongue. But there would be time for that later. Right now, I needed him deep inside my dripping sex.

Kai crawled over me, caging me in with his powerful body. The heat of his skin scorched me as he settled between my parted thighs. I could feel the blunt head of his cock nudging insistently at my entrance, teasing me with the promise of what was to come. I writhed beneath him, desperate for more.

“I need you inside me. Now,” I begged, my voice a needy whine.

A wicked grin curved his sensual lips. “As my queen commands.”

With one swift, hard thrust, he buried himself to the hilt inside my tight walls. I cried out at the exquisite fullness, my inner walls clenching around his thick shaft. He stretched me deliciously, the slight burn of his intrusion only heightening my pleasure.

Kai set a punishing pace, driving into me with deep, powerful strokes that had me seeing stars. I met him thrust for thrust, my hips rising to take him even deeper. The wet slap of flesh against flesh echoed obscenely through the room, mingling with our harsh pants and wanton moans. Kai’s fingers dug into my hips as he pounded into me relentlessly, hitting that sweet spot deep inside with every stroke.

“Fuck, you feel so good wrapped around my cock,” Kai growled, his thrusts becoming more erratic as he chased his release.

“Yes, right there,” I keened, my nails raking down his sweat-slicked back. “Don’t stop, Kai, please don’t stop!”

He snarled above me, his eyes flashing with feral hunger. Leaning down, he captured my lips in a brutal kiss, plundering my mouth with his tongue. I returned the kiss with equal fervor, nipping at his bottom lip. The coppery taste of blood bloomed on my tongue.

Kai broke away to trail biting kisses along my jaw and down the column of my throat. I tipped my head back, giving him better access. He latched onto the sensitive skin where the neck meets the shoulder, sucking hard.

“That’s it, my queen,” Kai growled against my throat. “Come for me. Let me feel you shatter around my cock.”

His filthy words were my undoing. With a hoarse cry, I came apart beneath him, my sex spasming wildly around his driving length. Wave after wave of ecstasy crashed over me, stealing my breath and wiping my mind of everything but the feeling of Kai moving inside me.

He continued to pound into my fluttering walls, prolonging my climax until I was writhing and incoherent with sensation. Only then did he allow himself to find his own release. With a guttural roar, Kai slammed into me one final time, burying himself as he spilled his seed deep inside my clenching channel. His powerful body shuddered above me, his face contorting in exquisite agony as he emptied himself in long, hot spurts.

I clung to his trembling form, my inner muscles milking every last drop from his pulsing shaft. He collapsed on top of me, his harsh breaths fanning across my sweat-dampened skin.

Kai nuzzled into the crook of my neck, his lips brushing against the passion mark he had sucked into my skin. I shivered at the contact. Long minutes passed before he finally rolled off me and stretched out on the rumpled sheets beside me. I curled into his side, resting my head on his heaving chest. The rapid thud of his heartbeat pounded beneath my ear as I traced idle patterns on his skin. His arm tightened around me, holding me close.