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“You’ll have to find your fun elsewhere tonight, brother.” Kohen’s mouth curved into a wicked smile. “And I’ll join you this time.”
Present
Cartier’s name flashes over my screen. Kyrin and Lilith are asleep upstairs after a long night of Luna, which is how I got to my current predicament. A chubby finger between my lips and bright blue eyes that could almost pass as violet like her mother’s peer up at me from behind dark lashes.
“You wanna talk to your aunty?” I swipe my phone unlocked, bringing it to my ear. “She’s kind of annoying,” I say to Luna. “It’s been three hours and you already can’t get enough of me.”
“I can plenty…” Her tone isn’t the playful Cartier I’m used to, and I shuffle Luna under my arm to bring my phone to the other ear.
“What’s wrong?”
She laughs, and again, it’s not the kind I’m used to. It’s cold and distant. “You don’t have to worry about me, Keaton. You just worry about Lollipop.”
My face falls and my eyes roll to the back of my head. “Shut up, Cartier. Why you callin’?” Her RV is directly in front of ours. After causing a storm with Perse, she got what she wanted. But then, Cartier always gets what she wants.
“Is Ky awake? He’s not answering my calls.”
I hang up on her and fling my phone across from me until it bounces off the cushion and falls onto the floor. I carry Luna upstairs until I hit Ky and Lilith’s room, knocking on the door with my knuckle.
The door opens and Kyrin wipes the sleep from his eyes and rolls out of bed. He takes Luna off me and carries her on his hip. “What?”
“Cartier. Something is going on with her and I know you don’t want to see it, but you need to trust me.”
“Oh yeah?” Suddenly his eyes are wide and his shoulders are back. “And why is it that I need to trust you when it comes to my own sister?”
Kyrin and I have been dancing around this for years, since he first saw her and me fight, but neither of us has come clean, and I know in the back of my mind, he doesn’t know the extent to which she and I have gone. If he did, he sure as fuck wouldn’t be riding in this RV with me. “Ky, shut the fuck up and listen to me.”
He sighs, running his hand through his hair and turning his back on me for a second, placing Luna onto the bed beside Lilith before coming back.
He points down the stairs while shutting the door behind him. “Yeah, let’s talk.”
“You’re not gonna like what I have to say…” I tease the idea out loud, because Ky knows me. He knows what I do for fun, pleasure, and how I like to spend as little time as possible trying to get the truth out of someone. There are far more efficient ways of doing that.
He falls onto the sofa in the lounge, rubbing his hand over his stomach. “We’re not using our gifts on her. She’s way too smart, it won’t work. Plus—” He leans over the table to reach for my discarded phone. Lifting his brow, he tosses it to me and falls backward again. “She would just counter them and throw it back in our face. What do you think she’s hiding, though? Some love affair in Europe? She’s fucked Prince Harry behind Meghan’s back? We all know that’s as far as Cartier goes with secrets.”
I lean forward, resting my forearms on my thighs. I have this time with Kyrin to convince him because I know that as soon as she has him in front of her, she will fill his head with whatever lies she wants him to believe. “That’s what she wants us to think, but nah, man.” I lean back, stretching my arms wide. “There’s something more, and I’m going to get it out of her.” I bring my eyes to his. “The old school way.”
“Careful…” Kyrin murmurs, his lip curling up in a smirk. “You go uncovering all those stones and you and I both know you’re not going to always like what you find beneath.”
Past
I slammed the cell door closed and shoved the keys into my back pocket, watching as I passed each prisoner caged behind bars that they had no idea what for. I often wondered why they might think they’re here. Trafficking? Sex? Murder? All of the above if they didn’t make the right decision.
Gripping the ski mask from beneath my jaw and tossing it onto the ground, I heard Kohen snicker from the sofa on the opposite side of the room. The Caves wasn’t a place for people. Especially not those with humanity.
“You know you should be wearing those little neon masks like the rest do.”
I flipped him off, pulling open the fridge and grabbing a beer. “Fuck no. None of those people are making it out alive, and if they do, they’re in Midnight Mayhem, so what are they gonna do?” I wrapped my lips around the rim and took a swig of the bitter liquid. Every single one of those people behind the cage had Kiznitch blood but were from families who ran off from their obligation and tried to hide them. You didn’t get a choice when you’re Kiznitch. You either contributed or you died. There’s no in-between.
“And Hadley?” Kohen clucked, his fingers tapping against his thigh as he pretended to watch whatever bullshit was on TV.
“She’ll join, but she will have to change her name.”
“Ahhh.” Kohen turned, his smile wide enough to crack one thousand wrinkles into his premature face. “So she’s different?”
I flicked my beer at him until it sloshed across his smug fucking face. “No, she’s important.” I smirked back at him. “There’s a difference.”
The walkie talkie sitting on the coffee table between Kohen and me crackled, and I reached for it, holding down the side button. “Yeah, what’s up?”
