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“Better,” Knox murmurs, smirking at me.
“Goddamn it! Hayley, I’m desperate. Just—let me take you back to my room.” Monroe hops from his seat and tries to lunge at me, but Sawyer cuts him off and knocks him onto his back.
“Later, okay? Right before I have to go back, so maybe you won’t follow through with it.” My smile falters with my comment. I intended it to be playful, but three pairs of serious eyes land on me, and I can’t stop from flinching. “I mean, I know Sawyer wants to know more about Henderson. You easily distract me, and I’d rather get it out of the way.”
Sawyer dips his chin, nodding sharply. “She’s right. I also think we need to figure shit out.” Turning to me, he adds, “I hope you know that we really fucking don’t want to take you back, but if we don’t, we’ll have to accelerate our plan and fight before we’re ready. Right now, the alliances between the controlling covens is strong. We’re trying to break them. The shit with The Pala is a start. There are ten more we need to crack at that level before going after the six head bastards at the top.”
Knox hugs me tighter. “We will make damn sure Aris doesn’t do anything stupid.”
I gaze at each of them, my emotions going wild. I shouldn’t believe them, but I do. They haven’t given me a reason not to, but my trust in vampires is thin at best. It should be instinctual to remain guarded. I’m a food source to vampires. Many of them—most of them—think of me as a means of survival and pleasure. What if things change? What if they realize that I’m not worth the risk? I don’t even know if I am in the grand scheme of their plans. They want to change how La Vega is run, but if it came down to me or the city? They wouldn’t choose me...or would they?
I’m afraid I’ll find out.
“So what can I do? I want to help.” My comment surprises me because I have no idea what I can even do. I’m a performer. I can barely stand facing Alexander. He’d know immediately if I started asking him questions.
“I want to say nothing, but you’re in a position that gets you close to our enemies.” Sawyer tightens his jaw.
“You better not fucking be suggesting what I think you’re suggesting,” Knox snaps, growling under his breath. “She’s been through so much shit already.”
Throwing his hands up, Sawyer says, “I know, damn it! I just—”
The two of them square off, confronting each other with silent stares. My fear instincts as a human go crazy, and I feel as if they’ll start throwing punches at any second. Monroe gets between Knox, who still holds me, and Sawyer.
“All right, you fuckheads. You’re scaring our girl. Get your crazy in check and chill. Everything will go to shit before any of us can do anything if we don’t figure out whatever this is between us first.” He motions to the four of us. Pointing at Knox, he says, “First, you better get your possessiveness in check. No one gives a damn if you saw her, kissed her, or fucked her first. That doesn’t give you a right to go all asshole and controlling. I’m going to put this out there right fucking now. Hayley’s life and decisions are already in someone else’s hands. When she’s with us, the only place she can be dominated is in the damn bedroom and only if she wants to be. I don’t want to have to tell you fuckers again. I don’t care if you’re both more powerful than me. I will still fuck you up. We’re not a damn coven. We’re a crew and a team. It needs to stay that way for all of our sakes.”
My mouth falls agape. Whoa. I don’t know what to say or how to react.
“And you know what? I brought her here and promised she’d be safe and have a good time. Right now, you two are making me fail.” Extending his hands to me, he silently asks for Knox to hand me over. Knox relents, and Monroe sets me on my feet and drapes his arm over my shoulder. “So do whatever the fuck you two need to do to get over your damn personal bullshit, and until then, I’ll enjoy this stunning woman, even if it’s just to feed her. You two assholes are either too stupid or caught up with yourselves to realize her belly alarm is growling like a goddamn beast, and there is no way she’s going back to Aris starving.”
I tip my chin and look at my stomach. I’ve grown so used to living in a state of hunger that I don’t pay attention to the noise my body makes. I’ve learned to ignore it most of the time unless Alexander withholds food from me longer than anticipated.
“Shit, okay. I have an idea that should help us all and keep our girl out of danger,” Sawyer says, scrubbing his hands over his scruffy cheeks. “Knox, call Tate and ask her to hook us up with someone from dining. I’ll hack into the universal database with Aris’s codes.”
“What about me?” Monroe asks, rubbing his hand up and down my arm. “Please tell me I get to entertain our girl like I want.”
“You fucking wish.” Sawyer grins like a cocky bastard with his words. “I need you to take Walcott and go back to The Pala. Grab their transportation vehicle. I’m not wasting time worrying about Aris finding out. Make sure Perry knows he owes us a debt.”
“Gladly. I can’t wait to see the fear in that bastard’s eyes. Did Walcott keep the cane? I want to swing that thing around. Maybe make him choke on it for a bit. Let him know what it’s really like to eat Pala’s ass.” Monroe’s eyes flash silver with his words.
I expect a wave of unbidden fear to consume me at the thought of Mr. Pala and his cane, but Sawyer’s mind manipulation holds strong, and I smirk at Monroe’s crazy-ass idea. “Can you take a picture or something for me? I need to see.”
Monroe spins me around, making me laugh, and pulls me flush against him, kissing me like we’ve been kissing forever. “Goddamn it, you turn me on so fucking much. I thought my brand of psycho would freak you out, but you love it, don’t you? You want me to fuck everyone up.”
The thought prods at my very being. I shouldn’t enjoy the thought this much, but knowing that at least some vampires are paying for their bullshit gives me hope for the first time ever. Hope for a different future. Hope for change. Hope that this is only the beginning.
“Just the people who deserve it,” I say, kissing him again. “I want them all to pay.”
***
“Damn, there are more than we thought.” Sawyer sets the stack of printed photos in front of the rest of the Bella Crew. “At least seven who’ve left positions of power from surrounding territories. We need to reach out to our contacts. We might not be the only ones gearing up to seize control. I bet no one even realizes.”
“Think we should get word out? Make some fuckers nervous?” Govan asks, resting his palms on the table across from me.
I wonder if Mya knows any of this. She was having fun with Govan when Perry kidnapped me. I feel badly that I haven’t thought about her or the others much in the last few hours, and now that I do, I wonder how they’re dealing. Someone would’ve had to step up to fill the spot as headliner. Emerald or Topaz, most likely. Mya would break her leg before ever filling the position. I know she purposely remains imperfect for that reason.
“Not yet but soon. We’ll start with our allies at Sphere. Their crew can help monitor the entrance on their end.” This comes from Knox, finally speaking up after silently watching me cross off every familiar vampire I could remember.
Sawyer acts like the leader of the Bella Crew, but I know Knox has enough power and wealth that the others seem to treat him equally. As for the others, I’m still trying to figure them out. Walcott and Monroe seem to be the face of terror, always taking care of the dirty work, though everyone seems to participate. Then there is Tatum, Govan, and Sullivan. Tatum is basically the gatekeeper to the donors in the Bella. She knows all of them and makes everything run smoothly. Govan and Sullivan seem to be backup and quiet brute force. As for the other ten or so vampires I’ve seen lurking around? They’re complete wildcards. I’m sure there are more. The Bella Crew wouldn’t be able to maintain their home here if there weren’t a lot of them.
