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She nods her head and Val sucks in a breath while I hold mine.
“Rina said the ritual was for La Muerte and that the offering was someone from the next generation of the Society members, that the person picked would be a male between eighteen and twenty-one. Is that true?”
No. I think to myself as I mentally write Rina’s name on to my list of future kills.
“No,” Nimona echoes my thoughts, “The person who chooses the ritual offering is from the highest family name in the Calavera Society and they get to pick whoever they want and do whatever they want, so long as they get proof of it. It has to be a grievous sin or betrayal done under the full moon. The person chosen has to be willing, and it works because the victim never realizes they’re chosen until it’s too late.”
Val stands from the floor and backs away until she drops onto the edge of the bed, her gaze far away. My heart constricts painfully in my chest. I did that to her. I helped Rey use her as a fucking offering to their sick and twisted leaders…one of which is her own father.
I swallow thickly as I squat in front of Nimona and dab at her cuts, her face full of disappointment, never flinching even as alcohol burns into her wounds.
I don’t want to ask, but I know I have to, even if it’s just for more rope to make my noose.
“Who was the person who picked the victim?”
“I think you know,Noh.” I hear the sharp blade of her sarcasm. I deserve it, I know, but I’m two seconds away from jabbing the alcohol-soaked cotton ball into her eye.
Val hears it too, “What does that mean?”
With my eyes I convey my plea, mouthing the wordplease, as I hold my breath and watch her eyes bounce between both of mine.
Just when I feel like I’m about to pass out, she sighs, her shoulders drooping, “Because Noah was with me last night. The reason you couldn’t find him was because he saw Santino grab my arm and try to drag me back to the church. He stepped in and made that asshole leave. Once he was gone though, Santino found me again and did this.”
She points to her face. Her eyes tell me I’m in yet another person’s debt.
Fuck. My. Life.
“Why didn’t you tell me this Noah? You let me bitch you out for now reason.” Val tries to hug me, but I pull away from them both, rage and self-hatred flowing through my body.
“I don’t know.” I tell her, sick of the lies and sick of playing the bitch because I couldn’t get a footing in this fucked up town. But no more. Fuck that. I’m no one’s bitch.
I’ll owe Nimona, that’s no problem. After all, a person who kept a secret though it was obvious she was torn about it tells me she’s one of the decent ones around here. Besides, I can already guess what she’ll want in return.
“Where does this cunt Santino live?”
Mona’s smirk tells me I guessed right. “He lives in the Herra house a block away, but it doesn’t matter,” the look she gives me tells me it really does matter to her, “He’s out of town.”
I nod my head. I may not be able to get this motherfucker now, but there is someone else who I should pay a little visit to.
TWENTY-EIGHT
* * *
‘I WALK THIS EARTH ALL BY MYSELF’ EKKSTACY
After leavingVal behind with Nimona, I decide to hunt down Rey. That motherfucker has turned me into a goddamn slave to him, a dog at his beck and call because of this bullshit sin hanging over my head.
Maybe I should just tell Val the truth…but truth be told, I’m too chicken shit to do it.
My mind battles over my selfish desires and the truth.
What if she’s so pissed that she cuts me off?
But she said she wanted me.
Does that even matter when I lied to her and touched her without her knowledge?
A good man would own up to it, admit to what he did, but a good man wouldn’t have found himself diving face first into his best friend’s sweet pussy either.
