Ink & Bone Read online

  Well, that’s fucking creepy.

  “How heartwarming,” I say. “Thanks for sharing.”

  Joker laughs and pushes off the pole. “You’ve been waiting for me, huh?”

  I shift uncomfortably. Is it not obvious? I came to him for one thing. One. I do all the things he wants me to do and he has yet to fill his end of the deal.

  “I’ve been waiting for a while.”

  I feel him staring at me through the shadows that have pooled in the hollows of his eyes.

  “I’ll tell you what…you do something for me, then I’ll do something for you.”

  I grit my teeth. I’ve already done enough. I even have the club’s patch tattooed on my damn back! Like he requested! It takes every inch of my being not to tackle him off the porch and beat his head in with a stone. “I’m listening…”

  “There’s a man by the name of Antoni Smith. He’s coming out of the New York State Correctional Facility at two a.m. tomorrow morning.”

  What the hell has that got to do with me? “Okay?”

  He steps closer, lowering his voice. “Kill him and we’ll storm Skull’s shack right after breakfast.”

  Right after breakfast? As in…tomorrow morning? “Done.”

  Excitement bubbles in my veins, and my mood picks up. My blood hums, like I’ve downed forty cans of energy drink, and all but jump for joy. In less than twelve hours, I get to hold her again. I get to touch her. Kiss her.

  It feels like an eternity has passed since I last saw her, but finally I get to see her.

  Emily.

  My girl.

  My Kitten.

  Eight

  Emily

  Ex-oh

  I’m not dead.

  God, I wish I was…but I’m not.

  It has been a few days since Skull shot me in the thigh and pulled me out of the pool. The next two days following my daring attempt at escape were torture.

  He whipped me. He slapped my face until my lip split against my teeth. I spent forty-eight hours dangling from the ceiling, freezing to death.

  On occasion, in the dead of the night, Skull would come in and pull up a chair. Without a word, he’d stare at me. Not at my naked body, but at my face. He would stare, and I would stare back. Then he’d leave.

  Tonight, he freed me from my cell and brought me back to his room, where I remain chained by my wrists to his bedpost. I shift as best I can with no hands and settle comfortably on my hip, keeping my wounded thigh in a safe position.

  After Skull shot me, I expected half my thigh to be missing, it hurt so much. Once the bleeding stopped though, and it was cleaned away, I saw that it only scratched the surface.

  I don’t know how much longer I’m going to last here. I’m losing my mind. Every single time I open my eyes, I don’t know what the hell is going to happen me. Will today be the day Skull forces himself on me? Will today be the day he loses his patience waiting for Jai and decides to kill me?

  Speaking of Jai…I used to spend every second of every day expecting his valiant arrival. Whenever I close my eyes, I pray that the next time I open them, Jai will be standing there ready for me. Honestly, I’m losing hope.

  The door opens, and I shuffle back, pulling my knees into my chest to cover my bare breasts.

  “I’m getting real tired of waiting,” Skull says as he enters the room, followed closely by the woman from the other night―Laura, is it? “I haven’t left the compound in days. I’m a busy man. I’ve got shit to do.”

  Their outfits match. He wears a red tee and black slacks, and she wears a tight, black dress with red heels.

  “You expected him to be here by now.”

  Skull paces. Three steps forward. Turn. Three steps back. “I did.”

  I watch them curiously, and they ignore me. Just the way I like it.

  Laura slips in behind Skull, stopping him dead in his tracks when he turns around. She steps forward once more, pressing his back against the bathroom door.

  “I want to have fun,” she mutters, resting her slender hands against his chest. “Please, can we have some fun?”

  He scowls. “I’m not in the mood.”

  “Then perhaps,” she reaches into her cleavage and pulls out a tiny zip lock bag, “I can put you in the mood.”

  Skull eyes the small bag of drugs. “We have company.”

  “I like company,” she purrs. “How long has it been since we last played with company?”

  “It has been a while.” Grinning, Skull turns his head in my direction. “But I’m saving her for when Stone gets here.”

  I grimace. Saving me? Like I’m some kind of sweet candy.

  Soulless.

  You’re soulless.

  “But you can have some fun.”

  Laura kisses Skull on the mouth with a giggle and then bounces her way over to me, where I sit, naked on the bed.

  Kicking her shoes off, she hums and smiles as she climbs up onto the mattress and crosses her legs in front of me. “How old are you, Kitten?”

  “Emily.”

  “Hm?”

  “My name,” I deadpan. “It’s not Kitten. It’s Emily.”

  “Emily…” She smirks the same way Skull does. “Well, that’s hardly any fun, is it?”

  While she toys with her zip lock bag, I watch Skull kick off his shoes, unbutton his red shirt, and pop the top button to his pants. Then he becomes engrossed in his cellphone as he paces back and forth.

  “So, how old are you?” Laura asks, and I drag my stare back to her.

  “Twenty-five.”

  She’s a pretty girl, innocent looking in that mousey kind of way. I don’t know how she ended up here with Skull. The way she looks at him unnerves me. Her eyes smile and glisten, like a girl in love. What did he do to her?

  “I’m twenty-two.”

  Laura opens the zip lock bag and fishes out a small blue rock. I swallow hard. I’ve seen the rock before…I’ve tasted it…felt it take control of my body.

  “You’ve met this little guy already.” Laura puckers her red lips at it before opening her mouth and dropping it on her tongue. It sticks immediately and begins to dissolve in her saliva. She closes her mouth. “Your turn.”

  Reaching into the bag with her pretty pink nails, she plucks out a second rock. I purse my lips. The last thing I want is to buddy out with these two psychopaths, especially under the influence of this crazy sex drug.

  “Open wide,” she cheers, smiling gleefully, leaning in closer, and I turn my head away. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

  I keep my head turned. She’ll have to pry my lips open. There’s no way I’ll do it willingly.

  “Suit yourself.”

  “Ahhh!” I scream as pain radiates from my gunshot wound. Dropping the drug on my tongue, Laura twists her finger in the flesh, and I hiss as tears well in my eyes. It feels like fire.

  The drug dissolves immediately, leaving a metallic taste at the back of my throat. Within seconds, just like last time, there’s a hum at the back of my head and a lag in my vision. My bones vibrate, and I shiver as I slip into a dreamlike state. Laura takes away the pressure on my wound, and I close my eyes, willing my body to fight against the chemicals that suffocate my brain, but it’s useless. No amount of willpower is going to stop this drug from taking me over.

  Behind my lids, colors gambol, and the stress that has been weighing me down becomes light…meaningless.

  “Oh,” Laura utters. “I miss those first few highs. They’re the most potent.”

  I shake my head, swallowing hard, unable to control the rush of heat that tears through my body. “I don’t like it.”

  “Because you don’t know how to appreciate it.”

  I open my eyes as Skull rips open the bedroom door and exits the room, slamming the door behind him. “What’s his problem?”

  “Jai Stone.” Her lips twitch.

  A pretty azure swirl spills from her lips at the mention of his name, and my heart doesn’t know if it should
flutter or sink. “Jai?”

  My head spins like I’ve downed an entire bottle of vodka as more color dances in front of my eyes. Laura nods, and she slips off the bed. Smiling, she reaches around to her back and, with a quick pull, she unzips her dress and pushes it off her shoulders, exposing her small, perky breasts. I drop my stare to the mattress. Why is she undressing?

  “I shouldn’t be telling you, but the word on the street is that your lover boy joined the Twisted Sons.”

  My eyes widen. “He joined the gang?”

  She kicks her dress out of the way and crosses the room. “Yep.”

  I try not to stare at the ample curves of her backside that sit so nicely with her black lace thong as she plucks a small, white tube off of the vanity table. It’s the stuff Skull uses to clean my wound.

  No. Jai wouldn’t. He’s a natural born leader who refuses to take orders from his own brother, let alone someone like Joker.

  “I don’t think so,” I tell her, and she arches a brow as she saunters toward me.

  Like a lazy cat, Laura climbs onto the bed and stretches out, daintily resting across a bunch of soft mahogany throw pillows. “I can assure you the information Skull receives is one hundred percent accurate.”

  Even so, there has to be an explanation as to why he’d do something so drastic. Hope ignites in my chest. Jai is coming for me, and he’s bringing an army. “One hundred percent? I doubt it.”

  “Does Jai know you can’t have children?”

  Her question punches me in the gut. “Where’d you hear that?”

  “I told you.” She shuffles closer. “Skull’s information is accurate.”

  Clenching my jaw, I close my eyes. Laura shifts on the bed, and I know she’s slipping closer to me. The mattress compresses, and I keep my eyes shut. Maybe if I ignore her she’ll go away.

  “Does he know?” Laura presses a damp finger to my wound, and I wince, snapping my eyes open. “That you can’t have children?”

  She applies more pressure to my injury than Skull does. Go figure. “Yes, he knows.”

  Nodding, Laura falls into silence as she massages the antibacterial cream into my broken flesh. Seemingly in thought, her eyebrows furrow. When the white cream turns clear, she tosses the tube off the bed and bounces onto her knees.

  “Want to know a secret?” she asks, settling forward on her hands. She inches closer and closer, until her hands press into the mattress either side of my waist and her smooth, flat tummy brushes my thigh. “I can’t have children, either.”

  “You can’t?” Laura’s stare flickers between my eyes and my lips, and it stirs a strange feeling in the pit of my belly.

  Sighing, she reaches into the band of her black, lacy underwear and plucks out the world’s smallest silver key. “I was sterilized.”

  My heart stutters dramatically. “As in…”

  She reaches for my handcuffs and frees my wrists. I rub at them, at the angry red marks. “It was one of Skull’s conditions if I wanted to be with him. He’s terrified of having children.”

  I grimace. “You did it for him? To be with him?” She nods. “How could you do such a thing?”

  Huffing, Laura snags me by the wrist and drags me off the bed, tucking my cuffs into her panties. I hiss as I plant the foot of my bad leg on the floor, and my muscles tighten. Without a word, she tugs me along behind her and into the bathroom. I glance up at the window I climbed out of days ago and see that a thin plank of wood has been nailed across it, preventing me from ever escaping again.

  “Get in the tub,” she bites out, and the echo of her voice vibrates in yellow lines all around the room.

  I guess I offended her. Laura releases me, and I sway on my feet. With free hands, I cup my breasts, covering them from sight. I don’t know why she wants me to get into the bathtub. It’s empty.

  Laura clicks her fingers at me. “I said get in the tub.”

  “You didn’t answer me,” I point out, stepping over the ledge of the large spa bath. I sit on the second edge and turn, slowly lifting my sore leg up and over. “How could you do such a thing?”

  “How could I do such a thing?” She leans over and slaps the tap. Water crashes against the white porcelain, spraying me with cold drops. “I love him.”

  I flinch and turn my head to look at her. She stares at the clear liquid as it begins to steam and fill the bath.

  “How can you love a monster?”

  Bending low, she pushes the metal plug into place before pinning me with a smug smirk as she angles her head. “How can you?”

  How can I? “Jai is not a monster.”

  “Oh, sweetheart.” She pushes a button on the side of the bath, and bubbles begin to churn out. “I disagree.”

  Laura chains one end of the cuffs around a freshly mounted hook on the wall and demands I give her my hand. Doing as I’m told, I offer her my right wrist, and she chains me into place. Sighing, I lower myself into the bubbly bath, hissing when the scorching water touches all of my sensitive places.

  “Jai isn’t a monster,” I say, feeling the need to defend him. “Not like Skull is.”

  “Whether you kill one person or one hundred people, the end result is the same.”

  She hooks her fingers under the string of her thong and drags it down her legs, exposing her bare genitals. I look away. Since when is it acceptable for two grown women to bathe together?

  Laura dips her toes into the water and sucks air between her teeth. I shuffle to the end of the bath, not wanting to be too close in fear of sending her the wrong message. My brain, however, has a different idea. I can’t shake the image of seeing her completely naked from my head.

  I hate this drug. I hate everything about this drug. I’ve never been sexually attracted to a woman before, but the thought of being with her has buried itself at the back of my head.

  We sit in silence as the bath fills up. I close my eyes to avoid the swirl of colors from making me nauseous, but it’s just as bad with my eyes closed.

  “Can you pass me that sponge, please?”

  Opening my eyes, I spot a purple sponge on the side of the bath. Sitting forward, I reach out for it and hand it to her.

  “Thank you.”

  I watch curiously as she lathers the sponge with soap and slides closer. Oh, it’s for me? I swallow hard as my muscles tighten, and she presses the hot sponge to my shoulder.

  “Are you scared of me, Emily?” she asks over the sound of water crashing into water.

  I don’t answer her. Why? Because in this moment, I am petrified of her…of her intentions. Mostly, I’m petrified of my intentions.

  I keep my head down as she massages my shoulders with soap. Dragging the soapy sponge across my collar bone, Laura brushes her forearm over my breast, and I gasp at the sensation as my spine straightens. The drug is in full effect, and I am as turned on as ever—even more than I was when I was chained up and ball gagged the day I got here.

  “I remember that need,” Laura mutters, sliding her hands underneath my breast. “I was the first test subject for this particular drug.”

  I lift my head and look at her. “Willingly?”

  I try to keep my gaze on her eyes, but I keep sliding it to her lips.

  “Not at first, but I became addicted to it—not to the feeling of being high, but the orgasms Skull would give me.”

  A flash of Skull’s face, lips parted, eyes hooded, burns my brain, and I almost gag. “How can you let him touch you? He’s repulsive.”

  She scowls at me. “Not that it matters to you, but he saved my life. I’d do anything for him.”

  Clearly.

  “He touches me, you know,” I tell her. “He doesn’t care about you.”

  Laura giggles, her pretty lips curving effortlessly. “Damien cares about me very much. We may not be exclusive to each other, but we’re here for each other whenever we need it.”

  It takes me a second to realize she’s referring to Skull as Damien. “What could he possibly need from you if h
e’s getting it everywhere else?”

  She lowers her sponge to my breasts, and my nipples strain against it.

  “I keep his house in order, balance his accounts, feed his army, and offer him normalcy wherever he lacks it. He can’t get that anywhere else.”

  I spit, “You’re fucking crazy.”

  “Maybe.” Dropping her sponge, she slides her hands up and down my stomach, drawing shudders from my body every time she dips below my belly button. “But so are you. Hell, you’re probably crazier than me. I’d never follow a stranger off of a train and into an abandoned industrial site.”

  Damn. That’s true.

  Laura caresses my hip and drags her hand right across to the other, slipping extra low as she passes over my abdomen. Each time, my body clenches painfully.

  She chuckles. “Do you want me to touch you there, baby?”

  Gritting my teeth, I shake my head. Like last time, there’s a sexual hurricane building up inside me. Each second that passes, I find myself slipping closer and closer to surrender. I can’t help it. It’s a need as powerful as hunger, as thirst. I just might rip my hair out if relief doesn’t come soon.

  “No?”

  She slips her hand between my legs, and I gasp, jolting hard enough for the high water to spill over the edge of the bath. Lucky for them, it’s an infinity bath. I squeeze my legs shut, and she tugs her hand free. God. Her hands were so soft and slippery.

  “Are you worried about your little boyfriend?” she whispers in my ear. “I won’t tell him, Kitten. You can trust me.”

  “Don’t touch me,” I tell her, hating the desperation in my voice.

  Grinning, Laura shoves me to the left, and I slip, almost drowning myself. Shit. She’s a lot stronger than I expected. In a heartbeat, she slips behind me, hooks her feet under my knees, and pulls my legs apart.

  “I know you want it,” she says, planting a kiss on the nape of my shoulder. “But if you want me to take it so you don’t feel guilty, that’s fine by me too.”