Badlands: Next Generation Collection, page 9
At the very least, I was glad he had a shirt on now. Not that I particularly cared. It’s not like I had been distracted by the perfect lines framing his eight-pack stomach or anything.
“Let me see,” Annie said, reaching for the map from the back.
I refolded it and passed it to her. Turning back around, I crossed my arms over my chest and stared out the window.
“This is a nice ride,” the woman with colorful hair said after we’d been on the road a few minutes.
Cam thanked her politely, and I smiled. He only rarely harbored hate or prejudice for anyone.
If everyone was a bit more like him, maybe this wasteland wouldn’t be full of killers. Though, that may not necessarily be true. Power was claimed in a variety of ways, and bloodshed had been one even when the world was considered ‘good’.
Truthfully, it was hard for me to believe it ever was. History lessons taught me that there’d always been corruption, thievery, crime, murder, and an overall struggle to live a full, somewhat enjoyable life.
Nothing was any different now, except we governed ourselves and anarchy controlled the masses. Rich versus poor had become strong versus weak. This place was beautiful to me regardless. Not even the dark presence of the man beside me could tarnish that.
The flick of a lighter pulled me from the bubble of thoughts I’d immersed myself in.
A peculiar, familiar smell hit my nostrils a second later.
“Are you serious?” I looked over at Zane as he accepted a joint from Maliki.
Instead of answering, he brought it to his lips and took a heavy drag. I counted the seconds in between until he exhaled his smoke in my direction.
“How very mature of you,” I quipped, waving a hand to disperse the cloud.
“Wanna hit?” He kept one hand on the steering wheel and offered me the joint with the other.
If it wasn’t so dark inside the XL, I would have let my expression answer for me.
“You just had your mouth on that.”
“So? You wanted me to put this same mouth on you a few hours ago.”
“You know that isn’t remotely what she meant,” Nyx cut in.
“What does ‘bite me’ mean?” Maliki questioned.
“When spoken to little boys such as you, it means fuck off,” Annie replied.
I laughed at her bluntness. “Refer to her definition for future reference.”
“Little boys, huh?” Zane mused, passing the joint to the guy with long hair when he stretched between the seats for it. “I’ll remember that.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning when I make good on my promise, you’ll find out how untrue that is.” The light from the XL’s screen perfectly illuminated his accompanying smirk.
Remembering his whispered proclamation, I swallowed and faced forward again.
I didn’t understand why he even said what he had to me. We’d just met one another tonight. We were not friends, we were not teammates, and we damn sure weren’t lovers. We were not anything but the Savage princess and Venomous prince who were never supposed to be this close to one another.
I knew what my family did to his just as I knew what his family did to mine. What could he possibly want with a devil like me?
We had to work with one another for the time being. I got that. I still didn’t understand why, however, I was going to take a page out of Nyx’s book and use them to help him find my sister.
In the meantime, I wasn’t going to allow him to get to me with whatever this unorthodox energy between us was.
Although, that was much easier said than done when an invisible string felt as if it were trying to draw me towards him, the desire to follow it evident in the concupiscence thoughts I was trying not to have, and the needling curiosity I was trying to quell.
Needing to clarify for myself as much as him, I cleared my throat and quietly said, “Maybe you should stop smoking, because you’re living in dreamland. That will never happen. We will never be more to each other than what we are right this moment.”
“We’ll see,” he replied confidently without missing a beat.
I shook my head and looked to the night sky, asking my satanic god for patience.
Chapter Eleven
undecim
I wasn’t one for worrying.
Even now as I went against the grain and abandoned my usual process, driving towards the unknown, I wasn’t worried.
Demon and Mark would do what they needed to survive, and they knew I would be coming for them. It wasn’t even a question, and when I got there they knew whoever had chosen to fuck with them, which in turn fucked with me, would feel the full effects of their spines being crushed and necks being snapped.
All this would come after watching me destroy everything they held dear, loved ones not excluded.
I checked the rearview, seeing six of my seven passengers in various states. Trix had fallen asleep with her head on Ace’s shoulder. Maliki was listening intently as Annie showed him the path to Hocking Hills on the map. I wasn’t surprised she’d offered. She came off as someone with common sense.
The other two were staring out the window like Addy was. She yawned, and I glanced over, seeing her chest puff up as she stretched. She tried to discreetly look at me, eyes darting away the second they met mine.
I liked how she tried to pretend my words didn’t bother her, like she wasn’t already struggling to keep illicit thoughts of us in a dark corner she could ignore.
That was her first mistake.
Everything degenerate flourished in the blackest corners of the sickest minds. And Addy? I knew she was a sick bitch; she just hid the worst of it beneath her pretty façade. I wanted it unearthed.
She’d gone to staring out the window, not saying a word for the past two hours. I found myself wondering what she was thinking about. Naturally, I wanted it to be me.
I had time to ensure it always would be. At least as long it would take to get Demon back. By that point, she’d have a clearer understanding of how things would be between us.
She didn’t believe what I’d told her back at Copperfield. That was fine. Her acquisition was something I was looking forward to. It was overdue, and I was eager to start.
Her friends weren’t a threat to me.
There was no one out here to protect her or intervene. She’d been placed at my altar and, before this was over, she’d be down on her knees worshipping me.
That would be her second mistake, a tragic one, really, falling for the man destined to be her ruination. You know what they say; all legends fall in the making. It was almost a shame she would never even see it coming.
Chapter Twelve
Duodecim
There was no sign of human life anywhere—not that I really expected there to be. No one with half a brain would wander the Badlands at night unless they had the protection to do so.
I smothered a yawn for the millionth time and rubbed a kink from my neck, adjusting my ass on the leather seat.
By car, it would take us another six hours to reach the rendezvous point—that’s with nothing being in our way and on the off chance we couldn’t get our people back before then.
We’d been driving for four when Zane turned into the parking lot of an old service station and parked, cutting the engine.
“What are we doing?” Nyx asked, exhaustion coloring her tone.
“Everyone in this truck, with the exception of four people, need to sleep. Some of you probably need to shit or piss, and now is the time for food if you’re hungry.”
“He’s right. It won’t do anyone any good to run a rescue mission tired,” Annie said.
I didn’t have anything else to add to this conversation; they were both right. I wanted to get to my baby sister as fast as possible, but doing so fully rested and ready to kick some Stag ass was better than going tired and getting my ass kicked instead.
I undid my seatbelt and got out of the truck, stretching my legs as they slid to the ground.
There was a soft swoosh of air from the rear of the XL as the hatch was popped, rising on its own.
“Shouldn’t we check to make sure it’s safe first?” Ace asked once he was out of the truck.
“What could possibly be inside here but a waif?” Cam replied.
The two of them had fallen into conversation about forty-five minutes ago and were like old friends already. That was Cam, though; he was hard not to get along with, and from what I could tell thus far, Ace was just as laid back.
“What’s a waif?”
“A straggler—someone irrelevant. If anyone is in there, they can either leave or…well, either way they’ll be gone,” Nyx answered him this time.
The woman with the lavender pixie cut was already sorting through our bags when I stepped up to grab one.
She glanced at me for a second and then reached for one perched on top of the others.
“This one work?” she turned to me with the bag in her hands.
I studied her face a second, seeing for the first time how pretty she actually was. Her dark brown skin was flawless and bare, with the exception of a septum piercing in her nose.
The Venom mark sat on the left side of her neck, letting me know she was a fully-fledged member as opposed to Ace, who wasn’t marked yet.
“It’s fine…thanks,” I added at the last minute, gently taking the bag from her. And I didn’t feel weird about it. I felt no hate for this woman.
The brand on her neck only made me aware of what faction she called her family just as mine did.
She flashed me a smile, “I’m Trix. If we’re gonna be stuck together, you should know my name.”
“Addy,” I replied with a small smile of my own, taking a step back, right into a solid wall of muscle.
Before I could correct my mistake, his hands were on my hips. A slightly surprised breath slipped through parted lips. I turned my head and looked up into a pair of increasingly familiar ocean eyes.
Damn, those eyes.
I could practically hear all the souls they’d claimed screaming at me to run away from him. I almost felt sorry for all the women who’d been lured in and trapped by their seductive allure.
Almost.
They should have known better.
The cruelest demons had the most beautiful faces. That was unspoken law in the Badlands.
Staring up at Zane, I knew I was dealing with one terrifyingly sinister bastard. Something about that made my pulse kick up in excitement.
He was looking at me like he wanted to rip open my chest, tear out my soul, and either shred it apart or consume it. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t born with one. Secondly, I knew better than to fall for a man with a bad boy persona. In his case, there was a third strike because this gorgeous man was explicitly forbidden, off limits, and an asshole.
I thought it would be the same for him, but he just would not keep his hands off me.
I pursed my lips and stepped away from his scalding embrace, purposely rubbing against his front as I did.
It was a bold move, I admit. Not only was I toying with a man who was known to walk a tightrope between sanity and unstable, but I felt as if I were calling fate out on her shit, testing if the magnetic pull between the two of us was real or fake.
Either way, we were going to be stuck in one another’s proximity for the time being, and I wasn’t going to let him keep fucking with me.
“You really have a hard time keeping your hands to yourself.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with holding onto what belongs to me.”
Wow. “Belong?” I tittered, taking another step away from him. “I belong to myself, Z. You better get that through your head. I will never be yours.”
“Giiirl,” Trix intoned beneath her breath, poking out her lips and going back to digging in the rear of the XL.
I went to walk away that time; I took one step before he moved around and stopped right in front of me.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Nyx demanded from behind him. I peeked past his shoulder to see Maliki stopping her from coming towards me.
Just like that, the tension between our two groups leaned towards hostile and away from amicable. Cam looked as if he were about to swoop in and pull me away, but I knew that was a terrible idea and gave a slight shake of my head just as Annie placed a hand on his shoulder.
I didn’t feel bad about my actions, but I regretted saying anything at all.
This was not what I wanted. We didn’t have time and couldn’t afford for our uneasy truce to fall to shambles.
I gave Zane a glare. “Get the hell out of my way.”
He came forward until the bag was pressing into my lower stomach. “Is that how you wanna play your hand?”
“I’m—”
“Think carefully before you answer, baby. What you say is going to determine how this whole thing goes.”
My mouth opened and shut a few times before I got a hold of myself. I was baffled by his whole demeanor. One minute he looked at me as if he wanted to fuck my brains out, but the next his eyes were burying into me like daggers, full of hatred and spite.
I felt as if he were pushing me.
My natural inclination was to push back, because who the fuck did he think he was? And did he just call me baby?
I didn’t know what thing he was talking about, and I didn’t understand where he got off saying I was his, and that was that. He was starting to piss me off all over again.
“I am not playing a game with you, baby. I don’t know what your deal is, but you’re delusional and making a fool of yourself.”
My words were level until the end, when a slight growl may have slipped out. It was a work in progress to control my temper, and all things considered, I was doing a fabulous job right now.
Zane thumbed his plump lower lip for a minute, silently watching me.
His smile was slow to appear; when it did slowly creep across his face, it was drenched in devilry and dark intent.
My heart tripped at the sight of it. I hated the undeniable attraction I felt towards him. This wasn’t right.
He turned away from me, snatching my bag from my hands in the process. “Let me carry this for you.”
I blew out a breath and stared after him, following only after he disappeared inside the service station. Maliki whispered something to Nyx and then did the same.
“I think it’s time me and Zane have a talk,” Cam contemplated the moment I reached his side.
“Your funeral, man,” Trix commented on her way past, carrying a gear bag of her own. “Z is a cool guy, but he isn’t going to let you tell him how to handle his relationship,” she added before pulling open one of the station doors and vanishing within.
“His relationship?” Nyx spat.
I stared after her, replaying what she’d just said inside my head. It wasn’t that her words were poetic and worth remembering, it’s what they implied that left a sour taste in my mouth.
I think I was beginning to understand where this all began, and it wasn’t something I cared to ponder right then.
I sighed, shifting my full attention to Nyx and Cam. “I love you guys, but please don’t feel the need to get involved in shit like that. I can handle Zane on my own. I don’t want any issues spiraling.” I couldn’t stress this enough.
Cam could be lethal, but my gut told me Trix hadn’t been blowing steam out her ass when she warned him just now. I didn’t want him to risk getting hurt over me. It wasn’t worth it.
“I make no promises. You’re my girl; if I feel the need to step in again, I will,” Cam replied.
“Everything he just said, I second,” Nyx stated, looping her arm through mine. Cam fell in step behind us and we finally made our way to the entrance.
Annie stood on the left side of the building just outside the doors, shotgun in hand and long brown hair plaited in two braids.
“You need to rest, too,” I told her gently.
“No. I need to keep watch over you. And that one.” She turned and gave a pointed look in Zane’s direction inside the station.
“Annie.” I huffed out a breath, trying to hold back my frustration. “You need sleep just as much as any of us—food, too.
“I know you’re supposed to protect me, but it wouldn’t hurt for you to let someone take care of you every once in a blue moon.”
She still looked as if she were going to protest, and I was seconds away from ordering her ass inside the goddamn station, something I never did, but I was tired my damn self.
“Hey, she’s right. You need rest, too. I’ll keep guard. K? I can always catch a nap when we hit the road again,” Ace volunteered. He was standing on the opposite side of the doors, watching everything transpire without comment until now.
Annie looked at me for what felt like hours but was merely minutes, her face softening with a small smile. “I appreciate that. Thank you. I will rest, for a little.”
I shot Ace a grateful look and pulled open the station door nearest me.
I leaned against one of the old freezers, a plaid fleece throw beneath me. Nyx sat right beside me, another under her. A few feet to our right, Annie and Cam were fast asleep, sharing a gear bag as a pillow.
The station wasn’t dirty per se, just in need of a thoroughly good bleaching because who knows what sorts of things had been inside it before us. It was completely ransacked.
“Braxton is cheating on me.”
My chewing slowed and the taste of tart lingered on my tongue. She’d said his actual name, which meant she was ready to talk about it.
I wished there was a manual or something on how to handle these types of situations so you couldn’t epically fuck up by saying the wrong thing.
“It happened all those random times he vanished from the compound and then came back with a sorry ass excuse for where he’d been,” she continued.
“Wait, so this chick isn’t one of us? Or she is and just doesn’t live on the compound?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s some random waif he met on an actual supply run. I’ve known for a while now. I guess I was in denial at first, ya know, wondering who the hell would cheat on me because I’m fucking amazing. Or…I thought I was.”
