Even naked, bruised, and wearing a condescending smirk, my stomach flips over at the thought that someone as gorgeous as him is speaking to me.
Me.
Trinity Malone.
A no-fucking-body.
Somehow, I hold his gaze. Hell, I even manage to study him a little.
Countless circular scars dot what would have been perfect abs. Pale, nearly invisible scars along his ribs and thighs. More burn marks there. Most so old and faded, it’s no wonder I didn’t notice them that day in the shower when they—
“I sinned,” he says and sits back on his haunches, stretching his arms like a cat getting up from a nap.
Thankfully, he doesn’t stand, else I’d have been able to see everything. Instead, his dick is hidden in the shadows pooling his lap.
“Sinned how?” I ask.
“I touched you without your permission. More than once.” Cass’s smirk transforms into a smile that’s anything but repenting. “Apparently, I should be punished for shit like that.”
My skin suddenly feels two sizes too small. I can’t turn my head, so instead I swivel my eyes to look at Apollo. “You told them?”
He shrugs as he takes another pull on the joint. Smoke billows from his mouth, clearing to reveal a Joker-like smile. “We tell each other everything.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Fuck it,” Zachary growls. “Offer’s just expired.”
He rips the belt out of my hand and shoulders me aside. Grabbing the back of Cass’s neck, he pushes the top half of his body onto Reuben’s lap.
I stumble back before I can catch my balance. I don’t know who would win in a fight between Cass and Zachary and I never want to find out. But there must be some unspoken agreement between them, because although Cass’s muscles go taut as if he’s resisting Zachary, he ends up right where Zachary wants him.
Which is when Reuben grabs hold of him again, holding him still.
“No, Zachary, please!” I reach for Zachary, but I’m too scared to grab him in case he does turn that belt on me.
“You had your chance,” Zachary hisses.
Cass tenses when the belt whistles through the air. The crack of it meeting his flesh is too loud. Too violent.
My heart breaks when Cass’s entire body ripples with pain. He’s gritting his teeth—spittle dotting his lips as he grunts through the blow—
Crack!
And the next.
“Zachary!”
And the next.
“Stop!” I grab Zachary’s elbow, but he shakes me off with a growl.
Crack!
“Enough!” I yell.
My brain is obviously misfiring, because then I do the most idiotic thing in the world. I slip between Zachary and Cass, turning my arms up so the belt would land on my forearms and not on my face.
Zachary freezes, arm upraised, a wild snarl on his face. “Move,” he says.
“No! That’s enough!”
When Zachary doesn’t move, when no one tries to get me out of the way, I start babbling in self-defense. “I’m the one who said he has to pay, right? Well, it’s enough. I forgive him. For everything. Okay? So…enough. It’s enough.”
Zachary slowly lowers the belt. “You don’t get to decide the sentence.”
“Of course I do.” I straighten, reluctantly dropping my arms. “I’m the one who charged him.”
“This isn’t a fucking court, girl.”
“I don’t care.”
Hooded green eyes study me for a long moment. “There’re still two lashes left.” His voice is rough, but his face is a wooden mask. “Move out the way, or you’ll be getting them on his behalf.”
I glance over my shoulder at a shaking Cass.
Tear tracks shine wetly on his cheeks. His skin is virulent red and purple now. Tiny dots of blood have come to the surface where Zachary’s belt landed.
He won’t last another two lashes. He’ll start bleeding, and it will all be because of me.
I turn back to Zachary, swallow hard, and force my voice not to shake.
“Then I’ll do it,” I say, holding out my hand. It quivers a little, but when I concentrate, it stills. “Give me the belt.”
Zachary laughs. “What, so you can tickle his ass? This is punishment, girl, not fucking foreplay.”
“I’ll hit him as hard as I can. I swear it.”
Cass would never last another two lashes from Zachary’s muscular arm, but mine is like spaghetti in comparison.
Lesser of two evils, right?
I narrow my eyes a little. “Reuben said I’m either with you or against you. No in-between. Right?”
“That’s right,” Reuben says.
“Well, I’m with you, Zachary.” My eyes dart to Apollo. “Apollo.” I glance behind me. “Reuben. Cassius.” I turn back to Zachary. “I’m with you.”
I duck forward and wrap my fingers around the belt.
“Now give me the damn belt.”
Chapter Forty-One
Zach
I don’t know who’s more shocked out of the five of us. Trinity asks for the belt, and I give it to her. I fucking give it to her. I expected begging, perhaps finally some tears, maybe even her going to her knees and sucking me off in exchange for Cass’s hide.
I’m with you.
And fuck, for a second there, I believed her.
I step back so that I don’t lunge for her instead.
I almost forgot why we allowed this girl in here. Why we’re humoring her.
Why is it so easy to forget that she’s the enemy? It’s not like it’s news—I’ve known from the moment I laid eyes on her that she was some kind of trouble.
I just didn’t realize how deeply enmeshed in all this she is.
But that all changes tonight.
When we’re done with her, she’ll be as broken as we are. Useless.
Trinity folds the belt in half and readies herself.
She thinks she can get one over on us? I know she’s going to go easy on him, and we’ll punish her for it.
That, and everything else she’s done to us.
Luring Reuben with promises of romance and love and all that bullshit. Acting all surprised when Apollo turned down her pussy.
I’ll admit—we were idiots for not spotting the snake in the grass.
But we’re wiser now.
We’ve caught onto her little games. Her little tricks.
She’s in our territory now. Until we decide she can leave this place, she belongs to us.
And I, for one, plan on using her until she begs me to stop.
But I won’t. No matter how hard she begs.
Because they never did.
Our Ghosts never let our curses or our pleas touch their cruel hearts. We thought it was because they were impervious to our pain.
Until it became obvious they didn’t have hearts.
Guess they traded them to the Devil in exchange for fulfilling their sick desires.
Just like each of us has given ourselves over to the Devil too.
For a chance at retribution.
For revenge.
Tonight we seal that pact.
Tonight, Trinity becomes our sacrificial lamb.
I smirk as she lifts her arm, a mix of sympathy and utter reluctance on her face.