Hellraiser (The Devil's Own #2)

  Just then, the door swings open and the doctor whose voice I remember from the last time I woke up says, “Hi, Melissa, welcome back. How’re you feeling?” She places the stethoscope into her ears and presses the other end to my chest.

  “I’m okay. I feel sore but I’m okay. Hey, where’s my sister?”

  She places the stethoscope back around her neck and shines a bright light into my eyes.

  “Follow my finger.” Now that I can see her, she looks really young, but the way she presents herself is confident with a takes-no-bullshit sign hanging over her head.

  “Braxton,” I whisper, following the doctor’s finger. “Answer me right now. Where is Millie?”

  “We haven’t been able to find her, babe. I’m sorry.”

  The doctor pushes her hand back into her pockets and steps back. “Everything is looking good. You’re healing fast. I’m confident on your recovery, but you sustained substantial injuries, so I’m going to need you to stay a little longer.”

  “How long have I been here?” I ask, searching between her and Hella.

  She looks to him before looking back to me. “A little over a week.”

  “I’ve been asleep for a week?”

  She smiles. “I’ll be back in a few to check on you. Rest, and push the button on the side if you need anything at all.” She looks back to Hella pointedly before leaving.

  Swinging my head back to him, I look into his worried eyes. “What the fuck do you mean you can’t find her? She’s not a pair of fucking socks, Hella, she’s my sister. Jesus Christ,” I swing the blankets off my legs.

  He shoots up and pushes me back down lightly. “Don’t fucking play the hero, Melissa. We have a plan. Lie the fuck down before you hurt yourself.”

  I pause, the heat from his hand coating mine, and my eyes shut.

  “Tell me everything, babe. I need from start to finish,” Hella says, running his finger down my face.

  I sigh, lying back onto the bed before opening up and telling him everything from start to finish. It’s when I’m relaying everything back to him that I notice the tired lines under his eyes and his unruly hair. He looks like a hot mess, but he’s a mess because of me. His jaw has a couple days’ stubble on it and it looks hot on him.

  He runs his hands over his face when I finish. “Fuck, this is worse than we thought.”

  “How so?”

  “Because, it sounds like Kurr took Millie for other reasons. The ‘take the nun’ statement. If that’s the case, we technically can’t do jack shit because she’s not owned by anyone in the club.”

  “Bull-fucking-shit!” I spit. “She was there because of the fucking club!”

  His eyes slant. “Calm the fuck down, babe. You’re real fucking cute when you’re mad, but I don’t think you’re in any state to get your ass handed to you in bed. Got it?”

  My mouth drops open briefly before snapping shut. He continues. “What I’m saying is, we’re already risking a fucking lot. Hannibal said he’s in the process of messing around with his sister’s friend, who is sort of his sister too, I guess, because she grew up with him. They teamed up with Drago so they can contain a more stable hack and find her.”

  Drago is probably one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. He’s the computer genius for the Sinful Souls. He went to school with all of us and would get picked on daily until Zane and Blake took him under their wing.

  “Okay, okay,” I whisper, calming myself down. “I can work with that.” Then the door opens again and my mom runs in with Phoebe, Meadow, Beast, Ripper, Hannibal, Frost, Skid, Layla, and Asha. “Holy shit!”

  Hella stands up and puts his arm up. “Everybody, back the fuck up. If you’re not immediate family or one of the girls, get the fuck out and wait in the waiting room. Fuckers.”

  They all moan and I giggle lightly under my breath.

  “Beast?” I call out just as he’s about to walk out. “Please find my sister.”

  He nods his head. “I’ll try really hard, Melissa. You just get better.”

  I look towards my mom. Her fine wrinkles have widened, her eyes laced in red. She clutches a tissue in her hand and it’s then that I notice how frail she looks. “Mom?”

  “I’m sorry, darling. I’ve been so worried about you and your sister and everything, your father… everything is such a mess. I’m sorry. I should be stronger for you right now—“

  “No, mom,” I whisper, tears falling down my face. I pull her hands into mine and search her eyes. “No. I’m here. You’re allowed to let it all out every now and then. This right here is the now, okay?”

  She nods her head. Her uncontrollable tears begin falling and she swings her arms around me, her tears drying on the side of my neck. My heart breaks even more. One of the hardest things you can see is your own mom cry, but seeing her break in front of you is earthshattering.

  She steps back and wipes the tears from under my eyes. “Honey, we’ll need to probably get your nose fixed after everything is back to normal.” Her chirpy voice is forced, like she’s trying to lighten the mood.

  I smile because I appreciate her. I need her and I’m going to need her a hell of a lot more now with us needing to find Millie. “Thanks, mom, thanks a lot.”

  Hella steps up and climbs on the bed with me, his arms swinging over my neck and pulling me in to him. He lays a kiss on my forehead. “We’ll find her, babe. I promise we’ll find her.”

  After spending another three nights in the hospital, I put my foot down and demand Hella to take me home. I have so much that I need to figure out. I need to find my sister and I need to call my bakery to check and see how they are and tell them that I’ll be gone for a little longer. There’s no way I’m going back to Westbeach until Millie is home safely, and even after then, I’m not sure what Hella was hoping for us as a couple.

  We’re pulling into the driveway at sundown when he pulls up the emergency brake and turns to face me. “We’re going to find her, baby.”

  “I hope so,” I answer, looking out to the waterhole. He follows my line of sight before taking my hand in his.

  “Come, you need to eat something.”

  He rounds my side of the car and takes my hand in his, pulling me to my feet. I wince while straightening my back. My body still feels bruised and damaged, but my memories remain fresh like it happened yesterday.

  He picks me up, scooping me from behind my knees and cradling me like a baby before walking me into the house.

  Placing me softly on the barstool, he walks towards the freezer and pulls out two of his prep meals. My hand goes up. “If that is as healthy as it looks, I’ll cook.”

  He rolls his eyes and places them in the microwave. “It doesn’t matter. All food fills you up in the end. Isn’t that the whole purpose of eating? It’s not about taste.”

  “That’s exactly what someone with your form would say,” I whisper, rolling my eyes back. “I need a bath.” He nods his head, rounding the kitchen island, and I stop him with a laugh. “It’s cute, but I’m okay. I’ll have a quick bath and then meet you back down here, then we can talk about Millie.”

  His jaw flexes a couple times as he contemplates whether he’s going to fight me or not before dropping his shoulders with a huff. “Fine. But if you so much as flinch at anything sore, I’ll be there in a second.”

  I smile, taking his hand in mine and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I know you will be.” I walk towards the stairway, biting down the insides of my cheeks to stop from pulling any face that shows I’m in pain. Once I’ve rounded the corner down the hallway and I hear the microwave shutting, I let out a long shaky breath, my hand going to my lower back. The pain is excruciating, like each one of my bones has been crushed into a million pieces. Once I finally reached the bathroom, I slowly fill the tub before carefully removing my clothes. It’s only a strapless dress, easy to remove swiftly, but in my state, it takes a little longer than usual.

  I slip into the steaming hot water and sigh, sinking in. My eyes
shut as I push my head under the water. “We don’t work around your little revenge.” I come back to the surface and rub my hand over my face, attempting to remember whose voice that was. I quickly soap up before getting out of the tub as quickly as I can. Walking out to the master bedroom, I walk straight to the closet and pull one of Hella’s shirts down before slipping into some panties and waddling back downstairs.

  When I hit the bottom, the sight I’m graced with makes my heart flutter in my chest. Well, what do ya know? Braxton Ward can make a girl’s heart flutter. I smirk and lean against the doorframe.

  He turns, our plates in his grip. He notices my smirk and his eyes narrow. “What?”

  “Oh, nothing. It’s just a little cute seeing you in here cooking.”

  He smiles, nudging his head towards the outside porch. “Come on, we’ll go eat by the waterhole.” I follow him out the back, taking a throw off the sofa on my way out. He pauses halfway and turns to wait for me. “Tell me if you’re fucking sore, Melissa.”

  “Chill, I’m fine. I just need my sister.” Once I reach him, I hook my arm around his as we continue to walk towards the water hole. Throwing the blanket down, I take a slow seat and look up at the bright fairy lights that are thrown through the tree that hangs over the water. “It’s so beautiful out here. I’ll never get tired of it.”

  “Hope not,” he mumbles, handing me my plate. “‘Cause I don’t plan on letting you anytime soon, if ever.”

  My cheeks redden and he unzips his hoodie, throwing it towards me. “Put it on.”

  “I can’t,” I answer, picking up some broccoli. “It’ll hurt.”

  He growls, so I throw it over my legs. The humidity is at its peak right now, so it’s not like I’m cold.

  “Before I forget,” I say around chewing my meat. “There was a girl there that night.”

  “What?” He pauses, placing his fork back onto his plate.

  “I don’t know who she was. I didn’t recognize her voice per se, but I feel that if I heard it enough, I’d be able to, if that makes sense.” I take a bite out of my bread roll and silently thank the gods for giving Hella a brain to put carbs on my plate.

  “What’d she say?”

  I shrug before telling him what she said. He pauses, fishing something out of his pocket and tossing it to me. “This mean anything to you or your sister?”

  I flip the note around and read it. “What? No,” I answer absently, giving the card back to him. “Should it?”

  “I don’t fucking know, but it means something.”

  “What’s underneath it?” I ask, pointing towards it with my fork when I catch a tiny image in the far right corner.

  He holds it closer to his face, pulling out a lighter to see it clearer. His eyes squint. “It’s an emblem. A triangle and an eye, like the fucking Illuminati.”

  “Well, that can’t be it, though I wouldn’t put it past our shit luck to have that chasing us, too.” I roll my eyes and he stops, his arm hooking around my waist as he pulls me into him.

  “You know,” he whispers, his lips leaving a warm sensation lingering well after his voice has gone, “you’ve been away from my mouth for too long.”

  I look up at him, keeping my eyes locked on his as my heart pounds in my chest. “I agree,” I nod my head, shoving more food into my mouth. His eyes travel down my body until he leaps up, grabs each of my knees and carefully spreads my legs open, the warm air rushing over my lace-covered clit.

  “Hella! I’m eating!” I smile at him, taking a bite out of my bun.

  He shrugs his shoulders, flipping his cap backwards and running his tongue over his bottom lip, causing his two dimples to pop out. My panties are soaked at the sight alone, so when his finger slides inside me and he gently presses his thumb against my clit, I throw my head back and moan slightly. He pulls my body down so my back hits the blanket-covered sand and rips off my panties before his warm mouth covers my clit. My eyes pop open onto the fairy lights above us. His strokes are slow and sensual, like always. His finger slides inside me and slowly massages my G-spot as his tongue follows the same pattern. My chest is heaving, my thighs are dripping in sweat from the need to come. My hand finds his hair and I pull his face into me, urging him to go harder, and he chuckles against my clit, the vibrations feeling so good, it causes a growl to escape mine.

  “Fuck me,” I whisper, and he pauses.

  “I might hurt you, and as much as that gets my dick hard when I’m the one doing the hurting, you don’t want the thoughts of those fuckers running through my head while I’m balls-deep in you, babe. I might accidently snap your neck.”

  His eyes twinkle up at me from between my thighs, the evidence of my arousal glistening over his lips. With his hat on backwards and that smirk on his smug face as well as my wetness on his mouth, it sort of outweighs my wanting to throat punch him for saying that, so I lie back down and close my eyes. “Continue.”

  He chuckles against my thighs and my eyes close again. I’m not sure where my sister is or what’s happening with her, but I promise her—putting it out in the universe—that I will find her and I don’t care who I have to go through to accomplish that. I lost my dad, I almost lost my mom, I won’t lose her too.

  Three Months Later

  “That’s everything!” I yell out from my apartment toward Skid, who’s pilling boxes on top of boxes.

  “You really need all this shit?” he asks from behind a big stack as he made his way out the door.

  Meadow laughs, walking out with her just-popped belly. “Yes, she does. How are you feeling about all this?”

  I pause, my smile dropping for a second. “I’ll be okay, I think, as long as I have you and Hella and the girls, I’ll be fine.”

  “And me!” Garret calls out from the kitchen where he’s taken it upon himself to eat everything out of my cupboards so we don’t have to pack it.

  “Of course! You didn’t need to be in that sentence.”

  “And Uncle Brax did?” he asks with a smile.

  “Yes, he definitely did.” We all laugh before Meadow hooks her arm around mine, leading me out the door.

  “Hurry up, bud!” I call out to Garret.

  I had decided to rent out my apartment for now. Although Hella and I are very much together—property patch and all, though it took him pinning me down to put it on me. I’m not a fan and still am not; I only wear it when I absolutely have to, though, most of the Devil’s Own in America know who owns me—I still have doubts in the back of my head. Hella knows and he works hard every day to squash them. Time heals; words don’t.

  “It’s going to be okay, you know that, right?” Meadow says as Garret zips out of the apartment with a mouthful of Fruit Loops.

  I whip my head toward him. “Did you just eat dry Fruit Loops?”

  He chews quickly before swallowing. “Yes. You have to try it. They’re awesome.”

  I shake my head. Meadow leans her head on my shoulder as we walk to the lobby downstairs. “It’s going to be okay.”

  Melissa

  “So, you want this?” Jada asks, looking down at the paper she just sketched on.

  I take it from her and smile. “Yes, this is exactly it.” I decided to get a shaded cross with roses wrapped around it with the words “All is not lost” intertwined with it on the side of my upper thigh. I may not know where she is right now, but I’ll never lose hope. I’ll never give up on her. I’ll search for the rest of my days if I have to.

  Jada smiles, turning on the tattoo machine as she begins her masterpiece. When it’s done, she runs a wet wipe over it and points toward the large mirror. “Take a look.”

  I swing my legs over so I can see her new work. “It looks better than on the paper,” I whisper, a single tear falling over my cheek.

  “Hey,” Jada says, flinging off her gloves. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “People keep saying that, but when? When is it okay? I can’t imagine it ever being okay until she’s home.”

  The
door swings open and Hella walks in, eyebrows pinched together.

  “We found her.”

  Millie

  Three Months Earlier

  The heavy bumps of the gravel road bounce me up and down in the back seat of the dark SUV I’ve been thrown into. My silent sobs wrack my body while I silently pray that whoever these people are, they at least kill me fast. I rub the tears off my swollen cheek and bring my eyes up to everyone who is sitting in the back with me. Every single person’s face, including the driver’s, is covered by a mask. I swallow past the bile coming up my throat and bring my eyes to the rearview mirror where the driver’s mask is all steel with a single red slash across the forehead of it going down to his chin. When his eyes move off the road and meet mine in the rearview mirror, chills seep into my veins. His dark eyes glare right into me. It’s like looking into the eyes of a corpse.

  My face pales. “What do you want with me?”

  His eyes come back to the rearview mirror. “You’ll know what we want you to know.”

  One of the other men in the back with me cuts off my vision by tying a rag around my eyes. He takes hold of my wrist when the SUV comes to a halt. “Mmmm,” he growls into my ear. “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any hotter, I put this baby on you.” He tugs at the blindfold around my head. His voice was low, but filled with malice and oozing with death.

  My jaw sets, my arms handcuffed behind my back. The truck door opens and someone pushes me out the door. I stumble forward, my chest and forehead connecting with the concrete ground. My sobs start again as the burning graze I gained on my head begins to sting with fire.

  “Stop,” a deep commanding voice says. “Kurr doesn’t want us to fuck with her. He wants his toy pretty.”

  Hands go around my arm as the blindfold is ripped off my eyes.

  I squint, the now-morning sun rising over the masses of trees. The body that stands in front of me is massive—the same mask I recognize from the driver with the same eyes glaring down at me. I can’t tell how old he is, but there’s no sign of aging from what I can see, which isn’t much. His eyes narrow in on me, the dark rings glaring right through me like a dark light saber slicing through the halo of light. I flinch.