I spit, “He has better things to do, I guess.”
Right on cue, the large metal door to my left clanks and creaks as it’s pushed open. I watch, rage building in my stomach, as he steps through the door in his three-piece suit, wearing shiny leather shoes.
“How you holding up down here, Kitty-Cat?” he asks, striding over to Emily. Without a care, he touches her face, and it twists my stomach. Has he touched her like that this whole time? I grit my teeth. Of course he has. “Not as comfy as my bed, is it?”
Prick! Grunting, she tries to move her head away from him.
“Just fine, thank you.”
Just fine? My ass she’s just fine. Her skin is deathly white, and her lips are as blue as the sky.
“She’s freezing to death,” I point out. “The least you could do is give her some warm clothes.”
Skull whips around dramatically, like he forgot I was even here. “Look at you, so caring.” He grins sardonically. “So dreamy.”
He turns back to Emily. “The first thing we do with wet clothes is…remove them, right?”
I slide my teeth together. He’s gonna undress her, and I’m gonna have to deal with it. I clench my fists as he grabs her by the collar of her white shirt and rips it in half, exposing her wet, bare breasts. I slide my teeth together. I’m going to skewer him. I’m going to slice him up inch by inch.
Joel swears under his breath and drops his head, looking away. “You are so fucked up, Skull.”
Skull laughs. “Don’t act so high and mighty, Joel. I recall you tearing the clothes off plenty of wet women when you lived here.”
“You’re speaking out of context,” Joel retorts, pulling on his chains. “Those women were willing. I didn’t chain them up.”
Skull arches a brow over his shoulder.
“I didn’t chain them up against their—” Joel spits. “You know what I mean. Don’t twist my words.”
“You’re doing that yourself.” Skull returns to Emily. “Honestly, the people you surround yourself with are dysfunctional.”
“You’d know a thing or two about dysfunctional.”
Chuckling, Skull tears the rest of her shirt from her body and drops it on the floor beside his feet with a squelch. “I suppose I do.”
Skull reaches for the button of Emily’s jeans and pops it open. Swallowing hard, she closes her eyes.
“You know,” he begins, curling his hands around the waistband of her jeans. “You’re a lucky guy, Stone. Emily has the sweetest, little cu—”
Emily shoots forward, and her chains tighten, grinding together like frustrated teeth. “You liar!” she seethes before flicking her watery stare to me. “We haven’t.”
I rub my tongue against the roof of my mouth, an attempt at calming myself down. I’ve never felt my blood so hot, my muscles so tight.
“Or have we?”
“No.” A tear rolls down her cheek as she grits her teeth. “We haven’t.” She looks at me, her eyes wide and pleading. “We didn’t.”
Skull pushes Emily’s jeans down the length of her legs before cutting them off her ankles with a blade he pulls from his waistband.
When she’s naked, he steps back to marvel at her, blocking her from my view. He’s close to me, so close I could reach out and snap his neck if my hands were free.
“What do you think?” he asks, stepping out of the way. “I kept her in pretty good condition, given the circumstances, don’t you think?”
I flick my stare up her smooth legs and stop at the bruised scab on the side of her thigh. I’ve seen enough wounds in my life to know that one is because of a bullet. Not to mention there’s a scab and bruising on her lip, and she certainly hasn’t been eating enough food. I’ve seen bait for fight dogs in better condition. And another thing, Emily can’t even bring herself to look at me as she hangs there naked. Shame leaks from her pores, like she’s done something wrong. No matter what has transpired over the course of the week, none of this is her fault. Skull will be the one who suffers in the end, not her.
I drag my stare to Skull. “Now I’m here, you better start sleeping with one eye open.”
Skull’s lips twitch, but his eyes darken. He takes my threat seriously.
And he should.
He stalks toward me, slow and calculating. “You talk a big game, Stone. Even if you did manage to kill me, you’re far from free.” Grinning, he hunches to meet my face. “Once you join their gang, you can never leave it. Not even in death.”
He grabs my damp shoulders and turns me on my chain. Fuck.
“Jai…” Emily gasps, emotion thick in her voice as she sees my unhealed tattoo. “What did you do?”
I close my eyes. I’m going to get out of these restraints, and he’s going to pay for everything. When I’m done, his castle will be nothing but a pile of rubble and his empire an old tale used to scare children into staying in school. When I’m done, Skull will know why he never should have fucked with my family in the first place.
Continued in:
Guts & Glass
NEW YORK CRIME KINGS
Round Six
BEFORE YOU GO…
DON’T MISS OUT!
Would you like to be a part of our FREEBIE FRIDAY LIST and get 5 FREE E-books sent to your inbox each week? Every week we send out different e-books including ALL different genres such as Romance, Suspense, Thriller, Westerns, Paranormal, New Adult, and much more! If you’d like to join over 9,500+ subscribers and growing, click below to be a part of FREEBIE FRIDAY…
Join FREEBIE FRIDAY!
Acknowledgments
How many acknowledgments have I written in my life? Let’s keep this short and simple, yeah? Haha! Husband and my girls, I love you to the moon and back. Always. Thank you for you never-ending patience.
To Limitless Publishing, who was patient with me while I tried to find myself in the big indie pond. I see how much time and effort you put into everything you do. Your job is massive, and I truly underestimated every single thing about this industry. I am so damn lucky to have you.
A huge, huge thank you to my editor, Toni, who waits, and waits, and waits for me to return important emails and puts up with half-finished manuscripts while I make changes and alter endings. I swear this is the last time.
Lastly, thank you to my readers who put up with my erratic writer brain and support my decisions to flick over to write passion projects. I love you all!
About the Author
Skyla Madi is an Australian writer from Brisbane, Queensland.
Skyla started her writing career fresh out of high school and at 21 she is a giver of both real and fictional life.
She is an aquarian, lover of the written word and author of the #1 BESTSELLING Consumed trilogy.
Contact the Author
Skyla LOVES to hear from readers! Here are some of ways to get into contact with her:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/SkylaMadi
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Skyla_Madi
Website:
http://skylamadi.com/
Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6554179.Skyla_Madi
Skyla Madi, Ink & Bone
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends