Edge (Parker Reed #2) (23 page)

Tears burned my eyes before falling freely down my cheeks. “Troy.”

His gaze shot up. “No. Don’t you dare come closer. You don’t have that right.”

“Please, Troy. This isn’t my fault.” I needed his forgiveness more than anything. I needed him to know that I never wanted this.

“Shut the fuck up.” He pointed at me, keeping his other arm wrapped around Patrick’s shoulders. “Patrick would still be alive if it wasn’t for you.” He sobbed, laying Patrick gently onto his back.

“No, please don’t say that. I swear…” I swallowed hard. “I had…” My eyes widened at the blood that had seeped through onto Troy’s white t-shirt. “Oh God.”

“You want to know how he fucking died?” he screamed. “He was shot and then stabbed. Multiple times. Probably even
after
he died. Who the fuck does that? Your sick ex-husband, that’s who! He probably got off on that shit. I bet he was here, laughing while he killed him.”

“Devin is…he wouldn’t do that.” But I didn’t believe it myself. I wasn’t even sure what he was capable of anymore. I thought I had seen everything.

“How do you know?” Troy asked, brushing his hand down Patrick’s pale cheek.

I swallowed a couple of times at the loving touch. If that was Parker, I’d be out for blood. “I just do,” I whispered.

“Do you?” Troy laughed. A cold menacing chuckle escaped his lips. “Do you remember what happened the last time you saw him? He fucking tortured you and raped you, Keely. Do you remember that?”

I shook my head. “I—”

“Oh, that’s right. You couldn’t remember it because he did it while you were passed out. And you seem to think that he would never torture Patrick?”

“Where were you?” I asked, ignoring his questions.

“I was in the shower. I came out to this. To…” Fresh tears welled in his eyes. “To this.”

“Troy, I am so sorry but please don’t shut me out. This isn’t my fault. I never meant for this to happen.”

“You should have stayed away from Parker like I told you to!”

My eyes shot to his.

“What do I have to do with this?”

I jumped at the deep voice coming from behind me. Turning, I saw Parker glaring down at Troy with the Hell’s Harlem and Colin and Jones following him. I looked back at Troy, waiting.

“I…” He rose to his feet and headed to the kitchen sink that was only a few feet away. Grabbing a washcloth, he ran it under some water before kneeling at Patrick’s broken body. “We were going to take a trip to Mexico after this. Patrick,” he swallowed hard, wiping the cloth down Patrick’s bloody face. “He had never been someplace tropical.”

Tears burned my eyes and I tentatively closed the distance between us. “Please don’t blame Parker. It wasn’t his fault. None of this is. If you have to, blame me.”

“I do.”

I nodded. “Okay. That’s…that’s fine. I—”

“No. The fuck it is!” Parker yelled.

“Parker, it’s okay,” I insisted and rose to my full height.

“No. It’s not. I’m sick of him blaming you for shit.” He grabbed my arm. “This is not your fault. None of it is. This could have happened to any of us.”

“Devin did this because he couldn’t get to you,” Colin told me and knelt beside Troy. “He’s sending a warning.” He cupped Troy’s nape and whispered in his ear.

Troy nodded every so often, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks.

I didn’t know what Colin was telling him but I was thankful that he was there.

“Keely,” Greyson said gently. “I think you need to come see this.”

Parker and I looked at each other before following him down the hall to the office.

“Check the area,” Greyson told his crew. “Anyone you don’t recognize, shoot them in the leg.”

“Fuck yeah,” Ex exclaimed. “Target practice, boys.”

Snake shook his head and the rest of the guys made their way out of the house.

“I swear. Give them a gun and their dicks grow hard.” Greyson pushed open the office door.

We found Jones standing by the bookshelf. “Ready, Miss Price?”

Instinctively, I grabbed Parker’s hand. “Now I am.”

Jones nodded once and stuck a key into the shelf. When it opened completely, he stepped out of the way. “After you.”

I took a breath and went into the bright room, my heart instantly skipping a beat when my gaze landed on the computer set up. Moving further into the room, I stopped when the middle screen flashed to life and I saw him. Devin. Staring back at me.

An evil grin spread on his face. “Hello, Keely.”

“What’s…what’s going on?” I asked, looking between the monitor and Jones.

He sighed. “I’m sorry.” He quickly shut the door, closing me in with someone that I wasn’t supposed to see yet. I was supposed to have time to prepare for the meeting with him. This was
not
the plan.

“Jones.” I banged on the door. “Please.” I couldn’t hear anything from the other side of the door but I could only imagine that Parker was giving him hell.

“Keely.”

Bracing myself, I turned around. “How could you kill Patrick?”

Devin sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin. “I needed you to take me seriously. You all go on about how I can’t do anything for myself but you know what? I bet you take me seriously now, don’t you?”

“How did you know where we were…?” I frowned, realization dawning. “Is Jones really in on this? Please…please don’t tell me that you’re paying him off.”

“No. Unfortunately not. I can’t fucking crack that guy. I should have gone to one of the Hell’s Harlem. They would do anything for a little extra cash.”

“They’re loyal to Greyson. If they betrayed us, he would have them killed. They know that. Club rules.”

Devin tapped the screen. “Sit. We need to chat.”

“Can I see my dad?” I asked, doing as I was told. There was no point in arguing with him. It would only make our lives that much more unbearable.

“You can. When we meet.”

“Please, Devin.”

“Stop. You will listen to me and listen to me good, Keely. You better come with all of the hacking skills you have mastered. And you will come alone. But I know that you’ll have your band of merry men outside, waiting for you. Making sure that you’re safe.” He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I don’t care about that as much as I care about you coming with that beautiful brain of yours. No fuck ups or I will kill your dad in front of you. I will force you to watch like you’ve forced me to watch you fuck another man.”

My eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

He chuckled. “That got your attention.”

“I don’t…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My heart raced. It couldn’t be true. He was lying.

“You do realize that there are cameras in that place right?”

“No. That’s not possible.”

“I learned a thing or two about hacking, princess.”

My eyes widened when an image of Parker and I in the playroom the first night he brought me here flashed onto the screen.

“Come again, Keely. Come on my cock.”
He leaned over me, grabbing my shoulders and pushed into me hard.

The sound of my gasp erupted through the speakers.
“Oh God.”

“That’s it. Let me hear you. I’ve missed hearing you screaming my name.”

“Harder.”

“I’m going to fucking rip your sweet body open.”

Bile rose to my throat at the scene before me when it switched to the rope room. Parker was pouring wax onto my body and the sounds of my moans jarred into my mind.

“Fly for me, angel.”

“Oh God.” I clapped a hand over my mouth. It had been our most intimate time together ever. Not only had Parker taken over my body, controlling me completely, he had taken over my mind as well. For this to be caught on camera and in the hands of the most sadistic and evil man I had ever met brought bile to my throat. Our love had been tainted. If Parker…

My screams became louder and louder when Parker impaled himself into my body.

“Shut it off,” I yelled, covering my ears. “Turn it off!”

The sounds of passion stopped and were soon replaced by Devin’s evil laugh. “If I would have known that you were into kink, I would have tried harder. Looks like you haven’t been worrying too much about what I would do next. I bet if you weren’t so wrapped up in Parker, Patrick would still be alive.”

“Fuck you!” I screamed, shoving to my feet.

His laughter hardened, turning deep and boisterous.

“You sick fucking bastard! I’ll kill you. Whatever you’ve done to my father and the shit you did to me will be a million times worse when I get through with you,” I yelled.

At that point I heard people joining me in the room but I couldn’t make out their voices. Arms wrapped around me, pulling me from the room as Devin continued to laugh.

“Three days, Keely. You are fucking mine. I will allow you to bury Patrick since I am a nice guy and all.” He laughed. “But you will show up if you ever want to see your father again.”

EELY, CALM down. Breathe, angel. Damn it, breathe!”

I gasped for air, my lungs constricting and burning with the lack of oxygen. “He’s…he’s been watching us.” I swallowed past the bile that had risen to my throat. “Parker.”

He cupped my cheeks, silencing me with a kiss. “Breathe with me.” He took deep breaths, placing soft pecks on my mouth every so often.

Shaking my head, I gripped his arm, doing as he said. My shoulders slumped, my body aching with the stress that was because of Devin. “He’s seen everything that we’ve done.” The tiny hairs on my body tingled. I knew Devin was nowhere near us but I couldn’t help but feel like he was watching us.

“Jones, turn off the fucking security cameras,” Colin growled.

Jones nodded and headed back into the house. That was when I realized that we were outside on the patio. The cold wind whipped around us, sending a shiver down my back. Parker wrapped an arm around me, pulling me tighter against him.

Troy was sitting on a bench across the yard, his head in his hands. Although he was several feet away, I could see the bone-crushing sobs wracking through his lean body.

Fresh tears welled in my eyes and I snuggled into Parker’s side. I couldn’t take it anymore. I wasn’t strong enough. So much pain. So much darkness. It was like a thunderous cloud had taken up permanent residence in our lives, shielding us from the rays of sunshine that we no longer felt.

“Keely,” Greyson said gently, sitting beside me. “What did he say?”

“I have to meet him . He told me to come alone but knows that you all will be there as well.” I wiped under my eyes and took a breath. “He needs me to do some work for him.”

Greyson nodded, his strong jaw clenching. “What was the outcome of your meeting with Agent Cross?”

“I think we scared him but I don’t know if he’ll listen to us and do as we asked,” Parker said, rubbing his jaw.

“How do we make sure that he does?” I asked, my voice small. I didn’t want to think of what would happen to the agent if he turned us in.

Greyson smirked. “Well…”

“Legally, I mean,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt him. Scare him, yes, but I’ve done enough in my life that I’m not proud of. I don’t want to add more to that list.”

“Call him,” Parker ordered, handing me a cell phone.

“What? Now?” I took it from him and opened my mouth to ask more when Jones and the rest of the Hell’s Harlem joined us outside.

“Security cameras are disabled and Patrick’s body has been moved until we’re ready to bury him. The kitchen has also been cleaned.” Jones loosened his black tie and rolled his head on his shoulders. “I need a fucking drink.”

The crew grunted in response.

“We need to talk to Troy first.” Colin clapped Jones on the shoulder and nodded towards Troy.

A knowing glance passed between the two of them before they turned to me. “Do you trust us?” Jones asked.

I frowned. “Depends on if you’re going to lock me in a room again.”

His eyes darkened with guilt. “I am sorry for that. Colin and Parker already gave me shit.”

“Why did you lock me in there in the first place?”

“He threatened the safety of Colin and Parker. I had no choice.” Jones voice was firm, challenging me to argue with him.

My shoulders slumped in defeat as a sigh escaped my lips. I nodded. “I trust you,” I said finally.