That Sik Luv

by Jescie Hall

“I am yours, and you are forever mine. Until the end of this life, then whatever life we live after that.”

“Wait,” he says, sounding breathless. He sighs heavily, and I can practically feel the guilt lacing his pause. “I’m sorry.” Something washes over me. It’s not anger for a past I’ve yet to learn. It’s understanding. “I’m so fucking sorry. I should’ve told you what I’d discovered. That you and I weren’t really...” “We are.” I stop him. “You’re more my family than anyone I’ve ever known.”

“It truly pays to have an older brother growing up,” I whisper to myself as I pull the cord, popping the lock on the trunk. Not the first trunk I’ve been locked in. Thank you, Baret. Baret laughs beside me in disbelief. “Who’d have thought my asshole-ish ways would pay off one day?”

“Tell me one good reason I shouldn’t cut that overused pencil dick off right now,” I grit through my teeth. He sucks in a breath, his hands rising in the air beside him. I press the blade into his jeans further, ensuring he feels just how serious I am. “F-fuck...no. Please,” he begs, his chest heaving, his voice becoming breathless. “Briony, baby, please. Not the dick. Anything but the dick.” I press the blade further against his jewels. “Oh God, not those either!”

“In the lion’s den,” he says matter-of-factly, shaking his head in resignation. “Exactly as he designed.” My brows lower, my blade still pressing firmly against his package. He sighs, his crooked grin falling into a look of dejection. “Just not the dick. I’ve grown so very fond of it over the years. As have many others.”

“You’re a goddamn genius.” She finally understands my sacrifice, my need to surrender. My reasons for willingly putting myself through the torment and pain. “Nah,” I whisper back, keeping my gaze down. “I just get hard for a dramatic ending.”

“Both of our fathers are in this room right now,” I say calmly. “But you already know that.”

Alastor laughs, hitting the side of my head with the gun again. “Impure blood limits your future, no matter how hard you fight it. Ain’t that right, Aero.” “Touch him again,” Briony says calmly, raising the gun in an outstretched arm aimed at Alastor’s head. The men exchange nervous glances around us. “C’mon, touch him again,” she urges. “Give me a reason to take off the top of your skull.”

“You actually did it.” Her gaze falls to mine, and my haunting laugh cuts through the silence. “You fucking touched him again.” “You emptied it?!” His terror-filled tone brings out Nox’s devilish laugh from the corner. “You know we check all weapons at the door,” Nox comments with a toothy grin, smiling proudly at us. “Men like you, clean guys who have others do their dirty work, don’t even realize when the weight of their guns change.” He laughs hysterically, gazing admirably at Briony and me. “Fuck, I love these two.”

Briony pulls the trigger, effectively blowing off the top of his skull as promised. Alastor’s body hits the pole beside me before dropping hard to the concrete behind me. But my eyes remained focused on the delectable magnificence before me. Ethereal and decisive in her actions. My intellectual, yet ruthless King. God is most certainly a woman scorned. Nox’s mouth drops open, a beguiled gaze taking over his face. He’s enjoying every bit of this show she’s directing, just as I am. Baret’s numbed stare peers on from afar as Bishop Caldwell’s eyes swell to horrified saucers. “He talked too much,” she shrugs. “And yet, had nothing worth saying.”

We should be able to love without judgment. Without restraint. Without men trying to rule us with their perceptions of truth. And because of that desire to live our lives to the fullest, we’ve been given our chance.

“I was strengthening you all while you were unknowingly strengthening me.”

“I love you with every echoed beat of my dark and hollowed heart, the hole in which contains my shattered ghost of a soul. I love you with all the fractured tears inside my tortured mind. With every agonizing breath I breathe.”

“You helped me to find a fragment of peace in a world constructed of pain,” he whispers against my lips, his bottom lip quivering. “I just,”—he swallows—“needed you to know.”

“I’m gonna suffocate you with that love you speak of, darling. Wrap it around that pretty little neck and paint you with my fucking heart.”

“I feel so much for you, it overwhelms me,” he says between kisses. “Everything.” Another kiss. “All at once.” “I love you, too,” I smirk against his kiss. “Mmm, love.” He captures my lips again, his expert tongue sweeping along the length of mine. “Beneath us.”

“Yeah, so I don’t do well with threats.” Smart little bitch stole my words.

“No escaping me, Aero.” My hard glare finds hers. I’ve created a monster.