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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Amo Jones
Read between
February 16 - February 18, 2023
And anyway, I didn’t need fuckin’ saving. I was Eli fuckin’ Rebellious, an Elite motherfucking King, and the blood that ran through my veins was the concoction of that poison, so I guess you could say it wasn’t me that was drinking it… It was them.
Welcome to Midnight Mayhem, where we fuck with your head because our heads fuck us on the daily.
With tattoos about as dark as Nate’s and a scowl that could put the fear of God into nonbelievers, I wonder absently why he’s decided I’m worth his time.
“Persephone, no offense—” My lips curl in a sinister smirk. “But this is Midnight Mayhem. I’m pretty sure they can take care of themselves.”
“You’re a fucking demon. There’s no way you’re human.”
“Not a part of the crew. But I’ll be in the crowd, if you want to look for me.” He turns to leave, but stops right at the threshold, turning to look over his shoulder. He points to a spot behind me. “I’m gonna go ahead and suggest you wear the crown with your top hat.” “And why’s that?” I ask, reaching for my pack of smokes. “Because you’re looking like a fucking King.”
Fuck. Me. The girl is insane. Then again, if Bishop, Nate, or Brantley were here, they’d tell me I’ve always loved the crazy ones.
Think of Nate. Of Bishop. Of fucking Brantley. Okay, yeah, all of them work.
The Elite Kings Club is—well—it’s like a secret society, though most call it a cult. It’s a really fucking long story how it all came about, but basically, I’m a Rebellis, which in English means rebel. I have a job within the world, just as my father and his father did, but right now, I’m here on another job, and that’s to make sure that Midnight Mayhem isn’t feeding us to our enemies.
“Careful, Lil. Don’t initiate a game that you won’t win…” Eli murmurs carefully
“Just because I want to fuck the both of you, doesn’t mean I’m going to.”
“The broody hard-to-get thing you have going on isn’t working, just FYI, so when you’re ready to swallow your pride, I can lube your throat with my cum so it goes down easier.” And there it is. I shake my head and pull out of his grip. Smart-ass motherfucker.
“Ah, pretty sure you’re the same, baby girl. Miss I Kill Men for Pleasure.” Before he’s even finished his sentence, I’m laughing, my head tilted back and my other hand coming out to touch his hair. “Okay, fine. That’s fair.”
Reality offers peace for those who spend a lifetime running from their nightmares. For me, it’s always the opposite. I hate it here. Everything is a reminder of why I’m different.
“Careful with that heart, Lilith. He will chew you up, spit you out, and then bury you in the backyard where he keeps all the rest of his secrets….”
“First of all, I don’t have a heart. My daddy ripped it out the day I was born and buried it in his garden of secrets, and trust me, it is far bigger than Kyrin’s, and two?” I glare between the two of them before finally settling on Cartier. “What makes you think it isn’t me who does the collecting?”
“I didn’t choose. I won’t choose. They’re both fucking mine. Now are you done?”
She wasn’t what you would expect. She wasn’t pretty or attractive. She was damn right lethal and she fucking knew it.
“And not that I have to explain myself to you, but being a part of Midnight Mayhem showed me a life that I didn’t know existed. Patience may have taken away my humanity, but Midnight Mayhem showed me a family. I liked it there. Every second that passed, I felt myself start to” —I run my tongue over my bottom lip—“feel things. Between us…”
“Love, Lilith. He loved her, but more than that, they both had the pleasure of our ancestral curse that we all like to play with every time we like someone enough to be interested in them. Which, by the way, I still think is bullshit.”
“Be careful. A warpath is not a straight line. It’s more of a circle, and everything you destruct on your journey you will eventually have to cross again.” Her smile is weak as she twirls my hair around her fingers. “I wish someone would have told me that all those years ago.”
“Good thing you’ve got Kyrin then,” Brantley says, and I look right at his square. “Because I recognize his damage, and sorry to break it to you, but he’s as fucked up as me.”
As hard as Kyrin is to crack, you know that beneath all the layers it takes to get there, there’s something that he hasn’t offered anyone. You see it every now and then when it comes to Cartier; and whether he wants to admit it or not, even with Lilith.
“I was thinking how much you keep hidden. How the hardest people I know have the biggest fucking hearts. My brother Brantley, for one. You should meet him. I get the feeling you’ll get along.” I pause, searching his eyes for any warnings that I should stop—you know, just so I can keep going… “I’m thinking that you care about Lilith a lot more than what you let on, and you hate that because of your parents’ history with Patience.”
“What else, Eli?” he asks, and when his eyes fall to my mouth, I know for a fact I’m proper fucked when it comes to him, just like I am with her. “I’m thinking all three of us have lived with damage. None of it made sense, the pieces didn’t fit; until we met each other.”
“Yeah.” Kyrin shakes his head, stepping back from me to sit back onto the bed. I’m thankful for the space. “I already know all of that, Eli. I want you both, that’s a given. I’m an asshole and cold, but when I want something, I know I want it. I don’t tiptoe around someone I want. I fucking stomp all over them so everyone knows exactly who they belong to.” Darkness clouds his face. “And make no mistake, Eli, I do. I own both of you.” He breathes out a sigh, and all of my muscles that were tense since he walked in here release. “But I fucked up, and you and I both know she’s not going to let
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“And what happens then, hmm?” I know I’m pushing it, but what can I say, I like the way his eyes twitch when I piss him off. “To us?” “How much clearer do you need me to be? You’re both mine. That won’t change.” “I live in a different world, Ky. We couldn’t have chosen a more fucked-up throuple if we tried.” “We didn’t. That’s the fucking frustrating part.” Kyrin wraps his fingers around the back of my neck, pulling my face to his. “I want this. You. Her. Whatever the fuck I need to make this happen.” He kisses me and I part my lips as his tongue slides between mine. I wrap my fingers around
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“I fucked up, E. Bad. She should have been able to trust me, but I was so caught up in thinking she was there for Patience that I never thought she needed to be here to run from them.” He brings his eyes up to mine. “This isn’t going to be easy.” “You’re right. It’s not, but she wouldn’t be Lilith if she was.” He’s right.
“Lilith, if you think I’m going to let you go, then you don’t know me at all.”
King’s words don’t pierce my heart or hurt—they’re a given. I’d throw Perse to the wolves to save Dove, so I can’t blame him for feeling that way about me. I’m not a good person, and neither are these people, but the only difference between them and me is I don’t pretend to be. I’m a fucking menace, evil and fucking reckless. I can live with that. King can’t. He has to pretend that his precious Persephone is gold. She’s not. She’s fucking stained metal.
‘Always a rebel, forever a soldier, one as a lover, the other don’t bother.’
“One as a lover, the other don’t bother. In our world, the person we fall in love with usually always has another person. Nate was Madison’s, Brantley was Tillie’s, and well, Saint—all she got was Bishop, her half brother. The Rebellis riddle has been passed down in our family for generations. It was written in Tacet a Mortuis, our basic bible and weirdly off-putting love story of how The Elite Kings was created.” He takes a breath, watching the passing trees outside. The deeper we go down the road, the thicker the fog becomes until it’s swimming around the headlights. “Until me, they had it
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“Yours needs to go on your throat. Like a fucking collar.”
“Is the town as creepy as its entrance?” I ask, lowering my speed as we drive over a bridge. “Worse, it’s the people who are fucked up.”
“Dumb motherfuckers.” “I don’t think they’re dumb,” Keaton adds. “I think Lilith is bold as fuck—rightly so—she can be. She can fight very fucking well, and the other is just, well… in love.”
“Nah, man. The Kings don’t fuck with shit unless someone has fucked with one of their own. No one else would ever be worth their time.”
“I’m Nate, this is Bishop, and the broody one who left to make sure the red-haired one doesn’t die is Brantley.” “The notorious Elite Kings. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“I can’t live without him, Bishop. Do you understand that?”
“Just to be clear, if you try to run from me, I’ll catch you.” “I’m not a runner. I prefer to just kill whatever is in my way.”
The three things that every King has are their will to die for the people they love, the will to kill for the people they love, and the will to do absolutely whatever is necessary when it comes to the people they love. It has even passed down to the girls of the EKC. Madison, Bishop’s woman, for one. She hid all sorts of crazy shit from him, ran from him, caused a whole lot of drama—all for the sake of love. I get it now. Even when Kennedy knocked on my door all those months ago, giving me that folder, I didn’t believe it. So, I went into Midnight Mayhem, under the guise of working for The
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“Now, you’re fucking lucky I love Lilith, or I’d be making a nice little necklace out of your intestines right now.”
“Do you have anything else to say before I play a game of Edward Scissorhands?” I’m going to kill this fucking bitch.
I would kill for my sister, but for this child right here, I’d burn the entire world to the ground just to make sure she’s safe.
Always a rebel, forever a soldier, one as a lover, the other forever.
I’ll guard her with my life, Eli. She is mine, as were you.
The truth is, I never needed to play this stupid fucking game with either of them to know that they were my soul mates. Our love wasn’t the kind of love that was written in the cards… It was the kind of love that burned them.