Cataclysm (Four Horsemen #4)(68)

“And before you say no because of the danger of me leaving Fortuity poses, may I remind you of the three men you killed to protect me? You won’t let anything happen to me.”

I almost laughed. Drake would never allow anyone to take Scarlett again. Not after Mason kidnapped her from under our noses. He took it personally as he was the last person to see her that night, even if he didn’t like to show it. I swear losing her a second time had cracked the ice casing around his emotions and brought them all out to the forefront. At least around us and Scarlett.

“I won’t.”

“Well then.” She twisted in my lap and took a hold of his hand, pressing a kiss to his palm. “You don’t have to deal with your family alone. You have me now.”

“She’s right, you know,” I said, earning me a hard stare from Drake.

“She’s always right when it comes to you, Drake,” Prescott put in.

Drake sat up and looked at West as if he was going to add something. West’s amber eyes glinted with amusement as if seeing us give Drake a hard time was the highlight of his day.

“What they said.”

“I hate all of you,” Drake ground out, which only made Scarlett laugh.

“You do not. Don’t be such a big baby. I’ve already met your step-uncle once. What’s the worst that could happen this time, huh?”

I swear his eyes practically popped out of his sockets at her words. Then he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Fine. I’ll let him know to expect both of us.”

Scarlett leant over and pressed her lips to his cheek.

“See, that wasn’t so difficult.”

“You’re walking on very thin ice, Scarlett.”

She sat back against me and grinned. I put an arm around her waist, holding her closer.

“I think I earned myself a punishment,” she whispered to me.

“Do you think he’s going to do it in front of us?”

“Maybe… if we provoke him enough.”

“That’s it,” Drake announced before he grabbed a hold of Scarlett, tugged her out of my arms and put her face down across his lap. “You asked for this, brat.”

She turned her head up to look at him.

“Oh, I know. Punish me so I can get my reward, sir.”

Drake ran his palm across her bare behind.

“And what reward might that be?”

“You, me, them and the playroom.”

I bit my lip as Drake smiled.

“I see someone has been missing her horsemen a little too much. We can’t have that, can we?”

He looked at the rest of us. I was certainly not going to complain, and neither was Prescott nor West. When he got our approval, he turned back to Scarlett.

“Well, let’s begin.”

Fuck did the night take a rather unexpected but pleasant turn for all five of us. Scarlett might have needed the ropes to calm her down, but us together, locked in ecstasy, was the very best way to celebrate her coming home.

Soon, things were going to get dicey. And it would be life or death for all of us in the end.





Thirty


Drake





Scarlett had been right last night. I would protect her if anyone tried to take her. And forcing her to hide out was taking a toll on her. The whole incident with Prescott and her had only proven it was fucking futile. No matter what we did, Stuart would come after her. So we were going to bring the fucking pain to him. No more waiting. No more biding our time.

Well, we would go after him once I’d dealt with what Fletcher wanted. If Stuart’s men saw us out and about without a care in the world after what happened a few days ago, it would piss the man off. Flaunting it in his face was better than keeping my girl locked up in an ivory tower. Rattle his cage to force him into making more mistakes. His biggest one was yet to come. Thinking we wouldn’t have the balls to kill the motherfucker. Idiot. We killed his children when we were sixteen. What made him think he wouldn’t be next after everything he’d done to us? To Scarlett? The cunt was far too secure in his position. Not any longer.

If we had to go down, he would be coming with us. Only he would be in his fucking grave.

I had to admit, it felt nice to have someone by my side as we walked into the restaurant to meet with Fletcher. Scarlett looked fucking amazing in a rather demure black dress and little peep-toe heels. It was the way she carried herself that had me enraptured. She was my queen, holding her head up high with her light brown hair falling in perfect waves around her shoulders.

The reaper and his goddess of the night. Heads turned as we weaved through the tables after the waiter, who was showing us to our table. I never cared what people thought of me, so I ignored it.

After last night in the playroom, we were all feeling a little… brighter. It certainly showed with the way she kept throwing me these little secret smiles. Her hand tightened around mine as if to reassure me this would be fine.

It was just lunch with Fletcher. I’d had them countless times before. However, something was off. He’d been incredibly insistent and wouldn’t tell me why he wanted to see me. After he’d blabbed to my parents about Scarlett, I wasn’t feeling particularly charitable, but curiosity had got the better of me. And I should have fucking known not to trust the cunt.