Kings of Chaos (Dirty Broken Savages #1)(83)

Just thinking about it makes my cock perk up, and I can feel myself getting hard.

I pick up one of the books from the shelf. Heart of Darkness. Appropriate. I open it and go to flip through it, but the pages don’t fan open the way they should. A bunch of them are stuck together, hard at the edges and unable to be pulled apart.

I narrow my eyes and put it back, picking up another one. It has the same issue.

My jaw clenches with anger.

River is in the living room, watching Ash and Knox beat the shit out of each other in a video game, and I march in, holding the book in my hand.

“What the fuck happened?” I snap, my voice cutting through the sound of video game violence and Knox laughing.

River looks up, confused at first, but then she sees the book in my hand and bursts out laughing. Her blue eyes are bright, and she runs fingers through her shiny silver hair like she couldn’t give less of a shit.

“I don’t know, Gage,” she says, shrugging. “But it really isn’t a good idea to smear cum all over the pages of books. They’ll just stick together. Didn’t you learn that lesson with porno magazines when you were younger?”

I see red at her nonchalant expression. “I didn’t fucking smear cum on them,” I growl.

Ash and Knox are still in the middle of their game, but I can tell they’re listening. Knox’s laughter might be about how his character just ripped the spine out of Ash’s character and beat him half to death with it or because of me talking about jizz on the pages of my books.

Either way, it just pisses me off more. It’s like it’s a game to them. Like this isn’t our lives this woman has marched herself into and started fucking with. She’s here, like she owns the place, making herself at home and fucking things up.

Of course they both love it.

Knox is a sucker for chaos. Anything new and different and exciting. Plus, River seems to understand him in a fucked up way. He wouldn’t spend so much time around her if she didn’t.

Ash just wants to fuck her, and he probably has already. She’s the type to get him excited, and he also likes when things are happening. Especially things that involve a pretty girl. Both of them are missing the point—that she’ll be gone soon enough, and all the shit she fucked up will have to try to get back to normal. If that’s even possible.

I stand in the middle of the living room glaring at her, feeling like I’m the only one who gets it. Mad at her for fucking with my shit, for being so damn compelling. I want her to kill Ivan so she can get the fuck out of our lives already, even though I know it won’t be that easy.

Nothing’s ever that fucking easy.

Her grin just goes wider as she glances down at the book in my hand. “Oh, yeah. That was me.”

Anger rises in me. I’m pissed as fuck. She’s grinning like she doesn’t have a care in the world, like it doesn’t faze her that she fucked with my stuff.

I stride toward her, prepared to yank her up, bend her over my knee and punish her if I have to, but her phone rings before I reach her.

She rolls her eyes at me and pulls it out of her pocket, answering it as soon as she sees the name on the screen. Her face goes serious in an instant, all traces of humor falling away. She gets up from the couch, moving over to a corner to talk in a hushed conversation.

I hear her say “Are you sure?” and “Okay,” and “Don’t worry. I’ll be there.”

Everyone in the room stops, looking at her while she talks. Knox has stopped laughing, and Ash isn’t grinning anymore. The atmosphere in the room has completely changed.

I forget all about the books, waiting to hear the verdict.

Finally, she hangs up and turns to look at all of us.

“That was Avalon,” she says. “Ivan put in a request for a girl, and Avalon volunteered to do it for the night. It’s go time.”





35





RIVER





ALL OF THE men look serious, even Knox for once.

Gage still looks pissed, but I feel like it’s for an entirely different reason now. Not about the book or my petty prank, but because he doesn’t like this plan.

He’s made that more than clear since I laid it out for them a couple days ago. Telling me it’s dangerous and stupid and whatever else.

Whatever. It’s my plan. And it’ll work. Or I’ll die trying to get my revenge. Either way, it’s worth it to me.

I go upstairs to my room, leaving Gage to be pissed and the others to deal with him. I need to get dressed. I took the time to put together an outfit like the one Avalon is supposed to be wearing. A short skirt that shows off my legs and thighs and barely covers my ass, with skimpy panties underneath. Avalon said that Ivan likes “easy access,” and I wanted to throw up in my mouth, but it makes sense. I throw a halter top on with it, easily untied from the top, and no bra, so my nipples are basically poking through. I have plenty of heels to choose from, and I grab a pair that I know I’ll be able to kick ass in and throw them on too.

It’s skimpy and revealing, perfect for what I’m trying to do.

The picture of Hannah with my list on the back is in its usual place in the nightstand drawer, and I grab that too, shoving it into the little pocket on the skirt. I want it with me when I do this. It’s the only piece of Hannah I have left, and she deserves to be there when I finally bring this shit to an end.