Legend cries out, and my eyes jerk to over Monster’s shoulder.
Blood pours from his lip as he stares at the man in front of me with so much anger in his eyes.
“Stop hurting them.Please, Monster.”
“So docile,” he croons.“Will you be a good girl and do as I say?I really don’t want to hurt you.”
Bile fills my throat, but I nod, understanding now that all the men my brother put on us are dead.“Whatever you want, just leave them alone.You can just take me.You don’t need them.”
“Frankie wants them.He promised me that if I delivered them to him, I can have you.If I can’t have the club, at least I getsomethingI want.”
“It was you,” I whisper, horrified for my friend.
Oh, Coco.
“You were always supposed to be mine,” he snarls.“Don’t you remember?It was always me beforehim.Then he had to come in, and I was just tossed aside.”
Memories from our childhood fly at me.
From the earliest I can remember, Monster was there in the background.Hugging me and Val when I was sad, making us laugh, playing with us when no one else would.The way he was always checking up on me and Valkyrie when things got rough with Mom and Dad.I always thought it was Valkyrie he had a crush on as we grew up, before he met Coco.
The more I think about it, the more things become obvious.
How he always showed up when Coco was hanging out with me.The way he’d tell me I was beautiful in such an off-hand way that I thought nothing of it.The way he’d casually brush his hands along my arms and then blame it on an accident.
From the moment Pope dropped into my life, he was the only guy I could see.It made it easy to ignore the attention another man wanted from me.It’s why I couldn’t pick up on the red flags that were in front of my face.
He was supposed to love my best friend, so it never occurred to me that there were nefarious purposes behind every interaction with Monster.
“Now, you remember,” he says so sweetly that it makes my stomach roll.“It was always supposed to be us.”
“What about Coco?”I whisper.
Keep him talking.Keep him calm.Keep his attention away from the kids.
Monster rolls his eyes.“What about her?She’s too stupid to see what was in front of her face.I couldn’t get her to play along, but Spunky and Dimples always let me.They liked to pretend I was Pope and they were you.It was the closest I was ever going to get since Frankie took you from me in the past.”
What the hell is wrong with these fucking men?
Maybe, just maybe, I can get him to leave the kids behind.They’re smart enough to know to hide until someone comes to find them.
Pope will show.
He will.
“You don’t need them anymore, Ellison,” I say, using his given name to try to connect with him more.“You have me.It can be you and me, just like you want.”
There’s hunger for that scenario in his eyes, but he shakes his head.“Frankie wants them.”
“Pope has Frankie.”
Monster tilts his head with a smile, his hand lifting to cup my cheek.“Not anymore.”
It takes everything inside of me not to flinch at his touch or his words.
Frankie is free?
“Don’t worry, my love.I won’t let him hurt you anymore.You’re mine to protect now.He just wants the kids.”
