Dark Desires (The Desecration of Innocence Book 2) Page 3

  Or maybe I was already there.

  I hated this man. I hated what he did to others, and especially what he did to me. I hated everything he stood for, so why did it feel so nice when those hands were on me? Was I that messed up in the head?

  Markus released the towel once he was certain I had a good hold of it, and he said nothing as I dried myself off, now steady on my own two feet, thankfully. At least when that body of his wasn’t near mine, I could think straight. I could remind myself he was a monster and I should not be attracted to him in any way. An evil, vile, terrible monster who did equally horrific and unforgivable things.

  I hoped he wouldn’t make me put on those bloody pajamas again, and he didn’t. Once I was dry and the towel was wrapped around me, he went to the bathroom door, unlocking it and opening it. He said nothing, and he didn’t have to. I walked past him, into the hall, goosebumps rising on my skin when my arm brushed his.

  I needed to avoid him, I think. I needed to do everything in my power to never be alone with this man. I simply couldn’t trust myself, and I definitely couldn’t trust him.

  Honestly, I shouldn’t be able to look at him. I shouldn’t even be able to stomach meeting his eyes or staring at that square jaw. Each and every part of him should repulse me. Who knew what else he’d do to me while I was alive, beneath this roof? A part of me already felt broken, but I was sure the man would figure something else out. He seemed like the cold, ever calculating type.

  Not that I knew much about people, but still. After everything he’d done, everything he’d shown me, I liked to think I knew Markus Scott pretty well.

  I followed Markus through the hall, and we stopped before my room. I saw light shining through the windows, and my heart leaped in my chest when I thought about how long I’d been down there. So long. Too long.

  Markus’s tall frame towered over mine, and he slowly tilted his head, staring down at me. “If I were you,” he advised, the timbre of his voice practically one of a kind, the kind of voice that easily haunted your every waking moment and even in your dreams, the kind that crawled over your skin like sweet, deceiving honey and paralyzed you in place, “I would not try to run again. If you do—” He lifted a hand, and my breath came out all in a rush when he ran a finger along my cheek.

  A soft touch, almost inviting. Strange coming from him.

  “—you’ll be the one fixed to a chair, and I’ll let the men of this house have at you however they want,” he finished, and I knew he wasn’t lying, wasn’t trying to sugarcoat anything for me. He really would let them at me, and after seeing what he did in the basement, after watching that video, I could imagine what would happen to me easily enough.

  There were different kinds of deaths, and that was not a death I wanted to seek out.

  “I won’t run,” I whispered, every muscle in my body feeling stiff and tired. I wanted to sleep. I wanted to tuck my head beneath the covers—even though they weren’t mine—and sleep for eternity. Become Sleeping Beauty, and then maybe my prince would arrive to save the day.

  But then… wasn’t the original fairytale a lot darker than the Disney version? Maybe I didn’t want that.

  “Good,” Markus muttered, his hand falling away from my face. He said nothing else, so I took that as my cue to enter my room. I walked inside, brushing past him again—and again, walking a bit too close to him as I did so, which caused a shiver to surge up my spine.

  The room felt foreign, like I hadn’t been here in ages, even though it was merely hours. Time, such a funny thing. An eternity could pass and feel like hours, or hours could pass and feel like an eternity. I guess it boiled down to what you did in that time, and me? I’d been locked in my own head, remembering the past. Almost like deja vu, but worse.

  Once I stood in the center of my room, I hugged the towel closer to my body and turned to look at Markus. The man in a suit stood near my open door, not stepping a single foot inside. One hand sat in his pocket, while the other rested on the doorknob. Our eyes met, and my heart started to beat a little faster. If I could scold my heart for acting that way, I would.

  Without another word, Markus turned away and closed the door, leaving me utterly alone. At least I wasn’t stuck in the basement anymore, with blood everywhere and the scent of piss in the air.

  Oh, but back to what I was thinking before. I didn’t know much about people since I didn’t have experience with them, but Markus Scott? I knew him well enough now.

  That man would be my ruin.

  Chapter Two – Jaxon

  I’d just gotten breakfast, scarfed it down, and was wandering the halls of the house aimlessly when I ran into someone I didn’t particularly want to talk to. And, no, it wasn’t Markus. Hell, I didn’t really want to talk to anyone right now.

  My head wasn’t in the right space; I knew this. I knew this, and yet I couldn’t snap my mind out of it. I’d never known what it was like to feel bad before, but I did now. I felt bad for bringing Juliet here. She was too good for this house, for the people living under its roof—including me. She was too good, too pure, everything none of us were. Nothing we strived to be.

  She was perfect, and I knew this house would break her. More specifically, Markus. I knew Markus would break her, and he’d use any tool in his belt to do it, even me. How could I say no? How could I fight back when he wailed on me just to prove a point to her?

  The answer was I couldn’t.

  I mean, I could, hypothetically, but then what? It wasn’t like I wanted to take Markus’s position in the family and conduct business. I didn’t have a mind for that. He did. I was just here for the ride, a worker bee. This family had saved me from a life on the street, a life in foster care. They’d adopted me in, taught me everything I needed to know.

  They taught me how to kill, how to maim, how to instill fear—and I did it. I did everything I was asked to, but of course I’d rather lay around in college, go to school, go on dates, go to parties. Live the life I should’ve been living right now instead of this, if my biological parents would’ve wanted me.

  Juliet. I hated I was involved in hurting her. I hated I’d pulled away from her kiss. I wanted… well, I guess it didn’t much matter what I wanted, not right now. Markus said all hands off Juliet, and that meant mouths and other body parts, too.

  Anyway, back to reality, when Doc stopped me in the hall, just outside his office.

  “Jaxon,” he spoke, and my legs stopped. It took everything in me to pull myself out of my stupor. I felt out of it, which was ridiculous. This should be just another job, like the countless of others I’d done for this family. I shouldn’t care about Juliet.

  But I did, and I guess that was the problem.

  Theo Ward was our resident doctor. Truth be told, he wasn’t much older than me, but he’d spent his time in medical school, getting all the knowledge he’d need to take care of any injuries the members of this family might get. His father had been the Scott’s doctor before, but the man retired, even though he wasn’t at the typical retiring age.

  Couldn’t blame him. I mean, who’d want to spend more time in this house willingly than they had to? I bet Doc already counted down the days.

  “What do you want?” I asked. Theo and I didn’t often talk, not unless we had to. He wasn’t a family member, and he didn’t quite understand what we did or why we did it. Still, he was loyal, which was more than you could say for most people these days. Loyalty was hard to come by, and when you did what we did here, once you found someone loyal, you never let them go.

  Or you did, and then you waited until they came crawling back. I think that’s what Markus hoped Vaughn would do, eventually. It’s what Lincoln and Ed did, or so I’d been told. I was a kid back then, too young to really pay attention to much.

  Doc reached for his glasses, taking them off and looking around. “May I have a word with you?”

  “More than those, you mean?”

  He looked at me after putting his glasses back on, his amber eyes unimpressed with my facetious comeback. “In my office, please.” He said nothing else, turning on his heel and heading inside, where I was meant to follow.

  No one was nearby in the hall. I knew I didn’t have to go inside to talk to him about whatever it was, but I did. I did, even though I didn’t really want to. When I followed him, I found he paced the length of the space before his desk.

  He looked up at me, saying, “Close the door, if you would.”

  I just barely resisted my urge to roll my eyes, pulling the door shut behind me before crossing my arms and glaring at him. “Can you tell me what this is about?” As far as I was concerned, Theo Ward and I didn’t have much to talk about besides business, and I didn’t think he and I had any family business to talk about right now.

  “Yes, of course,” he quickly muttered, stumbling over his words a bit. Doc was not the kind of man who knew what to say in every situation. He wasn’t calm and collected at all times, like Markus. Sometimes, the man was a bit awkward, and now was definitely one of those times. “I don’t know if you heard about what happened, but—”

  “She tried to escape,” I cut in, jaw grinding. “I know.”

  Oh, Juliet. Juliet, Juliet, Juliet. I’d warned her not to get on Markus’s bad side. I’d told her not to do anything that might anger him. I’d told her things would be better if she would just listen to him and do as he asked.

  Did it surprise me to know she fought against him at every turn? No, of course not, because each time I looked at her, I could see the fire behind her big, blue eyes. A fire hidden behind a veil of sweetness and innocence. An oxymoron if I ever saw one.

  “No, no, I mean, Markus reacted. He had Bennet fetch someone to put on a show for her.”

  “He did?” My heart pounded a bit faster at hearing that.

  Doc nodded, appearing grave. “Oh, yes. Bennet was so thrilled at having something to do for the family, he would not stop bragging about it. Of course, Bennet didn’t know why Markus wanted a fresh body, but I put two and two together.”

  “Shit,” I swore as I looked away from him, imagining all of the scenarios. I mean, it could’ve been worse, I supposed. He could’ve hurt Juliet instead—but even I knew sometimes the mental scars hurt worse than the physical ones.

  “I heard he pulled her out this morning,” Doc went on. “What she saw in that basement, what he locked her in… I imagine it’s weighing on her. Given how close you two are, I think it’s prudent you check on her and make sure she’s all right.” He finally stopped pacing, leaning his backside on his desk.

  “Why don’t you do it, if you’re so worried about her?” I tried to act as though I didn’t care, but I think we all knew just because you tried something didn’t mean you automatically succeeded. It was damned near impossible for me to pretend I didn’t give a shit about that girl.

  I did, hence the issue here. Hence why I’d gotten beat to shit and had to distance myself from her.

  Doc straightened his shoulders. “I would, but I think it would mean more if it came from you. Trust me, Jaxon, I thought about marching down to her room and refusing to leave her side, but as you can imagine, I can’t. I’m needed here, in case…” He stopped himself from saying anything more, but I knew what he meant.

  The doctor of the house couldn’t just disappear.

  I sighed, lowering my voice to a whisper as I said, “If I go to her, I not only put her in danger, but myself as well. You saw what Markus did to me to get her to take those fucking pills. I’d rather not have a repeat of that.”

  He waited a moment before nodding along with me. “Right. You are undoubtedly correct. If Markus knew you went to comfort her, he might lash out again—but I can’t help but wonder how long she’ll last in this house with no one at her side.” He heaved a sigh, moving to sit behind his desk. He shuffled a few papers around aimlessly, muttering, “Certainly not much longer.”

  It was like Doc knew exactly what to say to make me do something stupid. It was like the man knew by dismissively saying that, he knew I’d break and go to her. Fucking Doc.

  I grumbled to myself as I left his office, heaving a giant sigh because I knew I had to. Markus had Bennet kidnap someone all to make a point to Juliet. Somehow, it wasn’t shocking, but I knew Doc was right. Juliet wouldn’t last long here, especially after that. A nice, quiet girl like her, someone who’d never seen the world… how could she possibly live with herself after watching someone die and being locked up in the same room as his corpse for hours on end? Something like that was bound to leave scars even on a regular person, and we all knew Juliet wasn’t one of those.

  She was as innocent as someone could be, a delicate, fragile, beautiful girl who, until recently, had no idea how dark the nights could get, how bloody and gruesome true horror was.

  I had to go to her. I couldn’t sit back and let this be. I had to talk to her, look at her, make sure she was still whole. I could do that without touching her, without holding her, right? I could be in the same room as her while holding myself back. I wasn’t an animal.

  Not usually.

  My legs moved quickly, my pace a fast one as I headed to the nearest stairwell to the second floor. I’d intended on going into her room without seeing a soul—for surely it would make my plausible deniability more realistic—but that plan was shot to hell when I saw Will standing just outside her door, looking at his nails, bored.

  I thought about turning around, but the moment Will looked up at me, it was too late. Our gazes locked, and I internally cursed as I walked up to him. Should’ve figured Markus would want someone guarding her room, someone that wasn’t me.

  “Will,” I addressed him, hiding my frown. Like me, Will had been brought in to the family. He wasn’t a Scott by blood, but he was just as sick in the head most were. He was tall, though not as thick with muscle as most of the older Scotts. His hair was a dirty brown color, his eyes hazel—another unique thing here. Scotts usually had pitch-black hair and equally dark eyes, and when their eyes were different, they were typically blue.

  Depended on their mothers, I guess, since the elder Scott literally had a harem of them.

  Will smirked. “I’d ask you what you’re doing here, but I have the feeling I already know.”

  Instead of denying it, which would surely be pointless, I asked, “How is she?”

  “How do you think?” he answered me, his smirk leaving, replaced by a slight frown. It was almost as if he hated what Markus had done and he couldn’t hide it. “She saw someone die, and he made her…”

  “He made her what?”

  “He made her feel steel in her hands, made her stab him. She didn’t want to do it.” Will’s gaze fell to the floor between us, at the fancy carpet in the hall. “I had to hold onto her, when Markus wasn’t. I wish I could’ve done something.”

  I knew Will’s story, knew what happened in his past to bring him here. I knew there was a lot of mental instability there, and yet here and now, everything he said made sense, for I would’ve felt the same if I’d been in his place.

  He had to hold her, force her to watch, and then Markus made her feel it herself. Fuck.

  “No one’s supposed to go in and see her, not yet,” Will added. “I can’t tell if he feels bad for what he did, or if he wants her to suffer more.” His eyes met mine, though they did flick around to make sure no one else was nearby. “She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. She’s so much better than any of us.”

  Wow. I never thought I’d agree with Will, but there I was, nodding in agreement to his words. Juliet really was better than any of us, on every single level. She was something we could never be, and Markus was intent on destroying her to teach a lesson to her father. I didn’t know the details, and I doubted anyone in this house did other than Markus himself, but surely he’d get to the point where enough was enough.

  I just prayed once that time came, we let her go instead of killing her. I was loyal, I did whatever was asked of me, but if Markus asked me to kill her, I didn’t think I could do it.

  “I know,” I whispered back. “I feel bad for bringing her here.”

  “You didn’t have a choice.”

  “None of us have a choice.” That held true if you were a Scott or not. In this house, what Markus said goes. That’s just how it was, and we all had to deal with it.

  Will leaned closer to me, his voice hardly audible when he whispered, “What if there was a choice here?” When I said nothing, only stared at him, he went on, “Markus isn’t here. I don’t see why he’d have to know if you went in there.” He shrugged. “She’s probably still scared out of her mind, and I don’t think she’d want to see me right now, not after I held her and made her watch.”

  I didn’t see why Will would care about her so much, whether she was in there scared or not, but then it hit me, and it hit me hard: he liked her. Will liked Juliet. The thought was hard for me to process, and even though I should’ve jumped on his offer, I stood there, staring at him for far too long.

  He liked her.

  I… I didn’t think I liked the fact that he had feelings for her, mainly because I knew what he could do, how much of a liar he could be. If he could make the world believe his innocence while growing up, surely he could play the same games here. I didn’t trust him, but what he said wasn’t wrong.

  Juliet was in there, thinking God knew what, all alone. She shouldn’t be alone. She should have someone, and if Will was on the lookout, what would be the harm?

  “You’ll call out if someone’s coming?” I questioned him.

  Will nodded. “Yeah, I’ll give you enough time to hide under the bed or something.” He smirked again.

  God, I didn’t trust him. I didn’t trust him at all, and yet something inside me nagged at me, told me I couldn’t just walk away. I wasn’t there, so I didn’t see what Markus did in the basement, but I could imagine it easily enough, just like I could imagine how messed up it had gotten Juliet.

  She wasn’t meant for a life like this. She wasn’t made for it. She was… she really was on another level, a higher level.