Rogue (Riders of Apollo #6)

Chapter Forty: Nova Thompson

"Nova, come on, we've gotta go see Mr Red!" I jolt up from Leo's bed, wrapped in the sheet and sweating as Riley shouts through the door.

Worst timing ever, I swear.

"I'll be there in a second." I shout back with Leo still drawing patterns on my skin like he's not already satisfied me in everyway possible and he's making it incredibly difficult to get out of the bed despite the deadline I'm now dealing with.

I really didn't mean to start all that in the parking lot, I just wanted to see him but if it means I get that every time then I'll be doing it more often. I smack his hands away and roll out of the bed, I throw myself into the shower to get rid of the sweat before brushing my hair.

Good thing I have a drawer in his room or I'd be in a lot of trouble. I slip some jeans on and a thick sweater with my favourite boots while Leo just watches me from his bed. He's smirking like he normally does when we finish the nefarious activities that would have him castrated and beheaded by my father.

Brave soul, I'll give him that.

His argument is that he had me first and Bear doesn't think it's a good enough reason but he would never think about splitting Leo and I up. "Have fun." Leo teases, his eyes intense as he considers making me even later than I already am. I spritz some perfume and fix my makeup and hair before kissing him and sprinting down the stairs.

"You need a weapon, Nova?" Saviour asks as she twirls her dagger in between her fingers. I pull out my dagger and give her a look.

"I think it would be fitting for me to hurt him with the same dagger he had held to Leo's throat." Saviour and Riley grin excitedly.

Reign is with him now doing God knows what and then he's Riley's before Saviour and I get to have our own fun. Dad is probably with Razor and the others, making sure they suffer before they meet their maker.

I follow them down into the extensive basement and into the cells where I can hear dad talking. "Well, thing is you sold my daughter out for land... you expect me to forgive that?"

"She broke my fucking back, I think I've suffered enough." Razor's voice is coarse, anger flitters through it as he glares at dad. I imagine he's still in a lot of pain considering we haven't helped him at all and there's no bed in his cell, only a toilet and a book.

"I don't think you have. You brought child abusers onto my land, let them poison my daughter then you got her kidnapped, a broken back can be fixed. Granted, you'd never walk or ride again but the pain can be drastically reduced. I don't want to do that. No. I want you to feel the pain she was subjected to at the hands of the man you gave her to and then I'll let you die. You understand?"

Razor then spits in his face so I throw my dagger into his shoulder, letting him scream his throat hoarse. Dad turns to look at me with an exasperated smile. "I had it."

"I know, I just don't like it when people disrespect you." I reply with a shrug, he puts the blade back in my hand and winks at me so I follow after the others to Mr Red's cell. There's a pool of blood gathering around his hand as Reign looks satisfied having cut off the fingers on his right hand, he's cauterised the bleeding as well which is an effective way of stopping the bleeding but still making it hurt.

"Peyton, call your dog off would you? You know you love me." Mr Red tries again as Reign backs away to lean against the wall by the door where we're standing.

"He's not my dog, he's my husband and I figure he's allowed to do whatever he pleases to the man who abused his wife. That's how these clubs work."

"I taught you to fight, you should be doing this yourself, not letting a man do it for you."

"Oh I'm going to. Sometimes it's just nice to see him willing to kill for me, willing to torture for me, it's good for the sex drive." Mr Red looks scandalised at the statement and turns to me for his final judgement.

I don't know why he thinks I'd save him. I'm the one that tied him up and threw him in the trunk of my car after beating the crap out of him. Not like it wasn't rightly deserved.

"You love me more than anyone, Nova. I gave you everything, a home, a family and a lot of pleasure." I feel my stomach revolt at that.

That's what he called pleasure?

"Pleasure? Really? When?" I cross my arms, strengthening my front and shutting him out of my inner turmoil. I won't let him know how much he still affects me, he doesn't get to know that. Besides, I know what pleasure feels like and Red has never given me what Leo has.

"I remember the first time, don't you? A room of pillows, candles and rose petals. Champagne and chocolates, all of it." He speaks wistfully like it was a time I was supposed to enjoy as he forced himself on me, telling me to make him happy or he'll have to ask Clarissa to do it instead.

"You raped me."

"I pleasured you, I can still remember your moans and your cries for me." He licks his lips and tilts his head back with an overdramatised shiver and groan.

"I was a child, Red, but I still knew how to fake it." I bluntly reply and that snaps him out of everything. He tries to get to me but is yanked back by the chains attached the wall, I just raised an eyebrow at his unnecessary anger. "Everything I did, everything I said was a bunch of lies. I did whatever I needed to do to protect those kids and you took advantage of that. That first time you told me that if I didn't do it, you'd make Clarissa, who was only seven at the time, do it instead. You aren't family, you never gave me a home and you certainly never gave me pleasure... until now that is. I don't think you know how much it pleases me to see you chained to a wall, bleeding and tortured as you are. Just as I was for sixteen years of my life."

"There were good days too, Nova. Don't lie to them, there were days when you came to me for it, begged me for it really." I walk closer, passing through Saviour and Riley who have gone extremely pale. I don't think they understood how far this went even after I told them my story. "And I gave it to you because you needed me. MY hands on your body, MY tongue in your mouth and MY teeth on your skin."

I crouch down in front of him, his smirk still in place and his eyebrows raised as he waits for my return argument. "Do you remember where you were when I came 'begging', Red?" He looks confused at the question, knocked off his game as I expected. "You were in the main office... Where every map and every bill of cash you carried was stored, everything I would ever need to escape. You were almost always drunk so it was easy to trick you into doing whatever you wanted. You wanna know what happened every time? You came in thirty seconds and passed out on the floor which left me close to half an hour to go through everything in that room and the guards didn't question a thing. I never begged you for anything, I tricked you just as you taught me. Pleasure is a game, Mr Red, and you lost. Torture him however you'd like, Sav, just leave him to me to kill, I promised the kids that much. I've wasted enough time on him."