REGINALD BONES 3 Read online

  She shrugged. “Lie, cheat, steal. Whatever it takes to do it.”

  “You missed sell a brother.”

  Pain knotted her guts and she shot a finger at him as fury made her thoughts run wild. “You’re being a bastard on purpose! And I’ll tell you right now, I’m not the one hiding things. You are.”

  “I am,” he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. He did the same with his legs, making his cock bulge and beg for her attention. “You are,” she repeated, locking her eyes on his.

  “What am I hiding?”

  “Reginald,” she said.

  He threw his head back and laughed before aiming his grin at her. She nearly forgot to breathe. He was too fucking beautiful to fight with.

  “Where were you born?” she pushed on. “What’s that scar on you? What’s the name of the institution you went to? I have questions.”

  His smile slowly deflated until there was nothing but a lopsided pile of shit left. It matched his burning shitty eyes and shitty attitude. She wasn’t putting up with any of it. “I’ll move your things into the shed tonight,” he muttered. “It’s livable enough for you.”

  For you? Fucking prick. “My things? You mean your things. I don’t have a stich of clothes in case you forgot.”

  “No, trust me, I didn’t forget. You can keep what you’re wearing and I picked up a few extra things at the store, so I don’t have to share.”

  “How kind of you Bastard Bones, but I may prefer to go naked than take your shit.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you would, but you’re not doing that around here.”

  “Well, I do sleep walk in the nude. Maybe I’ll run into you in the graveyard when you’re out doing your night stalker slayings and punch you in your stupid dick.”

  He shot out a laugh. “You would get a dick in there.”

  She glared at him, biting back the next insult. She wasn’t going to do this with him. “Fine,” she shrugged, shaking as she turned to go. “I’d love the shed. Reminds me of a cozy, dank grave. Much like your life,” she muttered.

  He suddenly stalked past her like a bull, hitting her shoulder with his as he went. “Hey!” she yelled, lunging at him with both palms, intent on shoving him through the wall. One hand hit his arm and the other slipped off, sending her stumbling into him as he spun and faced her. Her breaths came in unsteady bursts as she aimed a trembling finger at him. “Don’t you fucking touch me!”

  The imminent threat in his stance slowly diminished. He turned and headed into the living room as she stood there, shaken. Shaken, lost, and looking stupid in those goofy overalls and long john shirt. She struggled to get her bearings while fighting the shame of her situation. She had nothing. No solid ground to stand on, no home, no car, no more clothes. No family. Not a single fucking friend. Reginald had been the only one that loved her and made her feel beautiful.

  She limped her way to the living room then to the kitchen, ready to leave. She froze in the doorway when she found Bones facing the sink, both hands bracing the counter and his head hanging. She turned to go then stopped. “I need my car,” she announced as he quickly turned to the stove and put water on to heat. “If I’m not going to depend on you, I’ll need to get it,” she pressed on, fighting to keep her voice steady. “I’m guessing it got towed by now. I’ll pay you back somehow.”

  “What do you need a car for,” he muttered, opening the cabinet and pulling an old coffee can out.

  She realized how stupid his question was. “What do you mean, everybody needs a car. To live, to take care of themselves. Do you expect me to walk to the store? To work?”

  “Work?” he mocked lightly.

  “Yes, work.”

  “What kind of work?”

  His jeering tone had her back to pissed. “The kind that’s none of your business.”

  “Oh, it’s my business, alright.” He pulled a tea bag of all things out of the can and set it in the cup. The hell was he doing with tea? “We’re not having a whore for a tenant.”

  She bit her tongue on convincing him she wasn’t going to be whoring, like he even cared either way. “Well, it’s about the best skill I have going for me. Seeing as you felt the need to hire a maid, probably your own whore.”

  He chuckled. “Sasha may be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen but she’s no whore.”

  His compliment about another woman hit her like an ax to the chest, bringing a blinding rage. She stood there, fighting for air, unable to think about anything but him touching this bitch and her wanting to scratch both of their eyes out. She spun and headed for the door. She needed out of here. Right now. Her eyes landed on his keys hanging on the wall. She yanked them off the hook and hurried out.

  She hadn’t cleared the bottom step when he pulled her arm. She exploded with fight instincts, throwing her weight into his body with a furious scream. They tumbled off the steps and to the ground where he wrestled with her arms. She fought to punch him, scratch him, bite him. “Get off me!” she screamed, ramming her head toward his. He darted out of reach and she lunged with her mouth, sinking her teeth in his forearm.

  He yelled and lost his hold and she shot her knee into his groin. He landed on her with a strangled grunt, trapping her beneath him.

  “Get off!” she fought to breathe as she beat at his back with her fists and rammed her heels into his backside.

  He choked and gasped for air. “You bitch,” he rasped between grunts. “You’re not taking my fucking truck. And you’re not leaving.”

  “Why!” she screamed in his face. “Why do you care where I go?”

  “Reginald cares,” he spat, like he hated that fact more than anything. “So, you’re staying till he gets back, then he can decide what the fuck he wants. But until then you’re his, whether he’s here or not.”

  “You’re going to keep me a prisoner?” God, she needed to fucking hit him so bad.

  He stared down at her, winded. “You don’t exist, remember? You wanted to disappear. You’re just a whore that nobody will know went missing. And I’m a grave-digger. I’m sure I can find a way to make that happen.”

  That no longer applies, she almost screamed at him. “Reginald isn’t ever coming back,” she hissed. “And the second you’re asleep, I’m out of here.”

  His face slowly went dark, hard, and scary.

  Oh shit!

  He dragged her to her feet and held her under her arms, pulling her backwards. She kicked and screamed, fighting to grab hold of the door as he forced her back inside. “Help me!” she shrieked, thrashing as he tugged her through the small hall and into the bedroom. He shoved her onto the bed and the second his weight lifted, she shot up.

  “No you don’t,” he grit, slamming her down with his body. “Stay down!”

  Like fuck she was! The moment he moved off, she darted around him and ran for the door. His hand bit into her shoulder and she screamed the whole time he hauled her back. She realized he was taking her to the closet this time. “NO! No, don’t!” She fought harder, panicking.

  He opened the door and she braced her foot on the jamb, shoving. He growled and turned, breaking her hold. He fought to hold her while he got something then towed her back to the bed, forcing her onto her stomach. He yanked her arm up and cold metal clicked around her wrist.

  “No!” she screamed, fighting with all she had not to let him attach it to the metal post. He grunted and pulled her hand to the bed-rail, clicking the other handcuff to it. “You son of a bitch! Let me go, let me go!” She punched him everywhere she could reach with her free hand while managing to get her legs up. She kicked and her foot caught his jaw, the blow jolting his head right. Instant terror shot through her when he snapped his face back to her, hard and twisted with fury. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she gasped as he launched for her, bringing his face next to hers.

  “Hit me again, I dare you.” She held her mouth shut tight, her breaths blasting through her nostrils. Their murderous vibes clashed in the air between them but it was th
e way it pulsed through his cock pressing into her thigh that defeated her.

  He finally shoved off her and she stared at him, standing there with his t-shirt ripped, sweat dripping down the side of his face. “You’re not leaving,” he whispered with a burning vehemence. “Not until Reginald says.”

  THE NEXT CHAPTER

  Panic raced with her pulse at his words, what they meant. Not until Reginald said. Coming from a man who thought a personality was real and would return. What if Reginald took a long time returning? What if he never returned?

  “You can’t leave me like this,” she said, watching him at the closet. He removed his shirt, making her stomach clench at the ripple of muscle. “I need the bathroom,” she shot out.

  He yanked a long sleeve black shirt out of the closet and slipped it on, turning. Her insides went to mush at the sight. Open shirt over those sweaty tattoos. That fucking delicious, arrogant, bastard.

  “You’ll have to hold it till I get you a fucking potty.”

  “A potty?” She eyed him at his dresser. “Where are you going, why are you getting dressed up? Shouldn’t you be busy in your graveyard?”

  He turned to her, his face still black with rage. “I am busy in my graveyard,” he yelled, storming to the edge of the bed. “My life is a graveyard until I get Reginald back!” He pounded his fist on his chest. “I have to take care of Reginald, this is my fault. I have to fix this!”

  His pain hit her like a sledge-hammer and she gasped on it while biting her tongue, watching him stalk out of the room. Leaving like a madman on a dead ended, broken mission. Her chest slowly clenched tighter and tighter until a sob gushed out. She sucked it back in but they kept finding cracks to burst through. “He’s not gone!” she screamed at the door. “He’s still here! You’re hiding him!”

  ****

  Usually X waited near the portal leading to his life like one would wait for an elevator. The very first time the portal had come, X hadn’t known what it was, he’d only knew he had to reach it. How long that took, he didn’t know but when he finally broke through, it was like arriving at his own murder scene. Everywhere he looked was a strange puzzle, clues that made no sense, things that baffled him. It seemed he woke from a deep sleep to discover he’d not stopped living. But all wasn’t right in his strange existence. He wasn’t free. Only when Bones slept, did he live. And when Bones woke, he was sucked back into that blind abyss.

  The problem for X was always time. He didn’t have enough. For approximately four hours, he studied the remnants of his other self. The self he couldn’t speak to, the self with a life he didn’t know, didn’t recognize. Each night, X put clues together, one by one. And then he would begin to see and remember things. It brought a rage that burned inside X, a purpose and then a plan. All with a four-hour window to execute each night, sometimes less.

  The other problem X faced was having no concept of time when he slept. He counted on Bones’ OCD inner clock—it never failed. Until it did. When X left Winter that first night he met her, he’d discovered a disturbing clue on the calendar. Three days had passed. That meant either Bones had slept that long—highly unlikely—or Reginald had grown stronger. X wagered the latter and he also bet the woman was the reason for it. He’d seen their online exchange but no way would Bones let that go too far—wrong again—because there she was, right there when he woke, blowing that wager to the farthest reaches of his Holy Hell.

  And he’d never forget stepping into the aftermath of whatever happened with the three of them. His mind had spun with her, his muscles trembled, his blood gathered in his cock with an insatiable rage he could barely contain. The carnage had been obscenely arousing and he’d been unable to resist his body’s need to taste their little dessert even as his brain screamed for immediate answers to all the clues hitting him, especially the succulent one he named Pretty Winter. She promised more than he’d ever gotten or would ever get out of the inanimate hints he was forced to ponder in his nightly excursions. She was a living link to his other life, a tool, a weapon, and a potential threat to his freedom.

  He especially needed to understand why or how she thought she could help Bones. He was no longer wagering anything where she was concerned but his hunch said her intentions were genuine. He’d have to test that. X didn’t give a shit what Bones and Reginald did with her, beyond the time it cost him. He couldn’t have a damn one of them pushing him out of existence, not when he was this close to getting what he wanted. It was bad enough he’d gotten sloppy those few times, alerting Bones to his night life. Bones had gone as far as buying restraints but he’d not used them. Yet. And if he learned about what he was actually doing, X might find himself imprisoned during his already too short interval in the midnight hours. He couldn’t have that.

  He needed Winter under his control. And the submissive way she responded to light kisses and touches indicated she’d be easily trained. But there was a dynamic with her that he couldn’t put his finger on and needed to. He’d have to get to know her so he knew exactly how to control her. X was too close to freedom to allow anything to fuck that up.

  The second the portal opened and X lunged through it, sitting up on the couch and sucking in huge breaths of air. Night air. Living air. On a cock-sucking timer.

  ****

  Opening the door slowly to his room, X took in his first and most important clue. Pretty Winter. There as he’d hoped. He made his way to the bed and paused at the shine of metal around her wrist. He’d cuffed her? That meant something interesting had happened. It occurred to him that he could just ask her. Nifty. A living clue was going to be a lot quicker than guessing at inanimate details.

  Two more steps put him staring down at her. Sound asleep. Her leg shot out and slammed him in the stomach, doubling him over. He jumped back, barely missing a foot to the jaw.

  “Oh God,” she whispered suddenly. He straightened slowly, eying her shadowed face. “Bones?”

  Her tiny voice stirred more than just his cock. “X”. He didn’t miss the immediate absence of her gasps. “Are you okay?”

  He waited in the silence before she gushed, “No! No, I’m not okay. Bones is a bastard,” she said quietly, like she might be worried he’d hear.

  “What has he done?”

  “What has he not done,” she cried, her voice tight. “He’s being… he’s… he’s—”

  “Psychotic?”

  She let out several breaths and nodded. “He’s a real nutcase,” she said in a shaky voice. “No offense.”

  Her afterthought for his feelings tickled him in so many ways. How adorable. “Can I sit?” he asked, not wanting to get kicked again.

  She nodded and he regarded the lamp. “May I turn on the light?”

  “If… you have to.”

  “I have to see you.”

  “Why?”

  He paused with his hand on the switch. “Because I want to.”

  “W-why?”

  The sweet sincerity in her tone made him smile. “To see if you’re as beautiful as I remember.”

  “I’m…”

  He stared at her before turning on the light, wanting to feel the full impact. He clicked the switch and she squinted. X stared, paying attention to his body’s response to her. Why did she arouse him so much? Her effect on him was enthralling. He was sure it had to be the effect she had on his body, like it remembered her even if his mind didn’t. What all had Bones done with her in the name of their shadow, Reginald? A lot, judging by how hard his cock was.

  “I look like crap,” she muttered, turning away.

  That she cared about her appearance with him said something for somebody cuffed to a bed. Bones wasn’t the only one imprisoned. She was too, and not just with that handcuff. That was good. He could definitely use that.

  “Why are you restrained?” And dressed like Farmer Brown’s daughter?

  She let out a sound that resembled a tired growl. “Bones is an asshole.”

  “Is he?” he mused, smiling while taking in
her tousled blonde hair that she discreetly patted with her free hand.

  She cast a worried glance his way. “No offense.” Ah. Apologetic not worried. That was better.

  “What did you do?” he wondered.

  She appeared clueless. “I was trying to leave is all.”

  “And he didn’t want you to?”

  She suddenly seemed uncomfortable with looking at him, her eyes continuously darting to his chest. He realized for the first time that he wore a black dress shirt, unbuttoned. Not traditional Bones attire. “No… he wants me gone,” she said. “He just didn’t want me taking his precious truck. But I don’t have my car, what am I supposed to do, walk in the freezing cold?”

  She’d finished with a furtive glance at him. “That would be stupid,” X said.

  “Right?” she cried.

  “So why didn’t he take you wherever you needed to go?”

  She returned to appearing distressed. “It’s…” She lowered her gaze and angled her face away from him. “It’s a long story.”

  “I have a few hours.”

  She still didn’t give him her direct attention. “It’s Reginald,” she whispered.

  A sudden pain slashed through his body. He narrowed his gaze, curious now. “What’s wrong with Reginald?”

  X recognized guilt in her lowered gaze. “You… don’t know?”

  “No. I don’t know.”

  She darted her look at him. “So you… can’t tell what’s happening?”

  He studied her, trying to understand what she was asking him. “I can feel things. But not all of these feelings come with explanations.”

  She slowly licked her lips, and his cock jerked, indicating it shared a strong intimacy with that part of her. As he waited for her to explain, he mentally fucked her mouth slowly, deeply.

  “I’m not sure what happened to Reginald. He just… isn’t here anymore.”

  X’s gaze shot up to hers at that news. “Isn’t here?”

  “I mean… Bones says he’s not.”

  This news explained a hell of a lot. “But you think otherwise?”

  She turned her pretty green eyes fully to him and the impact did things that he wanted to stop and ponder. “I think he’s still here.” Again she whispered, like she worried he’d hear.