Broken Anchor (Sinful Truths Book 6) Read online

  I push her thighs back, spreading her wider as I push into her.

  She gasps as I fill her.

  “I remember you,” she says suddenly.

  “Did you ever forget me?”

  She grins. “I forgot our first meeting in the bar when I sat on your lap.”

  I thrust in and out of her until she’s unable to speak, too focused on how incredible she feels.

  It gives me a moment to study her. To let my heart fill. To remember all my moments with her. How could I ever forget?

  “Fuck me, my beast-man.”

  I grin wildly, remembering her sitting on my lap and calling me her beast-man, even then. I remember her flirting with me.

  “You kissed me that night. That was our first kiss.”

  “I did not,” she breathes again as I slow my thrusts.

  I wait for her to remember.

  “Oh my god! I did kiss you.” She bites her lip, remembering that delicious kiss. We didn’t know each other at all. It was just an instant connection. We both knew that the moment wouldn’t last, but one day we would be together again. We needed one sweet moment to take with us forever.

  I bite her bottom lip, pulling it into my mouth like she did to me when we kissed the first time.

  Her eyes meet mine. She remembers.

  I grab her hips, and she tugs my neck holding me close to her. I thrust in and out. Over, and over, circling her clit with my groin, until she’s ready to scream my name and I hers.

  I crash my mouth over hers to muffle our screams as we both come together. I spill into her as she clenches down on me.

  We stay locked together for a moment, knowing this could be the last time.

  “It won’t be,” I say, reading her mind.

  “No, our forever has to last a lot longer than this.” She kisses my wedding ring.

  I nod and help her off the grass before we both get dressed again. And then I pull her onto my lap as we sit and relax, our time together fleeting.

  “How close are you to remembering?” I ask.

  “That’s as much as I’ve remembered. I killed my parents just after I hid the box, so Langston and I both think I need to experience a similar trauma in order to trigger the memory. We found a rapist and killed him, but it barely triggered anything.”

  Siren is silent after she speaks, fidgeting with the strands of her hair as she pulls a piece of grass out of it.

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Her eyes look behind me, and that’s when I spot Langston standing over us.

  “She didn’t remember after killing the rapist was because the violence wasn’t personal. She didn’t know the man. She needs to kill someone she knows and loves. Someone like me,” Langston says, with his hands in the pocket of his jeans.

  I look from Siren to Langston. “You can’t kill him.”

  “She wouldn’t have to actually kill me. Just make her think she did. Stop just short of killing me,” Langston says.

  I’m still having a hard time forgiving Langston for what he did before. But offering to let Siren almost kill him, knowing that it could result in his actual death, washes the slate clean instantly.

  “You can’t kill him,” I repeat again, and I feel Siren relax in my arms. It’s clear she doesn’t want to kill him either.

  “You can’t kill him because you are going to kill me instead,” I say.

  24

  Siren

  “No.”

  I stand abruptly, removing my hands from his.

  “I’m not asking you to actually kill me,” Zeke.

  “Then what are you suggesting?” I turn toward Zeke with fear and pain.

  “Just that you could—almost kill me.”

  I frown. “No, it’s too dangerous. What if you actually died?”

  He shrugs. “Then, you’d be no worse off.”

  “No. I would be devastated, and I wouldn’t recover.”

  His lips thin. “I know, but there isn’t any other choice.”

  “You could kill me, instead,” Langston offers again.

  “No, I’m not killing anyone,” I say.

  Zeke grabs my arms and forces me to look at him. “You won’t kill me. We will make sure of it. We’ll put fail-safes in place. Trust me. Langston will be here to ensure you don’t kill me. But we have to find the box. Julian will torture you to get the information if we don’t find it tonight.”

  I exhale my stress. “What is your plan?”

  He reaches around me and pulls my gun from my waist. “Well, I won’t let you shoot me again.”

  “I second that,” Langston says.

  I laugh, giving them the reaction they were hoping for.

  But Zeke’s own smile falters. “Drown me.”

  “What? No—“

  He nods. “Drown me. It’s personal and physical, but even if you go too far, there is a good chance you can bring me back. You know CPR?”

  “Yes.”

  “And there is AED in the hall,” Langston says. He jogs off to go get what we might need.

  “I don’t like this,” I say.

  “I don’t really either, but we are out of time.”

  I don’t know what to say.

  Zeke grabs my hand and starts leading me toward the fountain.

  Jesus Christ. I can’t do this.

  But Zeke looks at me with so much determination. He’s willing to do anything to help me remember. I can’t just say no. If I ever doubted Zeke’s love for me, I can’t anymore.

  I can’t doubt Langston’s either. He was just as willing to die for me.

  Langston sets supplies down next to the fountain—a towel, the AED, and rope. And then he looks at Zeke. “It should be me.”

  “No, it should be me. She loves you. I can see that, but Siren and I share a deeper love. If anyone is going to trigger her memories, it’s going to be me.”

  I frown at the rope Langston picks up.

  Zeke pulls off his shirt, and as much as I want to take in his muscles and run my hands over them, I’m too focused on what I’m about to do.

  Langston hands me the rope as Zeke turns around and puts his arms behind his back.

  “Tie them together, Siren.”

  “I can’t. Can’t Langston do it?”

  Langston steps back, out of view. He won’t help me with any part but making sure that Zeke doesn’t die. That’s his role. My role is to carry out every bit of the violence, to remember.

  “I’ll do my best not to fight you until I can’t stand it any longer. But if you don’t tie me up, I’ll fight too soon, and you won’t feel like you are actually killing me,” Zeke says.

  “This is outrageous,” I protest, but I tie his arms together.

  Zeke kneels in front of the fountain. I stand frozen behind him.

  “Siren, please.”

  I step forward, my arms and legs shaking. My mother’s face flashes in my head. Water comes next.

  More flashes of memories flow.

  Blood.

  Tears.

  Please…

  The memories move me forward; I need to try this. This could be what helps me remember.

  I walk up behind Zeke, reluctantly, just like I did when I was killing my own mother.

  I push Zeke’s head down, until it’s submerged in the water. And then I hold him there, forcefully.

  At first, not much happens.

  It’s peaceful.

  I focus on the water—the moonlight shining down on me. I let my fear spread.

  I have to do this.

  Suddenly, then everything changes.

  Zeke starts thrashing his head. Bubbles pour out of his mouth. It takes all of my strength to hold him under.

  “Mother,” I gasp, as her face comes into view.

  “Please, don’t kill me.”

  “I don’t want to. But I can’t let you have the box. Do you understand what it contains? What power it wields?” Please say no. Please say that you didn’t realize, that you don’t want i
t.

  “Yes. The world needs to be rid of monsters. This is the only way to erase half the world. To get rid of the evil.”

  “By unleashing uncontrollable evil onto the world?”

  “We can control it. We have the cure. We will be able to give the cure to those deserving.”

  “No, you don’t get to play God. You don’t get to decide who lives and dies.”

  “What did you do with the box, Aria?”

  “I hid it.”

  “Where?”

  I shake my head. “Please, don’t make me do this. Please, surrender. Give up. Let me save you.”

  “Give me the box, Aria.” My mother attacks, running full force over me.

  I move out of the way at the last second; it’s too late for her momentum to stop her, she goes overboard into the water. I jump in after her, knowing what I have to do. She can’t come back up. She has to stay under.

  “Siren! Stop!”

  I blink rapidly as Langston yanks me away from the fountain and grabs Zeke’s lifeless body.

  “Oh my god!”

  “Shh,” Langston hushes me. He grabs a knife and swiftly rips through the rope tying Zeke’s hands together. Then he puts Zeke on his back and begins chest compressions.

  “Get the AED ready,” Langston says.

  I tear my eyes away from Zeke, who is lying lifeless on the ground. I open the AED box, pull out the application pads, and press them to Zeke’s chest while Langston breathes a breath into Zeke’s mouth.

  The AED machine starts. “No heartbeat detected,” the robot voice says.

  “No, please, no,” I say.

  Langston grabs me and pulls me away from Zeke’s body before the AED delivers a shock.

  “Continue chest compressions,” the robot guides us.

  Langston restarts chest compressions, and I move to Zeke’s head. “Breathe, Zeke. Come back to me. I need you. Come back.”

  The machine starts up again, telling us to step back.

  We stop touching Zeke so the machine can deliver another shock.

  “No heartbeat detected, continue chest compressions.”

  Langston continues.

  “Zeke, please!”

  Another zap from the machine, more chest compressions.

  “I’m so sorry.” I grab Zeke’s head, breathing air into his mouth, hoping something will bring him back.

  “No heartbeat detected.”

  The machine shocks him again. And then shuts off.

  The machine has given up, but there is no way I’m giving up. I can’t have killed him. This can’t be happening.

  I push Langston out of the way and pump down over his heart with all of my weight. I’m cracking ribs and crushing him, but I’ll do anything to get his heart started again, including trading my soul to the devil if he will save him.

  “Please,” I beg to the silent night. “Don’t let him die.”

  And then…I feel something—a fluttering of his heart beneath my hands.

  “Yes, come on, Zeke. Wake up. Come back to me.”

  I continue doing hard compressions, while Langston breathes into Zeke’s mouth.

  Then, Zeke coughs.

  He coughs!

  He’s alive.

  I stop suddenly as he coughs up what looks like a gallon of water before falling back to the ground, exhausted.

  “You are alive,” I say through my tears.

  Zeke’s wipes my cheek dry with his thumb with a soft smile. “I couldn’t stand Langston giving me anymore mouth to mouth. I would have thought you would be the one to do that, Siren.”

  I collapse on top of him, hugging him tightly.

  “I’m so sorry,” I cry into his chest.

  He strokes my back. “Shh, I’m okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  I see tears in Langston’s eyes when I look up. He was just as worried that he had killed his friend. He looks away, though, when he notices me staring.

  How could I have ever thought that Langston was a bad man?

  I focus back on Zeke. “I’m just so thankful that you are alive. Your heart stopped, and we didn’t think we could get it started again.”

  Zeke holds my cheeks in his hands, wiping my tears with his thumbs and tucking my hair behind my ears, trying to comfort me.

  “My heart will always beat for you.”

  I smile through the tears as I try to catch my breath.

  Zeke takes a deep breath, and I realize I’m squashing him. I roll off him and help him sit up.

  “How are you feeling?” I ask.

  “Like the luckiest man in the world to be married to you.”

  “Seriously, how does your chest feel?”

  He takes a deep breath in and out. “It burns a little, but I can get a good breath, so I think I’ll be fine.”

  I nod.

  “I hate to end this, but we should get back soon before any of the men start waking up,” Langston says, and then he starts walking back toward the house to give us a chance to say goodbye once again.

  “I’m so tired of saying goodbye,” I say.

  “This isn’t goodbye. We are together, now. I’m not letting anything stand between us. Not again.” Zeke leans down and presses his lips to mine. I return the kiss fiercely. We don’t let our tongues slip into each other’s mouths; we just seal our lips together like we’ve become one person.

  Slowly, Zeke pulls us apart. As much as he says we will be together, that this isn’t goodbye, my heart can no longer escape the dreaded feeling.

  “Did it work?” Zeke asks.

  “What?” I ask, not understanding his question.

  “Did your memories come back?” he asks.

  My mother flashes in my head. She came back, but nothing else. I still don’t remember where the box is. There is nothing Zeke can do about it now, though. He won’t let us go back inside if he thinks I don’t remember, and we have to go back inside. If we run, Julian will hunt us down and kill us. We aren’t running, not anymore. We will face this, now.

  “Yes,” I say. It’s the truth—I do remember. But it is also the most horrible sin, because I don’t remember the important part—where the box is.

  Zeke nods. “Good.” He kisses my temple.

  He takes my hand and leads me back to the house, where Langston is standing guard. I notice Langston has a roll of tape in his hands, reminding us that Zeke has to be tied up again, while I will be sleeping in Langston’s room.

  I quickly kiss Zeke one last time. I keep it short; otherwise, I wouldn’t stop kissing him.

  “Ready?” Langston asks us.

  We nod and silently follow him into the house.

  Zeke holds my hand for as long as he can before he has to take a seat again. Langston reties Zeke to the chair, none of us speaking for fear of waking up the sleeping guards.

  Zeke winks at me with a wicked sultry grin, and I bite my lip and blush in return.

  Once Zeke is retied, Langston walks over to me. He gives me a stern look that tells me we have to go, but I can’t get my feet to move.

  Langston tugs on my hand, but I’m frozen, watching Zeke.

  Eventually, Langston picks me up and carries me down the hallway, away from Zeke.

  Once in the bedroom, Langston locks the door and sets me down on the bed before he sits next to me.

  “Did you really remember?”

  “I remembered my mother, but not where I hid the box.”

  Langston takes my hand in his, trying to comfort me as he rubs his thumb over the back of my hand.

  “What are we going to do?” I ask.

  “We will think of something. I won’t let Julian hurt you; I promise you that.”

  We sit on the edge of the bed in silence for a while. We should be sleeping.

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, Langston slaps me.

  I turn and look at him as I grab my cheek, more from shock than pain.

  “What are you doing?”

  There is no remorse in his eyes. No apology. And no r
eason for this that I can see.

  He grabs me by the arm with such force I’m sure he’s going to bruise me and throws me back on the bed. He ties me up roughly while I’m lying on my back, still in too much shock to fight back.

  He takes a piece of tape and moves to put it over my mouth.

  “I thought you were my friend. Why are you doing this?”

  He puts the tape on my mouth, silencing me.

  “The truth is I was never your friend. I just pretended to be to get what Julian wanted. I’m on Julian’s side. I’m a monster.” Langston walks to the bathroom, while I lay in bed tied up. A single tear rolls down my cheek.

  How could I have been so wrong about Langston? He really is Bishop. He really is a monster.

  25

  Zeke

  Somehow I sleep, even though my lungs burn from being filled with water.

  I’ve never been so terrified in my life. I’ve been near death before; that isn’t what had me panicked. What I feared was that Siren would kill me, and then she’d never forgive herself.

  Siren brought me back to life even after I was dead, but my body is paying the price for it. Even though I’m tied up in a chair and in a ton of pain, I was able to sleep because my body demanded it.

  However, the noise coming down the hallway is what woke me up.

  Julian marched toward Langston and Siren’s room, and as soon as he started down that hallway, the sounds started up again from Langston’s room—smacking, yelping, crying.

  I tried to block it out. It’s not real; I saw it all before. They did this dance earlier, and I got to see Siren after. She didn’t have a mark on her. I hope they find a way to make her look beat up without having to mark her at all. Julian will know something is up if she comes out looking untouched.

  That must be what they are doing now.

  Please, be careful. Don’t really hurt her.

  Julian knocks on the bedroom door. “Time’s up. We need to talk.”

  He then walks into the living room; his men wake to attention.

  The noises coming from their bedroom quiet for a minute, and then Langston appears, dragging Siren behind him by the hair.

  I come unglued. She looks a disheveled mess. Her clothes and hair are all awry. Most of her clothes are heavily torn, revealing bruises and scratches.