The Devil's Game (Rhodes to Hell Book 1) Page 5

  I know I’m on a slippery slope with him but there’s not one part of me afraid of the slide.

  “The guest house may have more food than the vending machine over there if you want to raid it,” Hollis suggests quietly, his deep voice causing a shiver to rack over my body as I’m reminded I’m not alone.

  “Not hungry.”

  “Understandably so, but you should eat.”

  I scrunch my face up and look over at the confusing guy next to me. “Hollis, why do you even care?”

  Eating is a touchy subject for me and while I don't like to tell many people, I prefer for them to not say shit to me about eating anything, I know it isn't Hollis’ fault. He has no idea.

  He frowns at me. “I don't fucking know,” he tells me before walking back out of the sliding doors.

  I chuckle a little but decide to go find Lucky. I know I won't be able to see Tasha for awhile, but Lucky is probably only sleeping.

  I go to the only hallway with rooms on it and she’s in the second room. I push the door open slowly and do my best to not make too much noise. As I sit down in the recliner next to the twin bed she’s sleeping in it squeaks and she stirs right away like I scared her by sitting down.

  Understandable.

  Her eyes peek open slowly, showing just how groggy she is from whatever medication she was given earlier.

  “You good,” she asks lazily as her eyes roll back into her head.

  “Yeah, go back to sleep.”

  “Tash?”

  “She’s good, Luck. Go back to sleep,” I tell her, and she nods, her eyes already closed.

  “Okay.”

  I watch as she snuggles into her pillow and I lay my head back onto the headrest. Closing my eyes, I think about how crazy the last twenty-four hours have been. I am having trouble even thinking I’m living my actual life. There are so many things racing through my mind and I don’t think anything aside from a nice fat blunt or at least a run will help me at this point.

  I take a deep breath in and open my eyes, deciding I might be a little more hungry than I thought before. I could try to eat.

  I stand and make the decision to not let my lack of knowledge for the world Hollis thrives in to stop me from digging further into his temperamental mind. There are plenty of things I won’t take the chance for but this nagging feeling in my gut won’t let me ignore him at all. It pisses me off a little, but my body still moves from the safety next to Lucky’s bed out back into the hallway of the clinic.

  I make my way back to the lobby and when I see Hollis pacing in the front of the hospital, I’m not sure what to think. Was he coming back for me?

  “Hollis,” I say softly once I’m a little closer.

  He looks up at me with his brows pulled together slightly and slows his steps until he’s completely stopped. He doesn’t answer me, he just stares at me which should be a bit unnerving, but I hold my ground anyway.

  “You still going to the guest house?” I ask.

  Still silent, he begins walking towards the doors again. I stand there looking at him, unsure if I am supposed to follow. When he stops and turns his head in my direction I realize he’s waiting on me to come with him.

  “You coming?” he asks gruffly.

  I begin walking towards him, but he takes off again and I have to work to catch up to him, his strides being much bigger than my own.

  “What’s your birthday?” I ask him once I catch up to him.

  He turns his head just a little as he looks at me through squinted eyes and slows his pace so I can finally slow mine too. “Why?”

  “I just like to know birthdays,” I told him, purposely omitting the actual reason why I like to know them.

  “May twenty-third.” Gemini.

  I store his zodiac information for when I’m in front of a computer and continue down the paved path leading away from all of the different buildings around us. It’s a dark and silent walk, only the night creatures making loud enough sounds to hear, but it does help calm my anxious mind some.

  My thoughts are still racing over what information I could possibly find out and how far would be too far to push him. I don’t want to invade into his personal space too much, but something makes me want to dig just enough. I know either way he’s going to be uncomfortable with whatever it is I decide to do with him.

  “If I asked you questions, you know, like the birthday one, would you answer them?”

  My voice is soft but even still it sounds so shrill in the calm night.

  “No.”

  “Well, at least you’re honest,” I tell him with a nod. “Why do you stay so closed off?”

  “Life is easier if I'm this way,” he tells me as we continue to walk through the darkness.

  “Have you ever tried opening up to anyone?” I am pushing my luck and I know it, but I want to see how far I can push.

  “No.” Not very far, I guess.

  His clipped tone is a different kind of no from his first answer. It almost seems angry, so I let the conversation fall. It leaves me even more determined to figure him out than before, but I relax, not wanting to exhaust my only resource of knowledge so quickly. I want him to talk to me, but I know I can’t make him.

  Where we live everyone knows who Hollis is because even though he’s been implicated in over eighty-five murders just in Alabama alone, he’s never been convicted of anything. Word gets around when you have a whole city who knows you’re a killer and you still aren’t behind bars. He’s a legend in the streets.

  “If I opened up to anyone they'd run for it the first chance they got,” he finally says just as we get to a sloped part of the pavement leading straight to what I assume is the guest house in front of us.

  Without missing a beat I say, “You'll never know if you never try.”

  He doesn’t say anything else and I don't interrupt his thinking. I know he’ll want to try to open up to see if he can get me to run for the hills, but he’s pipe dreaming. There isn't a whole lot I find scary anymore, but I’ll certainly enjoy watching him try.

  He opens the guest house door with a set of keys from his pocket and pushes it open before glancing at me expectantly. I can’t believe anything happening right now if I’m being completely honest with myself. The stories I’d heard about Hollis since high school were ones of pure malice and filled with things I didn’t know were possible of a human being to do. I should be terrified of him.

  But I’m not terrified.

  I’m turned on.

  Some of what’s been said about him may be lies and I’ve always held onto the notion of people lying to make people seem god-like and more powerful than they actually are, but I am starting to believe none of the stories are even close to what’s truly happened in his life. I want to know more so I can get further into his mind and I don’t care how long it will take. I plan on figuring him out because for some reason I’m just too stubborn to heed his warnings and his closed off nature just makes me want to dig even more.

  Chapter Six

  MESSIAH—TEN YEARS AGO

  Crystina and Ruby make their way through the crowd, but I act like I’m looking elsewhere and I finally pull my eyes to them once they’re right in front of me. My sister is still glaring at me, mad because I won’t stop trying to meet these two dudes who apparently are running shit now, but I pay her no mind. She’s going to have to get over it tonight. Granny won’t be able to take care of us forever. Hell, she can barely afford us now.

  These guys could be the answer I’ve been looking for, but I haven’t had any luck finding them tonight anyway. I’m starting to get annoyed. The party is huge, and the atmosphere is live as fuck but I’m not here for the vibe. I’m here with a plan.

  “I made you a drink,” Ruby says, holding her right hand out to me. I take it, still not talking and I pull it to my nose and frown at her, but she just laughs. “It’s strong.”

  “I don’t want to get drunk,” I tell her, trying to hand it back but she won’t take it.


  “Then babysit,” she tells me, pushing it back in my direction. “Are we planning on staying long?”

  “I’m just waiting to spot one of the guys,” I tell her, and my sister pops her mouth and when I don’t give her the attention she wants she hits me.

  “Messiah, you’re not talking to them. I don’t want you involved in what they do,” she tells me, and I glare at her.

  “What do you want me involved with Ce? Honestly, do you think we’re going to have Granny around forever to provide for us?” I snarl at her, pushing off the wall I’d been leaning against. “If you haven’t noticed her fucking disability doesn’t go as far as it used to, and she told me three days ago they were cutting our food stamps in half. She looked to me for help, Crys, and I am not going to let her stress herself to death taking care of us.”

  “There are other ways,” she tells me, still frowning but I can tell hearing what I just said is already under her skin. She loves Granny more than anyone else in the world, but she has no idea the stress our grandmother has been under just to take care of us. Crys doesn’t pay attention to stuff like other peoples struggle and in this moment I realize I’m never going to be able to get her to understand.

  “Maybe they’re not so bad, Ce,” Ruby tries, but she’s not hearing it.

  “No, Ruby. You don’t get to do defend him. You can’t side with him just because he’s fucking you,” she tells Ruby. “I do not want my brother in any kind of gang. There are other ways to make money.”

  Ruby doesn’t say anything else, but she looks over to me and I know she understands. I know she understands no matter what, survival comes first.

  “I’ll see you two back at the house, I don’t feel like dealing with this shit anymore,” I tell them before leaning down and kissing the side of Ruby’s head as I walk by her.

  They don’t come after me because they both know when I walk away it’s best to let me. Crystina knows she can’t change my mind, but I know she’ll never stop trying. It’s a twin thing we have to accept because neither of us will ever give up easily.

  I wander around the party and am stopped a few times to talk to some of the people I know from around the way as I make it through the room. I’m distracted so the conversations aren’t lasting long and after a couple of hours of no luck in finding the guys of the hour I decide to give it up and head back to the house.

  The warehouse is split level and as I walk down the wide metal steps I look over the bottom floor but don’t spot Ruby anywhere. I hope they’ve already left, but I won’t know for sure until I get home. It wouldn’t be like her to stick around this late, especially since I left them.

  Ruby is smart and knows how to get my pig headed sister to listen by some crazy miracle usually. I think its’s why their friendship works how it does, but what do I know?

  When I get to the bottom of the steps, the cooler air from outside blows around me and I head straight for the open side of the building. I’ll have to walk around the entire building to get to my car but it’s better than having to fight through the dancing bodies occupying most of the downstairs.

  There aren’t many people out back, but I see a group of guys over by the dumpsters smoking and I can smell the weed in the air. I keep walking to the side of the building, and I don’t see a single person in the area between the large warehouse and the tree line about fifty yards away.

  The night air is crisp and it's not cold but as I walk a chill racks over my body. There’s no one out here but I still feel like I’m being watched as I look out into the shadowed trees. When I hear rustling the tree line I stop and keep my eyes glued in the direction the sound came from.

  Realizing I’m probably just trippin’, I pick up my feet again and continue down the length of the building. Unfortunately, it’s the longer side of the building I’m walking and even though I can hear the faint booming of the music, all I can focus on are the sounds coming from the trees. I’m not scared but for some reason my adrenaline is pumping hard.

  The closer I get to the corner and the light hanging at the tops of the building the less of the forest I can hear thanks to the amount of people outside the front of the building. So when I hear a loud crack behind me I turn immediately.

  A tall man is standing behind me in the darkness of the clearing but his eyes are big and wild as he walks closer, searching my face in the dim light. The orange hue of the lights casts his figure into an even more threatening one, but I scowl at him anyway.

  He doesn’t say anything until he gets a couple of feet away. He’s taller than me and I’m leaner than him but he doesn’t look much older. How he carries himself though, is something far more mature than I’ve ever been.

  “Why are you back here?” he asks me, his voice low and accusing.

  “I’m leaving and came down the back stairs because I didn’t want to fight the crowd,” I say, not sure why I’m explaining myself to a perfect stranger.

  “People don’t come back here for good reason, kid. Get the hell on,” he tells me roughly. I could listen to him and leave, but the warning in his voice does something to me and suddenly I want to do the exact opposite of leave.

  “Why doesn’t anyone come this way?” I ask.

  “Wanna come in those woods with me and find out?” he taunts, but he’s not smiling.

  I shake my head because the truth is, I don’t. I don’t know this guy and I want to be back at my house laid up in my bed with Ruby, but my curiosity is still so strong.

  “Hollis,” I hear a voice call out from the woods and his head turns away from me momentarily. Hollis.

  Fuck.

  “I’m fucking coming,” he calls back before turning back to me. “Sure you don’t want to come join the fun, youngin’?”

  It’s a dare. He wants to see what I’m made of and I’ve waited all night for this shit. What are the odds he’d be back here when I was trying to leave? This has to be fate.

  “I changed my mind,” I tell him, taking a step in his direction. “I’ll come see.”

  He doesn’t say another word before turning and heading back into the woods where he came from. I look behind me before following him. There’s no path in the woods, but he seems to know where he’s going just fine, and I follow behind him closely, so I don’t trip on all of the random roots and branches.

  There’s a stone building in front of us once we get to a clearing in the trees and it’s only lit by the moon. There’s a dark figure waiting in the shadows of the house, but I can still see him. They don’t speak as we get closer and once we are up on him, I can see the tall guy looking right at me, but he doesn’t question Hollis.

  Hollis continues into the building and the other guy cuts between us and I trail behind the both of them. The only light inside the building is the light seeping in through the window on the furthest wall from us. I survey the room as best as I can with the low light and quickly find why they’re out here.

  “Who’s the pretty boy?” the tall dark guy asks once we all stop walking.

  “Who is the pretty boy?” Hollis repeats, looking at me.

  “Si,” I tell them, not wanting to give them my full name yet.

  “What’s he doing here?”

  “I found him on my way out, only one brave enough to come around back … and alone,” he explains with a low breathy chuckle. It’s dry and I don’t think he actually thinks anything is funny.

  The other guy watches me for a few seconds before turning and heading over to the body in the corner. I don’t know how, but I can tell the person is still alive even though the body lies limply on the cement floor. I watch the scene with my head tilted some and a dirty look on my face.

  “Have you ever killed anyone, Si?” Hollis asks me, and I turn to look up at him. I don’t respond, I just stare at him because his question is not a question anyone has ever asked me. “I think he should choose what we do with him.”

  “Should we tell him what this piece of shit did?” he asks, grabbing the body by the shir
t and hauling it up before looking back over at Hollis. His muscles flex as he holds the guy suspended in the air and then he looks at me. “You wanna know what this piece of shit did?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Hollis snaps before I can answer. “Just bring him over here Elijah. He’ll kill him however he wants to.”

  “Um …” I start, stepping back, “… I don’t want to kill him.”

  “Then I guess you should’ve toughed the crowd to get back to your car like all of the rest of these stupid pinhead kids,” Hollis tells me.

  I stand in front of the two men I’ve been searching for all night and I can’t help but to feel the irony in this entire situation. I can run but it’s likely the guns on their hips will catch me long before I even make it out of the trees. The only choice is to kill the dude Elijah now has laying at my feet.

  He wasn’t gentle when he tossed the guy down and he hit the concrete hard enough for me to hear his skull crack. He is laying in a wide area of moonlit floor and his bruises are already starting to show, though the low light probably makes them look a little worse.

  “You want a gun or a knife?”

  My heart is hammering in my chest as I stare at the man I am about to kill. I don’t want to kill him at all. I have no idea what it will feel like and the sick feeling in my stomach tells me I don’t want to know.

  “I’ll kill you both if you don’t kill him,” Elijah tells me and I look up at him, still glaring at me.

  “Gun or knife?” he asks me again, a gun in his right hand and a knife in his left hand.

  The gun isn’t huge and doesn’t have a silencer and I don’t want anyone to come back here if they hear gunshots, so I grab the knife from him. I wrap my hand around the knife handle tightly and my chest feels like it’s going to cave in as I look down at the unconscious man.