Carnage by Sarah Bailey

Twenty Two

Drake

These two had been at it over Scarlett for far too long. When it became clear neither Prescott nor Francis wanted to back down, I’d turned away and left them to it. Sometimes it wasn’t worth intervening unless they started beating on each other, which wasn’t exactly uncommon amongst the four of us. It wouldn’t do to have them fighting during work hours.

“Your self-righteous bullshit is exhausting, you know that, right?” Prescott said, his voice full of irritation. “You’re no better than the rest of us. Save your fucking morality for the masses out there.”

“I never said no. I said we had to take it into consideration,” Francis retorted. “You all seem so willing to forget she was our friend, our best fucking friend. She meant something to us. Do you even care now?”

I flinched. I hadn’t forgotten who she was to us. How she’d been so fucking integral to our lives. We’d searched for her when she disappeared, tearing apart half of London to find out where she’d gone. Then we’d discovered the truth. It was the most depressing day of all our lives. Well, except for the day Scarlett got into her accident. That was worse. Much fucking worse. I would count that as the worst day of all our lives.

“You think this has anything to do with not caring? Fuck you. I care. She was the best part of us, but that was ten years ago. Things are different now. You’re the one who wants to forget everything and bury your head in the damn sand.”

“I do not! I remember all too fucking well how we’ve risked everything to get her back. Everything, Pres. We let a fucking mole into our lives who has the potential to destroy us because she can’t fucking remember who we are.”

I turned in time to see Prescott flinch. Francis had a point. We had lured her here. We were letting her into our lives when we knew the danger she posed. It wasn’t something any of us could afford to forget. The five of us growing up together didn’t change our current circumstances. But, at the same time, she was the key component missing from our lives. The final piece to our puzzle. She represented a sense of nostalgia for us. A time when our lives hadn’t been violent and unforgiving.

I was about to open my mouth when my eyes were drawn to West strolling back into the room. I hadn’t realised he’d left. The smirk on his face made me suspicious. Where had he disappeared off to, and what had he done?

“Are you still arguing?” he asked, leaning up against the wall by the door, his hands dug in his pockets.

Both Francis and Prescott turned their heads and glared at West. He looked outright amused by their stares.

“Where have you been?” I asked, wondering whether I wanted to know or if West had done something fucked up. Knowing him, he likely had.

“Taking care of our little problem.”

A cold bead of sweat ran down the back of my neck.

“What problem?”

I swear to god if he says what I think he’s going to…

“Our Scarlett problem Pres brought to our attention.”

“Jesus Christ, West.”

I threw my hands up and paced away.

“You did fucking what?” Francis asked.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Prescott throw back his head and bark with laughter.

“Did fucking whom would be the correct term and yes, there was fucking involved.”

I turned to find Francis gripping some papers on my desk as if he was holding back from decking West.

“You fucked Scarlett?”

West shrugged. Prescott was still chucking, but I ignored him. No doubt he was amused because he kept winding West the fuck up over Scarlett. And now West had taken matters into his own hands.

“You didn’t want to take her and tag-team her unless she had some experience. I handled it. Plus, I discovered she’s a kinky little thing under that façade she puts up, but it doesn’t entirely surprise me. She’s always had a reckless streak.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that.” Francis turned to me, waving his hand at West. “What the fuck do we even do with that? Do I even want to know what you did to her?”

I raised my hand to my mouth and swiped my thumb over it, holding back a smile. Should I be pissed at West? Perhaps. Then again, we wanted to mess with her, didn’t we? That was the deal. And what better way to mess with Scarlett’s head than to set West on her.

“You worried she didn’t like it? I assure you, she did… but I’ll leave exactly what I did to her up to your imagination.”

Francis blinked but kept his attention on me. I had a feeling West hadn’t gone overboard with her quite yet. He had, after all, been the most devoted to Scarlett. And Prescott pointed out to me the fact that West had deeper feelings for her. There was no doubt in my mind, West was in love with the girl and had been since we were kids. Out of the four of us, he took her loss the worst. The biggest reason he was so unhinged could be tied back to what happened that night.

“I’m sure she did,” Prescott said, giving West a wink.

“And I’m fucking sure you’d loved to have been a fly on the wall,” West replied with a raised eyebrow.

No fucking surprises there. The four of us had no qualms about fucking women with each other, but Prescott had a thing about watching. Voyeurism was only one of his kinks. Chasing was another. I couldn’t deny our tastes ran on the more extreme side of sex.

I didn’t know why West was acting so casually about giving it to Scarlett. Underneath his calm exterior, I had a feeling there was a dangerous edge to his mood. We’d have to monitor him this evening lest he did something reckless.

“Well, it proves she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get close to us,” I mused. “Maybe it’s time we escalate things.”

“In what way?” Francis asked, narrowing his eyes at me. “You were the one who wanted to pump the brakes.”

He’d clearly resigned himself to the whole West deal. Not like we could change it, only use it to our advantage.

“Let’s use the rest of this week to push her buttons, and then Friday night, we take her. We’ll have to be careful, wouldn’t want her little lap dog getting suspicious now, would we?”

Prescott smirked.

“We need someone to run inference with him.”

I nodded slowly. West’s contacts came in handy for that. He was our in with the criminal underworld. He thrived in that environment. Up here in our ivory tower, he was stifled by the suits and pretence of civility.

“I’ll handle it,” West said without hesitation.

“Good. Now, kindly fuck off back to work. I’m going to seek out our prey.”

“And do what?” Francis asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

My friend raised his brow but didn’t question me further. The three of them left the room, Prescott throwing a “She’s not going to like what you’re planning,” over his shoulder at me. I smiled, rubbing my lip again.

I gave it a few minutes before I walked out of my office and along to Scarlett’s. She was sat at her desk, but her eyes weren’t on her computer, they were on the windows. I looked at my watch.

“Are you making a habit of being tardy with my mid-morning coffee?”

She almost jumped ten feet out of her chair.

“Oh, Jesus, you scared me.” She put a hand to her chest, then her expression became contrite. “No, no, I’m sorry, I… I… I got distracted.”

She stood up, smoothing down her skirt. “I’m really sorry, I’ll do it now.”

I remained in the doorway as she walked over to it. Before she could leave the room, I reached out, planting my hand on the other side of the frame, effectively barring her path. Scarlett looked up at me with wide eyes.

“Did I or did I not tell you I value timekeeping?”

“You did.”

Her voice was hushed and brimming with nervousness.

“It’s your third week here, Scarlett, are you getting complacent already?”

“N-n-no. I swear I was in the middle of doing it and then…”

“And then what?”

I kept my voice cold and emotionless. She was losing her composure, her hands worrying at the fabric of her skirt. I knew exactly what or should I say who had distracted her.

“Mr Greer wanted something.”

“Did he now?”

She nodded, her eyes wide and full of fear.

“Yes.”

“And what, pray tell, did he want?”

Scarlett swallowed, but I could tell she couldn’t tear her eyes from mine no matter how much my line of questioning was making her uncomfortable. Watching her squirm gave me a sick sense of satisfaction.

“He… wanted…”

“Yes?”

“To… he wanted to… show me something.”

If I was in any doubt of West’s assertion about fucking her, I wasn’t now. It was so damn clear she didn’t want to tell me what they’d done.

“Something.” Was that something his dick by any chance, Scarlett?

“Yes.”

I leant closer, crowding her personal space.

“Was this something work-related?”

“No,” she whispered.

I wanted to smile so fucking badly, but I didn’t. The fact she was trying so hard not to lie to me was amusing. Clearly, she realised messing with me would be a mistake. I wouldn’t hesitate to punish the fuck out of her if she did.

“I’d remind you, you’re here to work, but I think you know that already, don’t you?”

“Yes, Drake.”

The way my name sounded on her lips in that deferent tone had me gripping the doorframe harder. I was cool, calm and collected at all times. Scarlett was disarming. Not only because I’d grown up with her, but the way she didn’t hesitate to do as I told her was far too damn intoxicating. Like a drug flooding my system and dragging me under. It’s why I left the harder shit to West. I didn’t like feeling out of control. Weed soothed me, but anything else, well, it was like a fucking riot in my head. Especially E. Fuck, the last time I’d done E… the less said about that, the better.

Maybe I should ask West to get a supply. Now I was thinking about it, I wondered what would happen to Scarlett if she took it.

Would she beg for it? For us? Would her body crave all the depraved things we wanted to do to her?

I schooled myself before my thoughts got out of hand. There would be plenty of time for me to think about that when she wasn’t in front of me.

“I need you to stay late on Friday night. I have an important speech to prepare for next week and that’s the only time I can compose it.”

“Of course, I’ll stay late. That’s absolutely fine.”

I gave her a sharp nod.

“Go make me a coffee and don’t let this happen again.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

I didn’t move away immediately, captivated by her fearful expression. Loving the fact I’d put it there. I wasn’t jealous of West fucking her, but the thought of being able to had me reining myself right the fuck in. Her tears would be so damn sweet.

I let go of the doorframe and shifted back, allowing her to walk out. My eyes fixed on her back as she scurried down the hall towards the kitchen. I let myself smile then. The girl had no idea what we had in store for her. West’s little revelation that she was kinky had my mind running riot. There were so many things we could introduce her to. So. Fucking. Many.

I was going to enjoy watching her squirm, pant and beg. Friday couldn’t come soon enough.