Sancte Diaboli part 2

Brantley

My mind feels like a blank canvas. If there was a picture to be painted on it, it’d be filled with smoke shadows and long, ugly trees that don’t produce leaves. That’s it. That’s fucking it. My fists clench, my eyes remaining zoned in on the clock that hangs behind Bishop in his office.

Tick tock, tick tock.

“Brantley?” Bishop snaps me out of the slumber my mind is more comfortable in these days. “How was Saint last night?” Nate is beside me, Eli next to him. Since the ceremony last week, all of the other Kings have taken their respective positions, which leaves just Bishop, Nate, Eli, and me to hold shit down.

“Mad.”

“That’s cute.” Eli chuckles. “I’d love to see her mad…”

Turning my head slowly, I glare at Eli from the other side of Nate. “I would really be careful with that mouth. You’ll need it when you go on tour.”

He smirks his famous Cheshire cat grin. “Stop being jealous.”

Ignoring him, I look back at Bishop. “She’s mad mad.”

“How mad?” Eli teases again, a toothpick rolling between his lips.

“She punched me in the face.”

Bishop coughs back a laugh while Eli straight-up barks out his. I flip him off. “Besides that, I could snap the tension in the room that she was radiating.”

“She’s feeling betrayed…” Bishop murmurs, leaning back in his chair. “If she’s anything like me—”

“—she’s everything like you. Precisely the problem.” I kick out my leg just as there’s a knock on the door.

Bishop calls out, “Come in.”

“Listen, I get that this is serious and I feel like a snitch for even coming in here, but Nate—” Madison growls, and I turn in my chair slightly to take in what she could possibly want. “Tillie is not doing well with not knowing what is happening with Saint.”

Having little Venari back in the ballgame has been a little tense, to say the least. I mean, at least she and Bishop have both decided to pull their heads in until the twins are born, but to say she’s just walked back in and it’s been a happy family again would be a lie.

“Lie to her,” Bishop says, brushing her off. “You’re good at that.”

Here we go.

Madison’s back straightens, defiance flashing over her eyes. “Fuck you. How about you lie to her? Oh, I know! How about you—”

“—Kitty.” Nate stands from his chair and moves toward where she’s standing, a hand on her stomach. Still can’t believe there are two babies in there. She’s small as fuck. “You need to go upstairs and rest.”

Madison relaxes in Nate’s embrace. “Please, Nate. She’s not dealing well and neither am I. Saint—”

“Is fucking safe, Mads!” I glare at her, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees. I run my fingers through my hair, exhaling pent-up anger. “Fuck, you know, it amazes me how you all question my intentions and actions when it comes to her.” I stand from my chair and walk to the only window in the room. I turn to face them, my hands in my pockets and my head resting on the wall to the side. “Actually, it’s slightly insulting. So here’s what’s going to happen when it comes to Saint Vitiosis.” I point to Bishop and Madison. “Both of you are going to do what you need to do, and I’m going to do what I need to do. For right now, though, she is safe.”

“With Veronica, Brantley! Seriously!” It’s good to have Madison home. She’s back with full force.

“Yeah, Mads, with Veronica and her coven. A world that, as far as we know, our enemies don’t know about.”

Madison shakes her head but looks away from me, not wanting to say any more. Which I appreciate. She looks at Bishop. “We need to talk. Now.”

Bishop’s lips curl slightly. “Why the fuck for?”

“Now! Bishop.”

He stands from his chair, storms to the other side of the room, and slams his office door behind him, leaving Nate, Eli, and me.

“There’s too much tension. Why don’t they fuck and get it over with?”

“Because,” I say, kicking off the wall, “just like his little sister, Bishop doesn’t take betrayal well.”

“Betrayal?” Nate growls. “Are you fucking kidding me, B? You can’t seriously be taking his side on this. He is going to be a father. He needs to step the fuck up and let that shit go.”

“Yeah?” I raise my brows, dropping back onto my chair while keeping my eyes locked solely on Nate. “And whose fault is it that he didn’t know until last week?”

“I will stand by her, Bran. Even if he doesn’t this time.” Nate squeezes his eyes closed. “I should have from the start.”

“No one is going to hold it against you for not doing what you should have done in the first place.”

His gaze burns into mine, his jaw flexing. “Fuck you.” He turns and leaves the same way Madison and Bishop did, the second door slamming in a matter of minutes.

“No cap, I’ve always admired you, Bran,” Eli says, and if it wasn’t for the seriousness in his tone, I would have ignored him. He continues, “You’re the only one who keeps us all real.”

“Eli?” I murmur, pulling my phone out of my pocket to open a new text. “Don’t ever say ‘no cap’ again.” He laughs, but I fade him out, opening a new text message. “What are we going to do about The Gentlemen?”

Me: What’s she doing?

“We kill them all,” I say, tapping my phone against my thigh as a text comes through when Bishop walks back into the room.

“See, but we assume it was The Gentlemen who did the shoot-out.”

“Where the fuck is Nate?” Bishop asks, looking around the room.

I open the text.

V: She’s fine. You know I will take care of her.

I do know she will. I trust very few people in this world, but Veronica is one of them. Shutting out of the message, I shake my head at Bishop. “He’s pissed. Caught up in the drama between you and Madison.”

Bishop leans forward, grabbing his Glock off his desk and shoving it into the waistband of his jeans.

“We’ve got to handle this shit so Saint can come back.”

“Why can’t she?” Eli murmurs, standing before we both follow Bishop out the door.

“Because she already got fucking shot at once. I’m not letting it happen again.” We reach the front door, all three of our cars parked out front of Bishop’s temporary house while his home is being built.

I pull my keys out of my pocket. “Where are we going?”

Bishop smirks at me from over his shoulder, walking straight for his Maserati. “Think this trip will make you happy.”

“If it doesn’t involve scraping Gentlemen brain matter off of that pretty fucking grin you’re wearing, I don’t want in.”

Bishop smirks even more. “Oh, then I’ve got you.”

“Bishop,” Madison calls out, shocking all of us.

Bishop turns to face her, his eyes traveling up and down her body slightly. They may be fighting a lot, but we’ve all seen the old Bishop has come back strong. No more recklessness or sadness in his eyes. Now it’s wrath and anger. Bishop works best like this. The beef between him and Mads is good for us. It’s what we need right now, and it’s keeping him distracted enough to not go against our best interest and drag Saint out of The Coven.

I know why he hasn’t. It’s the same reason I haven’t.

Because she’s safe.

And he knows exactly why she’s safe.

“I may not like you right now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need you.”