Page 57 of Phantom Flower

He had Enzo’s right hand pinned flat to the armrest with a belt, pliers in his bloody fingers, working the fingernails off one slow rip at a time. Every time another nail came free, there was that wet sound. Ilya’s eyes were wide and bright.

“Look at that,” Ilya said, voice giddy as he held up the bloody nail between the pliers.

Enzo’s head jerked, spit and blood flying. His voice cracked. “Please, god, please! I told you everything! I don’t know anything else, I swear—”

I sat on an overturned crate ten feet away, phone in my hand, thumb refreshing the same empty chat for what felt like the hundredth time. I had sent the last message hours ago.

Ilya yanked another nail free. Enzo howled.

“Put something in his mouth,” I said, voice flat. “If I have to hear his annoying voice again, I’ll put a bullet in his head before you can finish.”

Ilya made a dramatic pout but grabbed a filthy rag off the floor, wadded it up, and shoved it between Enzo’s teeth. He wrapped duct tape around his head twice to hold it in place, still humming under his breath. He was so happy to torture people. I thought it was his favorite thing in the world.

From the shadows near the loading dock door, Alexei had been leaning against the wall the whole time, arms crossed, looking bored.

“You’ve been pissy today,” he said, eyes flicking from my phone to my face. “Your lover not answering?”

I did not look up. Lover was too clean a word for whatever the fuck Rei and I were. Technically we were not anything official. But ever since that night in the woods, I had decided he was mine.

“He’s not my lover,” I muttered.

“Sure,” Alexei said. He pulled a fresh cigarette from the pack but did not light it. Just rolled it between his fingers.

Ilya giggled from the chair without looking up, twisting the last fingernail free with a wet pop. “Poor Dimitri. Want me to carve a heart in this guy’s chest for you? Make it romantic?”

“Shut the fuck up, Ilya,” I said.

Alexei ignored him. He lit the cigarette and exhaled smoke toward the ceiling. He looked like he was about to say something, but I cut him off before he even started.

“Spare me the speech.”

Alexei studied me for a long second, cigarette burning between his fingers. He nodded.

Then he pulled his own phone out of his pocket. His mouth tightened into a hard line. He muttered something under his breath, sounded like “fuck,” and thumbed the screen off.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He killed the cigarette against the sole of his boot and dropped it. “I have to go.”

“Where?”

He was already walking toward the side door. “Doesn’t matter. Handle the rest of this. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Alexei—”

My phone vibrated with a notification. I had alerts set for every time Rei was tagged or posted anything. I opened it immediately.

A carousel of photos from a house party showed up on my screen. The first few were wide shots of a living room packed with people, red cups everywhere, someone doing a keg stand in the background while others laughed. Random faces I did not know. Then a closer one: Marco, Rei’s friend, with his arm around some girl, her mouth on his neck. I swiped again.

Rei.

He was sitting on the arm of a couch in the background of the shot, drink in one hand, looking off to the side like he was half-listening to something. He looked good. Too fucking good.

Next swipe.

Same party, different angle, probably taken a few minutes later. Rei was still on the couch, but now there was a guy standing a few feet away, leaning against the wall. His eyes were locked on Rei. He was not just looking. He was staring like he wanted to fuck him.

My blood went hot.