Pay the Price: A Dark New Adult Romance

27. Daisy

Isat in the window seat and rested my chin on my knees, watching the shadowed figures sitting at the edge of the cliff. The moon was half-full, casting just enough light for me to make out their backs and their occasional movement when they shifted.

Only the Beasts would sit in the dark at the edge of the sheer cliff that dropped into the pool of water far below. They were unpredictable, reckless, dangerous.

And I wanted them all.

Denying that would have been stupid after fucking Wolf and Otis. After what had happened between Jace and me in the hall after my shower. I could still feel his fingers inside me, the stroke of his thumb on my clit, the sting of my pinched nipple in his fingers.

Then he’d spun me around and pulled down my underwear, and the truth was, I’d been so desperate for him to fuck me that I would have done or said anything to make it happen.

Even Otis standing there hadn’t been a deal-breaker. It was Jace who’d stepped away, who’d made it clear the whole thing had been just another one of his games, one he’d been all too happy to walk away from while I still burned for him.

I don’t think you’re a good girl at all.

Clearly he was right. Other than my one rebellion of going to community college instead of an Ivy, I’d spent the last twenty years following the rules: doing my homework, eating the food my dad ordered Joan to make, wearing clothes that were appropriately modest, playing the part of Charles Hammond’s daughter.

Jace’s stupid game — and the things he did to my body — had forced me out of the box I’d been stuffed into by my dad, and now I couldn’t help wondering if my mom had felt the same way.

Had she longed to escape the confines of my dad’s life? Had she ever thought about escaping to the house at the top of the falls, starting over, being herself instead of a paper doll for my dad to dress and manipulate?

Was that why she’d left me the house? Had she known I was like her? That I would need an emergency exit from my dad’s dollhouse someday?

I looked across the back patio where Otis had marked off a place for the future pool, hot tub, and patio, past the expanse of lawn that led to the falls. The Beasts were talking about something out there, something that had to do with me, and I knew it had to do with me because they’d gone outside.

They didn’t want me to overhear their conversation, which meant they were probably talking about my dad, about what he’d done, to me and to other girls.

I felt sick thinking about it. Punishing me for not following his rules was one thing, but stealing innocent girls, selling them?

It was beyond sick.

And the worst part was, he did it for fun. He and Blake both.

They hadn’t needed money. They’d just wanted to hurt those girls.

To hurt me.

Control me.

The Beasts stood and started back for the house. I didn’t know what they’d talked about, what they’d decided, but sometime over the past few hours, my sadness and disbelief had hardened into resolve.

I wasn’t going to be a paper doll for my dad to manipulate, and I wasn’t going to be a princess in a tower while the Beasts slayed my dragon either.

I stood and headed for the hall. By the time I reached the kitchen, the Beasts were opening the door from the terrace and stepping into the house.

Their conversation stopped short when they saw me, standing in shorts and a tank top. Their heated gazes raked my bare legs and braless tits, but I was beyond feeling self-conscious. It was time to bury the Daisy Hammond who was afraid of what she wanted, who was ashamed of what she wanted.

Who let everyone shield her from the truth.

I stared at them. “Whatever you’re doing, I want in.”