Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
ASHER
Hannah has been quiet since breakfast.
We’ve piled a lot on her the last few days, so I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s putting me on edge.
A week ago, my girl was always at ease when I was around. She found comfort in my presence, and every time I walked into a room, I watched as the tension bled from her body.
Now I have the opposite effect, and I fucking hate it.
“She’s going to come around,” Rowan says as he takes a sip of his whiskey. It’s unusual for him to drink before the sun goes down, but I can appreciate his need for something to take the edge off.
Hannah is sitting in an armchair in the library, her laptop perched on the arm. This is her third spot in the last hour, and I can’t imagine the plug in her ass is helping matters.
But she hasn’t asked to have it removed yet, and I’m far too satisfied with the knowledge that every time she moves, she has a reminder of what we did to her this morning.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.” He leans forward, his eyes dragging over her bare legs before they flick to the thermostat on the other side of the room.
I smirk. Rowan was a good dad, the best, but I wouldn’t have ever considered him nurturing. He raised a man who could take care of himself, and that didn’t always leave room for softness.
But the way he is with Hannah makes the heart I spent years tamping down warm.
It’s unwise to have a soft heart when you grow up a criminal, but we can finally allow ourselves to be soft for her.
Outside these walls, we’re ruthless killers, but inside? Inside, we’re her safe space.
“She knows better than to do something to put herself in danger. Knowing what her grandfather did and why will make staying here preferable, and by the time it’s safe for her to leave, she’ll depend on us too much.”
I roll my eyes and sigh. He’s giving us far too much credit. “And if things don’t go so easily?”
Rowan finally drags his attention off Hannah to look at me, his shoulders free of their usual tightness.
This is one of the few times I’ve ever seen him look so relaxed, and I know it’s because he has everyone he cares about under this roof.
“She already depends on you. You two were seeing each other for a week, and she was already leaning on you to help her make decisions. It comes naturally to her, even if she’s never had safe places before. ”
He’s right. Hannah and I fell into the most comfortable routine of my life within weeks. We spent almost every night together, not because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, but because it came naturally.
It stands to reason that we’ll have that kind of ease now, even with the added complications.
Her eyes flick up and meet mine, but I don’t bother looking away. She already knows I’m obsessed with her. Why try to hide it now?
“Are you two just going to sit there and watch me all day?” she snaps.
“Yep.” Rowan leans back in his seat and takes another sip of whiskey.
She rolls her eyes, but the pink that spreads across her cheeks is all I need to know about how affected she is by us.
She can sass us all she likes, but that doesn’t change how much her body craves us.
“I can’t focus with you creeps watching my every move.”
I bark out a laugh. “Creeps, huh?”
“If the shoe fits.” She shrugs.
This fucking woman.
“Got a lot of sass for a sub with a plugged ass and a punishment owing.”
Her eyes widen, lips parting slightly in surprise. I like this side of her far more than I thought I would. Apparently, I don’t mind a bit of brat with my sub.
“I don’t have any punishment owed.” She finally finds her words, her brows dipping in frustration.
“Don’t you?” I tilt my head.
“No, you said the plug was it.”
“Hmm.” I nod, brushing my fingers over my chin as if I’m thinking deeply about her point. “Perhaps that’s enough to make up for one of your infractions, but you’ve racked them up so quickly, you’re going to be sitting on a red ass for weeks.”
“Went on a date with another man without telling you,” Rowan provides helpfully.
I hold a finger up to keep a tally. “Put yourself in danger by not telling anyone where you were or who you were with.”
Another finger.
“Hey! That’s the same thing!”
“Who makes the rules around here, Little Doe?” I challenge.
She huffs out a frustrated breath and crosses her arms across her chest in defiance.
“Talking back to her Doms,” Rowan says.
Hannah’s glare cuts to him. “You’re not my Dom. Hell, Asher hasn’t collared me, so if you want to get real technical, neither of you are.”
I’m out of my seat before I can think through the movement. As fun as it is to toy with her, I’m not going to fuck around when it comes to something as serious as my claim on her.
Hannah is mine.
I prowl toward her like an animal stalking its prey, and she wisely closes her laptop, carefully placing it on the table beside her.
Dropping my hands to the arms of the chair, I lean in until our faces are so close I can almost taste her.
“Come again, Hannah,” I say roughly.
Her eyes widen at the tone of my voice, her breathing coming in short pants. “I’m not yours or anyone else’s sub until I’ve been collared,” she whispers.
“We can change that right now if you’d like, Little Doe. Just say the word, and I’ll get the collar that’s been burning a hole in my drawer since our first scene.”
Her lips part on a silent gasp. How does she not realize how fucking gone I am for her?
“Is that what you want, Hannah?”
The shake of her head is jerky, but it only pushes my amusement higher.
“Liar.”
“I’m not lying.” But even her voice trembles.
Our girl is good at a lot of things, but lying isn’t one of them.
“Yeah, you are,” I murmur, bracketing her throat with my hand and squeezing just enough that her pupils dilate. “But that’s okay. I’d rather collar you once you’ve had time to come to terms with both of us.”
“You say that like it’s a foregone conclusion.”
“That’s because it is.” I smirk. “Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter how hard you try to run from us, how much you try to push us away, we’re always going to come right back again. Do you know why?”
She shakes her head.
“Because you’re ours, Little Doe. And nothing, and no one, can change that.”