Chapter 54
CHAPTER 54
NORTH CAROLINA
A dria’s limbs tangled and intertwined with Seth and Kaydon as the three of them collapsed in a pile on her bed.
The butterflies in her stomach were not from regret, but from the piece of her that seemed to click into place when she was with them.
Seth grabbed her foot and started kneading his fingers into its underside. She opened her eyes. Seth was so interesting to her. Against the Romanian family, his blond hair and pale skin stood out. It marked him as an outsider, but he never acted like an interloper. He was completely at home with Kaydon and Bryson.
“How did the three of you get together?” she asked, pushing her foot into his hand.
Seth glanced at Kaydon, whose snoring was hard to ignore.
“My family lived a few miles down the street from the Winters. I thought they ran a dry cleaner,” he said, a smirk growing on his face. “Cause they were always so well dressed and talking about laundry.”
Adria grinned back at him .
“I asked one of them for a job. Started small: deliveries, errands. Didn’t take long before I got the brand.”
She lifted her foot, pressing her big toe gently against the four-knife burn on his chest.
“And by then, you figured out they weren’t a laundromat?” she asked.
Seth laughed softly. “Yeah. I figured that out pretty quick.”
The way he said it pulled at her heart. He was still so young, even now.
“I was fifteen when I got my first assignment with Bryson,” Seth continued, leaning his head against the headboard. “I was nervous. He and Kaydon had so much more experience. I don’t think I said a word the entire time.”
“We thought he was mute,” Kaydon chimed in, suddenly awake.
He reached out, pulling Adria up between them. She settled against his chest, her cheek pressing into warm skin as his large arm wrapped around her. She melted into the comfort of it.
“Okay, so he was mute,” she teased. “Then what?”
“Bryson started noticing bruises on the kid. Wouldn’t shut up about them,” Kaydon said, his voice a low rumble vibrating in her chest.
Seth shifted, but Kaydon reached across her to touch his stomach, grounding him. Adria followed, trailing her fingers down Seth’s arm. He shivered under her touch and leaned into her, soft and small.
“I was so careful,” Seth whispered. “Always changed in private. Told them I was shy.”
A cold knot formed in Adria’s stomach.
“Bryson must’ve known. One day, he just...burst in and saw me.”
“Seth made him promise not to tell me,” Kaydon added .
“And he didn’t,” Seth said, with something like wonder. “I thought for sure he would.”
Adria blinked. It surprised her that Bryson kept something that big from Kaydon.
“He keeps his word,” Kaydon said, as if reading her thoughts.
Seth hesitated, then said, “One night, my father drank too much. Took things too far.”
Kaydon’s arm tightened around her. “He broke your arm.”
“I couldn’t help much with the job after that,” Seth said softly.
“Even though the fucker tried. Broken arm and all,” Kaydon muttered.
Seth smiled faintly. “He jokes now, but back then? He was pissed. Told Bryson he didn’t want to work with me anymore.”
Kaydon propped himself on an elbow. “That’s when Bryson told me. All the bruises. He was…” Kaydon’s voice caught. “He was barely fifteen.”
Seth’s voice dropped to a whisper. “They showed up at my door that night.”
“Damn right we did,” Kaydon said. “I would’ve killed that piece of shit, too.”
Adria looked at him, voice steady. “Why didn’t you?”
Kaydon sighed. “Wasn’t my decision.”
She turned to Seth. His face was a warzone of emotion. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around him, fingers sliding into his hair.
“I get it,” she whispered into his ear. “I was glad when my father died. But I never could’ve pulled the trigger.”
Seth pulled away, wiping his face. “Okay, so that was my cheery little story. Someone else’s turn.”
And with that, he disappeared into the bathroom.
She looked at Kaydon pointedly .
He put his hands behind his head, sprawling out on the bed.
“Not much to tell,” he said.
Adria crawled on top of him. It was crazy how natural it felt.
Straddling him, she squeezed her thighs.
“I could make you tell me,” she teased.
Kaydon groaned.
Adria moved to get off him, her body shifting on the soft fabric of the bed. “Or I could go?”
Before she could separate herself from him, his hands shot out, grabbing her hips.
“Anything but that,” he said, pulling her into him. He nuzzled into her neck, and Adria caught the warm, musky scent of his arousal.
She didn’t move. She let herself enjoy being wrapped in Kaydon’s arms for a moment.
“A few months after Luca died, I was a wreck,” he said quietly. “Car accident. Nothing I could’ve done. But try telling that to a sixteen-year-old whose only job was to keep him alive.”
Adria leaned in, nuzzling his throat. His scent was softer, like vanilla and smoke.
“I started hanging around some...places,” Kaydon continued. “You know. Where guys went to blow off steam.”
Seth crawled back into bed, and Kaydon’s free arm wrapped around him, like muscle memory.
“Two older guys invited me somewhere private. We ended up in an abandoned warehouse.”
Adria tensed, and Kaydon gently ran his fingers through her hair.
“It’s not like that,” he said quickly.
Seth’s voice was sharp. “It is like that. You were seventeen. ”
Adria nodded in agreement, gaze heavy on Kaydon’s profile.
“I wasn’t forced,” Kaydon said, smiling faintly. “But when Bryson showed up? Yeah, he didn’t see it that way.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Knees on the cold concrete, and I felt the guy go from high-noon to limp.”
Kaydon covered his face, his body shaking with laughter. “Dude went from rock hard to marshmallow in seconds. I thought maybe a SWAT team had rolled up. But no—it was Bryson. Fourteen years old, baby-faced menace, and he just spoke. Sent two grown men running.”
Kaydon peeled his arm away and looked at them, something bright and proud in his expression.
“I was mortified. He was my new charge, and I was…yeah. But he just gave me this look .”
“I wish I could’ve seen it,” Seth said, shaking beside her with laughter. “The first time you got the look.”
Adria smiled. “You three are adorable.”
Kaydon’s grin softened. “He’s amazing. You’ll see. He’s just working through stuff right now.”
“Yeah,” Seth added with a snort. “His whole life .”
Adria laughed, warmth rising in her chest. “What happened next?”
Kaydon smirked. “What do you think? He backed me into a wall, whispered filthy things in my ear, and kissed me.”
That tracked. Very Bryson.
Adria sat up, slipping on her robe. “Do you guys see other people?”
Seth didn’t answer, but Kaydon said, “Seth does, sometimes. I…haven’t.”
She froze. That made her the first since Kaydon was sixteen. Her heart clenched at the weight of it.
Sadness rising inside of her, hot and sharp .
“Can I ask you something? Honestly?” she said, facing him.
“Anything.”
“Where should I sell you tomorrow?” Her voice cracked just a little. “I know you’ve thought about it. The safest place.”
Kaydon didn’t hesitate. “Your Mexico contact.”
Seth nodded in agreement.
“No,” Adria said, rubbing her forehead. “Not what helps me . Where is safest for you? You must’ve had a plan—before…” She gestured around the room. “Before all this.”
Kaydon held her gaze, lying through his teeth. “That is the safest place.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t give me that Right Hand bullshit. I already have one.”
He flinched. Her words hitting harder than she intended.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “This is new for me.”
Kaydon grinned, then in one swift movement, scooped her up and tossed her back onto the bed. She squealed, and the lightness of it cracked through the tension like sunlight parting clouds.
Seth pounced next, sandwiching her between them.
“Tell us about you,” Seth said, “Do you date?”
Adria raised a brow. “I thought you didn’t do jealousy?”
Seth picked up the knife from her night stand, and she was surprised at the ease she felt. He took turns pressing the blade end into his palm. “I change my mind all the time.”
Her breath caught.
“No. I don’t date,” she said. “Work. The Nine. Loretta tried to set me up once or twice, but…nothing stuck.”
Loretta .
Pain clamped around her chest, a fist of grief she couldn’t unclench.
Kaydon’s finger brushed her cheek.
“But you do train submissives,” he said.
“Yes,” she whispered. “One or two a year.”
Seth’s voice was sharp. “Do you sleep with all of them?”
“No,” she said quickly.
Looking between them. “This is a first for me.”