CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ava
D ressed in a fresh oversized T-shirt and nothing else, not even underwear, I kneel on the floor in the main-level apartment. I’d only seen the basement. I knew the others were living up here, partying, getting laid, watching sports, and drinking while I rotted one floor below for weeks.
With two guns pointed at my head, the urge to kill has subsided, and my rational brain argues that these guys came to rescue me. Only, they’ll drag me into another prison.
A cage called marriage.
“What’s your name?” I ask the man who says I have to marry him.
The man I slept with seven years ago, but I never knew his name.
After a moment, he says, “Griffin Quinlan. I’d shake your hand but I’m afraid you’ll bite mine off.”
“Smart,” I say, the last bits of my adrenaline kicking in.
Griffin folds his arms and looks behind him. “These are my brothers. Connor and Shane.”
“Nice to meet you guys,” I say sugary sweet to the men in dark suits like Griffin. “There’s been a mix-up. My name is Hadleigh.”
Griffin rolls his eyes at me. “Nice try.”
“What do we do with her? We have Trace’s wedding,” the one who I think is Shane says to Griffin.
Our eyes lock, and the memory of me tying him up to have my way with him rings out in my mind. The way his jaw jumps, I think it hits him, too.
“She’s coming with us.” Griffin turns away, knotting a tie.
“No, I’m not going with you.” I smile at the other brother pointing a gun at me. “Connor, is it?”
“Aye, lass. What can I do for you?” He’s just as handsome as Griffin, in a more lean and lethal kind of way.
“Can you get me a glass of water?” I ask him.
Griffin stands in front of Connor. “He’s not getting you a glass of water.”
“Here.” Shane hands me a plastic bottle.
When I swing at him, he drops it. Hearing a gun’s hammer click, I refrain from attacking him. I drink the entire bottle in nearly one primal gulp, droplets spilling down my chin.
When the bottle is empty, I throw it at Griffin’s head. “I want to go home.”
“After.” He mockingly rubs his head. “Ouch.”
“After what?” I snap.
“After the wedding.”
“ Our wedding ?”
“No,” he says, but I think I put an idea in his head. “My enforcer is getting married.”
“Cool.” My voice turns upward. “There will be steak knives and champagne glasses I can break to use as weapons. Let’s go.”
“ We’re going to the wedding,” Griffin corrects. “Not you.”
“Just dropping me off at my brother’s?” I glance around for effect. “Cool. Gives me time to escape.”
“No. There’s a ton Ares and I have to talk about. You’re staying with me until then.”
Then what? The words die in my throat when Griffin shows me rope.
I fall back and scramble to get away from him. “No. Come on.”
“We planned to storm this place at nine a.m. Rescue you, bring you back to your brother, and then go to our cousin’s wedding,” Griffin says, twisting the rope in his hand. “We did not anticipate walking into a bloodbath orchestrated by you. Or that you’d be the woman I banged seven years ago.”
“Uh, what?” Shane asks.
“ He he ,” I snicker, already figuring out how to divide and conquer these guys.
And they’re brothers, which means all I have to do is flirt with one of them and Griffin will lose his mind. I’ve seen women use my brothers against each other to make them jealous.
Knuckle-dragging alphas fall for it every time.
“I’ll explain later,” Griffin sneers at Shane. “Give me your hands, Ava .”
“No.”
“I didn’t want to do this.” Griffin grunts and goes into a canvas bag sitting on a table. From it, he takes out a plastic syringe filled with liquid and stalks toward me with it.
“What the hell?” I try to get to my feet, but my legs give out.
“It’s a sedative.” Griffin grabs me by the scruff of the neck and sticks the thing in my mouth as something sweet slides down my throat.
The room starts to spin and everything goes black.