Chapter 27
Angie couldn’t sleep.
Urgh. She felt guilty for being here.
Correction: She felt guilty for not hating being here.
She walked down the stairs. Perhaps she should be spending her nights trying to find a way out of here.
As she moved along the hallway, she heard a noise. A door ahead of her was partially open and she peeked through.
Hey, it was Jared’s office.
Just as she’d thought.
All right, all right, she’d thought that was a few doors down. But she was close.
Then her brain caught up with what her eyes were seeing. North was bent over a desk while Jared was pushing his dick into the other man’s ass.
Oh. My. God.
That might be the hottest thing she’d ever seen.
“Why are you in trouble, boy?”
“For taking her without permission.”
“And what else?”
“Lying to you. Keeping it from you. Keeping her locked up and maybe hurting her mental health.”
Shock held her immobile.
Jared was upset with North for locking her up?
“Her life with Fergus was hell. I should have helped her.” As Jared spoke, he kept moving. She wished she could see his cock.
Whoa. Where had that come from?
“Your hands were tied. He’d have killed you.”
“Sometimes, I think that I would have been better off.”
“Don’t say that!” North tried to rear up but Jared pinned him to the desk with his hand on the back of his neck.
“Don’t you move,” Jared snarled.
“I know I shouldn’t have locked her up. Or kept her presence from you. But I won’t apologize for taking her. It’s what you both need. Each other.”
Jared didn’t reply. Instead he slammed into North’s ass until he came with a groan. Then he drew out, grabbing the other man and turning him so he could kiss him.
Savagely.
Hotly.
Her body stirred, desire throbbing through her.
She decided to leave before they noticed her. As she snuck away, her mind was reeling from what she’d just seen and heard.
Angie headed back to her bedroom, only getting lost twice.
Yay her!
Lying back on the bed, she slid her hand down under the waistband of her pajamas and panties.
Her pussy was wet. Her clit throbbed.
Maybe she’d finally be able to come.
Maybe this was it.
But as she started touching herself, as her arousal grew, Fergus’s face filled her mind.
Fergus sneering down at her.
Fergus hurting her.
And it was an instant block, her arousal disappearing.
Her hand slid away as a cry of despair escaped her lips. She heaved for breath.
Was she ever going to be normal?
Jared sipped on his Scotch as he stared out the window of his office.
Yes, he had work to do. He couldn’t afford to sit here and do nothing.
But he couldn’t seem to make himself care about anything but her and North.
The three of them.
Impossible. It would never work.
He’d bought himself some time by refusing to let her call Zander. He’d scrambled for ridiculous excuses. However, he’d just delayed the inevitable because he knew what he had to do.
Send her back.
Because he couldn’t keep her safe. He couldn’t make the three of them work. And he couldn’t force her to want them.
“Drinking Scotch before five isn’t a good sign,” North said as he walked into the office, closing the door behind him.
“What happened to knocking?” Jared asked.
“I knew you were in here alone. I am your secretary, after all.”
Jared eyed him. “Assistant. And we both know you’re more than that.”
“We know that. No one else does.”
Was he upset over that? Jared frowned. “That’s to keep you safe.”
“Jared, we both know I can take care of myself. I don’t need your protection.”
Jared knew he was right . . . so why did he keep insisting on their relationship being a secret?
Was it because of how the family would see him?
Who gave a fuck about them?
“You’re right. We should stop keeping it a secret. And you shouldn’t have to be someone you’re not.”
Because assistant North was very different from real North.
North stared at him, blinking. That was a big reaction from him. He obviously hadn’t expected Jared to say that.
“You want to come out?”
Jared’s lips twitched at the wording. “I do.”
“Not sure that’s wise. The family—”
“Can get fucked,” Jared growled. “I don’t give a fuck about any of them except Tabby. And we know that Tabby will be happy for us.”
North nodded slowly. “And what about Angie?”
“She has to go back, North. I know you thought it was what I would want. But it’s not what is best for her. And I still don’t understand why you’d do it after all this time.”
North shrugged. “Guilt?”
“Why would you feel guilty?” Jared asked.
“I helped her leave.”
“What?” Had Jared heard that right?
“I helped her leave that night after Fergus died. I went and found her. Gave her some money. And told her to go. And you’ve wanted her ever since. I denied you that. I’ve watched you think about her, watched you hold onto that soft toy of hers. So I finally decided to do something about it.”
Fuck.
That wasn’t what he was expecting.
“You helped her leave? You knew I wanted to talk to her.”
“I did.” North nodded. “And I still helped her leave.”
“Why?” Jared asked.
“I’m still not sure. Maybe because I knew you were slightly obsessed with her. And I wanted her out of the picture. I wanted your attention on taking over the family and on me. Nothing else.”
“Fuck. Fuck.” Jared swallowed back his drink and then poured himself more.
He didn’t offer North any. The other man didn’t drink.
“I should punish you for that. For going against my back. For lying to me. For keeping her from me.”
He should. But it was so long ago and a part of him acknowledged that North had probably done the right thing.
“It was likely for the best she left then,” he said. “But you should have told me.”
“I should have.”
Jared took another sip of his Scotch. “I failed all of them. I would have failed her too.”
“For fuck’s sake, Jared,” North burst out. “You didn’t fail anyone.”
Wow.
He didn’t think he’d seen North show this much anger.
“Do you remember that they all died?” Jared said. “They were under my protection. That was on me.”
“All of them knew the risks of living with us. Of working for you. They all chose to stay because you took care of them. Because their lives would have been a hundred times worse outside of the compound. You didn’t know that Beltran knew the location of the compound. That one of the guards sold us out.”
That fucker.
Watson.
They’d found him and made sure that he’d died very slowly and painfully. But it hadn’t eradicated Jared’s feelings of guilt.
He couldn’t put anyone else he cared about at risk. North could take care of himself and Jared had been unable to push him away. Even to keep him safe.
But he couldn’t keep Angie.
“It was Watson’s fault. It was Betran’s fault. It wasn’t yours,” North told him.
“I should have been there.”
“Why? So we could have died too?” North asked.
“What would that have achieved? Do you really think that anyone who died that day would have wanted you to die too? That they’d want you to take on all of the guilt rather than the people really at fault?
How long are you going to try and atone for their deaths, Jared?
How long will you live a miserable, cold existence? ”
“Is that what we’re doing? Living a miserable, cold existence?” he asked.
“Well, it’s certainly not sunshine and rainbows.”
Jared sighed as he thought that through. North wasn’t wrong. None of the people who’d died that day would have blamed him.
“Not sure I’d call Angie sunshine and rainbows,” Jared commented. She was as broken as they were.
North shrugged.
“And you want that too? Sunshine and rainbows?” Jared asked.
North gave him a wary look. “I didn’t say that. I brought her here for you.”
“And what would you say if I agreed to keep her only if we were all in a relationship? Together.”
“I’m not part of this.”
“Actually, North, you are. You are mine. If you want her to be mine then she has to be yours, too. I’m not having a relationship with Angie separate from our relationship.”
“I don’t want her.”
“Don’t try and lie to me. You’re already in trouble for that. You talk to her. You touch her. You look at her when you think no one is watching. I know you feel something even though you’ll deny it. All or nothing.”
“So you’ll agree to keep her if I agree to be in a relationship with her?”
“No,” Jared said. “If you want this relationship, then we work on ensuring she wants it too. I’m not my father. I’m not going to force her to stay. That would mean nothing.”
North’s jaw went tight. “So if I agree and so does she, you’ll stop trying to live your life atoning for the past and you’ll start looking to the future.”
Was it time to do that? Was it right?
Yeah. He felt like it was.
“Yeah. I will.”
“Fine. I’m in.”
There was a part of North that felt relieved. This is what he’d been working toward. Getting Jared to open up to a relationship with her.
To finally let go of all that fucking guilt.
He also wondered what he’d just agreed to. He could tell himself that he was just saying yes to get Jared to make his move on her.
However, he knew that was a lie.
Because Jared was right. There was a part of him that was interested in her.
And he fucking hated that.
“Let’s get this—” A scream interrupted Jared and he stood at the same time as North.
“That’s Angie,” Jared said before they raced toward the door.
What the fuck? Had someone gotten in here? Were they hurting her?
If so, he was going to make sure that they never breathed the same air as her again.
Angie yelled as pain wracked her body.
“That’s it, scream, you slut. No one can hear you. Is that why you were trying to leave? Because you wanted someone else to fuck? Am I not enough for you?”
“No, no, no!” she cried.
“I can’t hear you, slut. Now, I’m going to have to teach you a lesson for disobeying me. And it’s going to hurt.”
He smiled.
And she screamed again.
“Angie! Angie, wake up.”
Angie let out a startled cry and sat up suddenly, banging her forehead into something hard.