Chapter 28
North watched as Jared grabbed some blankets from the cupboard and laid them out on the couches in the media room. There were bowls of chips and popcorn.
There was also soda, juice, and water.
Not to mention the pizza sitting on the coffee table.
Angie had gone to her room to put some more comfortable clothes on.
“Fuck, I hated hearing her scream like that.” Jared straightened and stared right at North. “I know I’m a monster and I don’t have a problem with anyone else seeing me that way.”
Yeah, North understood that. It was what had attracted him to Jared. Sure, he’d secretly forced his way into Jared’s life. But he hadn’t been forced to fall for him.
To want him.
Jared’s monster called to his own. Jared kept his monster on a tight rein, hidden underneath layers of civility and reasonableness, only surfacing when truly necessary.
Whereas North lived with his monster just below the surface. Always there. Always ready to strike when needed.
Every time he looked in the mirror, his monster looked back at him, waiting for North to loosen the reins.
But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t let him loose.
Then he would become a true demon. And he didn’t know how far he would go or who he would harm.
“But I can’t stand for her to see me like that. While she’s strong in a lot of ways, she’s fragile in others. The way she looked at me earlier . . . like I was going to hurt her. And then when she bent over and her top rode up to reveal her back . . . did you see them?”
The scars.
Yeah, he’d seen the fucking scars and they had made him feel murderous.
That fucker, Fergus.
North didn’t regret a lot in life. But he deeply regretted not taking that fucker out straight away.
He’d have made it nice and painful.
Oh well, he might get another chance to inflict pain when he met that monster in hell.
“I did. They were impossible to miss.”
“He did that to her,” Jared said starkly.
“I know.”
Jared strode over, his desire and hunger in his face as he cupped a hand around the front of North’s throat, pushing him back until he hit the wall. Then his hand tightened on North’s throat, restricting his breathing
Fuck, that was hot.
She was meant to be stay here with Jared, taking care of him after North left for good.
All of his fucking work was unraveling. Because she couldn’t handle a small kidnapping without falling apart.
And North couldn’t explain his full reasoning for taking her.
Not without telling Jared everything.
Which would be signing his own his death warrant. Although being killed by Jared wasn’t the worst way to go.
However, then he wouldn’t be around to protect him.
And North could also be selfish. He wanted as much time with Jared as possible.
Jared let his neck go and he gulped in a few deep breaths while trying to pretend he was unaffected.
“Have you changed your mind about convincing her to stay?” North asked.
Didn’t Jared know that he it was rude to return a gift?
“I should. But I am inherently possessive and selfish, as you well know.”
Possessive, yes.
Selfish, he wasn’t sure he’d agree.
“My plan might fail. But even if she still decides to go, I want one night when I get to pretend that she’s mine. Ours.” Jared’s other hand was gentle as he brushed his finger down North’s cheek. In complete juxtaposition to the firmness of his hand around North’s neck. Which tightened again.
North’s cock was so hard and throbbing that he really thought he was doing himself some damage.
Jared still hadn’t let him come.
And North was being good. Because he knew he deserved the punishment. And he kind of liked it as well.
“You’ll help, won’t you, North?” he murmured. “You’re going to stay right here and be a good boy for me.”
Fuck. He would stay.
Because he wanted this too.
“Oh um, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
North glanced over to find Angie standing in the doorway. She was dressed in a pair of white pajamas with red stripes and hearts on them. And the buttons were also little red hearts.
They were ones that he’d bought for her. He had no idea why he’d bought something so . . . cute. But when he’d seen them online, he’d known that she would like them.
Perhaps he needed an MRI. Maybe there was something growing in his brain. Something that gave him these weird feelings.
“You aren’t interrupting anything,” Jared said, slowly letting go of him. He didn’t rush away immediately. Instead, his gaze watched North carefully.
Gauging. Evaluating.
“Um, it sure seems like I am. I don’t want you guys to stop.
I mean, I’ll obviously leave, unless you don’t want me to leave, I’m perfectly happy with watching.
Oh my God, I can’t believe I just said that I was happy to watch the two of you do .
. . whatever it was that the two of you were about to do.
” She covered up her cheeks with her hands and started to back out of the doorway.
Oh no, she didn’t.
“Angie, get in here. Now,” he ordered.
Angie froze at North’s words.
Um, she’d expect an order like that from Jared, but not North. Did he really want her to come into the room or was he just saying that?
Fuck.
She hated feeling like this. She’d always felt unwanted. Like a third wheel.
As if no one wanted her.
As if no one could ever love someone like her.
They’d looked like they’d been in a very intimate position just now. A rather scary one.
Well, scary and hot.
“Umm,” she said as Jared turned to face her, raising an eyebrow challengingly.
“Do what North says, baby,” he told her in a low, dark voice. He sounded aroused.
Well, she guessed he would be turned on after what he and North were just doing. At least she thought it was sexy, rather than him actually wanting to strangle the other man.
Not that she’d blame Jared if he wanted to do that.
She’d dreamed of strangling North a time or two herself.
Ahh, good dreams.
“Unless you’ve changed your mind and don’t want to spend some time with us,” North added.
Jared moved toward her, holding out his hand. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. But we would like to spend some time with you.”
Jeez. How could she refuse?
Walking forward, she slipped her hand into Jared’s. It was warm and callused. Far larger than her tiny hand.
She sucked in a breath as he led her to the sofa where someone had laid out blankets. There was also food and drinks.
North took an armchair next to the sofa and Jared shot him a look that she couldn’t quite decipher. Did he want North next to him? There was plenty of room on the large sofa, but maybe North didn’t want to sit next to her.
“I can sit on the armchair if you two want to sit together,” she offered, trying to pull her hand from Jared’s.
“No,” Jared said, positioning her in the middle of the sofa. “This is where you sit. North should sit on your other side.”
“North should sit where he wants to sit,” Angie countered, turning to glare at Jared.
He gave her that look again. The one that she thought was part-amused, part-stern.
And all hot.
Really?
Suddenly, North moved to sit next to her. Although he didn’t get under the blanket like she and Jared did.
Turning his head, he stared down his nose at her. “I can fight my own fights.”
She threw up her hands in exasperation. “Sorry for trying to be nice.”
“Don’t be.”
“What? Sorry or nice?” she asked him.
He shot her a look. “Either.”
Jared reached forward and picked up a pizza box, opening it. Her mouth watered at the smell.
Yum.
Her stomach growled.
“Take some,” Jared urged.
She picked up a piece. She really should have eaten lunch because now she was so hungry that her stomach hurt.
Taking a deep bite she groaned as the melted cheese and pepperoni hit her tastebuds. And then she inhaled the piece until it was gone and she was licking her lips in satisfaction.
Although her stomach didn’t appreciate her eating that so quickly.
Next to her, Jared shifted position, placing his arm over the back of the sofa as he stared down at her. She turned to see that North was staring down at her as well.
“What?” she asked, her face heating. “I was hungry.”
“No more skipping meals,” Jared ordered. “You can’t afford to lose any more weight.”
Angie sighed. “I’m fine. It was just one meal. When I lived with my father, I’d often only eat once a day. And that was if Keira and I managed to steal some money from his wallet.”
“Wish that fucker was still alive,” North said weirdly.
“Did anyone ever treat you well?” Jared said. “Before Fergus died, I mean.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it. That was a good question.
“Keira. I think she was the only person to ever truly care about me. About whether I lived or died. When our parents would get into a huge argument, I used to climb into bed with her and she’d hold me tight.
Sometimes, she’d whisper stories to me to try and distract me from what was going on.
And then her mom overdosed and she was sent to live with her father.
Then just before I turned eighteen, my father woke me up one night and dragged me through our dingy apartment and into the nicest car I’d ever been in, not that I’d been in many.
He held my arm in a tight grip all the way to your father’s mansion. ”
“He was no father of mine,” Jared told her.
She nodded, understanding that sentiment. She’d never had a proper father. He’d never once tried to protect or keep her safe.
Strangely, right here, sandwiched between these two men, was the safest she’d felt in as long as she could remember. Maybe because she knew they could both take care of themselves.
And her.
Jared turned on a movie. She winced as she saw it was some sort of drama.
She was an action or a comedy type of girl when it came to movies. She didn’t want to watch anything sad. She had enough crap going on in real life that she’d rather have something to laugh at or something completely unrealistic to make fun of.
“What’s wrong?” North asked. “Have you seen this?”
“Ah, no, I don’t usually watch these types of movies.”
“These types?” Jared asked.
“Yeah, sad and depressing ones. Oh no, there’s a dog. I can’t handle it. Something is going to happen to the dog.”
“Why do you think that?” North asked
“Because something always happens to the dog. It’s like they want this big cinematic moment so they kill off the dog. It’s not cool.”
“All right, let’s watch something else,” Jared said, sounding amused.
“Oh, no, I’m fine. If you guys want to watch this, it’s no problem for me.”
“Don’t do that,” North told her.
“What?” she asked, turning to stare at him in shock. “What do you mean?”
“Pretending to want to do something because you think it’s what someone else wants. Don’t do that.”
“I was just being polite.”
“I don’t like polite. I like real.”
That was obvious.
“Although most people would prefer to be around the fake me rather than experience the real North.”
“I’d rather have the real person.”
He studied her for a long moment. “Don’t say anything you’re not sure of.”
“I’ve been around you now for six days and I can tell you that I would definitely rather deal with real North.
Even if it means that I can’t always read you, I much prefer the truth.
I don’t like lies or subterfuge. It feels like trickery.
Why should we have to be someone we’re not just to appease other people, you know?
Women are told all the time to smile, to not look so sad or get so angry or be so irritated.
Smile and pretend everything is okay. But it’s not always okay.
And a smile doesn’t change that. So I think it’s good that you can be who you really are.
You shouldn’t smile unless you want to. Or be happy or friendly unless that’s what you feel.
Maybe you’re the person who is right and all the rest of us are wrong. ”
North just nodded, his head turning back to the large screen. “So, choose a movie.”
Jared placed the remote in her hand and sent her a wink. She wasn’t sure why, but she shrugged and settled in.