Chapter 17
Willow
“She’s gonna have a nasty bruise on her cheek, and her lip will throb for a few days, but otherwise, she’s fine.”
I jolt upright at the unfamiliar male voice and come face to face with a complete stranger. My surroundings slowly start to penetrate the grogginess hovering over my brain, and I open my mouth to scream.
“You’re fine, Princess.”
Slamming my mouth closed, I whirl toward the voice and see Hades standing across the room with a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair is wet, and water droplets cling to his chest.
“W-where are we?” I finally find the presence of mind to ask.
“At my place,” he says, drying himself off and tossing the towel into a hamper in the corner. He strides naked to a dresser and yanks open a drawer to pull out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Then he lifts a pair of sweats and a hoodie and brings them to me. “Here, you can wear these for now.”
I drop my eyes and realize I’m naked. Granted, I’m covered with a blanket, but that’s not much comfort at the moment.
“Um, thanks.”
“Pres, I’m gonna head on over to the clubhouse if you don’t need me for anything more,” the other man in the room says.
“Thanks, Stitch. I’ll see you over there in a bit.”
Once Hades and I are alone, I clutch the blanket to my chest, refusing to let go to dress.
“What is happening?”
Hades stalks toward me, his eyes never leaving mine, and makes no move to get dressed himself. I suck in a breath when his knees hit the edge of the bed I’m on.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asks as he straddles me, forcing me to scoot back until I hit the headboard.
I swallow, and I swear my throat bobs so hard that it echoes in the room. “Uh… well…” I shake my head. “N-no, it’s not obvious.”
He slides his fingertips down my cheek and over my lips. His touch is featherlight, and goosebumps rise over my flesh.
What. Is. Happening?
After what feels like a lifetime, he pushes to his feet and pulls his shirt over his head. “I saved you from being gang raped, brought you back to my lair, and now I’m going to have my wicked way with you.”
Memories slam into me, one after another: Meeting Hades for the first time, threatening to walk out on our interview, a riot in the prison, dirty hands dragging me away from him, my clothes being ripped from my body, Hades watching another inmate force me to—
Forgetting that I’m still nude, I jump to my feet and scramble left, then right. “Bathroom,” I manage to push out.
Hades grabs my hand and guides me through an open door into an attached bath. I drop to my knees in front of the toilet just in time to vomit. My hair is swept out of my face, and he rubs soothing circles over my bare back.
“That’s it, Willow,” he croons. “Get it all out.”
My stomach cramps when there’s nothing left. I vaguely remember puking right after that guy did… what he did, and I haven’t eaten much since yesterday, so I’m surprised there was anything left in me to begin with.
I slump back against his chest when I’m done, and he hisses in a breath. Thinking I’ve hurt him, I try to sit up, but he holds me tight.
“Stay,” he whispers. “Just ignore the log pressing into your back.”
At the mention of it, I immediately become aware of his erection. My brain screams at me to move away while my soul shouts for me to stay.
So much time passes with us sitting on the bathroom floor that I’m startled when a bang comes from Hades’ bedroom. He quickly stands and helps me to my feet just in time for a young woman to come barreling into the bathroom.
She launches herself at him, and he catches her in a hug with one arm while he keeps the other around my waist to steady me.
“You’re here,” she cries. “You’re really, really here.”
“I’m here,” he confirms with a laugh.
When he releases her, she makes no move to step away, and jealousy hits me like a freight train at the obvious connection between the two.
“You’re staying, right?” she asks.
“That’s the plan.”
“Fuck, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she demands, no heat in her tone.
“I didn’t want you to be disappointed if I couldn’t get here.”
Finally, fucking finally, she steps back, and darts her gaze from Hades to me. “Who are you?” she asks.
“Shit,” Hades mutters. “Evie, this is Willow. Willow, this is Evie.”
“She’s naked,” Evie comments dryly.
Thoroughly embarrassed and still ridiculously jealous, I push between them and run to dive under the blanket on the bed. I pull it over my head as if that’ll make me invisible to them.
“Jesus, Evie,” Hades gripes, and his voice gets close.
“What?” she whines. “She is!”
“But did you have to point it out?”
“Kinda, yeah. I mean, you’ve been in prison for twelve years, ten of which I thought you were gonna fucking die there.
Then all of a sudden, you’re here, with a chick, and she’s in her damn birthday suit.
” The mattress dips slightly, and I can tell it’s Evie who sat on the bed based on the weight.
“Not exactly something I’m gonna ignore, Craig. ”
“You’re a pain in my ass, Munchkin,” he complains. “You know that, right?”
“Isn’t that kinda my job as your little sister?”
Without thinking, I sit up. “Sister?” I ask, my eyes shifting from Hades to Evie and back again.
Both of them stare at me for a moment before bursting into laughter. When he settles, Hades sits and shifts me onto his lap like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Were you jealous, Princess?”
“What? No.”
“She’s lying,” Evie says, and when I glare at her, she lifts her hands in surrender. “Just telling it like it is.”
Hades leans over the edge of the bed to pick up the discarded clothes he gave me before I had to expel my insides like an exorcism and hands them to me. “Here, put this on.”
I quickly dress while he holds the blanket up to give me a little privacy, not that it matters at this point, and once I’m done, I scoot back and lean against the headboard.
“So, you’re siblings?” I say when the silence stretches on.
“Yep,” Evie states, popping the ‘p’. “Although Hades likes to think he’s my parent.”
“I’ve raised you since you were six,” he reminds her.
Evie’s bright expression dims, and she lowers her gaze to her lap. “Not really. You’ve been…”
Hades grips her chin and forces her to look at him. “Just because I wasn’t physically here doesn’t mean I didn’t know what was going on with you. Zodiac, Chains, Butcher, Boa, Preach… all of the brothers, really, have kept me in the loop, and I’ve been involved in every decision pertaining to you.”
“I know,” she says quietly.
“Listen, I know this is not the best timing, but I have to get to the clubhouse for church,” he says, dropping his arm and standing. “Evie, I need you to stay here with Willow, just in case she needs anything. Can you do that for me?”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” I state. “In fact, all I really need is to go home.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” he says matter-of-factly.
“What do you mean, that’s no—”
“I’ll stay with her,” Evie tells him as if I wasn’t speaking.
“Thanks, Munchkin.”
Hades drops a kiss on the top of my head, and I’m left too stunned to argue as he strides out of his quarters.
Evie, on the other hand, has no such problem.
“So… you and my brother, huh?”