Chapter 14
Mickey
F uck me sideways, I can’t believe this is happening. I grit my teeth as I haul Gail out of the backseat of the car, feeling her squirm and struggle to get away from me like a caged animal. With every wriggle, every desperate attempt to escape, my blood boils a little more. How could she do this to us? How could she betray our trust like this?
“Take her to the spare room,” Soren barks.
Gail’s blue eyes are wild with fear and panic as I drag her up the stairs, her heels scraping against the hardwood floors of Soren’s house. It would probably be kinder to carry her, but fuck that. She doesn’t deserve kindness. Besides, I’m not going to deny how much I like watching her struggle, or the way the sheet around her is barely covering anything anymore, exposing both tits now. Her makeup is ruined from crying, she looks exactly like the damn desperate whore she is, and I both want to fuck and throttle her.
“Mickey, please,” she tries again. When I shake my head, her eyes seek out Soren over my shoulder. “You’ve got this all wrong. I can explain.” Her voice trembles, and for a split second, I waver.
“Oh, you’re right, Gail. You can explain a lot of shit, can’t you?” I narrow my silver eyes at her, my teeth clenched so tightly I’m pretty damn sure I’ll shatter my fucking molars as I drag her onto the bed. I grip Gail’s wrists, pinning them to the bed with a force that might seem excessive to an outsider, but that feels just right in my anger.
“Let me go!” Gail’s voice is a jarring mix of anger and fear, her blue eyes sparking a fire that rivets my attention despite myself.
“Shut up,” I snarl, even though I know she won’t. She’s like a wild thing—beautiful but untamable and definitely untrustworthy.
Soren fishes the key to the handcuffs from his jeans pocket, and I hold her down while he secures her wrists to the headboard. I’m not sure where we’re going with this, but I’m too angry, too unsettled to stop and examine the situation further.
Pregnant… nope. I’m not falling for that shit again.
“Please,” she begs, and a part of me, the part that’s still human beneath all the scars, flinches. But I shove it down. Hard. Can’t afford weakness. Not now.
Pregnant…
“Quiet, Gail.” Soren’s voice is steel, no trace of the tenderness I’ve occasionally caught him showing her. “You brought this on yourself.”
“Fuck you,” she spits back, and I’m torn between admiration for her spirit and the fury being pumped through my veins.
Pregnant…
“Watch your mouth, sweetheart,” I sneer. There’s a tightness in my chest, a heavy feeling that makes it hard to breathe. I shake it off as Soren drags me into the adjoining bathroom.
“We can’t leave her tied up.” He pitches his tone so low Gail won’t be able to hear him.
“Right,” I agree. Jesus, it’s only now hitting me that we fucking kidnapped her.
My reflection in the mirror doesn’t offer any comfort. Silver eyes cold, white hair disheveled from the struggle. I look fucking wild and out of control, exactly how I feel.
“Mick!” Soren snaps his fingers in my face, gaining my attention. “We need to get rid of anything she can use as a weapon before releasing her from the fucking bed.”
Right, right. I nod to show I’ve heard him, and while he combs through the bedroom, I clear out razors, tweezers, anything remotely sharp from the bathroom. While I gather the offending items, my mind flashes back to Simone, the way she looked at me with, what I thought was love and adoration, in her eyes before it all came crashing down. The sharp pain of betrayal claws at my insides, but I lock it away. Can’t deal with that shit now.
Pregnant…
Back in the guest room, Soren’s checking under the bed, in the drawers, anywhere for something Gail can use as a weapon. His muscles ripple beneath inked skin. He’s methodical, leaving no stone unturned. I trust him to cover everything. Always have.
When I look at Gail, she’s no longer donning the expression of misery that I liked seeing on her. Despite being fucking fastened to the bed, she looks haughty. How the hell is that even possible?
“What’s your master plan?” she taunts, her eyes following every movement Soren makes. “I have a family, you know. My brother’s a police officer and my dad’s a detective. And I see Luce almost daily.”
“Your point?” I drawl, pretending her words aren’t getting to me.
She bares her teeth at me. “My point, pretty boy, is that people will miss me. You can’t just—”
“Stop talking!” Soren snaps, not missing a beat in his search.
Finding no mercy from him, she turns her attention back to me.
“Please, Mickey,” she whispers, and fuck if it doesn’t sound like she’s saying my name for the first time. Like a prayer or a curse.
I don’t answer. Can’t. Instead, I stand guard while Soren does one last sweep of the room. My chest feels tight, my throat dry. I’m wading through a swamp of fear and anger, each step sinking me deeper.
Pregnant…
“Done,” Soren declares, and I nod, swallowing hard. He locks eyes with me, green to silver, and there’s an understanding there that goes beyond words.
The sight of Gail tied to the bed, her blue eyes wide and shimmering with unshed tears, is a punch in the gut. I can feel Soren’s presence behind me, solid as the ice we skate on, unforgiving as the boards that ring the rink.
“Please,” she stammers, her voice cracking under the strain. “I won’t say anything, I swear.”
She looks so small, so vulnerable, but I know appearances are deceiving. A woman like her could bring men like us to our knees without even trying—and hasn’t she just?
“Shut up,” Soren snaps, his voice echoing through the room like a slapshot. “You’re a good actress, but it’s not gonna work this time.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it,” I add, my own words feeling like gravel in my mouth.
“Please, you don’t understand—” Her plea cuts short as Soren steps forward, looming over her with an intensity that makes even me want to look away.
“What’s to understand?” he scoffs disdainfully, like responding to her is barely worth his time. There’s a dangerous glint in those green eyes of his making each word sound like a challenge no one should accept.
It might be sick, but I like that he’s as angry as I am. It makes my volatile feelings more justified, which I desperately need right now. Because there’s no fucking way I’m allowing the bitch to get under my skin, allowing her words to take root, allowing myself to… no. Just plain fucking no. I’ve gone down this highway before so I know exactly how this story ends.
No way am I letting another bitch under my skin, allowing her to hook me with promises of a family of my own. I have Soren and sometimes Sawyer, that’s all I need.
“You’re nothing but a slut.” The word feels like bile rising up, but I spit it out anyway, watching as it lands, watching her flinch.
“Stop,” she gasps, her chest heaving, but it only fuels the fire burning inside me.
Anger, betrayal, the sting of being made a fool—it all boils over, and I can’t hold it back. “Strip her,” I order, and Soren doesn’t hesitate. With one swift movement, he tears the sheet from her body, leaving her naked and exposed. Her skin is bare to the chill of the room, goosebumps forming instantly.
“Look at you,” Soren sneers, “so useless. All you’re good for is spreading your legs, aren’t you? A dirty whore, that’s what you are.”
Her lips tremble, and she shakes her head, denying the truth we’ve laid as bare as she is. But we see her, all of her—the fear, the defiance, the raw vulnerability. It’s intoxicating, the power we wield, and I hate myself for reveling in it even as I indulge.
“Please,” she whispers once more, her voice barely audible.
“Save it,” Soren growls. “Your apologies mean shit to us.”
I can’t help but agree. Words are cheap, especially coming from someone who’s made a career out of seduction and lies. And yet, as she squirms beneath our gaze, something twinges inside me—a memory, a ghost of tenderness that has no place here.
“Let’s just fucking leave her,” I say abruptly, turning on my heel. I need distance, space to breathe and not be drowned by the conflicting currents of lust and loathing.
“You can’t just—”
“Good idea,” Soren replies, his tone laced with satisfaction as he interrupts her. After freeing her from the cuffs and telling her to stay on the bed like his good whore, he follows me to the door, throwing one last glance at Gail, who’s now reduced to silent sobs.
I tear the door open, walking through it with heavy steps. But before Soren can follow me, Gail’s there. Unashamed by being naked, she pulls on his arm, her expression that of someone who’s possessed and beyond desperate.
“D-don’t leave me h-here.” Despite the tears falling from her eyes, the stuttering of her words, there’s a determination clinging to her that I want to strip away, leaving her reeling just like she’s done to me.
I don’t allow Soren to react, instead, I wrap my fingers around her wrist and squeeze until she lets go. “Don’t!” I roar. “Fucking touch us.”
Something in either my touch, expression, or words renders her mute as she rears back, giving us enough distance to get through the door.
Pregnant…
I watch as Soren locks it, sliding the key into his jeans. Her screams pierce through the heavy silence, clawing at the edges of my conscience like a relentless winter chill.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath, the word barely audible over the thunderous pounding in my chest. My hands feel cold, almost numb, as if they belong to someone else—someone capable of walking away from the raw terror etched into every line of Gail’s face. I’ve seen that look before, in the eyes of opponents who knew they were about to be crushed on the ice. But this… this is different. This isn’t a game.
“Let her scream,” Soren says coldly, his voice cutting through my fragmented thoughts. “It’ll teach her a lesson.”
A lesson. The word tastes bitter on my tongue, tainted with a flavor of disgust and an undercurrent of something darker I don’t want to acknowledge.
Pregnant…
“Go to bed.” Soren rakes a hand down his face, looking at me through eyes that no longer burn with malice. “I’ll keep watch.”
I feel like a fucking zombie as I retreat to the guest room I’m occupying. Stripping down, showering, getting ready for bed, it all blurs together and through my sluggish movements, all I can hear is Gail saying, “I’m pregnant, and one of you is going to be a dad.”
Fuck!