Chapter 14 #2
Sloane gets in his way, grabbing a handful of his shirt.
She drags him away from me and shoves him back around the other side.
“You can do what you want with your free time, but right now, you’re working,” she sasses, resuming her place at the front of the stage.
“Let’s begin. Answer as honestly as you like, this is a test after all.
” She winks at me as she says the last part, and I know she wants me to tease her brother.
I can only imagine what their family dynamic would have been like with all of them growing up in the same house. Crazy!
“I will know if you’re lying, princess,” Asher warns, a serious edge to his voice.
“I doubt it,” I mutter under my breath so only Sloane can hear me.
She chuckles lightly, and I smirk back at her. Man, it’s good to be out of the house. “Question one: what’s your idea of a romantic vacation?”
I type in my answer. Anywhere my favorite man is. Sure, it’s corny as all hell but also suggestive enough it could get Asher worked up, because who knows who my favorite is?
Sloane laughs and bites her lip as she checks out our responses on her screen. “You want to see each other’s answer?” she asks.
“No,” I reply a little too quickly, not sure I need to know the inner workings of Asher’s brain.
“Fuck yes, I want to know where to take you.”
I groan, knowing this little game is going to get out of hand quickly with him on the other side of the wall.
His answer flashes up on the screen right next to mine. “Wherever my girl is.”
“Now you know why it’s funny. You two are cute as fuck, and we’re only one question in.” Sloane smirks.
I place my head in my hand as I hear Asher’s laugh vibrating through the room. Maybe I should make shit up from now on.
“Question two: what is your favorite dessert?” Sloane asks.
This one is easy and probably not necessary to make up. Chocolate mousse cake, I answer.
“Asher, you know I can see your answers and I’m your sister. At least try and keep it sibling appropriate,” Sloane chastises him, but she’s laughing as she says it.
I meet her gaze, shaking my head, wondering what messed-up thing he put down.
“What? Tell her, princess, whiskey float never tasted as sweet as when I’m licking it off your tits.”
“Oh my God, Asher.” My cheeks radiate heat. He didn’t go there.
Sloane offers an understanding glance my way. “Sorry, sis, the questions do kind of get either kinkier or higher stakes emotionally as we go on. Just tell me if you want to stop.”
I give a little wave for her to go on, but there’s no way of hiding my embarrassment. I’ll just have to kill Asher later.
“Question three: where is the most random place you’ve fucked?”
Before the last month I would have had to say some room in the house other than my bedroom, but now since meeting the boys, I have a whole list of places I could add. Not sure I want to, though. “Pass,” I answer out loud.
“You can’t pass. I want to get a perfect score,” Asher complains, popping his head around the partition again.
Sloane shoves him back on his side. “Don’t bully my contestants. I’ll give you a zero.” She turns to me. “You all right to go on or do we skip it?”
I roll my eyes. “Fine. If you don’t like my answer, it’s your fault, Asher.” Under the stars, I type in and press enter, half to stir him for bringing up our steamy romp in the gym and half because that night I will never forget. It was hot and somehow deeply moving as well.
His answer flashes on the screen as well.
It says the gym, and I kind of expected it to, even though I know there is no way that’s really the most random place Ash has fucked.
He got around before me. I know that it’s probably the back alley of this club or something.
When my answer flashes up, I hear him growl like a feral animal.
“You okay there?” I ask playfully, knowing this was a terrible idea. The last thing I need is Asher trying to jump me in some random location just so he can outdo his brother. Even if it would be kind of hot.
“Next question.” He huffs, and I know he’s not. But I did warn him, so this is all his fault.
Sloane raises a brow for me, smirking sassily at her brother’s pain. “Do you believe you can trust someone you’re dangerously attracted to?” she asks.
Maybe??? I type out as my answer. I’m still not sure I can trust any of them. With my life, yes, but with my heart, I’m not so sure.
Asher’s answer flashes up on the screen. Probably not!
“Harsh, Ash,” I call back.
“You prove it and I’ll trust you. Don’t go thinking maybe is any better, princess, we both know it’s not.”
My mouth pops open, and I glance at Sloane, like what the hell.
She laughs, enjoying our pain, and I get a sinking feeling this is going to start shit I don’t know how to handle. “Let’s go with something lighter, the tension in here just got all too much for me. Does passion or peace make you feel more connected with your partner?”
Passion, I type in then check behind me, and Asher has the same answer.
“Least we can agree on that,” he grumbles, sounding like a little kid who’s just dropped his ice cream cone.
Sloane shakes her head just for me. “Next question. What’s the fastest way someone could lose your trust?”
Lying to me. Or keeping me in the dark, I type.
Keeping shit from me. Asher’s response flashes on the screen. “Two things we can agree on. Looks like we’re compatible after all,” he says, sounding a little happier.
“Last one. You two have been such good sports, but I have other shit to do to get ready for opening night. Have you ever been in love?”
A white-hot sweat comes over me. These aren’t Sloane’s questions, I just know it. My heart beats out of control in my rib cage, making me feel crazy. I get to my feet, my body working without my brain. I have to get the hell out of here.
“D-Dahlia, what’s wrong?” Sloane calls after me.
“Asher wrote this quiz. I’m not playing his games,” I mutter as I pass her quickly, almost running through the sea of chairs and ducking into the bathroom.
The scent of fresh paint hits me in the nostrils so hard it makes my head spin, but I keep striding through the dark and moody bathroom.
Slamming the stall door behind me and sucking in ragged breaths as I lean all my weight into it.
I’m too angry to even cry. Why is Ash pushing this?
Why can’t he just let it be? He knows there is something here between us.
The chemistry is hot and we get along well, that should be enough.
He’s just making this impossible when we’re already stuck together all the damn time so I can’t think straight.
I grip hold of the door as my head swims, trying to breathe so I don’t go over and end up on the fancy tile floor.
A door crashes open. “You okay, sis?” comes Sloane’s voice from the other side of the stall door.
“No, your brother is an ass,” I cry.
“I’m not going to argue with you on this. But I think you might have this all wrong. He’s not messing with you this time. The compatibility test really does have those questions in it. Asher didn’t even know what was coming himself when he agreed to play.”
Sickness washes over me and lands in the pit of my stomach. “You sure you’re not just covering for him because he’s your brother?” I whisper.
“No chance in hell, us girls have to stick together.”
I suck in a deep breath, trying to get my emotions under control. It’s the pressure cooker of a situation, it’s starting to mess with my head. “So, I’m overreacting?” I whimper, knowing how dramatic I look.
“A little. But maybe you have a good reason to. I did see his answer, and it was yes, with my princess. Not a line I ever thought I would hear my brother say. He’s got it bad for you, girl.”
I stare at the door, feeling like an idiot. What the hell is wrong with me? This man wants it all with me, and I’m keeping him at arm’s length, all because I’m afraid he’s going to hurt me. That they will all hurt me.
“Look, sis, I know it wasn’t all that long ago you told me you would never open up your heart to anyone, that way you can keep it protected, and after the shit you were dealing with, I get it. But it’s also very limiting. And fucking lonely, take it from me.”
I pop open the door, peering around. “You have three boyfriends and a husband. When have you ever been lonely?”
She smiles softly. “This love stuff is still new for me as well. Trust me, I have done my time feeling isolated and wishing my lot in life was different. It took me opening up my heart and trusting to finally get what I needed.”
My head drops, and I stare at the tiled floor.
It’s all pretty emerald greens and blacks and looks like her and Romeo have spent a small fortune getting this place set up.
But that’s not what I should be thinking about now, even though I would do just about anything for a distraction so I don’t have to admit the truth.
“I can’t trust them, not while all this shit is going on, and they’re so secretive, I feel like I’m on the outside looking in, if that makes sense. ”
She huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, it really does, and I have nothing for you there. I lived with those boys for a long time, and I can promise you it was no different for me. Girls are treated differently whether we like it or not. My brothers think they’re helping to protect you by keeping you wrapped in bubble wrap.
But they have no idea how shit that feels when all you want to do is prove you’re more than capable of living your life independently.
Sis, they had a bodyguard at my side at all fucking times for years. Trust me, I get it.”
“They think they are my bodyguards,” I huff back.
And she laughs.
“They’re so intense and overprotective. I mean, I know there is good reason for it, with my brother fucking me over and all, but it’s just a lot when I’m trapped with them twenty-four seven, and then there’s Asher and Cruz declaring their love for me.
Sloane, they hardly know me, and how am I supposed to be the girl they want when I don’t even know who I am myself?
I’ve gone from one prison to another, even if this one is more fun. I’m still trapped, you know.”
She nods, and I see the sympathy in her eyes.
“That might be true, but I have known these boys my whole life, and they have never acted like this with anyone else. You’re someone special to them whether you like it or not, and just between you and me, I think you do.
” She winks at me. “You want to hear something kind of cool?”
“Sure,” I mutter with a shrug of my shoulder.
“While I was doing my research for the game, I came across some interesting facts. Apparently for men, they know within the first sixty seconds of meeting someone if they want to spend the rest of their life with them or not. Women take longer. They can grow to love someone, but men know right from the start even if they may not be able to articulate it themselves. That’s crazy, right? ”
I stare back at her, trying to process what that actually means. Cruz and Jagger fell for me while they were holding me hostage, and Asher when I did that lap dance for him? That is some kind of fucked up. “Do you really believe that?”
“Maybe? I mean, I like the idea of it. Kind of romantic when you’ve found your people.”
I push open the door and come out into the main part of the bathroom, swallowing the lump in my throat as I try not to fall apart.
“That’s just it, though. I don’t fully trust them, but I think I’m in love with all of them.
And I can’t even process what that means.
What’s wrong with me? I’ve gone my whole twenty-three years without falling for anyone, and now I’m in deep with three men.
Not just three men but brothers.” I glance up at her, half mortified.
A smile plays on her lips before she burst into laughter. “There is nothing wrong with you. You just fell for three guys at once. And lucky you, they don’t seem to care too much about it, so you don’t have to choose. You can make it work if you want to.”
A knock comes at the door, and I freeze, not ready to face Asher yet.
“Give us a minute, Ash,” Sloane calls back to him, seeing my horror.
“Nope, you’re out of time. I’ve been waiting out here forever.”