Chapter 11 #3
The kiss left Rue lightheaded, his arms still pinned at either side making him starkly aware of the power imbalance between them.
And just how much he enjoyed it.
When Ryker ground his hips down, rubbing their hard lengths together, Rue moaned, but that seemed to be the response the Black Hart had been waiting for, and as soon as the sound escaped him, Ryker was pulling away.
He separated their mouths and stared down at Rue. “You want them safe, little brother? It’s going to cost you.”
Rue swallowed the lump in his throat and tentatively asked, “What?”
“As far as I know, there’s only one thing you have that I could possible want,” Ryker said.
For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what that could be, and it must have shown on his face, because the Black Hart scoffed and rolled his eyes.
“This.” Ryker rubbed against him again, smirking triumphantly when it elicited another gasp from Rue. “Since you believed you gave yourself to me all this time anyway, it shouldn’t be too big of a trade.”
“You can’t mean…?”
“I want your body,” he confirmed. “You’re going to give it to me. Or,” Ryker rested his forehead against his, “I’ll make your friends fend for themselves. We both know how that’ll end for them. Just like mommy dearest.”
Rue made a pained sound and turned his head, squeezing his eyes shut.
Ryker pressed his lips against his pulse, clearly trying to be comforting even though he was the one who’d delivered the punishing blow. When he shushed him, Rue shook his head.
“That was cruel.” A tear slipped past Rue’s defenses, rolling down his cheek and over the bridge of his nose.
“I know, sweetheart,” Ryker’s tone gentled. “I have to be so I know you understand.”
“I don’t.” He really didn’t. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s an exchange. Their protection, for you.
You become mine. For real this time. No take backs.
You do what I say when I say it. Give me what I want when I want it.
It’s fairly simple, little brother. From now until we can safely leave this place, you willingly belong to me.
Nod once if you agree. That’s all you have to do. For now.”
Before, the chance to be with Ryker, in any capacity, would have thrilled him. He would have jumped at the opportunity to be considered his, to be held down like this, even roughly, and claimed. To be looked at like he was wanted.
But what if it wasn’t real?
While it was true the twins always shared everything, it was equally true that Ryker had a minor inferiority complex where his brother was concerned. There’d always been a slight competition between them, one carefully hidden from everyone except those closest to them, who could easily spot it.
Like Rue.
There was a very good chance the only reason Ryker was showing an interest now was because he’d learned Rue had been with his brother, and that Rue had wished it was him. It was ego and arrogance. And yet…
Call him pathetic, because the longer Rue lay there, the more it became apparent that despite all of the reasons he should be against it, his severe lack of self-respect prevented him from being.
It was a lack of self-respect too, had to be.
This man had treated him like garbage ever since his return to planet, and yet here Rue was, hard for him.
Desperate.
Not to mention how disgusting of a person he had to be to get off this way so soon after witnessing his mother literally torn apart.
Good Light, he was fucked up.
But since there was no hope for him anyway…why shouldn’t he give in?
It meant keeping his friends safe, and gave him the chance to finally experience the thing he’d always dreamed of. Even if this was as far as it ever went. Even if Ryker only touched him with his hands and his mouth, couldn’t that still be enough?
Unless…
He frowned, a less attractive thought entering his mind, causing him to search the Black Hart’s expression more closely.
The umbrella, and leaving him in the middle of the woods…
Destroying the recording equipment at school…
“I let you do whatever you want to me?” That meant Ryker could choose to openly humiliate him in front of other people. His mind went to the video he’d recorded in the library, shocked that he’d managed to forget about it. “I—”
“It’s not a negotiation,” Ryker cut him off. “It’s everything or nothing with me, Rue. Choose. This is the only time I’m going to give you any sort of choice at all.”
That meant if Rue said no right now, if anything happened in the future with those creatures outside, Ryker wouldn’t lift a finger to protect Bowie or Lenore. Maybe he wouldn’t even bother keeping Rue safe either.
On the surface, remaining indoors should be an easy enough solution, but with no way of knowing how long the fog would remain, how long they’d be trapped here…It wasn’t a risk he was willing to take.
Sensing his wavering resolve, Ryker gave him another kiss, this one soft, slow, and far too fleeting. “Say yes, sweetheart.”
He found himself nodding before his brain could even comprehend he was doing it. “All right.” Rue made himself inhale and exhale, trying to calm his wildly beating heart. “Yes.”