Chapter 22 #2
The fucker. Now I know why Sloane swears like a sailor. She would have had to growing up with these assholes and their games. “Don’t fucking do it again.” I shut my legs up tight, crossing one leg over the other.
He chuckles, delighted that he got a rise out of me. “Why? Don’t deny you liked it. Your cheeks are all pink and pretty, and darlin’, your cunt was soaking wet for us.”
I blink back at him. Did he just say for us?
Something in the heated way he’s looking at me and the way my heart races tells me he did, and he meant it.
Have they all just had a little chat while I was in the shower and now this is an us-and-her situation?
Because that’s what it seems like. Jagger and Asher’s gazes are just as heated. Damn.
I grab up my bowl and stand in a rush. This situation calls for more than crossing my legs.
I’m insanely attracted to all of them, and now I have crazy ideas racing through my head.
Ideas I shouldn’t be having when I’m so damn annoyed with them all.
I move over to the breakfast bar so I can eat in peace and quiet without all of them looking at me like they want to jump my bones.
And secretly, so I can get my thumping heart and pussy under control.
Cruz’s laughter vibrates through the apartment, erratic and playful. “I’ll let you eat your meal, but know this, you won’t be able to run from us all night, little darlin’. This apartment isn’t very big,” he sing-songs, having way too much fun at my expense.
I stare at my plate of food, trying not to react to him at all.
This place might not be big, but I have a lock on my door, and once I have finished my dinner, I’m locking myself back in there.
I have to or I know what’s going to happen.
I’m going to screw all three of them and not even be sorry about it.
Jagger’s dinner is so delicious, I eat in record time to savor every bite, and also to get away from them.
I can feel their eyes on me, sense the tension in the air.
They keep chatting, talking about a fight between two bikers that happened at Jagger’s bar today, but I do my best to tune it all out.
I can’t get wrapped up in their lives, just as much as they need to stay out of mine.
It’s the only way to survive this. When I’m done, I collect my bowl and move into the kitchen, stacking it in the dishwasher along with some other items that need cleaning.
Jagger might be an exceptional cook, but this place is a mess.
I do my best to clean up, then walk past them like they are not even there and close my bedroom door, locking it behind me.
I sit at the end of my bed, looking down at my hands, realizing I’m trembling.
This is what they do to me—make me a shaking mess.
I don’t know what it is about them, but they light up a thrill within me, something that wasn’t alive until Cruz wrapped his fingers over my mouth and dragged me into the dark.
He woke up a dark, deprived part of my soul that wants their crazy brand of fuckery.
It doesn’t make any sense, and I wish it would just go away.
With a heavy sigh, I collect up my headphones and find my favorite eighties playlist. “Manic Monday” blares through my ears, and I breathe in the first full breath since I left my room for dinner. I screenshot a photo of my playlist and upload it to my Instagram page with the caption, My escape.
Jagger bursts through the door, his eyes wild, and before I know it, I’m off the bed, my headphones falling to my shoulders as he forces me into the wall, caging me in from behind. His large frame presses into me, trapping me, as his thick fingers pin my hands above my head.
Bucking against his grip, I try to press back and escape, but his hold is relentless. “What the hell, Jagger?” I suck in a ragged breath, my body so heightened with him so close to me I can hardly function. I know this time I locked the door. The damn lock must be for fucking show.
He lowers his head so his breath dusts over my earlobe. “Don’t run and don’t hide from us. You’re here because we want you here. It has nothing to do with your brother,” he growls out like he’s the one annoyed with me and not the other way around.
I shove back at him, my ass getting a little too close to his crotch, very dangerous territory when he’s holding me like a caveman. “You can cut the bullshit, Jagger. How na?ve do you think I am? I know I’m just a payday to you, so stop trying to pretend there’s more going on here than there is.”
His bitter laugh vibrates through my room.
“We kept you because we wanted to, we’re protecting you because we decided to.
Did you really think Cruz or Ash would let you go once they decided you were theirs?
Don’t you turn this into something it’s not because you’re angry with your brother and papa. ”
I shift my head so I can see his face. “So, this is just about keeping your brothers happy?” I have to ask. I know it’s petty, and with his hands on me like they are, probably risky as well, but I have to know what I am to him.
Suddenly it feels like his body is even closer to mine, the rough fabric of his jeans rubbing against my bare legs. His nose brushes over my hair, and I’m sure I hear him inhale deeply. Like he’s breathing me in. “You know it’s not,” he says, his voice softer.
I stare at the wall in front of me. “I don’t know anything.
From where I’m standing, it looks like this is all just fun and games for you.
You came to see me at the club, paid for me, made sure I couldn’t see you or touch you.
Then acted like nothing had happened between us afterwards and made me feel like I was losing my mind.
Now I find out my brother employed you to take care of me.
Was that shit at the club all part of this protection plan?
Book her out so no one else can, or some shit like that? You’re fucking unbelievable.”
With one quick move, he spins me so I’m facing him, his hand tightly cupping my chin so I’m forced to look up at him.
The other hand is still clinging to my hands, pinning them above my head with so much force I can’t move.
“What you need to realize about me, flower, is I don’t do anything I don’t want to.
If I fuck you, it’s because I crave you.
If I let you live under my roof, it’s because I need you here.
You stepped off that bus and turned our world upside down.
And now we all have to live with the consequences. ”
My breathing is so shallow I feel lightheaded.
When we were together in the club, I couldn’t see him, couldn’t stare deep into his eyes, but now it’s like he’s gazing right into my soul, like he’s searching my inner thoughts and trying to corrupt me with his.
“What are the consequences?” I whisper, not understanding.
His eyes flash with something dark and deranged, and it sends a shiver over my skin and moisture pooling between my legs. Then he crashes his lips onto mine and presses me back into the wall. His powerful hands cling to me as though he’s afraid to let me go.
I can’t move, can’t think properly in this proximity. He overwhelms my senses, and I melt. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but I kiss him back just as hungrily. He never once kissed me in the rooms, not on the lips anyway, and this, this feels so different. So real.
As our lips part, he looks almost lost, like he even surprised himself by kissing me. The hand that was holding my face moves down my body, stopping at my waist. “Just don’t fall in love with us,” he warns, his voice deadly serious. Can he see it, that look of love on my face?
I blink back at him, my eyes narrowing into slits.
“No chance in hell of that happening,” I snap back.
Is he kidding me! For one thing, I don’t do love, and for the second, why the hell would he think it would be with him?
He’s mean and bossy and… and just so damn annoying.
“Why did you try to get me to leave if you wanted me to stay all along?” I ask, confusion still swirling through me.
His forehead creases as he takes me in, then, as if deciding something, he takes a step back from me, releasing my hands. “I had to see the truth. If staying was what you really wanted.”
I have nothing to say in response to that. It wasn’t what I expected him to say at all, but it makes sense.
I gape back at him, wanting to tell him where to go, wanting to lock myself in my room alone for the foreseeable future.
But as much as I want that, I also what to know more about all of them.
Jagger just shocked the shit out of me and I think even himself.
Why? What is he getting out of this? And are the three of them really okay with me having some sort of sexual relationship with all of them?
“One more question, and I need you to answer me honestly.”
“You’re pushing your luck, flower.” His eyebrow rises in warning, but his slight smile tells me he’s willing to listen.
“Why did you book me into Ricky’s clinic?”
“Condom split.”
Ha, I was right. “Why didn’t you just tell me so I could have taken care of it myself?”
“You’re my responsibility. Besides, I didn’t want to freak you out. I’m clean. I was tested, so my only concern was knocking you up. You really should have been on birth control already.”
“Valentine wouldn’t allow it; he wanted children, heirs to take over the empire.
Just another way I disappointed him on the regular.
He couldn’t work out why I wasn’t pregnant after so long.
He blamed me, because he could never have been the one shooting blanks.
You’re right. I probably should have thought about it already, but the truth is I started to believe the problem was me and maybe I could never have children. ”
Jagger’s body goes rigid, his face contorting with a look of utter disgust. “That piece of shit is lucky he’s already dead.”
I roll my eyes. “What, or you would have killed him in my honor? Come on, Jagger.”
His hand moves to cup both sides of my face, his dark eyes locking on to mine.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me, flower. If I had known you back when you were with him, I would have personally made sure he died an agonizing death, drawn out with deliciously savage tools meant for inflicting pain while keeping him lucid enough that he felt every slice into his flesh as payback for every fucking time he harmed you. ”
Something in his words sends a shiver down my spine because I believe him. It sounds like he’s thought about this a lot. More than he should have. But I have to admit, it’s nice to have someone on my side, even if he sounds like a psycho when I think he was just trying to tell me I’m safe with him.
He grins at me. “Now can we put this shit behind us and watch a movie? Apparently, it’s your choice.”