Chapter 27
DAMIAN
Within two hours, we moved Alex and Aiden into a new apartment in Providence. It was more secure and not as close to the campus, but it would keep Alex safe for the next few months.
She was a wreck, shaking so hard from crying, terrified of someone coming for her again.
Marcello sat on the couch beside her and pulled her into his arms. “Look at me, princess. You’re safe. I’m here now.”
Alex hadn’t stopped crying since I killed the Russian. She didn’t understand what was going on, and we couldn’t tell her everything. Some secrets had to stay with us.
“I’m staying in Providence,” Marcello said to calm her, running his long fingers up and down her back. “No one is going to hurt you.”
“But that man,” she bit out, her lip quivering. “He tried to climb through my window.”
“He didn’t touch you.” He wiped away her tears with his thumb. “Damian took care of him.”
“I know. But…” She sobbed again. “I’m scared.”
“Look at me, Cherry.” Bastian slipped his fingers beneath her chin to steal her attention. “You’re in a new apartment now. One with much better security. You have nothing to worry about, pretty girl. We’ve got this covered. Aiden is here.”
He tipped his head at her twin, who sat on the couch beside me.
“And Marcello will be in the apartment next to yours until you graduate. If you need anything, he’ll be there, okay?”
“You’ll be safe, Lexie,” Aiden promised. “I’ve got a gun and know how to use it.”
“That’s not as comforting as you may think, Aid.” She sniffed away the tears. “I don’t like guns. And I don’t want one in our apartment.”
“Too bad,” Aiden told her. “If another slimy Russian breaks in again, I’m shooting him in the skull. End of discussion.”
We didn’t see eye-to-eye and had never gotten along, but Aiden wasn’t so bad. He would do everything in his power to protect Alex. That made him alright in my book.
Ignoring her twin, Alex turned to look at Bash and wiggled her fingers. “I need you, Bash. Stay with me.”
Alex had a special attachment to Bastian that she didn’t share with the rest of us. Even in high school, she clung to him. She thought he was the nicer brother. But she didn’t know the real Bash, not like I did.
He was different with her.
He took Alex from Marcello and kissed her forehead. “I know you’re scared, Cherry. But you need to put on your big-girl pants. Stop with the tears.”
She dabbed at her cheeks. “I’m just freaked out. I haven’t been this scared since I was a little girl.”
Alex still had PTSD flashbacks and vivid nightmares of her awful childhood. It was the reason she had to share an apartment with Aiden. If he weren’t here to calm her down in the middle of the night, she would need to be hospitalized.
As long as Alex took her medicine, she was usually okay. But tonight was too much for her. The threat set her over the edge, and she couldn’t seem to settle down, no matter what any of us tried.
“We have three months left of college,” Bastian said. “You’ll be so busy working on the paintings for your art show, you won’t even notice we’re gone.”
“I’ll be here for your art show,” I told her.
“So will I,” Marcello added.
Alex’s eyes illuminated. “How about Luca?”
“I’ll be there,” Luca said, entering the living room as if he materialized out of thin air.
Dressed impeccably in a black Brioni suit, Luca sat on the couch beside Bash and stared at Alex like he was ready to devour her.
“I invited a few of my mother’s friends to look at your work,” Luca said in his usual emotionless tone. “They can help launch your art career after graduation.”
Alex hopped off Bash’s lap and leaned into Luca’s arm. “Really?”
“Yes.” Luca rubbed his thumb across her cheek to collect the tears. “But only if you stop crying and act like a queen.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t even know what that means, Luca.”
“It means you need to toughen up. Do you think your life will be easy with me? With any of us?” Luca waited for her to shake her head before he said, “One day, you will be our queen. And we need you to be worthy of that title.”
She had no idea what awaited her a few years from now. Her life was about to change forever.
“Luca,” she cooed, curling up against him, and, surprisingly, he didn’t push her away. “What are you talking about?”
“One day you will.” With his free hand, he clutched her chin and swiped his thumb across her bottom lip.
“One day, you will be mine, Drea. So, I need you to learn how to stand on your own two feet. No more running to Bash for hugs or crying on Marcello’s shoulder.
Queens are powerful. Strong. They don’t look to other people for help. ”
“Is this some kind of royalty role-play thing?” Alex laughed, tossing her curls over her shoulder. “Because I’m not following.”
“I swear to God, woman,” Luca hissed. “You drive me fucking crazy. No, we’re not role-playing.”
“Although I do like the sound of that,” Bash chimed, sliding his hand onto her hip. “I wanna play, baby.”
“Seriously,” Aiden groaned. “Do you fucking mind? That’s my sister. Alex deserves better than this shit. She’s not some toy for you and your brothers to pass around.”
Aiden had a pair of brass balls. But what I didn’t like was how he often spoke to my brothers and me with disrespect. Even after all these years of being a Wellington, he still hadn’t lost the trashy attitude.
He didn’t look like the clean-cut heir to the Wellington fortune his grandfather wanted him to be. Instead, Aiden covered his body with black ink like a mural. He rarely styled his short blond curls, so they were a mess. And I had yet to see him in a pair of jeans that weren’t ripped.
“Aid, it’s not like that,” Alex cut said. “They’re not passing me around.”
He snorted. “I know what I’ve seen and don’t like it.”
“Oh, please,” she shot back. “Don’t get all high and mighty with me. I know what you did with Sonny Cormac and that girl. It’s no different from what I’m doing.”
Everyone knew Sonny was bisexual. He practically broadcast it to the world and flaunted it in his father’s face to piss him off. But I hadn’t realized he was still carrying on with Aiden after all these years. Not with them living in different states and going to different colleges.
Sonny was at Harvard with us, but two years behind. He was now a knight and lived in the off-campus house with us.
“Shut up,” Aiden snapped. “Don’t fucking talk about him.”
Sonny and Aiden dated back in high school. Sonny hadn’t been in a relationship since. He brought home guys and girls to our house every weekend.
“Then don’t tell me what to do with my love life,” Alex fired back at her twin. “I don’t need your opinions, Aid.”
“I don’t need this shit.”
Cheeks flushed, Aiden got up from the couch and walked down the hallway, disappearing into his bedroom.
“He acts like this any time I mention Sonny,” she explained. “I don’t know why.”
“I do,” Marcello said.
He would know better than anyone, since Sonny was Marcello’s best friend.
“Tell me,” Alex whined. “He gets so mad about Sonny.”
“Not my story to tell, princess.” Marcello shrugged. “Sorry, but you need to get that from your brother.”
She pouted. “Everyone keeps secrets from me. I hate it.”
Luca yanked Alex onto his lap, with her back pressed against his chest. His hand dipped between her legs, and she whimpered. That was all it ever took with her and Luca. He only had to breathe near Alex to get her panting and wanting more.
“Enough with the whining,” he said against the shell of her ear, brushing his fingers on her inner thigh. “I meant what I said, Drea. It’s time for you to toughen up. And if you’re a good girl, I’ll make sure you’re more famous than my mother.”
Her face lit up with a smile. “I’m not as talented as your mother was.”
“Yes, you are.”
It was the truth.
Alex was better than Evangeline. Some of her pieces were so powerful that even I was breathless looking at them. And I didn’t have feelings.
Alex looked at Luca. “You mean that?”
“I don’t say things I don’t mean.” Luca squeezed her thigh. “When we’re not here, I need you to remember what I said about being strong. We need a queen. No more crying or complaining when you don’t see us. Do you understand me, baby girl?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes lowered to Luca’s hand touching her pussy. She rocked her hips into his hand like a greedy little thing. He didn’t take the bait, so she looked at me, begging with her eyes to make her come.
I never denied her orgasms.
Neither did Bash.
But Luca would.
I beckoned her with my finger. “Come here, Pet.”
“No.” Luca’s arm shot out in front of her. “What did I tell you, Drea?”
“That guy almost killing me kinda interrupted something earlier,” she said in a defiant tone. “I want Damian and Bash to finish what they started.”
He raised an eyebrow, his gaze moving between us. “And what did they start?”
She bit her lip. “We were going to have sex.”
Anger flashed across his face as he grabbed her pussy. “This is ours, Drea. You’d better still be a virgin when we come for you again, or we’re going to have a fucking problem.”
Luca made a deal with Bash that he could have her virginity as long as he didn’t interfere with the marriage. But Alex didn’t know that. He wanted her to behave until we claimed her as a group.
She smacked his hand and wriggled out of his grasp. “You’re so mean, Luca. I’m almost twenty-two and still haven’t lost my virginity because you guys are saving it. Why won’t any of you fuck me?”
The three of us looked at Luca.
She watched our expressions and shook her head, sliding off the couch to get away from Luca. “Of course it’s because of you. Why am I not surprised? I know you wouldn’t let your brothers see or talk to me throughout college. Why are you so jealous of them?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m not.”
“Could have fooled me,” she shouted, cheeks flushed with anger. “Every time Damian and Bastian touched me in high school, you looked like you were going to explode.”
Luca didn’t like being challenged and hopped up from the couch, effortlessly tossing Alex over his shoulder. “You wanna talk back, baby? Let’s see how well you take my cock.” He slapped her ass. “Are you ready for that? I’ll treat you like a slut. Think you can handle me?”
Luca would probably split her tight cunt in half. He was a lot bigger than Bash and me. At least three inches longer and a lot thicker. Even I wouldn’t want to get fucked with a cock that big. Bash was just right, the perfect nine inches.
Either Bash or Marcello needed to take Alex’s virginity. They would be sweet and go slowly.
Not Luca or me.
I lost control whenever I had sex and couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t hurt her. And Luca was just as much of an animal as I was.
Luca lowered Alex onto the dining room table on her stomach, ass sticking up. He peeled down her yoga pants and panties and ran his palm over her pale skin. “You wanna fuck, baby? I’m not nice. I’ll tear up your pussy, bruise your pretty body, and make a fucking mess.”
He whacks her ass, leaving a red handprint.
“Is this how you want to lose your virginity?”
“No,” she whimpered. “Not like this.”
He pulled her panties and pants back up and flipped her onto her ass. “Keep your legs shut and stop offering yourself to my brothers. I’d better see blood on my dick the first time I fuck you.”
Alex’s teeth grazed her bottom lip. “Okay.”
Luca lifted her off the table and set her feet on the ground. “We’re leaving soon. This is the last time you’ll see us for a while.”
She tilted her head back to look up at him. “How long?”
Clutching her chin, he pulled her closer. “Until it’s safe for us to be together.”