Chapter 15
15
BIRDIE
T he mansion slowly disappears through the car window as we drive down the long gravel road. Rain pelts the window, and I stare at the raindrops as they drizzle down the glass, trying not to think too much about the question of my future. Violet is sitting across from me in the back of Alaric’s limo. He’s beside me, looking at his phone. Her eyes are on me.
Memories of last night flood my mind. The thrill of the chase and how incredible it was when they both let loose on me. I know I made them mad and stressed them out, but the sex was amazing, and well worth it.
“I made sure to have them pack your things. They’ll be delivered to Alaric’s tomorrow,” she says softly. Maybe she can read the forlorn expression on my face.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
While I stare out the window, I play back my life like a movie reel, looking for the moment when it stopped feeling like a normal life and became this. It doesn’t even belong to me anymore. I’m a pawn. I’m property. I was sold away from my own home like a piece of furniture, and the only person who will actually collect my belongings because they matter to me is Violet.
The family I was born into might not have been perfect, but it was mostly normal. My mother was kind, compassionate, and warm. My father, before the drugs and alcohol kicked in, was loving and attentive. Our lives were suburban and boring.
Then my father started to grow wealth and power in his business. My mother went to the store and never came home one day. From then on…it felt like the sun never rose again.
I kept my head down. I stayed quiet and did what I was told because I felt like if I could just weather the storm, I’d make it to the shore. But the shore never came. The day my mother died, my father was never the same. He might as well have died that day too.
He finally remarried, and I knew from the moment I met my stepmother that she was not like us. She didn’t grow up in the suburbs or bake cookies or tuck her daughters in at night. I heard the whispers of shady business dealings in my own home. I saw drugs lying around in our living room. I watched my loving, grieving father morph into a monster, who only wanted more money and power and less of me.
I kept my head down for too long. I stayed quiet when I should have spoken up.
My life slowly spiraled into a nightmare, so when my stepmother offered to put me up on the auction block like a thing , I let her.
How could I let this happen?
This isn’t how normal people live. I’m only nineteen. I should be going to college and parties and living my own life.
What’s to become of us now? I already know Alaric won’t just let me leave, but I’m not even sure I want to. I feel more than just safe around him. I feel cared for and protected—something I haven’t felt from a man in a very, very long time.
And even if I did want to leave Alaric’s house, I have no money, no place to stay, no one to help me.
I have these two, and that’s it.
My heart feels like it’s being torn in half. I love Violet more than anything, but something about this man draws me to him. He does care about me. He wants to take care of me.
I’m not ready to marry him, but I’m also not ready to leave him either.
Am I a terrible person? How can I have feelings for someone else when I have the love of my life sitting right in front of me? She would hate me if she knew.
“I have my staff readying your rooms,” Alaric says without looking up from his phone.
“Rooms?” Violet replies as her head snaps in his direction.
“We can share a room,” I softly mumble.
He gazes at both of us, licking his lips and giving us a stern glare. “You and I can also share a room,” he says to me in the tone of a threat. “I’m being fair. Until we figure this whole thing out, we sleep separately.”
I swallow and look down. Lifting my gaze, I stare through my lashes at Violet, who’s giving him a death glare.
I should be flattered. This morning Alaric told me that he would be taking us both home with him until we were all sure I wasn’t pregnant or Violet decided I was better off with him (his words, not mine). Honestly, the thought of staying at Alaric’s house doesn’t sound so bad. At least it’s not with my stepmom.
“What is there to figure out?” Violet asks, sounding angry. “The plan was that Birdie and I would leave together after the auction.”
“That’s not the plan anymore,” he replies. “And you know it.”
He looks back down at his phone.
When Violet looks at me, I feel a spike of guilt and shame because I don’t want to leave Alaric yet. It’s not that I don’t want to be with Violet, but… What if I am already pregnant? What if we leave and Clarissa finds me? I’ll be safe with Alaric. It seems like the only option.
Violet leans back in her seat and goes quiet. None of us talks for the rest of the ride.
When we pull up to Alaric’s house, there are serious-looking men waiting there to open the doors for us. Alaric gets out first, then helps me out of his side while Violet climbs out the opposite. He places a hand on the small of my back and leads me toward the house. I can tell he’s softly pushing me away from her.
So, I plant my feet and wait until she’s at my side before I start to walk in.
“My housekeeper will show you to your room,” Alaric says to Violet as we step inside the grand entryway. His hand stays on me the entire time.
She gives him a narrow-eyed expression. When I give her a small nod, she relents and allows the woman in black to show her to the staircase that leads to the second floor.
“Come with me,” he says, guiding me down the hall to the left.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“My room is just at the end of this hall. Yours will be here, just next to mine.” He pushes open the door that leads to a simple bedroom. It’s crisp and white and smells of clean linens.
“Did you have this room made up just for me?” I ask, stepping in and letting my fingers drift over the cashmere blanket. He shrugs in response, and I have to fight my smile. “That’s very sweet.”
“I’m not a sweet man, Princess.”
“You’re sweeter than you think,” I reply. My eyes drift from the hard expression on his face to his muscular chest and over the soft bulge in his tight gray pants. I force myself to swallow and turn away from him, facing the feminine room he somehow had put together in the last twelve hours.
“Don’t mistake my affection for kindness,” he replies. “I’m doing this because I want you to stay. And until we know there’s not a baby growing inside you right now, you leaving is out of the question. You understand that, right?”
Silently, I nod.
My feelings are all jumbled. I’m confused. My life has been flipped upside down. I don’t even have a home at the moment, let alone any idea of where I want to go or who I want to be.
I just know two things for sure, and I’m clinging to them both as the only true things I know.
One—I love Violet more than anything, and I won’t let her go.
Two—I will never go back to my stepmom’s.
Everything else floating around in my brain is muddled and confused, including my feelings—and desire— for Alaric.
“You do want to stay, don’t you, Princess?” he asks, taking a step toward me.
Without looking at him, I shrug. I do want to stay, but that’s just how I’m feeling at the moment. It would be too impulsive and careless to say so.
“I need to hear you say it,” he says a bit louder as I hear him step closer behind me.
“I don’t know what I want right now,” I murmur.
His hard body presses up against mine from behind, and I let out a gasp at the warm, comforting feel of it. His hands are soft and gentle as he grinds himself against me.
“I know what you want, Birdie,” he whispers in my ear. “I know you secretly want me to fuck you again the way I did last night. Don’t deny it.”
“I can’t,” I reply, failing to hide the wanton need in my voice.
“I know you can’t. I know you belong to her, and you won’t betray her.”
He grinds himself against me again, the hard contour of his cock wedged between my ass cheeks. The only response I can manage is a pitiful whimper.
He lowers his mouth to my ear again. “Over the next few weeks, your stepsister and I will be fighting over you. You know that, don’t you?”
I nod.
He kisses hungrily at my neck, and I lose my sense of what is up and down. I am nothing but a body made of nerve endings and designed for pleasure. And right now, it answers to him.
“Make no mistake, Princess,” he mutters. “I’m going to win.”
Then his hands and body are gone, and I’m left feeling cold and empty without him. I’m gasping for air as I turn to watch him disappear out the door.
My body is still buzzing as I throw myself on top of the bed. Lying there, I slowly wait for my brain to catch up. When it does, there is only one thought circulating inside—this is going to be a very long few weeks.