18. Chapter 13
Reaper has been in a foul mood all night. Part of me wants to tell him to go rub one out, or just convince her to fuck him already, but I think his dark mood is more about him than her.
Having them here is bringing up the past.
I think we all thought that when we took them, knowing Rune was sitting at home, sick with fear, it would fix that broken piece within us, but instead, it feels like we’re being cracked open even more.
Reaper has become obsessive. Walking around and muttering to himself like some Poe character, slowly losing his mind. He’s usually focused, in control of himself during a job, but he’s unraveling more and more as the days go on.
It’s only been seven days since we took them and at the rate he’s going, he’s going to come unhinged by next week. On top of it, Viper and Breaker are spending too much time with Cora. Viper losing control and nearly fucking Cora is proof. I may be the only one keeping my shit together, but then I usually am.
Until I don’t.
My eyes travel back to the screens as I rub my temples. My head hurts. Like I have any room to talk. I’ve been staring at these cameras just as much. The entire room reeks of male. A mixture of sweat and soap. I glance at Breaker’s spare mask next to Vipers. The room smells like them.
I rub my eyes, leaning in to get a better look at Cora. She’s sleeping, curled into a little ball in the center of the bed, all lights in the room on, the fire flickering in the background. On the other screen, Delilah is still laying across the top of the bed, face down, knees on the floor where Reaper left her about thirty minutes ago.
I haven’t seen him since I watched him on the monitors stalking from the mansion, the front door slamming so hard it popped back open. I debate going and closing it, but figure he’ll be back soon enough. Although, if Princess goes exploring, she may decide to run.
My cock thickens at the thought. What fun that would be.
A light whimper grabs my attention and I focus on Cora and turn up the volume. She shifts, curling into an even smaller ball and squeaks another little whimpering sound of distress.
She’s dreaming.
Or having a nightmare.
After hearing her scream like that the first night, we’ve all been keeping a close eye on her. She’s somehow stronger than Princess in many ways, but also more fragile in so many others. Like leaded glass, some pieces of her tightly bound with metal, less breakable, but other parts paper mache thin.
She whimpers again and murmurs that same name she was screaming. Prissy. We’ve watched the girls for a long time, dug into their pasts, and have never come across anyone named Prissy.
When she whimpers again, I grab my mask and stand. If she screams again, Breaker and Viper are too far away to hear her, and Reaper is gone to walk off his rage or to the carriage house to work out. I’m the only one in the house, but from the look of things, Delilah won’t be a problem anymore tonight. After Reaper, I highly doubt she’ll leave her room, even though he left it unlocked. Something we decided she was ready for.
We need to earn her trust and she knows now that we will not hurt her, even if she acts out. Now she needs to learn to follow rules and the only way to do that is to give her a choice to break them.
Shutting the door behind me, I take the cellar stairs two at a time and unlock the door leading to the kitchen. Locking it behind me, I walk through the series of rooms to the foyer, double checking that the adjoining rooms are locked as I pass each one in case she ventures out. Viper is terrible at locking doors behind him, so I always check. When I reach the foyer, I shut the front door, cursing under my breath, and continue on to the west wing of the house, the furthest away.
When we bought the mansion, we only ever planned to use it as a base. It’s in a perfect location, secluded, sitting on hundreds of acres overlooking the ocean. A person can scream for hours and no one will ever hear them. Perfect for what we needed, but we never used it. It’s just sat, for years, untouched.
Until now.
It takes a few minutes, but when I reach the stairwell leading up to her room, her desperate scream tears through me like a knife.
“Shit,” I snap and break into a run.