5. Sever
5
SEVER
I stood outside the door where Arianna was being kept, my heart beating hard. I hadn’t seen her since senior year when she’d attended the grad party. I’d begged her to come with me. Being around her made me feel human. Or what I assumed human felt like. My entire life had been filled with only anger and hatred, but she’d made me feel things I didn’t have words for.
I’d kissed her that night. She was my only friend in the world. She looked so beautiful beneath the moon in her pretty blue dress, her dark hair in a braid down her back, her eyes sparkling as I’d led her away from the party to look at the stars.
Ariana liked to wish on stars, so I’d taken her to see them, hoping maybe I could be part of her wish.
I’d watched her for years, feeling connected to her without even knowing her. When we were paired together for a project our freshman year of high school, I’d made it my mission to try to be friends with her.
It worked, but it took time. I wasn’t great with people. I didn’t know how to act or treat them. Being beaten my entire life left its marks, both physically and emotionally. We were beaten to remember to not trust. To not love. To feel nothing.
So I did what I was taught until I met her.
The night I kissed her flashed through my mind as I stood outside her door.
“Make a wish,” I said, watching as she looked up at the stars, a smile on her pretty face. A star shot across the sky as if I’d planned its arrival just for this moment with her.
“I wish… for your happiness,” she said, closing her eyes.
My heart stumbled at her soft words. I stared in wonder at her, unsure how god could make such a beautiful creature and allow a monster like me to get so close to perfection.
She opened her eyes and looked at me.
“What do you wish for, Sever?”
“You,” I answered thickly, the words falling out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“What?” Her lips parted as she gazed back at me.
I leaned in and brushed my lips against hers, tasting her for the first time.
She jerked away from me, her green eyes wide.
“Sever, we can’t ? —”
“We can,” I pleaded softly., desperate to finally have her be mine.
“You’re leaving for college. I-I’m a nobody ? —”
“You’re my somebody,” I whispered back fiercely before going back in for more. My lips pressed against hers. She didn’t respond for a moment. Finally, her lips parted and she kissed me back, sealing our fate.
She’d given me her first kiss, and like a hungry madman, I consumed it.
“I want this with you, darling star. Please, tell me you want it too.”
“I want it.”
I deepened the kiss, cradling her soft cheek. Her delicate neck. Tasting her. Exploring her.
“Be mine?” I whispered against her soft skin as I trailed kisses to her neck.
“Yes. Yours, Sever. I’m yours.”
I’d gone home thinking I finally had something special. I hadn’t pushed her past those soft, deep kisses. The next day, my calls and texts went unanswered. I drove past her home on repeat. I pounded on her door. Nothing. I beat her father. Nothing. He said she left. Wasn’t coming home. He called her a little cunt. I’d beaten him until he was unconscious before I’d stumbled out of her ramshackle home covered in her father’s blood, my heart broken at having lost her after just getting her. She lied to me.
And that was it. Four years ago. Nothing.
Now, here she was. Tied to a bedpost in my home.
I ground my teeth as my hatred and anger surged. She’d broken my heart. Abandoned me. Left me without so much as a goodbye after whispering to me she wanted me too and that I was hers and she was mine.
I shook my head, pushing the ugly memories away. Opening her door, I stepped in, bracing myself at seeing her again.
She laid flat on her back in the bed, her eyes closed.
I swallowed hard as I approached her, knowing damn well she’d already lived through hell and back with her father. We’d commiserate to one another about the hell we existed in, promising that someday we’d be able to be save each other.
She was in the ninth fucking level here though. There was no saving. Not after what she’d done to my heart and soul.
She was right where she deserved to be after what she’d done to me.
She’d be punished.
Karma was a real bitch like that.
I stopped at the edge of her bed and stared down at her. She looked just as beautiful as always, maybe even more so. Long, thick lashes. Those large breasts. Tiny waist. Thick dark hair. Even busted and bruised, she was something truly glorious to behold.
It made me hate her that much more. The very ugly idea of other men touching her, claiming her, made me insane with fury. I wanted nothing more than to kill each of them slowly while she watched.
I ground my teeth as I stared down at her, my chest heaving with each breath I dragged in.
Her lashes fluttered for a moment before her eyelids opened, displaying a slit of her pretty green eyes.
Recognition dawned on her because she widened her eyes at me.
“S-Sever?” she called out in her sweet voice.
“Hey, darling star,” I whispered back, using the nickname I’d given her long ago.
Her bottom lip trembled, her tears leaking down her face.
“Sever. P-Please… help me.”
I swallowed down any feeling that tried to surface before I stepped back.
“Don’t go. Don’t leave me,” she choked out.
“I remember those words,” I whispered. “That feeling.”
“Sever… Please …” her voice cracked. She sounded like shit. She’d clearly been beaten. Broken.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I returned to her side and opened the bottle of water I’d brought with me. She had to be dying of thirst.
I studied her for a moment, battling out my hatred and old feelings I loathed more than my old man.
Finally, I lifted the bottle of water and poured it over her face. She choked and garbled on it, thrashing as I emptied it on her.
When it was empty, I tossed it aside, watching as she sobbed softly, completely soaked.
I cradled her face with my hand.
“You looked thirsty,” I whispered.
She continued to weep, her face and chest soaked. I forced myself to step away from her, knowing if I stayed, I’d do something else.
What that something else was unknown, but if I had to guess, it would be way too fucking dangerous.
I let my hand fall away and stepped back, taking in the way her chest heaved beneath her wet clothes, and the way her breasts pushed against the thin fabric, her nipples hard from the cold water.
Quickly, I turned on my heel and left the room only to run into Massimo.
“That was uncalled for, don’t you think?” he asked as I closed the door behind me. Judging by the look on his face, he’d seen what I’d done. That meant he had a camera on her in there. It was typical. We did it to all the women.
I grunted and didn’t say shit.
“I know she was your little girlfriend when you were younger. Now she’s our captive. Our prisoner. Is that going to be a problem, little brother?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Because we’re going to fuck her. In fact, I’ll fuck her first.”
I balled my hands into tight fists at his words. Mass didn’t like to admit it, but he was just as twisted as our piece of shit father sometimes.
“Are you OK with that?” He stared me in the eyes.
I swallowed thickly. “I don’t fucking care.”
He smirked and let out a soft huff of laughter. “We’ll bring her out tomorrow and play. Get a good night’s sleep. May as well get our money’s worth.” And with that, he walked away, leaving me standing at her door.
I knew my brothers well enough to know Arianna wouldn’t last long with them.
What was worse, I knew me.
She’d last even less once I got my hands on her.