74. Orion
Orion
V ince was waiting for me when I got back, so I didn’t even bother trying to look guilty. The snap on my holster was open, which was the first thing he noticed. Probably better his eyes go to my gun and not the blood on my hands or my shirt.
“Where did you go?” he asked.
He was fresh out of the shower, wearing only water and a towel, and I would clearly have to teach Jacob how to draw things out longer for the future.
“Am I in trouble?”
“Get on your fucking knees, Orion.”
It was easy. It was expected.
It was home.
I sank down before him, resting my ass on my heels and keeping my eyes downcast as to not enrage him further. I knew it had been a risk to sneak out, even worse to do what I’d done, but it was more than necessary .
“Where did you go?” he asked again.
“I paid a visit to Caspian’s father.”
Vince cursed out loud and moved fast as lightning.
He fisted my hair and pulled, hard enough to make my scalp burn.
I didn’t have a chance to get my footing, so instead he dragged me through the townhouse and up the stairs to his bedroom.
My knees banged on each stair, one of my fingers twisting as I tried—and failed—to find some balance.
Caspian let out a startled noise when Vince hauled me into the room, and I hoped he would ignore the tears welling in the corners of my eyes. Vince was very close to pulling my hair out of my scalp, but even with me on my knees in front of the three of them now, he showed no signs of releasing me.
“Tell them where you went,” he demanded, twisting my hair so I had to look Caspian in the eye.
“I went to see your father,” I said.
Emotion flashed across his face and I could see his throat contract as he swallowed. Jacob wrapped an arm around him, offering him comfort.
“And what?” Vince prompted.
“I cut off his hand,” I admitted.
Caspian gasped, hands flying up to cover his mouth. He leaned halfway into Jacob’s arms, but stopped short of turning away from me entirely.
“I should fucking crate you,” Vince seethed, jerking me to face him instead of Caspian.
He slapped me across the face with enough to knock loose the tears I’d been holding back.
His hand in my hair meant I had nowhere to go, nothing to do except feel the brunt of his palm against my cheek.
He slapped me a second time and a third, and I knew he was mad because he was scared.
He’d done so much work to build a safe life for us and he was scared I’d gone rogue and ruined it, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“Why?” Caspian’s question was hard to hear over the brutal and repeated crack of Vince’s hand against my face. He’d definitely bruised my cheekbone, maybe even my jaw. Caspian cleared his throat and asked again, “Why did you cut off his hand?”
“He offered yours when it wasn’t his to give.” I spit blood out of my mouth and onto the floor, thankful no teeth came with it. “So I took his to remind him of his place.”
Vince shoved me away with so much force I had nowhere to go besides down. I landed on the floor in a heap, cheek hurting more now that he’d stopped hitting me. I covered the side of my face with my own hand, the heat of his strikes burning my palm like a brand.
“Orion,” Caspian said my name like an apology, pulling himself away from Jacob and sinking to his knees in front of me. He took my face into his hands, coming forward and kissing my cheek, his soft lips somehow taking away all of the pain Vince had made with his hand.
“It was nothing,” I said roughly. I wanted to pull away from him, the kindness making my stomach turn, but…Caspian needed it .
“Liar.”
I shook my head and dared a glance in Vince’s direction. He had his arms folded in front of his chest, his features stern but less dangerous than when I’d walked back into the house.
“Did you open me up for retaliation?” he asked.
“No, Sir.”
“How do you know?”
I had no secrets from Vince, but I didn’t want to tell him this. I didn’t want him to know I’d learned things from his father that I hoped I’d never have to use again, and yet…
“I incentivized him,” I said instead of offering a direct answer.
“If you think I won’t tie you to a bed and exact my own kind of punishment on you, dog, you have another thing coming,” he warned.
“I told him if he acted out of turn that I would come for his cock,” I answered. “I explained to him, in detail, how I would take the skin from it and what I would do with it before I cut it off of him entirely.”
Caspian swore and then dry-heaved, turning away from me in disgust.
“I’m not sorry,” I said, to him, to Vince. “I’d do it again.”
Caspian said something impossible to hear, his hands still covering his mouth. I reached up and tugged his wrist, and he dropped both hands into his lap .
“Thank you,” he croaked, lips pulled into a tight line. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t want you to say anything,” I said. “ Please don’t say anything.”
Thankfully, he didn’t. The silence was louder than a gunshot, and I covered my ears with both hands, bending forward under the weight of it.
I didn’t feel strongly about Caspian one way or another, at least that’s what I’d tried to convince myself when I pulled a saw out and made a mess of his father’s hand for the slight.
“Go take a fucking shower, Orion,” Vince said, and I nodded.
Forcing myself to my feet, I shuffled off into the bathroom, still steamy and wet from their earlier use.
I stripped out of my clothes, discarding my holster and weapon on the counter.
The water was hot as soon as I turned it on, and I rinsed myself under the spray until the blood flaked free of my fingernails and my skin.
I switched to soap, then rinsed again, then stayed under the spray with my eyes closed and my forehead pressed against the wall until the water started to cool.
The shower door opened, and I didn’t look. Cold air wafted in and then a dry body against mine that I immediately recognized as Jacob’s. He slid his arms around my waist and kissed my shoulder blade.
“That was uncharacteristically romantic of you,” he said, smiling against my skin.
“Shut up,” I grumbled.
“You like him a little now,” he teased .
“I’ll cut your tongue out.”
Jacob chuckled. “You would never.”
Then his hand was busy between my ass cheeks, slick fingers searching for my hole. I didn’t have the energy to tense, and Jacob kissed his way up to the back of my neck.
One finger inside of me, and another.
My knees buckled.
“Vince told me to use lots of lube,” Jacob said next, scissoring his fingers apart and making quick work of prepping me.
“Of course he did,” I murmured.
“I’ve been dreaming about fucking you since the night you bandaged my back at the church,” he confessed, notching the head of his slippery and wet cock against my hole. “The shower isn’t ideal but?—”
He trailed off, lifting onto his toes to breach my entrance.
“It’s good,” I choked out, lifting one leg until he responded by curling his fingers around my thigh to hold it up. Seating himself fully inside of me, Jacob groaned and banged his forehead down onto my shoulder. “For now.”
“Jesus, you’re fucking tight. No wonder he’d kill for you.”
I moaned, bracing myself against the wall as Jacob found a slow rhythm that rocked our bodies back and forth.
It was nowhere near as rough as I was with him or Vince was with me, but there was no gentleness between us either.
The way Jacob handled me was desperately raw and primal in its need.
The sound of our heavy breathing filled the shower, and I bit the inside of my cheek to chase after the bit of pain I’d need to get myself off.
I turned my face to the side and Jacob was right there. He crashed our mouths together awkwardly, biting my lip as I reached up to twist and tug at my nipples. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough, the familiar knot of pleasure tightening low in my belly.
“Harder,” I begged into his mouth. “Use me.”
“Use me ,” he countered, slamming himself home with one more bruising snap of his hips.
Blood filled my mouth as he sank his teeth into my lower lip and then he groaned, cock thickening inside of me. It was Jacob’s orgasm that sent me after mine, a weak but pleasurable thing that felt more like a blanket than a tidal wave.
The feel of his release and my own rippled through my body until my teeth chattered and my knees trembled, and then Jacob licked where he’d bit, kissed me softly on the corner of my mouth, and pulled out.
“Don’t tell anyone I did it for love,” I said, testing my balance and giving another rinse between my ass cheeks.
“I wouldn’t dare.” Jacob smiled, then left me to finish cleaning up in what was left of the warm water.
There was a clean towel on the counter when I stepped out, my clothes and gun already taken away.
I dried off as best as I could, shaking the water out of my hair and wrapping the towel around my waist. The scar on my chest from where Vince had carved his name into my skin was healing quickly, and I absentmindedly picked at the scab on my way to the bedroom, hoping to deepen the scar.
Jacob and Caspian were nowhere to be found, but Vince sat on the edge of his bed, a pile of clean clothes stacked beside him.
“Heel,” he said, voice low.
I walked to him and sank down to my knees in front of him.
“Where are they?” I asked softly.
“Making dinner,” he said. “Waiting for you.”
“Should I get dressed?” I swallowed hard.
“No.” He shook his head, pressing his fingers into the bruises his hand had left on my cheek. “Do you forgive me for this?”
It had never been a question.
“Yes, Sir.”
“I was frightened,” he whispered, fingers dancing across my chin. I rested my cheek against his thigh with a soft sigh. “I don’t want to lose you. Lose this.”
“I’ll ask next time, Sir,” I promised.
“Good.”
He didn’t say anything else and neither did I. He let me kneel at his feet and rest my cheek against his leg, and he petted his fingers through my hair as I focused on the steady sound of his breathing. It was the most peace I’d ever known, the only thing I’d ever wanted.
Footsteps grew louder as someone came up the stairs. I could tell by the weight of them it was Jacob. He stopped in the doorway; I didn’t need to look to know. I could feel him there, behind me.
“Dinner is ready,” he said.
“Come on, then.” Vince grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet.
He unwound the towel from my waist and dressed me in clean clothes, adjusting the seams and the hems until everything hung the way he wanted.
He pressed his hand over the scab I’d just picked clean, then he kissed my forehead and headed for the door.
I lingered, swaying in place. It was hard to walk, to turn, to think. The weight of my new life wrapping around me like a weighted blanket tied to an anvil. I wanted to do what Vince told me to do, but my body…
“Orion,” he said my name like a command, and everything clicked back on. I shifted toward him, stare falling to his outstretched hand. “Come.”
And I did.