27. Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Raena
S team billows around me as the scalding blast of the shower runs red rivulets down my body. After the guys looked at my more…intimate injuries, Royal and Maddox went to check in on the others and make sure everyone made it back.
I think they needed a minute to process everything, and I don’t blame them. They handled that really well. Fortunately, they said I didn’t need any stitches… uh, back there, and most of the wounds on my body are superficial. I’m sore, very exhausted, and drained from the drugs, but I’m alive. Nothing is life threatening. Considering my past, I’ll call that a win.
Alek squeezes body wash on a loofa, lathering it up until foamy white bubbles run down his forearms. He’s stripped down to just his boxers that do nothing to hide what he’s packing inside them. His face is solemn, the extent of King's damage on my body weighs heavy on him.
“Hey. I’m okay. I’m alive. He didn’t win.” His golden eyes light up when they meet mine, reverence shining bright in them.
“You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met, Baby Girl. Not many people survive King once, let alone twice.”
“I don’t feel strong,” I whisper, ashamed to even admit it. “It would be easier to be weak. To lay down and submit to the shit show life seems to think is mine. But I won’t– I can’t. I’m strong because I have to be– for my daughter. For you. Our family.”
Alek turns my body around, bearing my back in all its hideous glory to him. A hiss escapes my lips when the loofa makes contact with my fresh cuts.
“But you don’t have to be strong here. Not with me. The weight of the world isn’t on your shoulders alone anymore, Raena. Break. Fall apart. I’ll pick up the pieces.”
“How? How do I do that?”
“Give it to me. Tell me what happened this time. Let me bear it with you.”
He continues to softly scrub away the blood that’s dried and crusted to my skin. A sob breaks through, stealing my breath. How do I tell him what happened? What he did– what they did. What if he doesn’t look at me the same? “Get it out of your head, Baby Girl. Just start at the beginning. What happened at Twisted?”
“It was my mom.” My knees buckle beneath my admission, but his arms band around me, pulling me back into his hard chest.
“I’ve got you.” He holds me like I might slip from his fingers and vanish again. “Take your time.”
I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths, allowing the warmth of his body and the comfort of his overwhelming presence to seep into my soul, grounding me. I don’t feel bad about what I had to do, but a part of me always wanted more from my mother. I always envisioned her getting her life together. She would apologize for abandoning me, and I would forgive her. She would be a part of my life. But those were the foolish dreams of a child who wished she was enough for her mother to want her. Enough for her to change and do better. The woman I am now knows better.
“My mother traded me to King. The first time and this time. She– she traded me to save herself.”
His hold on me tightens, pressing me into him like a second skin. “I have experience with shitty moms. My mom offered me to her friends, let her friends…” He trails off. I don’t need to hear the rest of it, I know. His mother is no better than mine.
“I’m so sorry, Alek.”
“I’m sorry, too. We don’t get to choose our family, our blood. That’s why my brothers and I chose to become brothers, and we chose you, too. Our family is different because we choose every single day to put the ones we love above everything else. We protect each other– save each other– because we all know what it feels like when the people who are supposed to love you, supposed to take care of you, hurt you the most. You and Em, you’re family now, just as we are yours. We take care of our own.”
“There’s so much I need to tell you. So much I’ve learned, but I can’t go another minute without saying this.” The words can’t leave me fast enough. I can’t wait any longer. “I love you. I know it’s fast, and it doesn’t make sense— and I don’t need to hear it back right now. When I thought I was going to die, over and over, I wished I would have told you sooner. I wish I would have told all of you sooner.
“I never thought I’d see my daughter again. Thank you all for looking out for her when I wasn’t here. Not just this time, but for the time I spent thinking she was dead. Thank you for protecting her– loving her when I couldn’t be there.”
“Say it again,” He whispers, his lips against my ear as he stands as still as a statue under the spray of the shower with me.
“Thank you.”
“No. The other thing.”
A smile tips the edge of my lips. “I love you.”
He spins me around in his arms, picking me up until my legs wrap around his waist.
“Again.”
“I love you, Alek.” I’ve never seen him smile as big as he is right now, but I don’t miss the tears pooling in his honey eyes.
“No one’s ever said that to me,” he whispers, the gravel in his low voice doing things to my lady bits pressed against him that they have no business doing right now.
Tangling my fingers in his wet hair, I pull him down to capture his lips with mine. My heart breaks that no one has ever told this big beautiful, kind-hearted man they love him. I’ll tell him everyday, until our days are over.
“Well, I’m glad I could be your first, Daddy.”
Alek spins us to the side, and my back hits the cold tile wall with a thud, drawing a hiss from my lips. “Oh shit. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you dare stop, Alek. I need this. Please.”
“You’re hurt, Baby Girl. I’m not going to hurt you more. I’m sorry. I got carried away. Just let me take care of you.” I know it’s irrational, but that doesn’t make the rejection sting any less. Luckily, all of my shame went out the window when my three boyfriends inspected my butthole for injuries earlier, so I don’t really give a shit right now.
“You are taking care of me. Now fucking kiss me, Daddy.”
His restraint snaps, and his lips descend on mine in a second, but my gentle giant makes sure to cushion my back with his arm so it's not against the wall. He kisses me like he’s drowning in me, desperate for the air only I can breathe into his lungs.
When he pulls back, we’re both breathless. I should be embarrassed that I’ve made a mess against his warm skin, my pussy begging to be touched, but I’m not.
If I wasn’t so injured right now, I’d free the monster hiding in his boxers and slide down on him right here, but he’s right. I’m in no condition to slay a monster like that right now. We’ll have to wait until I’m healed.
With our foreheads pressed together, his breath fans across my lips as he whispers, “I love you, too, Raena.”
After our very emotional, intense shower, Alek takes me back into the bedroom, where the bloody sheets have already been changed. This is a different room than the one I slept in when I was living here. That time seems like it’s so far in the past, but in reality, it's only been a few weeks. I think. I’m still unsure how long I was held in King’s mansion– my time there is still a blur from the drugs he injected me with.
Royal and Maddox have not returned yet. It’s funny. I’ve been so used to being on my own. Who knew I was so clingy. They are outside of this room somewhere, but my heart aches that they aren’t in this room with me.
“What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” Alek says, helping me into a pair of leggings and a tank top I recognize from the clothes I left at their house before I was taken. He’s careful not to pull at the bandages he applied when we got out of the shower, and he dried me off and tended to my wounds.
“No. It’s silly, really. I’m okay.”
“Nothing is silly. Tell me.”
“I don’t like being away from you. Any of you. I feel like if you’re all not in the room with me where I can see you, you might disappear and I’ll never see you again.”
“That’s not silly at all.” He reaches over, grabbing his phone from the nightstand and firing off a text. “You’ve been through something traumatic. You’ve lived through the worst case scenario. You’re allowed to feel how you feel.”
He pulls the sheets back and helps me slide beneath them before crawling in behind me and pulling me to his chest. His body is so warm, I feel like I could sleep for days as long as he was holding me to him like I’m the most precious thing to ever be in his arms.
“Snow’s making some food. Just relax and rest your body until it’s ready. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you,” I whisper against his bare skin. He took off his soaked boxers and slipped into some sweatpants, and I’m trying really, really hard not to notice he has nothing on underneath them.
What is wrong with me?
I was just brutally raped– repeatedly, and the only thing I can think about is how to get all of him inside of me.
I’m completely fucked in the head.
I close my eyes and count to ten. Or I try to, but I only make it to six before the bedroom door busts open and slams into the wall.
“What’s wrong? Is she okay? Are you okay?” Royal rushes in, out of breath, panic flaring in his icy eyes. Maddox pushes him further into the room so he can see what’s going on, his own panic evident.
“She’s okay. She just needs us right now. Come lay down with us,” Alek tells them. Embarrassment floods me, and I bury my face into his chest to hide the stain I know is plastered across my cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” my whisper barely audible with my face squished against him. Gathering my courage, I lift my head a little. “I’m sure you’re both busy. I’m fine.”
The bed dips behind me, and a set of arms band around my waist, warm skin pressing against me.
“We are never too busy for you. If you need us, we’re here. Understand, Angel?” Royal speaks softly into my ear, his head nuzzled into my neck, and his warm, shirtless chest makes me feel like I’m snuggled beneath a weighted blanket.
“Yes, Sir,” I whisper, kissing Alek’s chest before turning around to face Royal.
“Okay, scootch over now,” Maddox says playfully, his shirt somehow gone as well. He crawls up from the end of the bed, wiggling between Alek and me, curling his body around my back and throwing his leg over my hip. “I’ll be Daddy’s little spoon for now. I think he’s hogged you long enough.”
“Thank you. I’m just feeling a little… I don’t know. I don’t want you out of my sight,” I try to explain, feeling more embarrassed by the second.
“Oh well, that’s okay. We don’t want you out of our sight either. In fact, I think I have the perfect solution for all of us,” Maddox says, tightening his body around me.
“Well? What is it?” Royal asks impatiently, lifting his head to look over me at him.
“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll love it. It’s right up your alley, Sir . Promise.”