Chapter 11 #3
My jaw clenches, the words trapped. I gave them freely earlier, but now it’s like he’s ripping them from me.
My mind takes me back to last night—to the early hours of this morning—when he told me why I might want my control taken from me, that it would allow me to be free.
Is that what this is? Is he taking control so I won’t have to think about anything other than existing? Or is he being a dominating arsehole?
“Yes, Daddy,” I grit out, the sharp intakes of the twins hitting me in my solar plexus even as my cheeks burn and my throat thickens. Did I give in too quickly? Should I fight more? Is this—
“Stop thinking, Peaches.” Hunter’s demand breaks through my swirling thoughts, shutting off all the voices that are telling me this is some kind of fucked-up situation.
My wide eyes latch onto his, the green somehow calming my racing heart as his warm palms come up to cradle my face.
“We will never hurt you, never take what isn’t ours or what you don’t want to give. Trust us.”
I feel my lower lip tremble, everything becoming overwhelming once more. “But how do I know it’s not wrong?” My voice is barely above a whisper, the worry slipping past my lips without my permission to be voiced.
His entire face softens then. “Close your eyes, Peaches.” Slowly, hesitantly, I do as he says, taking a deep inhale of his rosemary and mint scent which instantly calms my racing heartbeat. “Does this feel wrong?”
I concentrate on the warmth of his palms, the way his body heats mine, his nearness bringing a measure of peace even if it also sends a skittering pulse throughout my body. “No.”
A presence at my left side has me trying to twist my face, my eyelids starting to open, but Hunter holds me still, his thumbs tracing my cheeks.
“Keep them closed,” he commands gently, a sharp gasp falling from my lips when a hand grasps my hip, hot lips pressing against the side of my neck, sucking and causing my nipples to pebble. “Does that feel wrong?”
“No,” I breathe out, butterflies taking flight in my stomach, a shifting feeling near my heart forcing me to inhale again and my nose fills with peppermint, lavender, and lemon, telling me Roman is pressed against me.
Another body heats my right side, lavender, bergamot, and patchouli filling my nostrils and soothing me even more.
Rowan’s comforting scent is always a welcome surprise, a part of me expecting him to smell sharper, less soft.
A sigh falls from my lips when his mouth meets my skin, sucking me inside its heat with a light graze of his teeth, sending goosebumps cascading all over my body.
“Does that feel wrong?” Hunter asks, his deep voice somehow more husky and toe-curling than it is usually.
I’m shaking my head before the word even leaves my lips. “No. It feels…” I trail off, fear causing my stomach to clench.
“Feels like what, Peaches?” he demands as the twins remain silent, their lips pressed against me but unmoving.
Swallowing past the worry in my throat, I keep my eyes closed as I let the truth spill free. “It feels more right than it should, considering I hardly know any of you and that I’m your prisoner.”
“Semantics, baby,” Roman purrs, his hot breath fanning against my skin and lighting my nerves on fire.
“You belong to us now, Iris. You are ours to protect, to keep safe, to look after and cherish,” Hunter tells me, my chest tightening as the sting of tears fills my closed lids.
My father’s betrayal stirred up all those old feelings of unworthiness, of feeling like I’m not enough that stem from my mother’s abandonment of me as a child and Nikolai’s rejection, even if it was for my own safety.
It compounded them, reinforcing this inadequacy that slithers inside my very bones.
“We don’t need to know everything about you yet to know that you are ours. Only ours.”
I don’t miss the way he says they don’t know everything yet. I’ve no doubt they will, sure that they’ll discover all my secrets just as they have infiltrated my mind and taken over my body.
A sharp knock at the door has me jumping, my eyes flying wide and landing on Hunter. The guys don’t move, just wait.
“The Russians are here, boss,” a male voice says from the other side of the door, my heart thumping inside my chest. Nikolai is here, and I’m going to have to face him in just a few short moments.
“Rowan, go bring them up,” Hunter orders, his palms still cupping my face, his eyes not leaving mine. “Roman, make sure everything is in place.” I wonder what he means, my brows dipping even as I’m still caught in his stare. “You ready, Peaches?”
I smooth my features, glancing down at my harem pants and slouchy, wide-necked jumper, then back up before shrugging. “I guess he’s also seen me naked, so I don’t suppose it matters what I’m wearing.”
His nostrils flare, his grip tightening on my cheeks, but not to the point of pain. It’s just enough to show me what his large hands are capable of. Why does that make my core twitch?
“My name will be on that list very fucking soon,” he growls out, my fingers aching at my sides to grip him, but I keep them down, needing to gain back some control if I’m going to face my childhood crush again.
Or maybe he’s now the man who I gave my virginity to?
Or the one whose father technically owns me?
Who the fuck knows. “Let’s go show him what he foolishly let go, shall we? ”