Chapter Ten
Clover
Surely they’re just joking. They must be. Right?
I narrow my eyes at them. They look dead serious. I don’t believe them.
As calmly as I can, I continue to move toward the door. No, my hand does not tremble when I turn the knob and open the door. And no, my legs don’t tremble as I step out into the corridor.
I’m met with an eerie silence. Like we’re the only people here. Normally, the corridors are full of people coming and going into their rooms, but now there’s no one.
I spin around and face the three reasons my heart is a broken mess before I rush toward the balcony and peer over the railing.
There is no one out there. The pleasure island is completely empty. No people at the bar. No music, loud chatter, and laughter. Nothing. No neon lights strung around trees, flickering.
“No,” I say slowly. “No, no, no.”
I turn and go back inside, speechless. The realization slips in hard and fast. I truly am the only guest here. And no, these three banes of my existence don’t count as guests, since the qualifying factor to be a guest is to be human.
“Where,” I ask slowly and carefully, pronouncing each word with emphasis so there’s no confusion about my question. “Is everyone?” But the controlled calm I forced upon myself slips and explodes. I gesture wildly toward the balcony.
“There should be an entire resort out there. With people. Real people. Drinking, laughing, having fun, hooking up. “Where are they? Where is everyone?”
No. They couldn’t have. They wouldn’t have. Why would they?
“Did you—“ I stop, because the thought sounds insane even in my own head. Then I say it anyway.
“Did you clear the island?” But I answer the question myself. “You cleared the island.” I double over in shock and alarm, my thoughts swimming in a sea of chaos.
“You kicked out every single person... from an entire resort because of me?” But I was brought room service. My meals were left outside my door. And it tasted delicious.
Kellan speaks, his voice hard, as if I had forced him to answer a stupid question. “A necessary precaution.”
I blink.
“A necessary precaution,” I repeat, nodding.
I turn to look out at the balcony, then at them.
Then back at the beach again, just to confirm it’s so aggressively empty, it’s a ghost island.
Then I have a complete and utter breakdown, a fine one, one that will go down in the books, one they will remember forever.
“And you thought I would be safer with you three alone on an island a million miles away from home than I would with a madman who wants to chop off my fingers so he can send them to my brother? I take it that’s what he threatened to do, right? But you thought that was a better idea?” I shriek.
“It’s not. I’m leaving. I don’t care if I have to walk off the island, but I’m leaving.”
I bend to pick up the purse I had dropped onto a chair just before discovering I was being held hostage on an island by their psychopaths.
And just when I’m at my angriest, my dress decides now is a good time to slip and expose my bra. Luckily, it was just a bit of the red lace, but when I look up, I’m stunned to find their expressions have changed. They’re looking at me with darkened eyes, their hands clenched.
I swallow, and instinct has me moving back a little.
“What are you wearing, Clover?” Nolan asks.
What a weird question.
“A dress,” I say, frowning, looking down at my dress.
“Underneath your dress. What are you wearing underneath your dress, Clover?”
My underwear?
“That is none of your business. And if you must know, it’s called ladies’ underwear.”
The atmosphere changes again. I feel as if I’m in danger, as if I’m going to be consumed by the sheer virility of these men, and there will be nothing left of me when they’re done.
Yeah, I’m not sticking around for them.
“You three have lost the plot,” I murmur and turn. Oh right, I was making my grand exit off the island, so I start to head in the direction of my room.
“Take your dress off, Clover,” Kellan says, his voice husky and soft.
I spin around and face them. They want me to take off my dress so they can see my underwear. Great. Maybe they’ll like another chance to tell me no, thank you, all over again. Will they even know it was the same set I wore that night? I doubt it.
Fine, they can have at it.
“Do you know how I got here in the first place?” I take a deep, fortifying breath because this is going to be a long one.
“I broke into your penthouse, yes, yes, I did,” I say as I bunch up the dress in my hands and pull it off me, leaving me in the dreaded red underwear set.
“I have the code to get into your building, into your elevator, into your apartment. You knew I had it. You didn’t change it, so that’s your fault.”
Part one out of the way. I wish I weren’t nearly naked for this, but whatever.
“Do you know what I did after I broke into your apartment? I stole all your boxers. Yes, those bespoke ones, the only kind in the world.”
“We know,” Nolan says, and throws me off track. Of course, they know. Alessia called it. But it doesn’t matter. The why is more important.
“Well, then, I signed them with your name, opened a virtual store, and sold them to your adoring fans. They were selling like hotcakes. I used the money I made from selling the stolen goods to book myself this reclaiming vacation. Why?” I may be sounding a tad hysterical now, but who cares? Not me.
“I needed to reclaim myself, my broken heart, because you three bozos are dating the world’s most beautiful women, and you just don’t like me the way I like—”
I don’t get to say anything more.
My world spins upside down as they grab me, cup my face, and kiss me until I’m crying. I have no idea what’s happening, but my body doesn’t care.
I get hot and wet, soaking my panties while my nipples strain against the bra.
“Fuck, Clover. It’s always been you,” Nolan says, raining kisses down my face. “No one else. We’re not fucking dating anyone. You corrupted us.”
“Always only you,” Oren says, and does the same. “These,” he adds, running a finger down my breast, over my nipple, to the waistband of my panties, making me shudder, “tiny scraps of material have been burned into our minds. See you in them now… Fuck. Nothing can stop us now.”
“I don’t understand,” I say, pushing them away. I need to know exactly what they’re saying.
“We tried for years not to break the code we have with your brother. You didn’t make it easy, Clover. So now you’re ours. Ours. Every fucking gorgeous inch of you is ours. Forever,” Kellan growls as he picks me up and places me on the bed.
I can’t believe this is happening. My brain can’t comprehend, but again, my body is having the time of her life.