Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
I was dreaming that I hadn’t made the mistake of telling Roe, Wyatt, and Reid the truth.
In my dream, I watched Wyatt cook even though I couldn’t see what he was making.
We all sat down and ate dinner together even though I couldn’t see or taste the food.
At the end of the night, I went to Roe’s room and Wyatt joined us.
Things turned heated after that. They both took off all my clothes and there wasn’t a single bruise on my body.
Wyatt told me to lie on the bed. I did as he said, and he followed me.
He lay on my right and Roe lay on my left.
Wanting to face Wyatt, I rolled on my side and Roe spooned me from behind.
He pushed his pelvis against my butt, and I could feel that he was already hard.
He began kissing my shoulder as his hand slid across my hip and came to a stop flat on my stomach.
Once it was there, it didn’t move. Wyatt didn’t move, either.
He just stared at me, watching me squirm, needing to be touched.
My spicy dream was quickly turning into a nightmare. It was just a big tease.
“Please,” I begged as I moved my hips against the part of Roe that I ached to have between my legs.
Roe’s hips thrust against me.
Yes! I thought, relieved the dream was shifting in my favor.
Roe’s hand moved up until he was cupping my breast. The feel of his thumb brushing over my nipple made me gasp.
Then I opened my eyes and the dream was gone. I let out a frustrated groan as I took in Roe’s pretty face sound asleep facing me. It was still dark out, but the TV was still on and gave the room enough light for me to be able to see.
Figuring it was still too early to get up, I wiggled my body a little to get more comfortable to fall back asleep. As I did, there was a grunt behind me. My eyes shot open, and I realized my dream might not have all been in my head. My butt was firmly pressed against someone and they were hard.
A hand squeezed around my breast, making me aware that also wasn’t a dream.
Is it Wyatt?
Just as I thought that, an alarm started beeping, followed by a groan coming from behind Roe.
The beeping stopped and Wyatt sat up. He didn’t move for a second, still trying to wake up.
The person behind me, which from the process of elimination I knew was Reid, squeezed my breast again before thrusting his hips, trying to bury his hard cock even farther between my buttcheeks.
As startled as I was turned on, I tried not to react. He scooted closer and I felt his nose brush my ear before he buried it in my hair to breathe me in.
I watched Wyatt get up and walk to the bathroom all while Reid continued to knead my breast. Just as Wyatt shut the door, Reid’s fingers found my nipple. He kept running his finger over it, making my breath hitch.
He mumbled something incoherently and I knew he was still asleep.
I was unsure about the best way to handle this, but I knew I needed to stop him. “Reid,” I whispered.
He didn’t hear me, but Roe did. His eyes opened and he blinked a few times with a confused, tired look. “What’s wrong?”
“Reid,” I said a little louder, but then let out a little whine as Reid tugged on my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. As that noise left my lips, my body jerked against him, and he thrust back.
I felt bad, but after waking up from a spicy dream to him stimulating my nipple, and how wrong and taboo the situation was, I felt like…
“I might come if he doesn’t stop,” I said breathlessly to Roe.
Roe sat up and threw back the covers to see his best friend’s hand up my shirt. He huffed a laugh, shaking his head. He cleared his throat. “Reid!” His voice was firm and loud enough to make Reid go still behind me.
Reid’s hand twitched on my breast just before his face lifted away from the back of my head. I turned slightly to see him staring down at me. His eyes widened and he slowly pulled his hand from my shirt. He rolled away from me and sat on the edge of the bed.
I sat up, too, and leaned against the headboard as I stared at his back.
“Were you having a nice dream, Reid?” Roe teased him.
Reid ran his hands down his face, clearly not in the mood. “Don’t fucking start.”
The door to the bathroom opened and Wyatt walked out, yawning. Reid got to his feet so quick and stalked past Wyatt into the bathroom. He shut the door harder than necessary.
Wyatt glanced back at the bathroom. “Did something happen?”
“You’ll need to ask Reid,” Roe said, staring at me.
I looked away, biting my lip.
“What’s wrong?” Roe asked.
“I feel like I’m supposed to explain or apologize,” I said.
Roe didn’t respond right away. It looked like he was thinking over his words first. “Well, are you mine?”
I couldn’t be his. That truth was like a sucker punch of reality.
I couldn’t give myself to anyone of my choosing because I’d never belonged to myself.
I was Mother’s property, and as much as I wished it wasn’t true, she had sold me to Brandon.
I could yell and scream at him all I wanted, but I knew in my gut he was just as determined to own me as Mother was to sell me.
I shook my head.
He looked away to hide what he felt. “Because you belong to him, right?”
“Our parents want us together,” I said.
I could feel his frustration pulsing off of him. “If you had to choose—”
Also feeling frustrated, I climbed off the bed. “Don’t ask me that.”
“Why?” Roe asked, scooting to the edge of the bed.
Wyatt was unusually quiet as he watched us.
“Because it’s unfair,” I said as I scooped up my Kendry hoodie and put it on—I’d aimlessly tossed it on the floor before falling asleep last night. “You think I would really choose him?”
Reid chose that moment to come out of the bathroom. He quietly came to stand by Wyatt and also watched us.
“Then what would you choose?” Roe pushed.
“I would choose me,” I blurted. “If I had any sort of freedom, I would choose me and what I wanted.”
“And what do you want?” Roe asked.
“Everything,” I said. “I want to not be afraid. I want to feel safe. I want to disappear and also be seen. I want to be able to eat what I want and drink what I want. I want to wear what I want. I want to decide my own future. I want to never tell another lie ever again or have to worry about hiding the bruises on my body. I would like to not be sold off to a pig who gets pissed when I tell him no. I would like to not be sold off at all. I want a mother who doesn’t hurt me.
I want to choose who I want to be with. I want to kiss you in public.
I don’t want to sneak around. I want to have a threesome or an orgy or whatever the fuck it is called.
I want to know what love is. I want to know what it feels like.
From a parent or any other fucking human being, because I’ve never experienced it. ”
I covered my mouth with both hands because it made me bitterly sick to know I’d just voiced so many secret thoughts and wishes. I dropped my hands and shook my head to try to dispel how vulnerable I felt. “How does it help anything for me to say those things?”
“We can help you—” Roe started to say.
“No one can help me!” I shouted.
“Have you even tried to help yourself?” Reid asked.
I let out a humorless laugh. “I know what you think of me, Reid. Weak. Pathetic. A coward. Do not compare what you went through to my situation.” I put my arms out, gesturing to my princess room, my extravagant house.
“Money can buy a lot more than a big house. Every person I have gone to for help has been bought off or silenced. And don’t forget those who work in this house, the ones who clean my blood off the fucking floor!
” I shouldn’t have screamed, but I was so tired of being silent.
“No one has helped me. No one can help me. So go ahead and judge me. Say that I’m weak, that I’m a coward.
It’s nothing I haven’t already said to myself. ”
Reid stared at me, unblinking and with a tight jaw. No one said anything. I didn’t think any of them knew what to say.
I stared down at the floor. “If you don’t leave soon, you’ll be late for school.”
“Lottie—” Roe said at the same time Reid said, “I don’t think you’re weak or a coward. And I never once thought that you were pathetic.”
It was probably the kindest thing he’d ever said to me.
Roe stood from the bed and stepped toward me.
I put a hand up to stop him. “Please go. I need space.”
Wyatt put his hand on Roe’s shoulder. “Give the lady what she wants. We should head home.”
When Roe nodded, I headed for the bathroom. The moment I shut the door behind me, tears filled my eyes, and I quietly cried.