Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
"The contract is clear," Kylian says. "If you fail to meet your obligations, no money will be paid. All of this will have been for nothing."
"How can you want this?" I ask, my voice rising in tone because through the panic I'm feeling about what might come next, all I can think about is what we were like when we were young and innocent and how unbelievably fucked up everything is.
"You don't have to like it," Kylian continues. "In fact, I think I might like it better if you pretend that you hate what we do to you. Because it would be a pretense, wouldn't it, Honor?"
"No," I say again. "We can't."
Kylian's jaw ticks, and Nate and Lyle turn to their brother. I wait for them to intervene, but they don't. "I don't know why I expected any more from you," Kylian says through gritted teeth. "Of course, you'd walk away from your obligations, just like your mother did."
The pain I feel at his words takes my breath away because even though they're said with so much anger and designed to hurt, they reveal something fundamental about Kylian. All of this is a mask to conceal his wounds. The viciousness in his tone and the sharpness in his gaze are there because he has no idea how to let his guard down. There are so many things I could scream at him. How my mom cried with guilt about leaving them behind. How I'd heard her reporting Dick for the way he treated his sons and her devastation at finding out that he'd manage to escape investigation by flexing his wallet. She'd felt completely helpless, and it haunted her. But none of that would change Kylian at this moment, and I won't let him make me a toy to wound in a twisted game of revenge.
"Just forget about the money," I say. "Forget you ever saw me again. This whole thing was a mistake."
As I stride towards the door, Lyle's hand reaches out and takes hold of my wrist. Our eyes meet, and he opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. With one gentle tug, I'm released and out of the door as quickly as my fumbling hands can manage.
This can't be happening, I think, as I bring my hand to my mouth, the shock finally taking hold of my body. I hurry down the hall even though everything feels sore; my jaw, my nipples, my hips, and between my legs. But mostly, my heart feels broken.
My stepbrothers bought me and used me. They took from my pleasure and pain.
But worst of all, they're nothing like the sweet boys they used to be.
Dick broke them like he broke my mom, and the realization makes me weep.
6
LYLE
BINDING HER WINGS
"We were close as kids. I'll get her to change her mind," I tell my brothers before I follow Honor out the door.
She's about to enter the elevator, and I sprint to catch up. I can't lose her. Not again.
"Wait!" I reach her just as the doors are about to close and shove my hand between them. Startled, she looks up from where she'd slumped against the wall. Her face is streaked with tears.
"Honor." It feels so good to say her name again after all these years, even though she won't meet my eyes, and this is like a knife twisting in my gut.
I still dream about this girl, more often than I'd like to admit. Every time I do, I wake up feeling empty, and I've always held on to the hope that I might see her again.
But not like this.
"Honor, I'm sorry."
The doors close behind me, and her eyes go wide at the realization that we're trapped together in this small space. She shifts to move farther away from me, and the knife plunges in deeper.
"You can't go," I say. "I need to talk to you."
She keeps glancing at my mouth, and I know she's thinking about what we just did in room twenty-eight. What my brothers and I just did to her.
When I'd imagined seeing Honor as an adult, I thought about her as the girl who almost became my sister. She was a friend. But now my cock's been in her throat. I held her down and watched my brother take her innocence, and now everything is completely confused.
Things can't go back to the way they should have been… but maybe I don't want them to.
The doors open with a ding, but she remains frozen in her corner.
"Where are you going?"
My question seems to startle her into action, and without a word, she brushes past me and out of the door, but I'm right behind her. "You can't leave." My hand is on her arm, but I think the desperation in my tone makes her turn. "I'm not letting you go. Not this time."