Total pages in book: 266
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 250787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1254(@200wpm)___ 1003(@250wpm)___ 836(@300wpm)
The door opens, and Saint rushes in. Going over to his desk, he plops down and starts typing on his computer. I exit the office, wanting to be alone. I’ve always liked my space, which is hard to get as a Lord. You live at the house of Lords for four years while attending Barrington University. After graduation, Lords get to go their separate ways except for us. The Spade brothers all live together at Carnage.
This is our prison. We’re chained to this hell. No matter what we do, we’ll die here, and we’ll be buried here. It’s the life the Lords chose for the four of us even though we’re down to three already.
I make my way down to the basement. It’s my church, in a sense, and where I go to pray. Not to God because I don’t believe. But it can be spiritual.
My father thought he had planned my future, but I refused to give him what he wanted.
Senior year at Barrington
We’re closing in on the ritual—the vow ceremony that consists of us finally getting to fuck a woman in front of others to show that we have successfully done our part to become Lords.
It’s a rite of passage, they say. The senior Lords have served three years of celibacy, and the women are ready to give themselves to us.
The brand is so fresh it rubs against my shirt with every move I make walking down the stairs at my parents’ house. I’m going to meet my brothers at a party tonight. I see the door to my father’s office cracked.
“She’s ready,” a male’s voice says from inside the room. I know it well and grew up around it. It belongs to one of my father’s brothers.
“You sure?” my father asks.
“Absolutely.” He scoffs as if second-guessing him is an insult. “Her mother doesn’t think so, but I know the truth. Plus, that therapist of hers is a nutcase.”
“You’re the one who wanted to do business with her.” My father chuckles, and I frown. Who are they talking about?
Clearing my throat, I push the door open and step inside his office to see my father sitting behind his desk and Mr. Price relaxing on the couch.
“Haidyn.” My father smiles, gesturing to one of the high-back chairs. “Have a seat. We’re discussing your future.”
Of course, he is. I have no say in my life. If the Lords don’t control me, my father does. It’s always been this way, and it will continue to go on like this until he dies. That day can’t come soon enough.
“You have three weeks before the ritual,” my father reminds me.
I want to roll my eyes but refrain. He acts like I don’t know how this works. Like I could ever forget I have to take a chosen at the vow ceremony.
“Ashtyn—”
“I’m not choosing her.” I interrupt my father.
He looks over at Mr. Price—Ashtyn’s father—then back at me. “Son…”
“She doesn’t belong to me.” Do I want her? No. I’ve grown up with Ashtyn Lane Price. Our fathers are both Spade brothers. But one of my brothers is in love with her. I can’t take her from him. I consider her to be one of my best friends, and things will change if I claim her as mine. And although I hate my life, I love my brothers. I would never do them wrong or betray them, and stealing his girl would be unforgivable in their eyes.
“She belongs to whoever I give her to,” Mr. Price states.
“Let me tell you something, boy.” My father stands from his desk, buttoning his suit jacket. “You take whatever we want. There is no ‘she doesn’t belong to me’ bullshit. Do you hear me?”
“I don’t want her,” I say through gritted teeth and look at Mr. Price. “Saint wants her. He can have her.”
“No. We have a deal.” My father shakes his head. “She’s important…which makes you important.”
Whatever the fuck that means. It’s not changing my mind. Walking over to his desk, I place my hands on the surface and say, “I don’t care what kind of deal you’ve made with him; I will not take her as my chosen.” I push off the surface and turn to Mr. Price. He too is now standing. “Make a new deal with Saint. He’ll do anything for her.” And with that, I exit the office, slamming the door behind me.
I love Ashtyn in a way that even I can’t explain. Have I imagined fucking her? Of course, but that’s bound to happen when you’ve been deprived of any sexual activity for three years. I’ve seen her almost every day of my life. But I’m also a horny bastard. Hell, I went home yesterday and jerked off to a woman who I saw at the gas station because I could see her pink thong peeking out of the top of her jeans.