Shame is a vicious beast that cuts right into my guts. I look down, half expecting my intestines to be spilled out on the floor of my shower, but no, I’m still whole and dressed. With a hard indrawn breath, I begin to peel off my clothes.
“Outside,” I say, breathless from the cold water. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Don’t take too long,” Gio says, walking out first. Then Nolan and finally, with a careful look over in my direction, Viks leaves as well.
Minutes later, I’m shivering and numb from the water, but stepping out and wrapping a towel around my waist. Dimly, I recall washing Juliet after I fucked her in Morpheus’ house. I remember holding her and getting my cum out of the ass that I fucked nearly raw. The toothbrush holder is in my hand and smashing against the wall before I realize I’ve moved.
The door swings open and Nolan looks around, a frown puckering his brow. When he sees the broken cup, he merely arches a brow at me.
We were supposed to train her. Ease her into anal so that the three of us could take her. In one angry fucking night, I took that experience. I ruined it. Just like I ruin everything.
“What the hell, man?” That question comes from Gio as he steps up to Nolan’s back and peers into the bathroom.
Nolan doesn’t say anything, though. Not when I push past the two of them to go to the closet, and not when I come out a few minutes later, dressed and feeling no better of my circumstances. He waits, a patient predator, until I’m back in the living room where Viks is cleaning up the mess I made. Then, he attacks.
“What did you do, Lex?”
My spine stiffens where I’m facing away from him. I contemplate, for the longest moment, telling him the truth and letting them kill me—but even angry at Juliet as they are, I doubt they’ll accept this damage of mine. In the end, it’s not a death wish that makes me tell them the truth. It’s a wish for something more. That hopeful little dick inside of me that made me believe that Juliet could be mine, if only for a second.
I tell them about breaking into Morpheus’ house. About the anger. The fight. The fuck. The afterwards…
They listen and though Gio’s expression grows darker and darker the more I talk, neither of them attacks me. Viks moves about the house, sweeping up debris and picking up shattered bits of wood and glass.
When I’m done, I stand there and await my sentence. My punishment, as I know it will be, should be nothing less than pain. To my surprise, though, Nolan merely shakes his head at me.
“If you expect me to fuck you up because of that,” he begins. “Then you don’t know me. I’m not the one you need to ask forgiveness of, Lex. That’s Juliet. Juliet is the only one who can decide what should happen to you.”
“I want to punch you,” Gio admits. “But I agree with Nolan. Juliet gets the final say and if she says she wants us to rip you apart…” He doesn’t have to say it. I know his response. If Juliet condemns me, they will as well.
“For now, though, you need to put it aside,” Nolan tells me. “Because we need to focus on saving her.”
I lift my head. “You think we can save her?”
Nolan, however, isn’t the one to answer. Instead, it’s Viks. “I guarantee you that girl will figure out a way to save herself,” he says, joining us with thickly muscled and heavily tattooed arms crossed. “I’ve known plenty of women like your girl. She’s not the type to sit back and be the damsel in distress. What you need to do now is figure out how to help her.”
“How are we going to do that?” Gio asks.
“We can’t kill Calloway,” Nolan says. “No matter how much I want the asshole dead.”
Viks shakes his head. “God, the three of you remind me so much of them,” he grumbles, his lips curling down. “I thought I was over the young macho kill-’em-all bullshit.”
“If you have something to say,” I snarl, hands curling into fists and already not happy about this man in my private space—no matter what blood bond he thinks we might have. “Then spit it out.”
Viks sends me a quelling look and uncrosses his arms. “You do this in stages,” he says. He holds up one finger. “Stage one, set up your game plan.” A second and then third finger follow the first. “Stage two—find her, steal her back, hide her. Stage three, gather evidence against Calloway and play his own game on him. Blackmail is successful for a reason and it’s easy to find something a man can’t lose when he has everything. You go after his company, his reputation, his money. No one is powerful without backup. You take that backup away and they have no more leverage.”
“You make it sound easy,” Gio says.
“It’s not,” Viks replies. “But is anything in life easy? Is she worth the hardship?”
There’s only one answer to that final question.
“Yes,” I say. “She is.” And if she’ll forgive me, then I’ll spend the rest of my life under her command. Her willing knight in chains. With a deep breath, I release the rage and hate and distrust I feel for this man and meet his eyes. “What do you want us to do?”
In my head, I send out a silent promise to the universe. The one promise I know I can’t break.
I’m coming for you, baby.We’recoming.
42
