My first mistake was trying to run in a blanket ten times my size. The second was choosing to sprint across the bed. Instead of making a grand escape—which is how I pictured it in my head.
I ended up tripping on yards of fabric and fell face first onto the mattress. There was no awesome superhero landing for me. Just the imagined face palm I gave myself as I got an up-close view of the white sheets.
Magnus and Wyatt were on me in a flash. Each one grabbed an arm and stretched it out above my head, while Devlin tore the blanket off my body. Cool air kissed the back of my thighs, sending a wave of mortification flowing down my cheeks and into my chest.
Next thing I knew, Devlin’s heavy hand was landing on my ass, making me cry out.
“Would you look at that?” He growled and did it again.
“Told ya,” Wyatt sang.
I gritted my teeth and used the sting radiating across my flesh to fuel my rage, kicking my feet out. The only hope I had was if I hit a soft spot, then I could claw the other two idiot’s eyes out. But Devlin didn’t have any soft spots. A fact I learned when my heel crashed into his thigh.
I winced as a sharp stab shot up my leg.
Was he made of stone?
“Let me go!” I snarled at the other two.
Magnus shoved my face back into the mattress and snapped, “Shut the fuck up.”
I still clung onto hope that I’d get away. Until I felt the heavy weight of Devlin crawling over me. This was the part where the prey realized what they were… Fucked.
I stopped fighting. The only thing it was doing at this point was depleting precious energy.
“What do you want?”
I was expecting the usual responses. I’m the head honcho here, you’ll do what I say, yada, yada, yada. What I got was so much worse.
“What do I want?” Devlin folded his body over mine and grazed the tip of his nose up my neck to my ear. “I want to hurt you.”
His words caused my entire body to tense. It suddenly seemed as if there wasn’t enough air in the room. I fought to take in a breath while my pulse fluttered along so fast that I couldn’t tell if it was still beating or had stopped all together. I’d had my fair share of pain, but something told me that Devlin’s idea of hurt and mine were very different.
That thought alone terrified me so much that all I could do was softly breathe out, “Why?”
“Why would I need a reason?” Devlin ran his fingers through my hair, grabbed a fistful, and yanked my head off the mattress. “Maybe I just like breaking things.”
I could see that. My so-called stepbrothers seemed like the type who liked fucking with people, but this…
My eyes swung from the glimmer on Wyatt’s face to Magnus’s lips pressed in a tight scowl. Devlin was another story. I could not only feel the rage coming off him, but I could taste it. The bitter flavor lingered with each breath he took, warming my skin with pure, unadulterated hatred.
These boys didn’t just hate me. They loathed my very existence.
There was only one reason I could think for that. “I know Charmaine’s a handful…”
Wyatt cut me off with a loud laugh. “She thinks this is about her mother.”
“No one said she was smart.” Magnus cocked his head, aiming his glare down at me. “You think we give a shit about that bitch?”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“Because we can.” Devlin exhaled and laved his tongue up the side of my neck.
I tried to shrink away, but he just tightened his grip in my hair, twisting his fist until my scalp was screaming for relief.
“Let me go!”
Devlin’s brow rose. “Why would we do that?”
