She seemed to know what I was asking, the tension in her shoulders deflating as she crumped before my eyes. Her gaze slowly drifted over to meet mine. In my peripheral vision, Kellan discreetly left the room to give us privacy.
Even though Hunter’s voice was robotic when she spoke, I could finally see the other half of her pain—the hurt she’dbeen hiding from me because the person who’d caused it was someone I loved.
“Your brother forced me to have sex with him while we lived together.”
“What?” I slowly stood from the couch because I didn’t trust my legs, but Hunter seemed like she needed the space to get this out, so I forced myself to stay put.
“He started small,” Hunter explained. “Looks and grazes that I could brush off as harmless and accidental. I didn’t realize he was testing the water until it escalated into outright assault.”
Tears ran down my cheeks, but I no longer grieved Roshaun.
I only mourned that I ever let him near Hunter at all. I’d offered her shelter in my parents’ home, thinking she would be safe with me. Little did I know, my protection had led her into the maw of another monster.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I cried.
Hunter shrugged, but it was weak. She was hurting, and it was my fault. I was blind to it because I didn’t want to see it. “Roshaun promised that if I said anything, he wouldn’t just kick me out, which I could handle. I was still underage and technically a runaway. All he had to do was make a phone call, and I’d never see you again, so I did what he wanted because losing you was worse.”
I took a chance and grabbed Hunter’s hand.
She was cold as ice.
“I would have run with you,” I promised too late.
The damage my brother wrought had already been done, and I’d unknowingly furthered Hunter’s pain by mourning him. If I could kill him twice, I would without hesitation.
“I know,” Hunter whispered.
Glancing at Ocean, who had taken my spot on the couch, I could tell he was once again regretting showing my brother mercy.
Needing her close to touch and comfort her just as I needed to—Ocean pawed at Hunter’s hip and pulled her into his lap. Even more miraculous was that she let him. Hunter curled into his lap and closed her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder.
I collapsed onto the couch next to them, and Hunter blindly reached out for me, taking my hand. The epiphany came as soon as I rested my head on Ocean’s other shoulder.
The only way for the three of us to survive this and anything else thrown at us was together.
“You should have killed him,” I said to no one in particular.
Hunter nodded but still didn’t open her eyes or speak.
It was Ocean who answered, his voice gruff over the missed opportunity to avenge her honor. “You’re right. I should have.”
COBY
Three months later…
“Coby.” It wasn’t my name that convinced me to wake up. It was the frantic breaths against that sensitive spot behind my ear. It was the hard chest pressed against my back. The fingers skating underneath the t-shirt I’d worn to bed. The hard, demanding ridge lodged against my ass. “Lift your leg, baby. I got to go.”
I complied without opening my eyes.
It was still early. I could feel it in my exhaustion.
But I couldn’t do without this.
Ocean had woken Hunter and fucked her to within an inch of her life when he came home late last night. I’d woken in the middle of it, her choked cries, the rough jostling of the bed, and Ocean’s gruff and filthy commands briefly piercing my sleep.
Now it was my turn.
My panties were shoved aside, and I felt the coolness of the air against my warm, wet pussy before his dick was there, slowly filling me up. I’d been plagued with dreams of this before Ocean woke me, so I was more than ready to be fucked.
