“Don’t look at me,” he says. “I don’t know why your dad is even asking. I would have shot him already.”
“Do you regret it?” I ask Conrad. “Hurting me?”
“I should have listened to Ethan… He was my best friend… I wish I had chosen differently… I’m sick and… There is no excuse,” he says simply.
“Do it yourself,” I say. “You were a coward and hurt me instead of just talking to me… So if you want to die… Do it yourself like Ethan did. Don’t put that burden on my father.”
He nods and moves to lie down beside Ethan before taking the gun Ethan used and pressing it to his temple. Dad comes overas Jovian, Elijah, Kip, Connor, Hunter, and Mateo surround me as I am held against Jovian’s chest. One of them has their hands over my ears as the seconds tick by. When the gun goes off, a weight is lifted from my shoulders.
Epilogue
Arianna
Eight Months Later
It’s been over ayear since I was raped, beaten, and left to crawl out of hell. I did it, though. I got out, and I taught myself everything all over again. I went from being dependent on everyone to help me to returning to work. From there, everything in my life shifted. My rapists died by their own hand, including Sutter and Landry. Ethan killing himself to avoid hurting me set off a chain reaction. Conrad finally broke through the surface of his insanity just in time to beg to be killed. Instead, I had him do it himself. One week later, Sutter was found hanging in his home when they went to serve him an arrest warrant. Three days after that, Landry got shit-faced anddrove his car into a tree, going well over one hundred miles an hour. They both left notes expressing their regret, and like Ethan and Conrad, didn’t want to live in a world where hurting me was an option. They wanted to be free from Vinny, so they found freedom.
Vinny disappeared. His entire empire started to crumble in his absence. Turns out that the one thing Vinny feared more than anything was my father. Now that Dad knew definitively that Vinny was to blame, Vinny knew that he would go after him. Dad doesn’t act unless he has irrefutable evidence, but once he does…. Hell hath no fury like a protective father. To top it off, Ray is just as violent and protective as Dad is. Who knew that sweet Ray was capable of such savagery? I watched as my father beat Vinny’s second in command to a bloody pulp for making the simple comment that Vinny would “be back to take possession of the whore.” As far as Vinny returning, who knows? Dad has been searching, but I am safe. For now.
I started seeing a new neurologist, and between him and the chiropractor, my migraines are gone, the nerve pain is significantly better, and I finally accepted being on medication for my anxiety and my sleep. The benefit of taking a sedative is that I get to wake up most mornings to a cock buried inside of me, and on the brink of an orgasm. Let’s just say, it is not a battle to get me to take it at night as I should.
Tate, Beckett, Jaxon, and Logan all came over to the Reapers. We had some mid-season shifting of positions, but it only encouraged Dom to get the other lines out there more, so as not to wear out the first line. Not only that, but now I live in a home with ten men, and I get passed around frequently. Theone consistent aspect is that I always land back with Jovian and Elijah. No matter what’s been going on, they are my main partners. That’s not to say I don’t claim the others, because I absolutely do, but we all know that I have something different with each of them. We are all open and honest with each other, because that is the only way this works.
We have an agreement that no one else is ever brought into the mix. I brought it up as a way to say getting fucked ten times a day is plenty, and I don’t want to keep adding to that number. They took it as me not wanting them to share a bed with another woman, too, and were clearly delighted. I tried to express that ten men and one woman isn’t exactly fair, but they are insistent that I am all they want. That might change someday, but for now, we are happy. Especially now that we have moved into a larger home to accommodate all of us.
Mom is with both Dad and Ray, and I couldn’t be happier for them. I have gotten a chance to truly get to know my father, and we have been able to make up for a lot of lost time.
Today is the championship. There is less than a minute left. I am standing at the glass, just as stressed out as Dom and Ray. Logan gets control of the puck and brings it down the rink before slapping it to Connor. The clock ticks down, and they have to make this shot, or it’s all over.
“Come on. Come on,” I say, as if they can hear me. Connor is trying to line up a shot, but the fucker keeps getting in his way.
“No!” I scream when he sends it back away from the net, but all I get is fucking whiplash when Jovian takes control and slaps itinto the net just as the buzzer sounds. I yell out in excitement as I jump up and down. The team floods the rink as the Reapers are declared the winner. As soon as I step onto the ice, Jovian scoops me up and kisses me hard as I wrap my legs around his body and loop my arms around his neck. He has a tight grip on my ass as he skates us toward the center of the rink. Everyone is hollering and cheering, but I am lost in his damn kiss.
When he sets me down, Elijah kisses me next. I don’t care if I look like the biggest puck bunny skank out here; I am so damn proud of my boys. They busted their asses this season to get here, so they have more than earned it. All ten of my men passionately kiss me before Ray hugs me.
“We have a surprise for you,” Ray says in my ear. I pull back and cock my head to the side in confusion before Elijah scoops me up and tosses me over his shoulder. I yelp and giggle when he smacks my ass, but eventually he sets me down. When I turn, we are out of the rink and by the locker rooms. It is quiet, and Detective Rogers is standing with another man.
“Hey,” I say. I am confused because he went on to other cases. Unless… “You found him?”
“You wanna see?” he asks with a grin.
“Fuck yes!”
“Get changed and come on,” Rogers says. “This is my boss, by the way.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Arianna,” he says kindly. “I am Detective Sergeant Gerald Olsen.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I say, greeting him with a warm smile.
The guys go to the locker room and get changed while I fill Rogers in on the last eight months. He will never admit it, but he loves all the juicy tea. “Ten men, Ari? You’re so little, and they are…”
“Not.” I laugh. “They’re sweet… yet brutal.”
“My morbid curiosity is going to get the best of me one day, kid. That’s an image I could have gone forever without picturing,” Rogers laughs.
“Then just imagine Mom getting railed by Dad and Ray.” I cackle. I point to them walking over. “See how she walks gingerly? They just fucked her up. I bet they were in his office. Just you see.”
“I’m dying to know, and I am not even being a smartass this time.” Olsen laughs.
