“No running.” Asher backs him up even though it’s pretty obvious he has no idea what’s going on.
I roll my eyes. “This shit again,” I complain.
The creases in Jagger’s forehead deepen as he lowers his face closer to mine. “Yet our girl was about to run.”
The threat in his voice makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I cast a quick glance over my shoulder at Asher and Cruz, and their horrified faces say it all. They’re just as pissed as Jagger is. Damn Jagger is blowing this out of proportion and making things worse than they already are. “I… I didn’t want to run,” I stutter, willing my brain to catch up and not let Jagger’s powerful presence looming over me take my voice away.
“Cruz,” Jagger barks, his eyes not leaving mine for a second.
He’s so damn close, my body doesn’t know what to do with it. Part of me itches to crash my lips with his, distract him so he’s not so angry with me, while the other part thinks I should just kick him in the junk and take off to my room to avoid all the drama. I suck in a ragged breath, trying to force my chin up higher to show him I’m not scared of him.
The tension in the room thickens, a suffocating heat of annoyance swirling around me. “No lying to us,” Cruz seethes, the cruel tone of his voice making me jump.
His face hardens, and I know I have a shit ton of explaining to do. A lump lodges itself in my throat, and no matter how many times I swallow, it refuses to budge. “I didn’t want any of you to get hurt because of me. I wasn’t going to run away from you, not because I wanted to.” I can’t find the words to take the scowl off his face. “He’s not going to stop. You don’t know my brother the way I do. Cruz, please, you have to see this my way.”
A bitter laugh escapes Cruz, echoing through the room like a punch to my gut. Jagger I can handle, but I can’t stand it whenCruz is pissed with me. “We know your brother just fucking fine.”
“Then you know you’re all in great danger trying to protect me. He won’t stop, none of my family will.”
Jagger leans into the sofa, his scent all around me. His eyes meet mine once more, and I almost let out a whimper. “Since you’re so determined to push me, I will make a little adjustment to rule one. From now on you don’t leave the room unless you’re with one of us. You just got yourself three fucking permanent shadows, flower.”
My eyes narrow, daggers shooting from them aimed straight at him. Bossy fucker. “Fuck off,” I growl back at him, hardly even recognizing my own voice. “I’m not having you three attached to me. It’s bad enough I’m locked up here. Actually, what’s the point now anyway, my family knows I’m not dead. That was the deal, wasn’t it. I was only staying locked up here because they thought I was dead. If I’m alive, I want to go back to living my life, working at the club, living back at the apartment.” I’m rambling, words spilling from my lips faster than I can make any sense of them. But I can’t have the three of them with me constantly, I’ll go insane.
“We should up security, bro,” Asher says from behind him like I didn’t just talk at all, but I can’t see him, Jagger is crowding me too much to see anything, his anger a living thing of its own.
“Yeah, I think we should. Organize ten extra guards patrolling the yard and make sure they’re looking for intruders as well as runaways.” His eyes roam down my face to my neck, and his fingers follow. Slithering around my neck, he holds me firmly but not painfully. “Maybe I need a collar and leash for you. There would be no leaving my side then.”
Fuck! “You wouldn’t dare.” A thud pounds in my chest. I’m stuck with them. I mean, I knew I was, but there was still a small slither in the back of my head that was getting ideas of ways toescape. A distracted moment, a forgotten open window, found late at night when everyone else was in bed. Surely I could slip out unnoticed. The pain in Asher and Cruz’s eyes at the idea crushes me. I don’t want to hurt them. Truth is, I don’t want to be separated from them, but if they die, I could never live with myself. And we all know we can’t keep this hideaway a secret forever.
“Keep pushing me and see how difficult things get for you, flower.”
“Jagger.” I say his name, trying to snap him out of the dark path he’s heading down. I’m not some plaything from his bar. I won’t just do what he wants. “I wasn’t trying to leave any of you. I swear, I… I want to be here with all of you. I just can’t stand to have you all killed because I…”
“Because you what, princess?” Asher stands to Jagger’s side, just in my line of sight, his eyes alight, and I know what he wants to hear, but I can’t say it. No matter how true it might be.
“Because we’re screwing.” I lift a shoulder, trying to play it down even though my heart thumps like damn crazy for all of them. This isn’t just sex. It never has been.
Cruz drops down to the sofa beside me, his lips brushing my earlobe as his hand runs up my thigh. “Why won’t you learn, running is never the option. You leave, we chase you down and drag you back home. It’s really a waste of time. You can’t save us from this world or what might happen to us for protecting you, we’re all in too deep already.”
His words are a threat, yet my body still presses closer to him. His lips wrap over my earlobe as his hand slides up the inside of my thigh. Heat races through me, throbbing through my lady parts. Knowing he’s prepared to die for me isn’t romantic, it’s messed up, so why does it make me feel even closer to him?
Jagger’s fingers flex then curl back around my neck a little harder. “You won’t learn if I keep going easy on you. This time you need to be punished.”
I stare up at him, a fresh wave of adrenaline surging through me. “I think forcing me to be with one of you twenty-four seven is punishment enough,” I spit back, even though my body is thrumming with excitement. Why do we have to have these serious conversations with them so close to me? It messes with my brain and my body. My eyes run down his face, taking in every little detail until I make it to his full lips. “Why focus on punishment when we could be having fun instead?”
I don’t know where it comes from, but my cheeks flush with heat as soon as the words leave my lips. It’s the dark carnal way they’re all looking at me, I’m sure of it. It awakens the vixen inside and has my body practically begging for one of them to take me. Heck, all of them to take me. Who am I trying to fool. I know they don’t want to hurt me, it’s all about power with them. Making sure I understand my place. And my place is being their little pet. But there’s more to this, because for whatever reason, they’re weak for me, and I’m coming to learn that while they like to throw around threats, they want to pleasure me more than anything else.
Asher drops down on my other side, caging me in completely. He takes my hand in his, his lips brushing over my knuckles. “You have to understand, we can’t just let you get away with defying our rules, princess. It’s just not safe.”
“Rules are made to be broken,” I whisper, knowing I’m losing more control over this situation by the second. My brain has turned to mush, my body a pool of liquid on the floor for them. What the hell is wrong with me?
Jagger’s hand slips from my neck. Dancing over my clavicle, he takes a hand full of my breast and squeezes.
My body tingling in response, a breathy moan escapes out of my parted lips as my body presses into him.
“How do you want to be punished, flower?”
My brow pops up, and I’m sure the look on my face says what the fuck. “You’re going to let me choose?” My heart beats a little faster. I know what I want. I want all of them together, but that’s hardly a punishment for me. But the charged intensity in the room tells me they’re all thinking it as well. At least that’s what I think they’re thinking.
