by K. G. Reuss
It was sickening, but that was Mikhail Ivanov. Always a bastard.
On the other hand, I was plotting her death after fucking her, so what did that make me? Certainly not a knight in shining armor.
“Let’s get this plan together,” Tate said. “I want to fuck her too if Drake gets to.”
Hail let out a laugh. “She’s going to have the time of her life, huh, boys?”
I’d kill her before I let them hurt her.
And it looked like it would be on homecoming.
Thirty-One
Bianca
I marched to my room with Levin following behind me, not saying a word to me at all. I rolled my eyes as I pushed my door open. Our conversations were pretty limited. It didn’t help that I was still seriously pissed off at the kings. But even before that, Levin had been hateful and withdrawn from me.
After my disappearing act at the party, none of them had left me alone. Each one took turns trailing me. Vincent kept trying to make things better, but it was a no from me as of late. As much as the idea of having the kings excited me, I also knew it wouldn’t last. I was a deal they’d made. Aside from the potential for some wild sex, I doubted they even gave a shit about me, especially Levin who acted like I was the most disgusting thing to walk the planet.
Dom made me feel like I was nothing when he’d beaten my ass raw with his belt and said what he’d said to me. Even after all that, I still couldn’t get the thought of being with them out of my head. It didn’t stop me from wanting to tear them apart though. They’d really pissed me off.
Then there was Fallon. God. Fallon. I wanted him so much. I told myself it was a one-time thing, but I really liked him, despite the waving red flag. He was kind to me when he didn’t have to be. He acted like he actually gave a shit. And the way he touched me. . . if it was an act, he deserved an Academy Award for it.
But seeing him again was out of the question. There was no way I could. The kings weren’t letting me go anywhere alone. Not even the bathroom. They simply lurked outside the door, waiting for me to finish so they could annoy me more. Even at night, one of them was parked outside my door or sitting all sullen in a dark corner of my room while I slept.
Assholes.
But at least they were doing their job. It was what I wanted, after all.
“Why do you always just lurk outside my door?” I raised my brows at Levin as he took post in his usual spot, leaning against the wall by my door.
“So you can’t escape,” he grumbled.
“Just come in so you don’t look like such a stalker,” I said, stepping inside my room.
He pushed past me like he usually did, jostling me to the side as he inspected my space to make sure nothing was amiss. It was Levin’s routine. Stomp in. Check things out. Stomp out. Then pout in the hall.
Today, I closed my door on him before he could leave. He glared at me and reached for the doorknob.
“Why are you like this?” I stood in front of the door so he couldn’t open it and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Move, D’Angelou.”
“Fuck off, Seeley, and answer my question.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as a muscle ticked along his jaw.
“Move out of the damn way, or I’ll move you myself.”
I raised my eyebrows at him in a challenge. I was so over this shit. “Then you’d have to touch me, and heaven forbid you have to get your hands dirty.”
He narrowed his blue eyes at me, his nostrils flared.
“This would go so much more smoothly if you weren’t such an asshole,” I continued, waiting for his explosion.
“If you got the hell out of my way, it would save us both a lot of time, and then I wouldn’t be an asshole.”
“But you’re always an asshole.”
“Move.” He took a step closer as I backed up.
“Make me.”
“Move,” he snarled, closing in on me.
My heart thrashed violently in my chest. After he’d nearly killed me, I didn’t doubt he’d try again. It wasn’t exactly like he’d completely apologized for losing his shit on me before.
But I wasn’t going to back down. If I was doing this, then I was going to make them just as miserable as they made me. Plus, I really wanted to wreck their little gang all while getting answers about my dad.
“I need your help.”
“You’re already getting more than enough from us. You don’t get twice the help because you want to play the victim. Now move.”
“I’ll do anything you want,” I said, lifting my chin so I didn’t appear as terrified of him as I felt.
He stepped forward, his blue eyes flashing. I backed up until I was against the door. The heat from his body made my skin prickle with goosebumps.
“You can have me like Dom had me,” I said thickly.
His gaze swept over my face as I stared up at him, my insides turning to Jell-O. He rested one of his arms over my head, his brows knit.
“Like the guy who fucked you over the weekend did?”
I’d never admitted I’d had sex. Dom had been pissed enough.
“Why do you think I had sex?”
Levin let out a soft laugh. “We both know you did. There was no other way you’d have gotten those marks on your back unless someone was fucking you up against something rough. Was it worth it?”
The question caught me by surprise. I swallowed. “Yes.”
The muscle ticked in his jaw again. “Do you like the guy?”
I nodded. “I do.”
“You know you have an expiration date, right?”
“Just trying to make the most of the time I have left,” I whispered.
My breath caught in my chest as he reached out with his other hand and lifted a blonde wave of hair and frowned down at it.
“You can’t have whoever it is. You know it’ll never happen. We won’t let it.”
My heart fell. I did know that. I nodded miserably and stared at the floor. This hadn’t gone to plan. I’d wanted to play him, but he was better at the game than I was. I needed to face facts. My game was weak as hell. I was a kitten playing with wolves.
The moment the thought hit my mind, a heavy feeling of sadness and the knowledge I really wasn’t going to make it out of this, no matter what tricks I tried to play, washed over me.
His warm fingers tilted my chin up. I tried to look away from him as hot tears prickled my eyes.
“For what’s it’s worth, I’d have taken you and made you scream my name all night long, Bianca D’Angelou. You are who you are though, and for that, I will never fucking touch you unless it’s to kill you.”
In a surprising move, he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss over a tear that had trickled onto my cheek. His hand clutched my waist, and he hauled me roughly against his hard body, his lips now at my ear. “And then I’ll kill the prick who touched you.”
I twisted my fingers in his white button-down, breathing hard. “Why wait?”
“Because I want to fucking savor the taste of your fear while you wait for me to strike. It’s the terror I taste on your skin that makes it worth it. You’re fucking nothing to me, Bianca. Your games won’t work on me. Stop trying to play them.” He tightened his hold on my waist, making me wince.
A knock on the door had him releasing me and backing away. It took me a moment to compose myself, but I managed before I pulled the door open to find Vincent standing there. His dark eyes moved from my face to Levin standing close behind me.
“Why are you crying?” His gaze snapped back to me as he frowned.
“What?” I quickly wiped at my face, noting the dampness on my hands. “Sorry. Something in my eye.”
“Was it Levin’s attitude?” he asked dryly, tossing a quick look of irritation over my shoulder to the brute behind me.
“I was just telling her an ugly, little truth,” Levin said easily.
“I’m sure you were gentle about it too.” Vincent stepped inside as I backed away closer to Levin.
“No.” Levin stomped over to the overstuffed chair in my room and sank down into it.
“Whatever. Don’t be an asshole.” Vincent glanced at me again. “You good, baby B?”
I nodded. “Great.”
He surveyed me for a moment before giving me a satisfied nod. “Good, because Dom wants you in red and on your knees in his room in the next ten minutes. You too, Levin.”
“I’m not sucking his dick,” Levin grunted. “That’s D’Angelou’s job, not mine.”
Vincent grinned. “You know if Dom asked you to get him off, you would.”
Levin snorted and shook his head. “You’ve got me confused with you and your drunk ass.”
“Do you and Dom. . .” The thought was a hot one and pulled me away from my morose thoughts for the moment.
Vincent winked. “Get dressed and find out.”
“Like you’d let that dirty, little secret out,” I scoffed as I went to my closet and pulled out a black dress.
“Baby B,” Vincent tutted. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Getting dressed for his majesty.”
“I said red, not black.”
I shrugged. “Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment.”
A wide smile spread across Vincent’s face as Levin let out a sigh.
“You’re in for a world of hurt.”
I sashayed to my bathroom. “I expect nothing less.”
“Then that’s what you’ll get. Be ready in five. I can’t wait to see the look on Dom’s face.”
I closed the door and took off my uniform.
Truth be told, I couldn’t wait either. If I couldn’t get answers, then at least I could piss Dominic De Santis off. A girl had nothing if she didn’t have her pettiness.
Thirty-Two
Dominic
I knew she’d defy me. Silently, I stared her down as she stood in front of me in her little, black dress, her blonde waves hanging to nearly her waist. Her eyes were red, which I was sure had something to do with Levin. He’d been bitching enough lately about having to follow her. So much that I’d almost told him to fuck off about it and leave it to me and Vincent.
“Knees.” I pointed to the floor in front of me.
Her lips drew into a tight line before she folded to her knees before me like a good girl.
“Why aren’t you in red?”
“Because, respectfully, fuck you,” she said softly, her eyes downcast. “Your majesty.”
Vincent let out a soft laugh from the edge of my bed. Levin remained wordless.
I drummed my fingers on the arm of my leather chair as I surveyed her. I’d have gutted anyone else who spoke to me like that, but Bianca had a way of making my lips quirk upward. I didn’t hate that. “You’re upset. Why? You’ve been given what you asked for. Are you not protected? Safe?”
“Safety is a matter of opinion,” she answered, still staring at the floor.
“Whose?” I reached for my whiskey and swallowed down the contents of the glass, waiting for her answer. I was buzzed from drinking so much that afternoon and not really in the mood for much of anything.
“Yours. Am I dead? No. Has Hail hurt me anymore? Not yet. But I’m not safe from any of you, the guys who said they’d protect me. You talk mean to me, hurt me, humiliate me. It gets worse when you’re pissed off at me. Levin tried to kill me. It’s no secret that he hates me. Vincent sees me as some…toy to be played with for his amusement.” She clenched her hands into fists a few times before blowing out a breath. “I know I don’t mean anything to any of you. And that’s fine. I get it, but I’m a person. I don’t want to be treated like something you stepped in just because of my last name. I didn’t get a choice in that. I’m Bianca Walker, not Bianca D’Angelou. I asked for your help. But it’s like I fell out of a hornet’s nest into a pit of vipers.”
“But you’re safe.” I surveyed her for a moment then leaned forward. “Look at me when I speak to you.”
She slowly lifted her head so her blue eyes were on me. I swallowed as the jolt in my chest sent an electric current throughout my body.
“Good girls get rewards. You haven’t been a good girl,” I said gently, reaching forward to cradle her face. “You don’t come into my life as anything. You earn your place at my side. Is that what you want? To be the girl at my side?”
“I want my life to matter.”
“You want to live?” I studied her, watching as her eyes glistened.
She nodded.
“Speak,” I said softly.
“Yes.”
“You fucked someone else.” I knew in my gut she had. I still didn’t have a name. I needed his fucking name. I needed to take out whoever he was. I’d sent the court out to do some digging, but nothing had come back as of yet.
She visibly swallowed as she stared back at me.
“Tell me who it was, and I promise everything will be OK.”
She licked her lips. “I-I can’t.”
“Why?” I snarled, the rage building in me again.
“I-I. . .”
“She likes him. Hell, probably loves him,” Levin called out softly from across the room.
I turned to him for a moment, my insides churning into a hot mess, before looking back to her.
“Is that true?”
“He’s… not like you—”
“Like me?” I squeezed her face.
Her hands landed on my thighs as her chest heaved, fear flashing in her glistening eyes. “What the fuck do you find wrong with me, wasp?”
When she didn’t answer me, I shook her face.
“You’re a fucking asshole,” she gasped out.
“And he’s a fucking fairy godmother, granting your pussy wishes?”
“It’s not like that.”
My fingers tightened against her soft skin, knowing I was squeezing too hard but not giving a large amount of shit over the fact. “Then what is it like?”
“He doesn’t hurt me,” she gasped.
I released her and sank back in my seat. Vincent and Levin were both quiet while I surveyed her through narrowed eyes.
“Hurting you isn’t what I want,” I finally said. “In fact, I wanted to give you better than what you had.”
Her eyes widened, her throat bobbing as she swallowed.
I blew out a breath and raked my fingers through my hair. “Tell me what you want. Name your terms.”
She licked her lips. “I want the humiliation to stop. I don’t want to be forced to my knees whenever you demand something from me. I want to be treated with respect and not hurt. I-I want you to not be with other girls—”
“But you can be with other men?” I raised a brow at her, trying to maintain my cool.
Her fucking someone else wasn’t something I’d get over anytime soon even though she wasn’t technically my girl.
She shook her head. “I’m really not. It was a one-time thing. There’s no way it would ever work out between us.”
“And if it could?” I leaned forward, studying her.
“It couldn’t,” she said helplessly. “It’s a nice fantasy, but I’m who I am. I need to accept that and move on.”
I sat back and rubbed my chin. “If you behave, if you listen, I’ll agree to your new terms, but if you see whoever it was again, I really will kill both of you. I’ll make you watch while I cut his throat, and then I’ll fuck you with the bloody blade. And if I find out who it was, he’s a dead man still.”
“I don’t want him to be hurt.”
“Then I guess you’d best hope I never learn his name, huh, wasp?” I said dangerously. “And you’d better hope you uphold your end of the bargain.”
“Fine.” She glared at me. “But you can’t beat me with your belt anymore either.”
I nodded. “Unfortunately, I cannot agree to that.”
She looked alarmed as her mouth fell open. “Why?”
I cocked my head at her. “Because I think you secretly like a little pain with your pleasure. And I
happen to enjoy listening to you scream. Had it been any other time, I would’ve buried myself inside you afterward. Instead, I put my fist through a wall. We were both punished that day, don’t you think?”
She took a moment to answer but finally let out a grunt of acknowledgement.
“Promise no more public humiliations?”
“Cross my heart, wasp, as long as you swear you’ll be a better charge.”
“Agreed.” She held her hand out to me.
I eased forward on the edge of my seat and took her delicate hand in mine. I hauled her between my legs.
Leaning in, I whispered in her ear, “Don’t make me regret this. I never negotiate. Promise me.”
“I promise, Dominic,” she answered, her hand moving to rest over my heart.
I locked gazes with my friends behind her. Vincent nodded at me. Levin simply stared back, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.
That was all I needed to see. We had a truce. I hoped it lasted.
“Let’s put this mess behind us and relax tonight, OK?” I pulled away and released her.
I thought she’d move away from me. When she didn’t, I thumbed her bottom lip, enjoying how her lips parted for me.
“Levin, lock my door.”
Her eyes widened, but I shifted away from her, sinking back into the leather chair.
We all needed a night away from the bullshit. I hoped we got it. I hoped. . . well, I hoped for a lot of fucking things, but deep down inside, I hoped Bianca could forgive me for the monster I was.
Because I was only going to get worse if she went back on her word.
One cannot blame a monster for doing monster things, and I was the scariest monster of all.
Thirty-Three
Bianca
After my evening in Dominic’s room and our new arrangement, things were better. I didn’t feel so suffocated or nervous. We were talking again—at least Vincent, Dominic, and I were. Levin was still his sulking, angry self, but I didn’t expect him to really be on board with anything. Not a damn thing transpired with the guys that night. I simply sat on the floor as Dominic ran his fingers through my hair while the guys all talked and played video games like normal humans.
