by Helen Scott
I shake my head, making her hand brush against my cheek. "They both have enough to deal with from Rumple's aftermath, they don't need my pity party on top of it. I knew Crax was the heir to the throne and I envied it, even disliked him a bit for it before everything happened. Then he left, and my heart broke, before it shattered when Rumple started beating on Hyde, because I knew that some of those beatings were meant for me, but Hyde was protecting me. I had it the easiest out of the three of us. I know what my brothers went through but I couldn't do anything to stop it. I was too scared, too cowardly, and now all I’m left with is this resonating pain and impotent rage."
She watches me for a long time, long enough that the pancake starts to burn because I don't want to break eye contact. Finally, she says, "You should tell them. Honesty is the best policy in my book. It might change your relationship with them, but it could bring you closer as well."
Something shifts inside me and a thread for a deal I thought was over shimmers back to life. It's strange, and I don't really know how to react, but a moment later Crax comes thundering down the stairs into the kitchen in nothing but his boxers. He looks at me, his gold eyes blazing. "Did you feel that?"
I nod.
Hyde comes stumbling down before Crax can reply and he turns to my other older brother and asks him the same. The asshole nods and pushes past Crax and me and even Alexis before grabbing the pot of coffee and drinking straight from it. When he's done, he turns and looks at us before grabbing a slice of bacon, shoving the whole thing into his mouth and saying, while chewing, "We goin' huntin’?"
"Guys, what just happened?" Alexis asks, looking between the three of us.
Before I can answer Crax ominously says, "A debt came due." He stomps off upstairs, looking more perturbed than usual, with Hyde following hot on his heels after grabbing a handful of bacon.
"I guess breakfast will have to wait," I mutter as I grab the cling wrap from the drawer and seal up the batter, putting it in the fridge. "Pancakes for dinner are just as good. Maybe I'll even let you have some of my special syrup." I look at Alexis and give her a wink.
Her hand on my arm stops me. "Zard," she says quietly but with such intensity that I spin on the spot. "I just want you to know that just because I slept with Crax last night doesn't mean I choose him, doesn't mean I've rejected you. In fact, I don't think I could ever choose between you. I just... I needed you to know that." Her blue eyes look up at me for a minute and I would swear I could have lived forever in that moment and been happy. Just as quickly as the thought enters my head she's gone, brushing past me and up the stairs to get ready for what is about to go down.
21
Alexis
The guys are being weird. I'm not sure what they mean by a debt coming due, but it doesn't sound good. I walk up the stairs after leaving that little nugget of knowledge with Zard and see Crax heading into the shower. Just the thought of what we did in there the night before makes my skin heat and my core turn molten. I jog up the hallway and catch him at the door.
"Want some company?" I ask in my best seductive voice.
Crax turns around and his face is a mix of emotions, enough that it makes me unsure about everything that happened. I knew things wouldn't change and yet, I didn't expect him to shut me out so completely only hours after he was inside me. "I need to be focused for what is about to happen and you're a distraction, Alexis."
He shuts the door in my face and my heart crumples a little. When I turn, I see Hyde leaning in his doorway sipping on some water. Fantastic. Nothing like having someone witness my humiliation.
"Doin' okay there, Princess? Did your knight slip off his charger?" Hyde asks before taking another long gulp.
"Crax is no knight, believe me," I say, thinking back to some of the things he'd done to me the night before.
"Oh, we all know, and we know how much you liked it." Hyde's face is smug when I feel the blush rise in my cheeks.
He was supposed to have been passed out drunk. He shouldn't have heard a damn thing. I want to groan but instead I lift my chin and look him in the eye. "Do you have something against a woman finding pleasure? Or is it just unusual for you to hear it?"
"Princess, whatever orgasms Crax gave you would be child's play in comparison to the ones I gave you. In fact, I don't think you could handle me in bed." He grins at me but there's a darkness at the edges, one that draws me to him like a mosquito to blood.
"You think I couldn't handle you in bed? Please! One look at me naked and you’d be making a mess in your shorts," I scoff, enjoying our back and forth for once. I know Hyde is a complicated man, how could he not be after years of abuse? I just didn't expect to find that complicated nature so damn alluring. Could I really care for all three of them? Or was I just sex-starved and now Crax had undammed the river of my need, so to speak?
"You are sexy, that's definitely true, but that mouth... I think I'd need to find a way to keep you quiet. A ball gag might do nicely, then maybe a good spanking to keep you in line before I fuck you." His pupils dilated. It was hard to tell since he had the darkest eyes out of the brothers, but they were still a chocolatey brown whereas now they looked mostly black as he stared down at me.
My body feels like it's buzzing with electricity at his words. I wasn't into that kind of stuff, was I? I’ve never really had the chance to explore before since I never knew any of the guys I slept with well enough to trust them like that. Could I trust Hyde in bed? That was a dangerous question to ask.
"Lost your tongue, Princess?" Hyde asks, moving closer to me as he does so, which basically means that he's all up in my personal space since we were only standing the width of the door apart to begin with.
"Hyde," I begin, unsure what to say in response. He seems different this morning than he had the last few days. Maybe apologizing to Crax really did lift something in him. While my mind is spinning and my mouth gaping as I search for the words, his hand comes up and wraps in the bulk of my hair, grasping it firmly and pulling so my head tilts back. It sends a jolt of electricity to my core, making me gasp.
His lips crush mine when they descend and my breath is stolen by the ferocity of his kiss. I thought Hyde hated me or at the very least disliked me, but his kiss told me a different story. His kiss was scorching my very soul as he claimed my mouth like a man starved.
A small moan escapes my mouth as his tongue invades and controls my own. When he growls low in his throat in response, it rumbles through my chest. I arch into him, feeling every bit the wanton hussy my mother would accuse me of being and not regretting a second of it.
Hyde's hand that isn't in my hair cups my ass, sliding down until he pulls one leg off the ground and I let him as he wraps it around his hip. The t-shirt I'd grabbed off the dresser earlier this morning rides up, exposing me to the air around us. His hand rubs back along my thigh and slides under the t-shirt.
He groans when he realizes I'm not wearing any panties and rolls his hips against me, making me break our kiss so I can gulp in lungfuls of air. Hyde snarls and claims my lips once more, pushing against me more insistently, and the bulge in his pants makes me more than a little curious. The hand that's in my hair holding my head in place releases and goes to my other leg, lifting so that I am completely supported against the wall by the way he is pinning me to it.
The feel of his hands on my skin is more than a little arousing. Unlike Crax's hands, Hyde's are rough with calluses and scars covering them. He massages my ass as he rocks against me, each roll of his hips punishing yet exhilarating as my pleasure increases. His hands shift closer to my core and I feel his fingers against my folds. I moan in encouragement.
One finger presses between my folds, my silkiness coating it immediately, which only makes him groan in response. He pulls away to mutter, "So wet. Is it all for me, Princess?"
His deep brown eyes stare down at me and I pant, "Of course it is, Hyde."
"Say my name again," he growls.
"Hyde," I breathe a second before his
lips crush against mine and the finger that had been toying with me slips all the way in, making my hips buck. Then he's fucking me with the one finger, adding a second a moment later.
"So fucking tight," he whispers against my lips.
"Make me come, Hyde," I moan back, as his fingers never stop moving. I need the release after being so worked up, and I want Hyde to be the one to give it to me.
"You come when I say you can come," he growls back. "And if you don't then you won't get fucked when we get back."
God, the thought of him fucking me almost sends me over the edge already and I don't know why. Maybe because he's so rough, so distant that I feel like he'd make what Crax did last night look gentle and caring. Maybe because he makes me want to rile him up all the damn time but right now, with his fingers in my pussy and his tongue in my mouth, I'd do just about anything he asked.
He eases his thumb between us and flicks it over my clit between the roll of his hips. The position has to be uncomfortable for him but he doesn't seem to care. After a moment, he breaks the kiss and dips his head to my chest, taking one of my nipples into his mouth through the t-shirt. The hot wetness and the rough rub of the cotton pushes me higher.
"Hyde, please, please, I need to..." I moan and my words cut off as he switches to the other nipple.
The sensation stops and I panic. He's not going to leave me on the edge like this, surely?
"When you come, it's going to be quiet. You're going to keep it between us. When I fuck you, you can scream to the rooftops, but right now, I want your sounds for myself, not the prying ears of my brothers. Do you understand?" he asks as his thumb circles my bundle of nerves again and again.
I can barely keep myself in check but I manage to nod.
"Good girl. You can come," he whispers into my ear, nipping on the lobe. That jolt of pain launches me into the stratosphere of pleasure. My pussy clenches around his fingers but he doesn't stop, just keeps fucking me with them, extending my release. I manage to keep my noises to an initial grunt followed by a quiet keening sound as the waves wash over me.
I slowly come back to myself and Hyde withdraws his fingers, setting me down on the ground once more, before lifting his fingers to his mouth and sucking them clean. It causes another flush of desire to go through me, which I'm sure Hyde notices with those dark eyes of his that see too much.
"You owe me a good fucking when we get back," I say, my voice husky with my desire and the effort from keeping myself quiet.
"As you wish," he says as he backs away, tucking his erection up into the waistband of his pants. I can't help but watch, getting a glimpse of the swollen head of his cock, and realizing that my wetness was spread all over the front of his pants where he'd been moving against me.
"You might want to change," I say before turning away from him, fighting the urge to strip him naked and ride him right there in the hallway.
As I move away I see Zard watching me, his eyes hooded and his face flushed. He's shirtless and tucking himself back into his pants. Had he just jerked off to Hyde and I in the hallway? Why did I find that such a turn on? When had I become so horny all the damn time?
I duck into my room as Zard does the same, both of us seeming to feel awkward about the situation. Quickly I change into something I can wear in public, panties and all. I snag the bathroom while it's free and perform my normal morning rituals before heading downstairs.
The three of them are waiting on me, and when I enter the room heat fills all three sets of eyes. My body feels like it's on fire under their attention. The longer I look, though, the more I see that at least Crax’s and Zard's gazes are tinged with sadness. I knew Zard was aware of my hallway activities with Hyde, but had he told Crax? If Crax wanted me to be exclusive he should have invited me in to the shower and not treated me like day old takeout.
"Ready?" I ask, not trusting my voice to say more.
They all nod and we go down to the car. Hyde slips into the driver's seat with Crax next to him, while Zard and I are in the back. As we start weaving through the city I realize that Crax is following some kind of inner awareness as he calls out directions to Hyde.
At first everything seems fine, weird, but fine, and I’m not worried at all. As we head further into the downtown area and pass through it only to come out on the side where I was with Crax the day before, I start to panic. The area we are in is where Smith lives. It couldn’t be to do with him could it? They think he’s dead, and I certainly haven’t indicated otherwise, so what the hell was going on?
22
Crax
Smith should be dead. This isn’t possible. This isn’t… is it?
My hands are white as they clench the steering wheel. The debt that had awakened between us felt like Smith. It was like a familiar scent, or a distant memory one couldn’t quite recall. When I closed my eyes, I could sense the person who had made the deal with my father. I could feel the burden of the debt weighing so heavily on me I honestly wondered if I could bear the weight.
It was staggering. A debt that should’ve been paid long ago.
But more than that, the second the debt had awakened once more, the guilt of what we might have to do had weighed so heavily on me that I couldn’t touch Alexis. I could barely look at her. If I hurt her friend like this, would she ever forgive me? Would she hate that I’d touched her and then hate me even more when she still couldn’t escape me?
“We getting out?” Zard asks, and there’s tension in his voice.
Do Zard and Hyde feel Smith in this deal as much as I do? Or is the feeling more powerful for Rumple’s first born son? I don’t know, but I do know we need to face this. We need to see who this is and hope like hell that something’s wrong, and it isn’t Smith. After all, when has a debt suddenly reappeared after the person has died?
It didn’t make any sense.
I take a deep, steadying breath, willing myself to ignore the weird inkling that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It might feel like Smith, but that isn’t possible. And once I proved it, I could apologize to Alexis for pushing her away this morning. I’d make things better between us, and I’d keep working to make Sterling City the place all of us could make a home.
“Yeah,” I say, and I know it’s been a painfully long time since Zard asked. “Let’s go.”
We get out, and I can’t even bear to look at Alexis. I feel the pull, and I follow it like a puppet on a string. I climb the stairs, leaving Alexis to follow with my brothers. Behind me, I hear Hyde make a joke, and I hope like hell that my brothers don’t feel Smith the way I do, or else Hyde’s light attitude makes him an even bigger asshole than he likes to pretend to be.
I push open a door, revealing a depressing hallway with a sour smell that seems to come from the very walls. Which isn’t right. None of this is right. Smith is the child of a wealthy family in this town. He wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this, literally or figuratively. Which makes it even easier to convince myself that this weird feeling is wrong. That something is wrong with our powers.
Stopping outside a door, I lift my hand.
“Wait.”
I freeze, but don’t look at Alexis as I speak. “Our job is to collect debts. We made a deal, so this is what we do now, whether you want to or not.”
My words come out harsher than I intended them to, but I try not to focus on it. Right now, I need to see who’s on the other side of this door. I need to know that a dead man hasn’t come to ruin things just as they were starting to get better.
I move to knock, but something makes me stop. The sounds of voices on the other side of the door. And something about one of the voices makes a chill run down my spine. I know that voice, even though I hope like hell I’m wrong. I pause and listen longer.
Hell. Fucking hell.
Dropping my hand, I take a step back.
“Lost your nerve?” Hyde asks, sarcastically.
“Take Alexis to the car.”
“No,” she says, defian
ce dripping from the word.
“Take her to the car,” I say again.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Zard tries to grab her arm, but she shakes him off. “What are you going to do?” she demands.
Finally, I look at her, and my entire chest aches. Her hair is back in that ponytail of hers, and the fire is back in those deep blue eyes. She’s covered herself in all the things she thinks will put a layer between her and the world. But even here, in this stained hall, she’s still the goddess who I made love to all night long. She’s still the woman who screamed my name when I buried myself deep inside her.
And I’ll do anything to keep her safe.
“Pick her the fuck up and take her out,” I say, my voice holding anger rather than the fear I feel.
She takes a step closer to me glaring. “Last night… it’s never going to happen again, you got that, you asshole?”
I flinch, even though I expected her anger. “We own you. Remember? Now, don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Zard and Hyde are looking at me like I’ve grown a second head, but I don’t give a shit. My blood is starting to chill. If I don’t face what’s on the other side of the door soon… I don’t even want to think about it.
“In fact, all of you go wait for me downstairs. Now.”
Zard knows something’s wrong. I see it in his eyes. And I know he trusts me when he picks her up and throws her over his shoulder. She screams and begins to struggle, but Zard doesn’t slow. He might be the softest of the three of us, but he’s still a son of Stiltskin.
Hyde lifts a brow. I think he might argue. But then he turns and follows Zard down the stairs as Alexis screams.
When the sounds of her protests dies down, I turn back to the door. I take a deep breath, tense my muscles, and kick it in. The wood along the frame splinters, and the door hits the ground, completely ripping from the hinges. Three pairs of eyes are on me in an instant.
