by Logan Fox
Reuben breaks eye contact, and his usually emotionless face turns to stone. He grabs Cass’s upper arms and wrenches him forward.
Tonight, Rube will be our brace and our straps.
Cass folds over Rube’s lap, burrowing his head into the couch beside Reuben’s hip, baring his already bruised ass to Trinity.
“Who did that to you?” she gasps.
Aw, fuck. Ain’t she the cutest?
Trinity hurries forward the instant I release her. While she falls to her knees beside Cass for all the world like a fucking mother hen, I walk past Apollo to fetch the belt he’s holding out to me.
“I did,” I say.
Cass lets out a soft grunt when my belt slams against his flesh.
Trin yelps in surprise and falls back, flashing me her white panties and a horrified expression as she scrambles away.
I expect her to start crying.
Maybe even run.
Instead, she bolts to her feet and shoves me hard enough to make me take a step back.
“Stop!” she yells, putting herself between Cass and me. “Stop hitting him!”
“Hear that, Cass?” I ask, absently snapping the belt as Trinity shows me her teeth. “She wants me to stop.”
“Jesus, fuck,” Cass groans, which is surprisingly articulate for him at a time like this.
I try to keep my eyes on Trinity, but it’s impossible with Cass busy having a fucking apoplexy behind her.
She doesn’t have a fucking clue. Not a single goddamn clue.
She’s hurting him more than my belt ever could.
“Put it down,” she says, holding out her hand. “Just…put it down.”
It must be the weed, because I legit want to humor her, just to see how far this goes before she realizes what the hell’s going on.
I can see why Rube likes her so much.
Fucking adorable, she is.
I haven’t met something this innocent since my parents tossed Cass down those basement stairs, nearly breaking the poor kid’s neck. That didn’t happen again, of course, not after his first Ghost saw the scratch he’d gotten on his pretty fucking face.
Oh no.
After that, nothing touched his face.
Or Rube’s.
Or Apollo’s.
I wasn’t there because I was pretty, so they felt they could hit me wherever the fuck they wanted. One of them even broke my nose.
Luckily, I don’t scar as easily as Cass.
Luckily, mine wasn’t the first nose the Ghosts broke in that basement, and by the time they broke mine, Rube had experience in straightening broken bridges.
“You think I want you to watch me belt him?” I ask Trinity, genuinely intrigued.
“I don’t care what you want,” she says. “Just give it here, okay?” She flicks her fingers, but doesn’t look at the belt. Keeps her eyes on me. Like I’m a wild animal bound to attack as soon as she breaks eye contact.
I guess I am, at that.
Her eyes flicker when I hand her the belt. “Okay,” she murmurs. Then she glances at Rube. “Now how about you let him go? Please?”
“Why are you sticking up for him?” Apollo asks as he collapses into his couch, a freshly rolled joint dangling from his lips. “Thought you had it in for him?”
“I didn’t say that,” she says, frowning briefly at Apollo before looking at me again. “Can Reuben let him go?”
I lean my weight back on one foot. “We’re not done here yet.”
“Please, Zachary. Whatever he’s done…he doesn’t deserve this.”
The smirk falls right off my face.
She shakes her head, those amber eyes glowing with naivety. “No matter what he’s done, you can forgive him. You’re friends, aren’t you?”
A soft laugh huffs out of me. “You think he deserves forgiveness?”
“Yes.” She nods firmly. “Definitely.”
“Fine. We’ll forgive him. But on one condition…”
Her eyes become wary, searching my face as if she can try and spot where I’m headed. But if she hasn’t figured it out by now, it’s not gonna happen.
“What?” she asks reluctantly.
Apollo lights the joint. A haze of weed smoke fills the space between.
I smile at her as I lean forward. She flinches when I touch the belt in her hands, but since I don’t try and take it away, she doesn’t fight me.
“You take his place.”
Chapter Forty
Trinity
I’m about ready to pee myself. Of all the possibilities I’d dreamed up, Zachary belting Cass while Reuben held him down and Apollo watched…
Yeah, that never came up.
I wince as Zachary tightens his grip.
I don’t want him hitting Cass, but…I don’t want him hitting me either.
At least, not with a fucking belt.
I don’t know where I summon the courage, but perhaps it’s because I’ve managed to convince myself that this is the lesser of two evils.
I move the belt to the side. “You can use your hand.”
Surprise or irritation flickers in Zachary’s eyes. He rips the belt out of my hand and grabs the front of my throat.
“You get the belt, or Cass gets the belt. It’s that fucking simple.”
He’s not choking me, else I’d have fought him. Maybe I can still reason with him. “What did he do to you?” I murmur, trying to keep my voice for Zachary’s ears alone. “Why do you have to hurt him?”
But this place is too small, because Cass hears me.
“What did I do?” Cass says.
Unwilling, my eyes drop to where he’s still kneeling a few feet beside me. And no matter how hard I try, I can’t look away.
It’s not just that he’s beautiful. And I mean, holy hell, he’s the kind of handsome where if you saw him in a movie or in a magazine, you’d spend a good few minutes wondering about him. What his life was like, where he lived, if he had a dog, how much he was paid and whether that was a lot of money to someone like him.
Even naked, bruised, and wearing a condescending smirk, my stomach flips over at the thought that someone as gorgeous as him is speaking to me.
Me.
Trinity Malone.
A no-fucking-body.
Somehow, I hold his gaze. Hell, I even manage to study him a little.
Countless circular scars dot what would have been perfect abs. Pale, nearly invisible scars along his ribs and thighs. More burn marks there. Most so old and faded, it’s no wonder I didn’t notice them that day in the shower when they—
“I sinned,” he says and sits back on his haunches, stretching his arms like a cat getting up from a nap.
Thankfully, he doesn’t stand, else I’d have been able to see everything. Instead, his dick is hidden in the shadows pooling his lap.
“Sinned how?” I ask.
“I touched you without your permission. More than once.” Cass’s smirk transforms into a smile that’s anything but repenting. “Apparently, I should be punished for shit like that.”
My skin suddenly feels two sizes too small. I can’t turn my head, so instead I swivel my eyes to look at Apollo. “You told them?”
He shrugs as he takes another pull on the joint. Smoke billows from his mouth, clearing to reveal a Joker-like smile. “We tell each other everything.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Fuck it,” Zachary growls. “Offer’s just expired.”
He rips the belt out of my hand and shoulders me aside. Grabbing the back of Cass’s neck, he pushes the top half of his body onto Reuben’s lap.
I stumble back before I can catch my balance. I don’t know who would win in a fight between Cass and Zachary and I never want to find out. But there must be some unspoken agreement between them, because although Cass’s muscles go taut as if he’s resisting Zachary, he ends up right where Zachary wants him.
Which is when Reuben grabs hold of him again, holding him still.
“No, Zachary, plea
se!” I reach for Zachary, but I’m too scared to grab him in case he does turn that belt on me.
“You had your chance,” Zachary hisses.
Cass tenses when the belt whistles through the air. The crack of it meeting his flesh is too loud. Too violent.
My heart breaks when Cass’s entire body ripples with pain. He’s gritting his teeth—spittle dotting his lips as he grunts through the blow—
Crack!
And the next.
“Zachary!”
And the next.
“Stop!” I grab Zachary’s elbow, but he shakes me off with a growl.
Crack!
“Enough!” I yell.
My brain is obviously misfiring, because then I do the most idiotic thing in the world. I slip between Zachary and Cass, turning my arms up so the belt would land on my forearms and not on my face.
Zachary freezes, arm upraised, a wild snarl on his face. “Move,” he says.
“No! That’s enough!”
When Zachary doesn’t move, when no one tries to get me out of the way, I start babbling in self-defense. “I’m the one who said he has to pay, right? Well, it’s enough. I forgive him. For everything. Okay? So…enough. It’s enough.”
Zachary slowly lowers the belt. “You don’t get to decide the sentence.”
“Of course I do.” I straighten, reluctantly dropping my arms. “I’m the one who charged him.”
“This isn’t a fucking court, girl.”
“I don’t care.”
Hooded green eyes study me for a long moment. “There’re still two lashes left.” His voice is rough, but his face is a wooden mask. “Move out the way, or you’ll be getting them on his behalf.”
I glance over my shoulder at a shaking Cass.
Tear tracks shine wetly on his cheeks. His skin is virulent red and purple now. Tiny dots of blood have come to the surface where Zachary’s belt landed.
He won’t last another two lashes. He’ll start bleeding, and it will all be because of me.
I turn back to Zachary, swallow hard, and force my voice not to shake.
“Then I’ll do it,” I say, holding out my hand. It quivers a little, but when I concentrate, it stills. “Give me the belt.”
Zachary laughs. “What, so you can tickle his ass? This is punishment, girl, not fucking foreplay.”
“I’ll hit him as hard as I can. I swear it.”
Cass would never last another two lashes from Zachary’s muscular arm, but mine is like spaghetti in comparison.
Lesser of two evils, right?
I narrow my eyes a little. “Reuben said I’m either with you or against you. No in-between. Right?”
“That’s right,” Reuben says.
“Well, I’m with you, Zachary.” My eyes dart to Apollo. “Apollo.” I glance behind me. “Reuben. Cassius.” I turn back to Zachary. “I’m with you.”
I duck forward and wrap my fingers around the belt.
“Now give me the damn belt.”
Chapter Forty-One
Zach
I don’t know who’s more shocked out of the five of us. Trinity asks for the belt, and I give it to her. I fucking give it to her. I expected begging, perhaps finally some tears, maybe even her going to her knees and sucking me off in exchange for Cass’s hide.
I’m with you.
And fuck, for a second there, I believed her.
I step back so that I don’t lunge for her instead.
I almost forgot why we allowed this girl in here. Why we’re humoring her.
Why is it so easy to forget that she’s the enemy? It’s not like it’s news—I’ve known from the moment I laid eyes on her that she was some kind of trouble.
I just didn’t realize how deeply enmeshed in all this she is.
But that all changes tonight.
When we’re done with her, she’ll be as broken as we are. Useless.
Trinity folds the belt in half and readies herself.
She thinks she can get one over on us? I know she’s going to go easy on him, and we’ll punish her for it.
That, and everything else she’s done to us.
Luring Reuben with promises of romance and love and all that bullshit. Acting all surprised when Apollo turned down her pussy.
I’ll admit—we were idiots for not spotting the snake in the grass.
But we’re wiser now.
We’ve caught onto her little games. Her little tricks.
She’s in our territory now. Until we decide she can leave this place, she belongs to us.
And I, for one, plan on using her until she begs me to stop.
But I won’t. No matter how hard she begs.
Because they never did.
Our Ghosts never let our curses or our pleas touch their cruel hearts. We thought it was because they were impervious to our pain.
Until it became obvious they didn’t have hearts.
Guess they traded them to the Devil in exchange for fulfilling their sick desires.
Just like each of us has given ourselves over to the Devil too.
For a chance at retribution.
For revenge.
Tonight we seal that pact.
Tonight, Trinity becomes our sacrificial lamb.
I smirk as she lifts her arm, a mix of sympathy and utter reluctance on her face.
Oh, she plays her role so well. But I see right through her.
Trinity grits her teeth.
The belt whistles down.
Cass grunts and squirms against Reuben’s grip.
A cloud of weed smoke creeps around me like a nefarious fog. Behind me, Apollo murmurs, “Fuck me,” with the utmost respect.
My admiration is fleeting, and leaves me feeling hollow inside.
I watch deadpan as she strikes the final blow, only mildly surprised it doesn’t make Cass come or bleed.
Then she hurls the belt away from her like it’s a viper and spins on her heel.
Her cheeks are red. Her eyes bright, zealous.
“There,” she says, pushing the word through her teeth. “It’s done. Now tell me what you found.”
Trinity Malone isn’t the innocent little girl we’d all assumed she was.
Does that mean we won’t enjoy breaking her?
Not at all.
It just means we don’t have to hold back.
Chapter Forty-Two
Trinity
It’s obvious Cass is in pain, but he’s not acting like someone who’s just been punished. In fact, the longer he stays as he is, breathing hard and holding onto Reuben’s waist as if he’d fall over if he let go…the more I’m starting to wonder about all of this.
I know they were waiting for me, but why? Just so they could show me words have consequences?
And even after all of this…I have a feeling Zachary is still not going to tell me what I need to know.
“Zacha—”
He lifts a hand, the first two fingers raised, for all the world like a priest about to bestow a blessing.
“There was a file,” he says. His lips part, but then he hesitates. “Apollo, you tell her.”
“He hid it in the system directory,” Apollo says.
Ice blows over my skin and settles deep in my bones. I’m dimly aware of Cass moving behind me, making soft, pained sounds as he dresses. I can’t imagine how much pain he’s in—I only got a handful of lashes from Miriam and I could barely stand the agony.
How long has Zachary been beating him? Why do Reuben and Apollo allow it to happen? Do they always watch like tonight? Does Reuben always hold him down?
Suddenly I don’t want to be here anymore. Not surrounded by these four twisted men.
I thought I liked Reuben. Hell, I thought I could learn to love him, even, but not if he lets Zachary push him around like this. But can I blame him? I wouldn’t want to be on Zachary’s bad side either.
And that’s not the only reason I want to leave. As much as the Brotherhood terrifies me…it’s also the look in Apollo’s e
yes.
Sympathy. Pity. I’m not sure.
He feels sorry for me and I’m not sure why.
“Clever, but not clever enough. He encrypted it, renamed it, and hid it around a bunch of other system files so it would blend right in.”
Apollo slips off the couch and stands to his full height. When he comes closer, I have to crane my head back to keep his gaze.
“See, he disguised it so well that I almost gave up. But I got a hunch. Ran a system check. Replaced all the standard files. All except a handful were overwritten. That file of his, it was one of them. One of the outliers, the ones that didn’t fit.”
“Any of this sound familiar, my little slut?”
I nearly jump out of my fucking skin when a hand lands on my shoulder. Cass’s voice is right by my ear. I want to slap away his hand, but…it was because of me that he was punished. And more brutally than I’d ever have considered necessary. I could at least hear him out.
Hear them out.
Even though I just want to run out of here with my hands over my ears.
Because even now, after I’d yelled at Gabriel and told him I believed the Brotherhood…I don’t want to be on their side. I want to be on my side. I want to live in a Utopia where there’s no such thing as pedophiles and sex trafficking and men with psychological issues caused by the kind of trauma normal people can’t even wrap their heads around.
I guess that stopped being an option after Lucifer was thrown out of heaven. Not that I ever believed in God and the Devil. It sounds like a story used to drive home common sense in a world where it’s somehow not obvious that you should love thy neighbor.
But after meeting the Brotherhood?
I don’t know if I can afford not to believe.
“What was inside it? What—?” I swallow hard to dislodge the knot from my throat. “What was he hiding?”
“We don’t know,” Reuben says.
His hand is on my shoulder too, now. Warm and big compared to Cass’s smaller, cooler hand. But both grip me equally tight. Both hold me just as firmly in place.
“It needs a password,” Zachary says. My eyes flicker to him as he steps closer.
