by Ivy Fox
“You’re sick,” I croak hoarsely, loathing that she would stoop so low.
She releases Trevor from her kiss and looks at me with the same coldness I’ve always been accustomed to.
“Oh, but you’re wrong. I’ve never felt better in all my life. Winning has that effect on me, you know?” she rebukes, once again looking like an ice queen ready to dawn her crown in front of her frozen-sculptured subjects. “Now run along and enjoy what little you still have. Consider it my last gift to you. Before you know it, I’m going to waltz in and rob each and every thing you love.”
“You can try.” I seethe.
“Oh, stupid girl, who says I haven’t already begun?”
Chapter 7
Oliver
The minute Snow and Ash walk through the living room doorway, I know something isn’t right. I expected as much, considering where they had gone off to this afternoon, or more importantly, who they had gone to confront. In my mind, I assumed they’d come back looking worse for wear and empty-handed, not livid out of their minds, ready to bring the whole house down with their rage.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, looking at Snow for answers.
“What’s wrong?! What’s wrong?! Everything, Ollie! Everything is wrong!” she belts out, her whole body trembling.
My brother’s face looks just as pissed behind her, as he places his hands on her arms, rubbing them gently to console her shaking form.
I walk over to the girl who has my heart in her hands, watching helplessly how hers is cracking into tiny pieces—a side effect brought on by meeting with her mother. I grab her hand, pulling her to take a seat on the couch next to me, instinctively wrapping my arm around her agitated shoulders, hoping I can calm her down enough so she can explain what happened at the Manning’s that got her so riled up. When all I get is her continuously low and incoherent cursing, I turn to Ash to get an explanation as to what the fuck Vivienne did to our girl this time.
“The fuck happened, Ash?”
“Her bitch of a mother, of course. That’s what happened,” he states unsurprisingly, pacing the floor left and right, looking just as unhinged as Snow.
“I’m going to need a little bit more than that. What did she do now?”
“What hasn’t she done?!” Snow yells out, pulling away from my embrace and leaning her back against the armrest. “I have no idea why I’m surprised she would stoop this low. I suspected as much when we cornered your friend Michelle back at the courthouse,” she sneers at me, and I cringe at the disdain she has for Detective Gomez swimming in her beautiful, gray eyes. I felt her unease of the way the detective took a shining to me, but she hadn’t said anything until this very moment. “But today, my mother basically insinuated, right to my face, that she’s the puppet master behind all our suffering. She was the one who put the police’s scent on Rome. It was her, Ollie! It’s her fault he’s locked away in some cage like an animal!”
“Fuck,” I growl under my breath.
My throat tightens at the graphic image of Rome’s current hell that Snow implemented in my mind, but also at finally having confirmation of who got the ball rolling in putting him there in the first place.
Vivienne is a vindictive bitch with too much power and cunning for her own good. Somehow the conniving woman was able to persuade the NYPD in playing a part in her twisted little revenge against Rome. The woman has an ego the size of the Empire State Building, considering she went to such great lengths to antagonize my brother just for kicking her out of our house.
“Story doesn’t end there. Guess who the wicked witch also has doing her dirty work for her?” my twin states with a snarl on his lip.
“Who?”
“None other than Trevor Manning.”
“You’re joking?”
“The make-out session I witnessed was no laughing matter, Ollie. It was disgusting and disturbing to watch. But I guess that was their intention,” Snow explains, looking green as she recollects the gross encounter.
“You have to be shitting me? Trevor and Vivienne? Together?” I repeat, wanting to make sure I’m not hearing things.
“Yes!” they yell in unison, knocking me on my ass with this new grotesque revelation.
“But I thought Trevor was dating Addison?” I counter, confused, grasping hard to whatever logic I can still find in this madness.
“Wouldn’t put it past him to be boning the two of them at the same time. Which doesn’t bode well for us, since neither of them is a fan of our brother,” Ash growls, plunging his hands inside his jean pockets, obviously jonesing for his trusted blunt to get him through this.
“Or me,” Snow mumbles in defeat, slumping her head back onto the headrest of the couch.
“So Trevor has a type then. Good to know. Do you think what happened at the Christmas fashion show was Vivienne’s handy work, or Addison’s? Because every bone in my body tells me that Trevor had something to do with it. However, I highly doubt he had the brains to conceive such a stunt on his own,” I say, vocalizing my suspicions of who I think was behind Snow’s incident last Christmas break.
The police have come to question her a few times about any enemies or bullies she might have had at Pembroke that would want to cause her bodily harm and humiliation. The one name she mentioned that struck a nerve with me was Trevor’s. His ego is just as volatile as Vivienne’s—a common trait they must obviously appreciate in each other, considering they’re screwing around.
Unfortunately, I don’t trust the competence of the NYPD. It’s been over a month, and they still haven’t been able to even tell us if they have any leads on the culprit responsible for poisoning Snow, let alone any suspects. Their incompetence doesn’t surprise me the least. Not when they’ve done such a shitty job at incriminating Rome for a murder he never committed.
“Honestly, at this point who knows if all three of them are in cahoots with one another. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t been blindsided before. They could be scheming away as we speak, and we would only know it once the shit hit our doorstep,” Ash cautions, this time running his fingers through his hair, infuriated for not knowing where danger is going to strike next.
Snow begins to shake her head furiously, slapping her open palms on her knees.
“This has gone on long enough. We can’t let Rome go through with this anymore. We can’t let them win. We can’t!”
“And they’re not, baby.” I try to soothe, but she pulls away from me again, killing me with the way she keeps distancing herself from having any affection or tenderness in her life.
She seems to prefer to wallow in her misery and torment, rather than seek solace in my arms. I’m becoming way too familiar with this side of Snow lately. The side of her that won’t hear rhyme or reason. Not when it involves an injustice she feels she can prevent from happening. Right now, she’s a train off its rails, ready to trample on everything in its path. And if we don’t do something to settle her suffering, I’m not sure if we can stop her from crashing headfirst into an even bigger mess.
There has to be something I can do.
Since Rome was arrested, she hardly sleeps or rests. She doesn’t eat enough to sustain herself, the lack of appetite attributed to her stressing about things way beyond her control. I know these last few weeks have been painful for her. She still doesn’t accept why Rome would sacrifice himself and not let her tell the truth. Even if the truth might mean she’d be the one locked up behind bars in his stead.
I, however, understand my older brother perfectly. Given a chance, Ash and I would have both taken the metaphorical bullet, too. When you love someone, there isn’t anything you don’t see yourself doing to make sure they are safe. Protected.
Protecting Snow is what Rome is doing up at Rikers, and it’s what Ash and I need to accomplish here at home. But every time I think we’re both making progress with her, she raises her guarded walls back up, preventing us from reaching her heart.
It hurts me to s
ee how she is determined to spend her days in misery, solidary with Rome’s own anguish. The thing she doesn’t understand—and that we need to make her realize—is that, if Rome knew she was letting herself be consumed by this much pain, he would blame himself, making the two people we love suffer worse than they need to.
“Is Elle home?” Ash asks, trying to move off-topic, taking the hint on how close to the edge Snow is.
“No. I texted her, and she just replied saying she’ll come home when she’s good and ready,” I respond on autopilot, feeling the nervous energy in the room increase by the minute.
When Snow gets up from her seat and rushes to the door, it doesn’t take a genius to know she’s had enough and is going to take matters into her own hands. Thankfully, Ash pulls her by her elbow, stopping her next move.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
She slaps his hand off her, and proudly holding her head up high, she replies, “To do what I should have done weeks ago.”
“Oh no, you don’t. Ollie, grab her,” he commands, and without hesitation, I’m on Snow, pulling her arms to her back, holding her as tightly as I can without hurting her.
“Let go of me!” she yells, frantically swaying her body in such a way it takes a huge effort to hold her still without injuring her.
“You are not going to do a goddamn thing, Snow. You’re going to sit here and wait for all this shit to blow over. You hear me?” Ash orders, holding her chin in his grasp, his eyes penetrating through hers.
“No, I won’t!” she yells in his face. “Just leave me the hell alone, Asher. Call Kim or whoever you’ve been screwing to entertain you, and let me do what I need to!”
“You’re making it difficult for me not to place you over my knee and make you eat those words, Snow. Now be a good girl and do as I say. Or I’ll pull that skirt up and spank some sense into you. Don’t think I won’t,” he threatens, the gleam in his eyes telling me he wouldn’t mind one bit getting her out of her head with a few well-timed slaps to her behind.
My stiffening cock seems to like the idea, too, even though right now, sex should be the last thing on its devilish mind.
“You don’t scare me, Asher. I’m not going to sit here and do nothing!”
“Oh yes, you fucking will!” he grunts, clutching her face closer to his. “You think this is easy for us? Any of us? None of this is easy! We’re all doing what needs to be done, especially Rome. You think putting your neck on the chopping block will do us any good? You think that Rome would ever forgive us if we let you walk out this door and sacrifice your freedom for his? That I would ever forgive myself?” he croons, strictly breathing the oxygen she exhales in his direction.
“It’s not your call,” she rasps out, but it comes out more breathless than harsh.
“No? Then whose call is it? Yours?”
She mauls at her lower lip, calming her fight-or-flight response, while her silver eyes stare into my twin’s as we continue to pin her between us.
“Answer me this. Do you love Rome?”
“Of course I do,” she snaps back at Ash, astonished he would even ask such a question.
“Do you really? Do you love him to the point of letting him do what he has to, to protect the only thing that brought meaning to his life? Or will you spit on his face by going behind his back and turning yourself in?”
“That isn’t fair, Ash! Why should he have to give away his freedom to preserve mine?” she cries on a wail, and the fight that was simmering inside her returns tenfold.
With one hand still on her chin, Ash gently grabs her neck with the other, halting her from moving a muscle. I continue to forcefully bind together her wrists behind her, but place my free hand on her stomach, gently caressing it, so she knows she’s safe in our arms, even when we’re forcing her to go against her instincts.
“Life isn’t fair, Snow. You, most of all, should know that by now,” I whisper in her ear, placing a tender kiss to her neck to calm her down.
She turns her head to face me, and I see the sliver of a tear break free from her fierce face.
“My life has never been fair, Ollie. But please, don’t ask me to watch someone I love forfeit his freedom for me. I can’t do it, Ollie. I just can’t. Rome deserves better.”
I kiss away the fallen tear, and put my chin on her shoulder, letting out a tortured sigh of my own.
“Loving you is enough for him, Snow. Letting all of us love you the way we know how is the only way we’ll get through this. Ash is right. Rome wouldn’t recover if he lost you. None of us would. Don’t do something we all will regret,” I plea wholeheartedly.
“I’m scared. How can I live my life if he’s not part of it?” she hiccups with despair, admitting her truest fear once and for all.
Ash pulls her chin to face him once more, his hazel eyes beaming with such love and devotion that it has my own throat clogging with emotion.
“Rome will come home, Snow. I promise you that,” he vows reassuringly.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because there is only so much shit a life can endure. It can’t rain forever. Sooner or later, the sun will have its day. And until that happens, we will live each day as if that day is already here,” he explains, running the pad of his thumbs on her watery cheeks.
“How?” she asks, her tears falling freely now.
“Loving each other,” Ash hushes in pain and then leans in to kiss her lips.
My mouth latches on to her neck, peppering it with butterfly kisses, wanting to make Ash’s prediction real. Her trembling form begins to soften in our embrace, as the hardships of our currently screwed-up world start to be replaced by memories of our last summer—where nights were overflown with passion by the fire-lit sand, and the warm, sun-filled days were spent loving each other without care or consequence.
We three have suffered so much since then.
We lost our footing and our innocence, but we never lost the love we felt for each other. It was always there. We might have tried to hide it away, but the sound of its strong heartbeat reminded us of its existence. A love like ours could never die. It could lay dormant to heal wounds we’d suffered, but it could never extinguish itself completely. Not while we still had air in our lungs and blood coursing through our veins. It’s as much a part of us as any atoms or molecules. It’s embedded in our very essence.
It’s our fate.
And Snow is our destiny.
Mine.
Ash’s.
Rome’s.
Loving her is the only thing we are good at. It’s the only redemption we have. I need to believe that meeting each other wasn’t to give us heartbreak but to reward us for all we’ve been through in our wretched lives. She’s our saving grace, and we are hers. Snow came to bring us life, and we, in turn, will devote ours to her.
“Ash,” she begins to plea as my brother’s kiss gets more demanding. My own hands have a mind of their own, already gripping her waist, making her ass grind against my aching cock.
“Do you want us to stop?” I mumble since Ash won’t be able to. Not when he’s devouring her mouth the same way he wants to devour her soul.
She shakes her head, giving us consent to love her as we want—as we were always meant to. I play with the hem of her skirt, finding the zipper at the back, pulling it down ever so slowly, increasing my maddened euphoria.
“Ollie,” she moans after Ash’s mouth leaves her lips, only to latch onto her covered breast, sucking her nipple through her shirt.
I take the cue and kiss my girl, sucking her lower lip until her tongue begs for mine. Her skirt drops to her feet, and I hear Ash begin to rip open her school shirt, buttons flying all over, ruining it completely.
My mouth swallows the little wails she makes as I unlatch her bra, freeing her breasts so that Ash can get his fill. My tongue continues to wrestle with hers, but my anxious hands are in a frenzy all of their own, traveling down her body until m
y fingers reach her panties, already slick with a need for us.
I release her from our intense kiss, needing to hear it one more time from her lips to comfort my heart. My father’s assault messed with all of us, so this time when I take her, I don’t want it to be a dream, I want it to feel as real for her as it is for me.
“Snow, if you want us to stop, tell us now. We’ll take as much or as little as you’re willing to give us. Not an inch more.”
I hear Ash groan, his hands pressing her ass deliciously against my hard cock, making my request that much more torturous. Her silver eyes fix on mine, and the sadness embedded in them is too much for me to take.
“Make our pain go away, Ollie,” she whispers, gutting me open with her vulnerability and misery.
Without a second to lose, I tear the tiny barrier that covers her wet pussy, leaving her bare, just like I’ve always fantasized.
“Ollie, clothes,” Ash grunts, going on his knees to satisfy our woman with his mouth, while I quickly take off every last article of clothing I have on.
By the time I’m done, Snow’s head has fallen back on my shoulder, softly moaning while gripping Ash’s hair for support as he eats her out like his life depends on it. I lick my lips, desperate for the same taste on my tongue.
Sensing my discomfort, my brother turns Snow my way, and just like that, I’m on my knees being drowned by her nectar while Ash uses the opportunity to take off his clothes. Every time I’ve gone down on Snow, it always feels like the first time. The sweetness of her is all-consuming, and with every little cry that leaves her lips, my heart feels as if it’s about to explode through my chest at her praise. Yet as much as the sweet tang nourishes my desire, it also inflames it to the point that only sweet surrender will suffice—hers, Ash’s, and mine.
As she continues to pull at the strands of my hair to the point of pain, I cherish every tug. I worship her with my tongue and lips, lapping at her small nub until all that comes out of her are beautiful wails of pleasure.
