I saw red, had West’s collar beneath my fists before I blinked. “Stay the fuck away from my sister.”
West gripped my hands over his collar. “I don’t fucking want your sister. You know my end goal.”
“Story? She doesn’t want you either. You have no stake in this battle, du Lac.”
“Maybe, but I’ll fight all the same.”
I laughed, bitter and caustic. “You raped her—” West flinched, and I paused, focusing on that reaction. That split second where his mask slipped. “You don’t like hearing that?” I asked softly. “That you raped her?”
West shoved me off. “Dunno, Crowne. Are you proud of the way you treated my sister for over a decade?”
A stalemate of silence passed. As the fire dwindled, West’s features were shadowed and hardened. For a moment, he looked a little like the older kid who’d once pulled me from my bed in the dark of our dorms, slamming me against the icy window.
Why the fuck was my sister crying?
I ground my teeth. “It’s not the same thing.”
West laughed, waving a hand in the air like whatever. “Now you. Give me a secret.”
“My grandfather—”
“Nope, my choice, and I don’t want information on your grandpa. I want info on Story. What does she like now?”
I guess that was the problem with inviting a snake into your bed.
They slithered.
I rubbed my jaw, tense from grinding my teeth. “Pretty fucking vague question, West.”
“Fine, I’ll narrow it down. How do you get her off?”
I focused on my breathing, on the in and out of hot air from my nostrils. It wasn’t even fucking day one of this, and I was picturing slamming his head into the floor.
“I think we need some ground rules,” I said at last.
He arched a brow. “Ground rules?”
“She doesn’t sleep in the same room as you, let alone bed. No public displays of affection.”
He laughed. “So you want everyone to know we’re full of shit? Got it. I’m gonna have to touch her, Crowne.” He leaned forward. “Definitely kiss her. Maybe even fu—”
I curled his stupid-ass bow tie beneath my fist, lips a breath away. “Before I came in here, I hadn’t decided if I was going to agree to your plan, or just fucking end you once and for all. I could still go either way, du Lac. So I think I should be real clear. The only reason you’re still breathing is Story.” I curled the bow tie tighter. “The minute that changes.” Curl. “My need for you changes too.”
I shoved him back.
“You owe me a secret, Crowne.”
“You want to know how she gets off, West? With me. It’ll never be you.”
West stood taller, eyes dark. “You want ground rules? Let’s start with how we’ll tell everyone it’s my child.”
Another biting laugh left me. “I’m starting to think you’re a bit of a masochist, West.”
“She’s showing. You know our parents already suspect it—if not outright assume. Soon the world will. If you’re so sure you’re going to ride off into the sunset, then what’s the harm? Don’t make the same mistake your father did—”
“Don’t fucking talk about my father,” I cut.
“I’m not finished.”
I folded my arms, waiting for whatever the fuck else he had to tell me.
“Stop treating my sister like a villain.”
That hit me unexpectedly, and my breath got caught in my lungs like smoke.
West looked away, almost like he was ashamed. “Help her the way we’re helping Story.”
I arched a brow. “You want me to tell you how to fuck your sister?”
“No, dick. I want us to free her. Free her from my mother. From my father. From this fucking world. I want to make sure that when this is over, Lottie is taken care of.”
“Why can’t her brother do that?”
West looked away. “Just promise me you’ll take care of her, Grayson.”
West held his hand out for me to shake.
“Does she know?” he asked.
“About our truce? Pretty fucking obvious.”
“That if you manage to get that coin, you’re not leaving this place.”
I shifted, my back suddenly aching—
The way you shift on the mattress when something hurts your heart.
Goddamn.
She knew me better than I knew myself.
I told Story I wouldn’t put my faith in fairy tales, and I guess for both of us, I have no choice.
One way or the other, Story would be free. My wife would be safe. Whether that meant finding the coin, or destroying my grandfather and becoming the thing I hated most: the monster that goes bump in the night.
Becoming the Crowne.
Anyone who came after her, would have to come through me.
A slow smile spread across West’s lips at my silence. “So there are some things you keep from the missus, then.”
My hand clasped his, then I yanked him to me, our noses barely touching. “So we’re clear, you don’t fucking touch her, she doesn’t sleep in your bed, she doesn’t sleep in the same fucking room as you, and you don’t take her phone again.”
He laughed. “Or you’ll beat me up again?”
“I’m still married to your sister, du Lac. I would hate to break her heart any more than I already have…especially with what stress does to her and the baby.”
It burned like acid coming out.
West’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you were the good guy in this story, Grayson.”
Your dream wasn’t exclusive to me. You want to be good to Lottie, and I want that for you.
I told Story I would do it my way…I just hoped she could forgive me.
I shoved him off. “I’ll be the villain, I’ll be the bad guy, I’ll be whatever I have to be, to keep Story safe.”
West grinned. “Truce.”
“Truce,” I gritted.
Twenty-Six
STORY
I fell asleep against the door, listening to the muffled voices of Gray and West, so I was disoriented when I woke in a bed. Last night came back to me in hot bursts.
“Are you feeling okay?”
Grayson sat on my bed, and I smiled, thinking I was in a dream. That I was back to before—before everything got ruined. Destroyed.
“Atlas,” I whispered.
“Grayson hogs the bed.”
The dream shattered with West’s voice. West came into focus behind Grayson, leaning in the doorway, in plaid pajamas with Christmas trees. Grayson wore what he had the night before, but no tie, and his dress shirt was rolled up and messy.
I looked around, realizing I was in the guest wing. My prison.
West.
West and Grayson.
I looked between the two of them, still unsure if I was dreaming. “What’s going on? What are you doing here?”
“Yeah, Gray,” West mocked. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m not leaving your side, Snitch. Never again.”
The night before. The truce.
Two of the most powerful men in the world, after me.
“You both slept here?”