“Yeah.”
“Fuck,” Callan curses.
“You two stay out of this,” I warn them both. They are both about to say something when I jerk my gaze around to them. “I mean it. You stay out it! I’ll take it!”
“We have a game coming up, Steele,” Knox reminds me. No shit. How could I ever forget that?
“And?”
“And you need to be in perfect condition. You aren’t taking this shit alone,” Callan responds. I reach over and grab him around the throat, pulling his face closer to mine.
“I said, I’m taking it. All of it! Don’t push me on this,” I growl. Callan watches me intently for a long second before he finally nods his head. I release the hold I have on him and take a deep breath before starting the car. I reach for the radio and turn it up, listening to Slipknot as I let the rest of the world fade away.
Before we even pull into the driveway, I see the dark SUVs.
“He was fast about it this time,” Knox says from the backseat. I nod my head, listening to the music as I stare out the front window at my fate. Inhaling through my nose, I shut the car off and climb out. Knox and Callan aren’t far behind me.
We walk as one toward the house when they all step out the front door. Their eyes are as black as night, which is something I’m used to. These are the men that your parents warn you about. The monsters that lurk in the dark. We might be bad, but these guys are far worse. They are my dad’s top men and when they show up, you know shit’s bad. The main one, Matt, eyes me up and down. He knows I’m a fighter. He knows what I’m capable of, so when it’s only me taking the punishment, he enjoys it far more. Not that my brothers can’t fight, they can but they have smaller builds than me.
“Well look what we have here,” Matt says with a sick grin on his face. “The three bastards.”
“It’s only me,” I announce, catching his attention. He turns his head, his eyes meeting mine. A slow sick smirk crosses his face.
“That sounds fun.” I nod my head once, getting myself into the headspace I need to be in for this.
“Callan, Knox. Go inside,” I say keeping my eyes on Matt. He smirks as the two of them walk past us and into the house.
“Meet you in the basement,” Matt says turning on his heel. His guys all follow him as I take another deep breath and prepare myself for what’s about to come.
9
Whisper
“How are you liking Alder?” Debra asks all happily. It makes me want to vomit. This fake front she puts up for the world to see—I can see right through it.
“It’s school,” I say, picking at my eggs. I don’t know why she decided today would be the day for a family breakfast but here we are.
“Are you making friends?” Nathan asks.
“With those stuck-up rich kids? I don’t think so.”
“Excuse me?” Debra squeals. “We brought you here, took you in and that’s how you thank us? By talking that way?”
“What can I say, Debra? You shouldn’t have done it. I didn’t ask to be here. You should have left me there to rot.” In seconds, she’s out of her chair, her hand slamming across my cheek. Crazy bitch. I shove out of my seat, ready to challenge her but think better of it. Our eyes lock and a silent warning is issued.
“That’s enough! Now, Whisper, you apologize, or I can arrange for a nice comfortable bed in our local jail!” Nathan’s voice thunders through the room. I swallow my pride, if only for a second and say sorry. Not that I really mean it because if she ever lays her hand on my again, I’m going to lose it. Debra smiles like she’s won the big prize at the fair which makes me want to slap her more.
“Can I go? I don’t want to be late.” Nathan nods his head as I move from the table and grab my bag.
“You don’t need to push her. We will get what she knows soon, Debra!” I hear Nathan say. What is he talking about? I don’t know anything aside from this place is hell. Ignoring their talk, I head out the door and down the long driveway. I walk to school every day. Nathan offered me a car to drive but Debra said I didn’t earn it. Imagine that, after a month of being here and doing as I’m told, and I didn’t earn the right to drive to school.
Ignoring the pesky feelings in the back of my head, I walk down the sidewalk a little lost in my own world. Maybe I would be better off in jail. Maybe that’s where I belong. This city is warped and not in a good way. The Alder brothers are warped. Everything around here is shady. It’s almost like living in the twilight zone.
“Ahh, you shouldn’t be walking all alone.” I close my eyes, take a deep breath and ignore Callan’s voice. I hear the vehicle pulling up but like most of the time, I ignore that too.
“He’s right. It’s not safe,” Knox responds. I can tell them apart by just their voices now. That was an easy one. After all the tormenting they’ve done to me over the last month, how could I not? From sicking their little girl tribes on me while I’m in the bathroom to outright harassing me in the hallways. Just last week, Steele made it look like we were about to have sex in the cafeteria in front of everyone only to shove me off him causing me to slam into someone else. They think they can break me, but they can’t. I won’t let them.
“We live in the Mayberry equivalent, I think I’m fine,” I call out over my shoulder not bothering to look back. That’s when I feel him. Steele is behind me; I know he is but I don’t look back. I just keep walking. I never brought up what I saw that night, not that I needed to. They remind me daily that if I say anything, I will end up like those men. I just brush them off and keep doing what I do every day of my life.
When a hand clamps down on my hip, I wince and stop walking.
“Why’d you stop?” Steele whispers in my ear. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end but that shiver that races through me? Yeah, he noticed that much.
“What do you want, Steele?”
“That’s a loaded question, Whisper.” His lips move slowly over my neck and I nearly gasp. This asshole knows what he’s doing to me.
“You winced when he grabbed you. Why?” Knox is in my face now. I close my eyes and let out a breath before opening them and locking with his big blue ones.
“Umm, it hurt?”
“Since when?” Steele asks over my shoulder.
“I don’t know, since your hands are huge, and you gripped me like I was falling from the sky?” I snap. In seconds, he has me spun around, his hands coming to the top of my jeans. I start to move but one nod of his head and Knox has me pinned against him.
“What the hell?” Callan asks as he climbs out of the car coming toward us. Steele pulls my jeans down one side over my hip before he gasps.
“What happened?” Callan asks looking up at me with sincerity in his eyes. Yeah, what a lie that is.
“I fell.”
“No, you didn’t. You’re one of the most coordinated people I’ve ever seen,” Knox growls behind me.
“I was trying new moves. It happens.” I shrug against his hold.
“Don’t lie to us, Whisper.” The growl that rumbles through Steele’s chest has my pussy clenching. I hate that he affects me the way he does. I hate that all of them affect me in some sort of way.