“I’m fine, Ax.”
“Bullshit. What the hell is going on in here? Did you hit her?”
Cooper laughs. “It’s… training, Ax. Not hitting.”
“So, you did hit her?” Ax is not gonna let this go. But this is typical behavior for him. He’s always up for a fight. And so far this semester, he’s had precious few of them. I don’t even know what he does all day. I don’t even know if he’s still in school. I have never seen him on campus. And we don’t come to the inn very often. We’re only here this week because of fall break. Well, and we really need to have a group discussion about what the fuck we’re all doing. No one seems to be playing the same game. When we all heard Dante out last summer, we were on the same page. But everything kinda went to shit on move-in day and we never had a chance to regroup.
I’m hoping this dinner party will be a chance to regroup.
Because Cooper, Isabella, and I have all gone very much off course, and I think we need some direction.
“I just told you,” Cooper snarls. “It’s training, Ax. Get the fuck out of my room.”
“This isn’t your room. It’s hers,” Ax says. “It’s her house.”
“Yeah, and you’re lucky I’m letting her let you stay here. So if I were you, I’d do whatever the fuck I say.”
Cooper’s eyes are still locked on mine. So even though I want to look over at Ax and see how he’s taking this, I don’t dare break that stare.
“I don’t give a fuck what you say,” Ax growls back. “I want to hear it from Cadee.”
“Cadee,” Cooper says. “Tell Ax you’re fine.”
“No,” Ax says. “You leave the fucking room, Cooper. Then she and I will have a little conversation.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“Oh, it is.”
Cooper lets go of my legs, but he points to me, eyes so narrow now, I can barely make out the disturbing blue that swirls behind his lowered lids. “Do not let go of your legs. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir.”
Then Cooper turns to Ax and pulls his shirt over his head. “I’m about to lick my bitch’s pussy. If you’d like to watch, you’re welcome to it. If not, then get the fuck out.”
Damn, Cooper is in rare form today.
I let my eyes slide over to Ax. He’s glaring at Cooper and then his shirt comes off too. But it is immediately clear that Ax has no intention of taking Cooper up on his offer. Because he says, “I’m gonna take Option C. Kick your ass and then get to the bottom of what’s really going on here.”
“Ax.” I let go of my legs and sit up. “Get. Out. I don’t need you here. I’m in training. You’re fucking it all up.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Leave!”
Cooper is shaking his head. “I didn’t give you permission to speak.”
“I’m sorry, my king.” And then I jump off the bed and bow down at his feet.
Ax laughs a little. “Wow. I guess the rumors are true then. You two really have bought in to this shit, haven’t you? Is this what you want, Cooper? You want her bowing at your feet? And by the way, that’s a nice car out there in the driveway. What’s next? A lakeside mansion? Maybe your father will give you Mona’s house to live in? Then you and your women will be nice and close to do Daddy’s bidding when he snaps his fingers.”
“You have no idea what’s going on,” Cooper says. “So mind your fucking business and get the fuck out of my room, or you’re gonna be homeless, Ax. Living in that pathetic boathouse, too afraid of your own father to do anything but hide here at the old inn.”
Then Cooper yanks me to my feet, throws me on the bed, spreads my legs back open, and without even waiting for Ax to leave, he starts licking my pussy.
Our bedroom door slams. And Cooper just keeps going, pushing his fingers inside me, then reaching up with his other hand to twist my nipples until I squirm, and wiggle, and finally come all over his tongue.
Thanksgiving at the Valcourts’ is predictable because Leela warned me. She told me not to tell Isabella anything, though. So I didn’t. At this point, I am fully aware of who is buttering my bread.
I don’t feel bad about this because all Isabella has to do is smile and look pretty. Me, on the other hand? Well, my Maiden training is out in full force this afternoon.
Only immediate family is present. The Valcourts might be missing a brother this year, but they’ve gained a set of Huntingtons.
Isabella and her mother and father are all present.
So is Elizabeth.
She and I are not allowed to eat dinner with the fam. We are presently kneeling in some room on the second floor that I’ve never seen before.
She still has that iron collar around her neck. The same one Jack snapped on during her—whatever kind of ritual shit show that was back during homecoming. It’s very tight and her skin has open sores on it from the chafing.
She looks nothing like the woman who stood down in the bursar’s office that day I paid for tuition. I don’t think her hair has been brushed in weeks. The dark circles under her eyes might actually be bruises, I can’t really tell. And she has no clothes on. She’s also filthy and she smells. Like the last time she saw water was when she walked into that ice-cold pool.
We’re both kneeling on the hardwood floor and we each have one wrist handcuffed to a chair like we are dogs tied up outside a store. This is how Jack and Cooper put us before they went downstairs to eat. “Don’t move,” they said.
And Elizabeth didn’t move. Hasn’t moved. Not one fucking centimeter.
I have changed position like seventeen times. It’s fucking uncomfortable. Her legs have to be asleep by now. I shudder just thinking about it.
And she won’t stop staring at the floor. I even tried to talk to her. Ask her how’s she’s doing. Are they feeding her? Bathing her?
The answer to both is an obvious no, but I’m just trying to be polite.
I should not be talking. Leela warned me about moving out of position or talking.
But there’s no one here, so fuck it. And I’m hungry. This entire house smells like Thanksgiving and I’m stuck up here, sniffing the BO of Dane’s former bitch.
Wow. That was kinda mean. I sound like one of them.
Then I snicker.
I’m so one of them now.
But at least I have clothes on. And no chain around my neck.
Suddenly the door opens. I scramble to get back into position, but Jack sees me.
He shoots me a look of narrowed eyes, but doesn’t say anything. Just walks past me to stand in front of Elizabeth. She doesn’t even look up. I’m starting to think she’s drugged. There’s no other explanation for it.
“Cadee!” Cooper barks at me.
I try not to sigh loudly, but I don’t succeed. Because I’m kinda at my limit here. It’s Thanksgiving, I’m inside a gorgeous mansion, and I was sent up to this… whatever room it is, and handcuffed to a chair while everyone else got to eat. It’s been hours and I’m ready to go. Whatever the point of this display of control and submission was, I missed it. And I’m not even in the mood to pretend I didn’t.