Chapter 55

“Ican explain,” I try, my hands holding onto William tight.

“Please do,” Levi says, his tone deadly, as if daring me to come up with a good explanation.

I grimace. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt for my benefit.”

Wiley sits up and leans his arm on the back of the couch, looking at me over it. “And you think leaving don’t hurt no one?”

My grimace deepens. “Well. . . I assumed?—”

“You assumed you could just leave and that would be that,” Dakota interrupts.

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “It wasn’t an easy decision.”

Wiley stands from the couch and stretches before facing me. “I suggest you set William down, Katie Cat.”

Levi comes forward and takes my duffel bag before tossing it back up the stairs.

“So I’m a prisoner now?” I ask, watching him take it.

“Not a prisoner, no,” Dakota says, all while tapping the shotgun against his boot. “Protected.”

“What’s the difference?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on him. Despite it all, this move pisses me off the most. It’s ultimately my decision, isn’t it? If I wanna leave, then I should be able to leave.

He grins at my question, clearly amused. “The meals are better.”

“You can’t run from everything, sunflower,” Levi says as he gently takes William from my hands and sets him on the back of the couch. William happily lets him, comfortable with Levi in a way that pisses me off right now.

I stare at them with narrowed eyes, angry. “It’s worked so far.”

“But how long can you keep runnin’?” Levi asks seriously, surprisingly more levelheaded than Dakota right now. “You think they won’t catch up with you?”

“I know they will,” I growl, stomping my foot like a child. “I know that. But at least you three would be alive. At least you’d live!”

Dakota’s face darkens at my words, and he stops tapping the barrel of the gun. “Now, you think we could live with ourselves knowing you’re out there?” he asks. He sets the gun aside and stands before stalking toward me. “You think we wouldn’t hunt for you? You think we’d ever stop lookin’?”

I stare at him with wide eyes, not sure how to respond.

He tsks at my look of surprise and stops right in front of me. He reaches out and tips my chin up forcefully, his fingers rough against my skin. “When we said you were ours, we meant it, Kate.”

I stiffen. “If I want to leave, I will.”

He grins and steps closer, my chest against his body as I glare up at him. “You sayin’ you wanna leave, city girl?” he purrs down at me. “You sayin’ we aren’t just as much yours as you are ours?”

“I. . .”

He smirks and threads his fingers into my hair in a semblance of a caress. When his hand is buried there, he tightens his hold suddenly and wrenches my head back hard enough to hurt. He leans down, his warm breath fanning across my face.

“You’re not goin’ anywhere, Kate,” he threatens. “Not now. Not ever.”

“You can’t keep me here,” I gasp, my nails digging into his chest to hold myself steady in this uncomfortable position. “That’s kidnapping,” I snarl as his fingers tighten further, pulling at my scalp.

He presses a kiss against my forehead, a tender action so at odds with his demeanor and his hold. “That’s love,” he whispers. “And I think you deserve some kind of punishment for tryin’ to leave us.”

My eyes widen. “What?”

“What do you all think?” he asks Wiley and Levi. “Does our little city girl deserve some punishment?”

“She does,” Levi answers immediately, a bit of betrayal in his eyes, but not as much as I expect. I realize he probably knew I was gonna run, knew from the moment he loaded up my things and brought them over here. He expected it, was probably even the one who warned Dakota.

I glance at Wiley from the corner of my eyes as he slowly stalks over. Sweet Wiley, the one I can always count on to have my back. He leans in so I can meet his eyes, his expression as bright as it always is. I expect him to deny Dakota the satisfaction of agreeing with him.

“Wiley?” I say, my gaze on him as he seems to debate.

He smiles, and I relax. He’s gonna say no. Of course he is.

“I think she does,” he says, and my eyes widen. “You cut me real deep, Katie Cat. You were just gonna go and leave us, after everything?” He shakes his head. “I think you need a reminder why you’d wanna stay. If Dakota calls that punishment, then so be it, but I think you’ll enjoy it more than you think.”

“This is bullshit,” I snarl, jerking at Dakota’s hold. “Fuck all of you!”

“Oh, you will,” Dakota promises. He releases his hold on my hair just long enough to hoist me up and throw me over his shoulders like a fucking bag of horse feed.

“Put me down!” I shout, beating at his back with my fists “Put me the fuck down!”

His hand comes down hard on my ass and a moan slips out without my control. My face flames at the knowledge that I’m completely flooded, that they’re going to know how turned on I am right now. Fuck! I don’t wanna give them that satisfaction. Bastards!

“Wiley! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

He shrugs as he follows along behind us. “I am, Kate. We’re all on your side.”

“It certainly doesn’t feel like it,” I snarl, beating at Dakota harder, but his hold never loosens. In fact, I think it tightens to make sure I don’t fall off accidently. “Where the fuck are we going?”

None of them answer, but they don’t need to. Within minutes I realize our destination is the barn. Dakota strolls inside, a few of the horses sticking their noses out to see what we’re doing. They duck their heads back inside when they realize we’re all friends, going back to sleep. Dakota stalks to the end of the barn toward the empty stalls and slides open the last door on the right to a large one. The hay is clean in here, pristine, and there’s a table set up with silk rope against the wall.

My heart squeezes. He’d fucking prepared it and everything.

Dakota lifts me from his shoulder and sets me on my feet before backing away. Levi comes in last and closes the stall door, leaving the four of us locked in together. I eye each of them, trying to figure out exactly what’s happening.

Dakota begins to stalk around me. “Are you wet right now, Kate?”

“No,” I answer too quickly.

He smiles, as if this is all a game. “Then take off your clothes and prove it.”

I scowl. “I have nothing to prove to you.”

“Maybe not,” he says, coming up behind me. He runs his hands up along my hips, up to my ribs, before coming around to cup my breasts through my clothing. I find myself leaning back against him as he leans down, his lips tracing the shell of my ear. “But we have something to prove to you.”

“And what’s that?” I ask as Wiley steps forward and presses himself against my front.

“That you belong here,” he says, his hand coming up to stroke my stomach. “That you belong with us.”

My thighs clench, and it pisses me off. They’re probably right. I’ve never been somewhere that feels as perfect as it does when I’m with them. But terror stops me from agreeing with them.

“You could get hurt,” I rasp as Dakota traces his teeth along my neck.

“Ain’t nothing more dangerous than we’ve faced before,” Levi declares where he leans back against the wall. “Every day, we could get hurt.”

“Yes, but this would be my fault,” I gasp as Wiley begins to trace his tongue along the other side of my neck, tasting me, kissing me.

Levi shrugs. “It’s your fault we’re invested.” He straightens and grabs the length of rope sitting on the table. “You stole these old, barbed wire hearts and wrapped them tight. You took ‘em whether we wanted you to or not.” He steps closer. “You looked at these scars and didn’t run, so now, we won’t let you run from yours. We’ll face them with you.”

Tears spring to my eyes and everyone pauses, immediately zeroing in on the moisture that suddenly drips from the corner of my eyes.

“No, don’t cry,” Wiley rasps. “We don’t wanna make you sad, Katie Cat.”

“I’m sorry,” I croak. “I’m not sad. It’s just. . .”

Dakota turns me to face him. He reaches up and wipes away a tear only for another to take its place. “Are you afraid of this, Kate? Of us?”

“No,” I murmur. “No, I’m not.”

“Do you trust us?” he asks.

I nod, knowing without a doubt, I do trust the three of them.

His eyes narrow. “Then trust us to know what we’re doin’,” he growls. “Trust us to take care of you.”

He holds out his hand for the rope and Levi passes it to him. He uncoils it and holds it out between us, gesturing to my hands. “It’s your choice, Kate. I’m not gonna let you leave. But if you want nothin’ to do with us because of that, we’ll take you right back up to your room. You can go to sleep knowing you’re safe and protected. But if you decide that you want us, that you love us. . .” He raises his brow. “Then hold out your hands.”

I stare at him and then glance over at Levi and Wiley. None of them argue, as if this was planned, as if they’re all on the same page. I could tell them to take me back, and part of me wants to say that out of spite, but I have no desire to see the hurt in their eyes at that answer. The truth is I do love the three of them. I love the fuck out of them, and I think they know that. If there were no outside threat, I’d never leave this place. If I could have them to myself forever, I’d keep them. I can either trust them to know what they’re doing, or I can run away the first chance I get. But that won’t change the way I feel about them.

They wait patiently as I think, their eyes heavy on me, desperate for me just as I’m desperate for them.

“You promise no one will die?” I whisper, looking back at Dakota. “You can promise me that?”

He hesitates, and I know he wants to say no. Dakota is pragmatic. If we’re attacked, there’s a chance someone could die. There’s always a chance. But Dakota straightens and nods his head to my surprise. “Yes.”

And I know, even if his words are a lie, he’ll do his absolute best to keep that promise for as long as he’s able to. That’s Dakota Steele, the protector, the stoic hero. He’ll kill someone else before they get a chance to kill any of us.

Making my decision, I slowly lift my arms out in front of me.

There’s a collective sigh around me as Dakota smiles. A little tick in his jaw tells me he was worried I wouldn’t agree to this, that he was prepared to take me back up to my room. He pulls my arms together and starts to wrap the silk cord around my wrists and then up my arm.

“Then punishment is in order,” he says.

“I’m still being punished?” I ask, frowning. “But I’m staying.”

“You still tried to leave,” he points out, tugging the rope tighter, but not so tight that it cuts off circulation. I watch, surprised, as he expertly threads the rope around until it wraps up my forearms and around my wrists, trapping my arms together. He pulls out his knife and cuts it before tying it in a knot. I tug at it, but it doesn’t come loose. “Now, be a good girl and put your arms above your head.”

I do as he says and startle when he hooks the top of the knots onto a chain hanging from the ceiling. It’s usually there to help with any horse that needs help standing up, but today, he strings me up by it and pulls until my toes are barely touching the ground.

Dakota leans forward and pushes me with a finger, making me swing. I struggle to catch purchase with my boots, and he grins. “Perfect.”

The three of them begin to stalk around me, their eyes heated as they study me hanging before them. It’s Levi who steps forward and flips his pocket knife out. My eyes widen, but he shakes his head.

“Relax,” he growls. “It’s for the clothes.”

He cuts up through my shirt, careful not to nick my skin, until he can tug it off. When he gets to my jeans and starts to cut, I hold still, terrified he’ll cut something he’s not supposed to. He pulls the boots from my feet and the socks, leaving me in nothing but a few tatters left of my shirt. I hang naked before their eyes, my arms tied, my nipples pebbling beneath their gazes.

“Do you know why you’re being punished?” Dakota asks as they trail around me.

“Because I tried to leave,” I rasp, my eyes on him.

He nods. “I think that should mean you don’t get to come unless we say you do.”

I open my mouth and close it again, speechless for a moment. “So I’m to be tortured?”

He shrugs. “Call it what you like. Torture, punishment, pleasure, it doesn’t matter. It all leads down the same road.”

He nods to the others and steps back, allowing Wiley to take his place. Wiley immediately drops to his knees and buries his face in my cunt, giving no build up, no teasing. He just slides his tongue along my clit and begins to circle it. I cry out and jerk against my chain, the sound of it jingling echoing in my ears as he devours me. My core starts to tighten quickly, and I throw my head back.

“Oh!” I cry, my legs starting to shake.

“Stop,” Dakota orders and Wiley leans back with a grin up at me.

I scowl as the release fades and leaves me wanting and desperate. Dakota only smiles.

Wiley stands and tugs his shirt off, revealing the planes of his stomach and the tattoos on his body. He strips off his clothing quickly before grabbing my thighs and wrapping them around his waist. His cock dances at my entrance, hard and ready.

“Promise you won’t leave,” he says, and it should have been a demand, but there’s something about it that makes it feel like begging. “Promise,” he repeats, his fingers tightening on my thighs.

I meet his eyes, take in the hurt there, and nod. “I promise,” I rasp.

“Say it,” he commands this time. “Say the words.”

“I promise I won’t leave,” I answer, desperate for him as he teases my entrance.

He smiles. “Good. I don’t think I could live without you, Katie Cat,” he whispers just before he thrusts up inside me.

I cry out, my head thrown back as he begins to brutally fuck me, his cock stretching me so deliciously, my body winds tight almost immediately.

“Change rhythm,” Dakota orders and Wiley does so, immediately making my orgasm fade again.

“You bastard,” I snarl between my moans.

Dakota laughs. “Levi?”

I turn to find Levi already naked, his hand wrapped around his cock and stroking, his eyes heated. He looks every inch the devil right now, his body wound tight with desire. He nods and steps up to my back and I tense. His hand immediately comes to my side and caresses.

“Don’t tense,” he warns, before his hand dips down to the moisture between my thighs. “Relax.”

I suck in a breath and try to do as he says, focusing on my breathing as Wiley stills. Levi runs his length along my seam, touching against Wiley, taking some of the moisture pooling there. Then he presses the tip against my ass.

His hand comes up to my neck, caressing as he tilts my head back. “I love you, sunflower,” he whispers, and my heart throbs painfully. “I love you so much.”

“I thought you said you shouldn’t be the first there,” I rasp, a little afraid.

He presses a kiss to my shoulder. “Yes, but this is punishment,” he breathes. “And I desperately want to cause you a little pain in exchange for the pain you caused me in lying through your teeth earlier today. So this ass is mine now.” His last words come out on a growl, and I can hear that anger there.

I wanna argue, but I can’t really. He’s right. I’d been about to hurt them no matter my reasoning. I was prepared to do it, and I would have had to live with it. I don’t want to leave, not really, but I also shake as Wiley pulses inside me and stills to allow Levi the leverage he needs.

Levi slowly starts pressing inside my ass, pain echoing from the pressure. He doesn’t force his way inside, only carefully easing in, rocking forward slightly until I’m panting with the buildup. Wiley is still inside me, his cock jumping at the feeling of Levi stretching my asshole as I hang between them. Levi is the biggest of the three of them, and my body quivers as he slowly works inside, my moans echoing in the stall even as I wince at the small pains.

“You’re so tight,” Levi grunts in my ear, his hand stroking my body, helping me relax. “I’m so close to coming just from pressing inside you.”

When he finally works his way fully inside, he stops, allowing me to adjust, giving me precious moments I need. There’s a tenderness to this, their lips kissing along my skin, my body shaking as it adjusts to being stretched so tight, to being filled more than it ever has before. It’s a sweet moment. And then Dakota shatters it all.

“Now fuck her like she deserves,” he says, his eyes hard as he watches me. “Fuck her like she tried to leave us.”

I meet his eyes, see the fury there, the hurt, and brace myself. Punishment. This is punishment. I shouldn’t forget that.

Wiley immediately starts fucking up inside me, but Levi takes another moment to let me adjust and then his hand comes up around my throat. His lips touch the shell of my ear.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he snarls. “And you’re ours. No one else’s. Not some gangs. Not some ex-boyfriends. Ours.”

And then he begins to move. My eyes roll back in my head as he starts to fuck me, as they both do, taking turns and alternating their push and pull, until I’m a puddle of cries and moans. I melt between them, all my weight on my arms as they fuck me brutally. My orgasm rises and I think they’ll stop. Instead, they keep going and I shatter, screaming, flailing around as they fuck me harder. I gush around them, my pussy clenching, and the both of them groan but don’t stop, fucking me just as hard, until my breasts jump with every thrust.

Wiley grabs my jaw and kisses me hard, swallowing my scream as Levi grips my hips and starts fucking me harder, rougher, without mercy. I shatter again and again and again. Each time, I gush around them, my body convulsing, all while Dakota watches me. I meet his eyes and hold, coming apart with his gaze on me, relishing the feeling of being watched, of being fucked so thoroughly, I know I won’t be able to walk after this.

A guttural groan leaves Levi’s lips as his cock starts jumping in my ass. “I can’t hold on,” he snarls. “She’s too fucking tight.”

“Fill her up,” Dakota orders.

Levi snarls and slams fully inside me, his cock jumping as his warmth fills me and starts to drip around him. He groans in my ear as he shakes, his hands coming up to grip handfuls of my breasts painfully. I cry out, my body shaking with another release as he pulls out and leaves his come to drip from my asshole.

Levi immediately moves over to clean himself in the small bucket inside the stall, twitching with the touch.

“Wiley,” Dakota says.

As if knowing what he’s asking, he immediately pulls out and lowers the chain, unhooking me, but leaving my arms tied. My legs immediately give out, but he catches me before moving me onto my knees. My body still pulses with release as Levi comes back over, his cock still hard and ready. My eyes widen as I take them all in, as they all step forward, their cocks in their hands.

Dakota grips my chin and forces me to pop open my mouth. The moment I do, he forces his cock so deep in my throat, I gag, my hangs going to his thigh to try and push him away, but he holds my head to his pelvis and groans as I gag around him. My eyes water as he pulls out and lets me take in air before he turns my head and forces my lips on Wiley’s cock. I taste myself there, my release, as he presses deep and moans. I get to bob twice before Levi grabs a fistful of my hair and pulls me away to thread his own cock down my throat. They pass me between them, fucking my throat, gagging me, moaning as they take turns. Sometimes, they press their cocks together and feed me both. Sometimes Dakota shoves his cock so deep and holds me there for so long, my lungs start to burn.

“I can’t hold on,” Wiley groans as he strokes inside my mouth.

He pulls out his cock as it starts to jump, leaving only the tip in as his warmth spills on my tongue, so much it begins to drip from the corner of my lips.

“Fuck, yes,” Levi snarls, immediately grabbing me and picking me up. He lays me out on the work table on my back. It’s small so my hips hang off one side while my head hangs off the other. He grabs my face and kisses me roughly, no doubt tasting Wiley’s release but not caring. “I’m going to fuck your sweet cunt,” he growls as he shoves me back down on the table. “And Dakota is gonna keep fucking that sweet throat.”

He slams inside me, and I cry out, but my cry is cut off when Dakota immediately takes advantage and slams his cock into my throat, making my body convulse beneath them as they start to fuck me senseless. I shatter, exploding around them, but they don’t let up. When Wiley comes back with his cock hard again and puts my hand on it, I’m not really coherent enough to do much more than let him stroke himself in and out. When I’m flipped, I barely follow as Levi pulls me down to the hay, pulling me on top of him so he can keep fucking up into my pussy. It’s Dakota this time who shoves me down on top of him and lines himself with my ass. His cock is wider than Levi’s so when he presses inside, there’s a little bite more pain. Only once he’s inside does he grab a handful of my hair and jerk me back up to Wiley’s waiting cock. I pop my lips open on my own as Wiley presses inside, fucking my mouth again while Levi and Dakota brutally fuck me. I’m so full, so completely filled, that I relax into them, moaning out their names.

Dakota’s hand forces my head up and down on Wiley, all while he fucks my ass so hard, I cry out with every thrust.

“I can feel him inside you,” Dakota groans in my ear. “There’s only a thin layer of skin between us.” He strokes his hand down my spine. “Do you like that, Kate?”

I can’t nod, let alone answer, but I moan as much as I can to let him know I like it. I love all of it. I love all of them.

“When you finish, after we’ve all filled you up, I’m gonna put my mouth on your clit and suck, Kate. I’m gonna taste us all in you. Wiley.”

Wiley pulls from my mouth and Dakota disappears from my ass for a moment. I hear the sink come on again as he cleans himself before he comes back. This time, he starts to press inside my pussy with Levi, stretching me there until I’m crying out. My hands are still tied, still held together, but I dig my nails into Levi’s chest in pleasure until he groans with it. When Wiley comes over and straddles my back before dropping down, his cock lining up with my ass, I lose myself.

All conscious thought disappears as the three of them stretch me wide at the same time.

“That’s our girl,” Dakota groans. “You take us all so well.”

I shatter, my body convulsing as they fuck me, slower now from necessity, but all pressing inside. My eyes roll back in my head as I’m pressed down onto Levi and he takes the opportunity to kiss me. His kiss is brutal, rough, and completely consuming. I don’t know how much time passes. I don’t even know where we are any longer. My words turn into a long, string of gibberish and moans and they fuck me so thoroughly, I know I’ll never forget them, no matter what happens. They burn themselves into my soul, mark me, wrap their barbed wire around my own heart and brand me with their names.

Until we’re a tangle of limbs.

Until I don’t know where I end and they begin.

Until I shatter for a final time and take each of them with me.

They fill me with their warmth, moaning as their collective releases begins to drip down around them, too much, so much.

I’m not even conscious of them pulling out of me as I collapse on top of Levi, spent, so exhausted, I don’t think I could walk if I wanted to. I’m barely conscious as someone carries me back to the house, covered in a shirt that isn’t my own.

I only know it’s Dakota because he tucks me into bed and kisses me on the forehead gently, before whispering, “I love you, cowgirl.”

And then he climbs in with me and tucks me against his body, his warmth surrounding me.

I’ve never felt so safe as I do in his arms.