Chapter 13

Ophelia

The moment Gunnir caught Alex with his hand between my legs, the air in the house shifted. Even if Gunnir hardly acknowledged what he saw, I felt the hatred radiating from his oily skin. His brooding rage would eventually erupt, and waiting for the impending explosion had set me on edge.

What happened with Alex the night before didn't help my nerves. He confused the hell out of me by making me feel good.

I knew why he'd said what he said about feelings, and he was right. Any feelings would hurt one or both of us. But no matter what lie he tried to tell me, I knew he felt something for me. He wanted to possess me, and no one wanted to own something they didn't like.

Gunnir walked into the bedroom, and my eyes snapped to him. Alex wasn't behind him. My heart fluttered with fear as he unlocked my chain and dragged me into the living room. I tried to dig my heels into the hardwood, but he was too large and powerful. Then I spotted it. There on the floor, with wood remnants curled around the metal edges, was a freshly installed anchor.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"You can't be trusted," Gunnir said as he locked my chain to the loop. "Now you'll be out here so you can't get him into any more trouble."

I sat on the floor and scooted backward until I hit the wall. There was no arguing with Gunnir. I was just stuck, made vulnerable in the middle of the house.

"Where's Alex?"

Gunnir scoffed. "You shouldn't be asking where your fucking master is, girl. You should be glad he's not home and that your pretty little pussy is getting a break."

I struggled to see Alex as a master. He was my captor, but he tried to be good, even if he couldn't because of his evil brother and the horrible man whose presence still haunted the halls of that house.

"Who do you think you are, anyway? We brought you into our home and you try to make Alex like you. For what? So you don't get fucked like the whore you are?" He patted his belly. "Alex is too much of a pussy, but I see what you're doing. You're using him, and it should be the other way around, girl."

I fought the urge to shake my head. Alex wasn't as weak as Gunnir thought. He was strong enough to see that he didn't have to grow up to be quite like the male role models in his life. He just wasn't strong enough to stop the cycle of cruelty. For that, he was weak.

Gunnir went to the kitchen and returned with a bag of rice in his big hand. He shook it, and the uncooked pieces tumbled over each other. He squatted down and poured a thick pile of rice at his feet. Once he'd emptied the bag, he pocketed it in his overalls. He reached for me, and I whimpered as he dragged me to my feet. The moment I stood, he took out the backs of my knees and sent me onto all fours on the mound of uncooked rice. He lifted my chest so I was forced to kneel, and the hard granules burrowed into my skin. The pain was unexpected. I never imagined that such tiny objects could induce such excessive anguish. I cried out and Gunnir smacked my cheek.

"Stay there, girl, or I'll do something worse than make you kneel on some rice." A sadistic smile spread across his face. "Keep your hands in front of you until I tell you to get up. If I see you move, I'll fuck your mouth. Do you understand?"

I nodded, fighting back tears as my knees screamed for relief I couldn't offer them. I didn't do anything to deserve this punishment. I never wanted to be there in the first place. I never asked for any of this, including the pleasure Alex offered. My body responded, even if I didn't want it to. But there was no telling Gunnir that. All he saw was the curl of my hips against his brother's hand.

* * *

Alexzander

I cutthe ignition and inhaled a deep breath before going inside. Gunnir had me on eggshells and I hated it. But I wasn't surprised by it. The Man would have killed me if he saw me pleasing one of the girls. It was a foreign and forbidden concept.

I walked inside and nearly dropped the bags of groceries onto the ground. The open door behind me shined sweet sunshine into Ophelia's eyes. She was kneeling, her hands on her thighs. At first I thought that was all it was. Then my eyes registered the stray grains of rice scattered around her. Gunnir had taken a stress position to a new level. When he heard the door close, he came from his room and marched toward me with his head high and his shoulders back.

"What the hell are you doing, Gunnir?" I asked as I put the groceries on the counter and walked toward Ophelia. Pain washed her face, ridding it of color. She looked so obedient. Small and pliable. And I hated that for her. I controlled the tremble of my hands at my sides. I couldn't let Gunnir see how much it angered me.

"She needs to learn her place," he said with a shrug.

Ophelia flinched as she shifted her weight. The Man had taught the rice trick to Gunnir. I never used it because it had been used on me, and I could still recall the pain that raked my whole body, starting in my knees. I didn't wish it on anyone, least of all Ophelia. As I looked down at her, she reminded me of the innocent person I used to be. She reminded me of the person I was before The Man taught me to be more like him.

I needed to get her up, but to do so, I had to keep her down. I walked over and fisted her hair. She whimpered and tensed against my rough grasp.

"Have you learned?" I asked. I forced a sadistic smirk onto my face. She gave me a weak nod, and I gripped her cheeks, sending a breath of surprise past her lips.

I tugged down my zipper and pulled out my cock. She looked up at me with a curled lip, the anger radiating from her as her eyes rolled up my body. I pushed my dick past her tensed mouth. Gunnir kept talking behind me, but I couldn't hear anything over the amplified sound of my heartbeat in my ears. I supported the back of her head to keep her from rocking on her knees as I fucked her mouth. Her lips trembled around my length and her hands pushed at my thighs, but I didn't relent. I couldn't.

"God, I want to feel her mouth, too," Gunnir groaned from the couch. Skin on skin sounded around me as he jerked off to me fucking her face.

"I'm using her," I told him as I pulled the fabric away from her breasts. Exposing her would get him closer. He wouldn't be able to wait for me to finish. I toyed with her nipple between my fingers, and her nails dug into my thigh. I tried to block out the look of betrayal on her face by tilting her head and pushing deeper into her mouth.

Gunnir stood up and stepped closer. My stomach lurched at the sight of him jerking the head of his cock so close to her perfectly pale skin. I thought he just wanted to get a closer look at her body.

I thought wrong.

Gunnir groaned, and his come splashed against her chest. I couldn't finish after seeing his vile jizz painted across her skin. I softened in her mouth, but I kept my hand buried in her hair so I still seemed hard inside her. Then I faked my own orgasm, which left a confused look on her face. I pulled out of her mouth, and she pretended to swallow.

Good girl.

Before Gunnir could do anything more with her, I lifted her off her unsteady knees. Grains of rice released from her skin and clacked onto the floor as she took uneasy steps forward.

"Don't fucking do shit like this without me," I told him as I gestured toward her bleeding knees.

"Don't lose yourself in some fucking pussy, then," he snarled back. Thankfully that was all the fight he had in him, and he waddled toward his room with a satiated sigh.

I helped Ophelia to the bathroom. The moment I closed the door, she swung around to face me with a hard expression written across her face. My eyes dropped to the white pearls of come across her bare chest.

"How could you?" she asked. "Why would you let your disgusting brother—"

I put a hand to her mouth, turned her around, and pulled her against me. "Shut your mouth," I whispered. "Everything I've allowed is the better of two evils. I've managed to keep him out of your mouth and pussy, have I not?" I leaned closer to her ear. "Would you have preferred it if I stepped back and let him come on your tongue instead of your chest?"

Ophelia whimpered and shook her head in understanding. I released her mouth. She reached down and picked at the rice that had wormed into her skin. "Fuck, that hurt," she said.

"He did it because he thinks I like you, didn't he?"

She nodded. "He thinks I'm getting to you."

I looked away from her.

She was getting to me, and I didn't know how to stop it. I'd never felt this way toward anyone, let alone a captive. She was meant to be a doll on a chain, something to use and play with whenever I saw fit, but she'd never been that to me. Not even when I'd used her in the beginning. Ophelia felt more like a gift. Her body was something to cherish, and I wanted to fucking cherish her. Which was why this situation was driving me mad.

I grabbed a rag from under the sink and ran it beneath the tap. I wiped at her skin, fighting the gag and the curl of my lip over the trail of shiny residue running down her chest. She kept staring up at me, something unreadable filtering through her eyes as I cleaned her. I pulled her into me. I didn't care that Gunnir's remnants still coated her skin or that I could smell him on her. Despite all of it, I still felt a draw toward her mouth, where her lips were still puffy from my cock.

I let myself be weak. I leaned into her for a kiss, and she welcomed me.

My hands went to her buttons. I fastened them, concealing her vulnerable chest. I placed my hands around her waist and lifted her onto the counter so I could tend to her knees. She flinched as I grazed her raw skin with my fingertips. Each grain had either left a tiny impression or ripped her flesh. Pockets of blood filled the miniature channels. Touching her knees reminded me of when I'd been forced to kneel on a bed of rice for almost a full twenty-four hours. If she looked close enough, she'd see the scars on my knees.

Kneeling on rice was bad enough, but having to do it while your skin was still raw was worse. So much worse.

"I'm sorry," I said as I held the cool rag to her knees. "You deserve better than this."

Her eyes met mine. "Then let me go," she whispered.

That hurt. It shouldn't have, because they all wanted to escape, but I expected her to want to stay with me.

I brushed a hand down her cheek. "I can't." I shook my head. "I won't let you go."

"If you care about me at all—"

"Don't, Ophelia. I can't let you go because I'll lose the parts of me I found inside you."

Tears glossed her eyes. "You could come with me."

I tended to her knees and ignored her suggestion. There was nothing more for me to say. I couldn't let her go. Logistically, it would have been fucking dumb. She'd only realize how stupid she'd been to fall for me, then she'd run to the police. Emotionally? I couldn't lose her. I didn't want to be without her, and leaving together wasn't possible. As much as I despised who my brother had become, he was still my brother. If I could keep Ophelia safe from him here, we could learn to coexist.

I helped her off the counter, and she wobbled to the bedroom on unsteady legs. I closed and locked the door behind us before stripping down to my boxers. The chain clicked as I fastened it to the hook, and like an obedient pet, she went to her corner and began fussing with her thin blankets.

That hard floor will be hell on her knees.

I slipped under the bedcovers and motioned her over, but she shook her head and remained planted where she sat. I lifted the blanket away. "Come on, O." I wanted her to be comfortable after feeling so much pain.

When she continued to refuse, I went toward her and lifted her from the floor. She was so small within my arms. So fragile and helpless. As I placed her tense body beneath the covers, she looked up at the ceiling and gritted her teeth. She probably worried I'd fuck her now that she was in my bed, but I didn't force my touch. I slipped one hand behind my head and kept the other on my bare stomach.

The evening crawled into nighttime, and her rigid muscles began to relax. A long exhale left her chest, and I knew she missed sleeping in a bed. Who wouldn't? The floor was a cold and lonely place.

Just before I fell asleep, she turned toward me, draped her arm over my waist, and nestled into me. I wrapped my arm around her. This foreign action felt so forbidden, like I'd be punished for offering and finding comfort against her skin. I'd been taught that Bruggars didn't need affection, and women didn't deserve it. But I didn't care anymore. I basked in her warmth. She felt so good in my arms, like she belonged.

But we both knew she didn't.