Chapter 6

Ophelia

Idragged the chain along the floor, letting it catch in every blemish it found. The rattle echoed off the walls. If I kept busy with such an idle task, I wouldn't think about the raw places on my ass from Alex pressing me against the rough walls. I'd done something stupid, and the ache between my legs reminded me of that. I should have listened to Sam. I was so blinded by the prospect of freedom, I hadn't thought things through. Killing Alex meant being left to his brother, which was worse. Much worse. Even in his anger, with his face twisted with rage, Alex didn't go out of his way to hurt me. He fucked me harder, sure, but he could have done so much worse.

Footsteps rattled the stairs, sending plumes of dust scattering outward. That heavy gait didn't belong to Alex, and I found myself instinctively wishing for him instead. Gunnir was fucking disgusting—a hideous man with a primitive mind.

"Heard you were a bad girl, whore," Gunnir cooed as he squatted beside Sam. She rolled her eyes up his body.

"I didn't—"

Gunnir slapped her across the face, knocking her backward. "Don't lie to me. I know what you did."

Sam leaned over and babied her cheek.

"Y'all ain't good for each other," Gunnir snarled. "She's making you brave, and you best think better of it because I've killed women for less than what you two did last night." Gunnir laughed. "The best part? Y'all attacked the good one. The mama's boy. Little pussy of a man."

"Why's he a pussy?" Sam asked, her chin rising in defiance. "Because he doesn't like sloppy seconds?"

"Am I in the looney house? Why do you people think it's about who came first?" Gunnir shook his head.

What was she doing? Why was she pushing him? I didn't know them as well as she did, but I knew enough to know there were layers of fucked-up between Gunnir and Alex. I had no idea what the layers held, and to be honest, I was afraid to find out.

I tugged my knees toward me, holding the chain against the ground to keep it quiet, trying to make myself as small and silent as possible. I didn't want Gunnir to notice me. I didn't even want him to remember I existed.

"I know what you're doing. You're trying to get in my head and shake everything up in there." Gunnir grabbed Sam by the hair and dragged her to the table. My breath hitched. I didn't want to see or hear him force her again, but I was more horrified by what he did instead. He grabbed a hammer and twirled it around as he took Sam's hand and held it on the table. "My brother is a bitch. But we're family." Gunnir laid his weight on her hand as she threw herself backward.

"You can fuck me any way you want, Gunnir, just don't do that," she pleaded.

Gunnir's gaze snapped to her face. "I can fuck you however I want anyway. I don't need your permission. What the fuck kind of bribe is that? You wanna offer something, it better be something I haven't gotten yet."

Sam looked back at me, and I couldn't take a breath. The air was trapped in my lungs. I was scared she'd offer Gunnir the one thing he hadn't gotten: me.

But she didn't. She dropped her shoulders and looked away from me. "Get it over with," she said.

Gunnir leaned over her, raised the hammer, and brought it down with a nauseating crack. I held my ears to drown out Sam's screams, but the desperate sounds found their way through the barrier and into my brain. Gunnir raised the hammer and brought it down again.

Steps thundered across the floor and my eyes flew open, afraid I'd find Gunnir barreling toward me. I looked up and saw Alex yanking his brother backward. Sam ripped her arm away, clutching two crooked, discolored fingers with her other hand. I lowered my hands as Gunnir gestured toward me.

"Your turn," he said, turning his massive body toward me.

Alex stepped between us. "No."

"What do you mean? My girl isn't the only one who's gonna get punished for that stunt." Gunnir jabbed his finger in my direction. "She's the one that tried to kill you!"

Alex stood taller. "She got her punishment last night."

"What, did you fuck her all sweet and gentle like?" Gunnir walked toward me and lifted me to my feet by my arm. I squealed as he ran a dirty hand up my thigh. He turned me around and pushed my chest against the wall. "Do I need to show her what a real punishment is? Maybe fuck her ass?"

The concrete grated against my cheek, and I cried as his hands moved beneath my skirt and grabbed my ass. His fingers passed over the sore places from Alex last night. Tears slipped down my cheeks in heavy drops that hit my chest.

"Oh, sweet mama's boy fucked you real good last night, huh?" Gunnir groaned in my ear. His breath was hot and tangy, like he'd been eating barbecue.

"Leave her alone," Alex said with a sharp rise in his tone. It wasn't out of benevolence, though. It was out of possession, like Gunnir had grabbed a toy he wasn't finished playing with.

"How's your little cunt feel? Sore?" he asked as he groped between my legs, and I flinched as he pushed his fingers inside me. My body went rigid, and the pain between my legs radiated up my spine.

"I said stop, Gunnir. Enough!" Alex gripped his brother's shoulders and yanked him away from me.

Gunnir raised his wet fingers and licked them as he backed away. "Fuck, Alex. I don't eat pussy, but with her, I just might. So sweet and clean."

Oh god, no. I couldn't deal with his mouth on any part of me. Neither of them. They were both sick fucks.

"Fuck off!" Alex yelled. He squared off against his brother.

Gunnir raised his shirtsleeves, readying to fight, and Alex didn't stand down. He started to unbutton his flannel shirt, exposing a white undershirt. Before anyone could throw a punch, the sound of the doorbell drew their attention.

"Probably the damn neighbors with some more eggs and milk," Gunnir said with a growl. "Keep these bitches fucking quiet."

"That would have been a lot fucking easier if you hadn't broken the whore's goddamn fingers," Alex snapped.

Gunnir stopped and turned back toward Alex with fire in his eyes before climbing the stairs. The basement door slammed, and Alex turned toward us. Sam cradled her hand to her chest in the corner. I stayed against the wall, my back pressed into the concrete.

"Both of you better stay fucking quiet. If you make a sound, I'll get the shotgun and blow your brains out before the police can get here."

"Alex..." I whispered. "You could let us go. You have the keys, don't you?"

Alex's eyes narrowed. "I think you've gotten the wrong idea. I might be less shitty than Gunnir, but I am not kind." He stepped closer and fisted my hair, sending a whimper up my throat. "I don't want to save you. The moment I fucked you, you became mine. I own you. Your body is mine to use whenever and however I want. Why the hell would I want to let you go? I'm nowhere near done with you."

His words were like a knife to my stomach. I closed my eyes as his hand fell to my throat, expecting him to force me again.

The basement door whipped open. "Alexzander!" Gunnir yelled from upstairs.

Alex took a deep breath. "Your mouth and pussy are safe for now, O, but I'll be back for you."

* * *

Alexzander

I closedthe basement door behind me and saw Gunnir trying to balance the cartons of eggs and glass bottles of milk. I ran over and lightened his load, scooping some cartons beneath my arm and taking one of the half-gallon bottles. We carried them to the fridge, and I kicked the door open with my foot so we could put them all inside. The neighbors were kind, always stopping by to give us fresh eggs and raw milk, and they never stuck around or waited to be invited inside, which was good since we didn't allow visitors here.

"You look fucking weak when you do that, you know?" Gunnir put the last bottle in, and the glass clinked together as he closed the door.

I cocked my head at him. "What?"

"You let them get away with trying to kill you."

I scoffed. "She wasn't going to kill me. It was just a half-hearted attempt at freedom. They all try to make a great escape at least once."

Gunnir narrowed his eyes. "I didn't break my girl's fingers over no half-hearted attempt for your girl to just get some dick."

I raised my gaze to meet his. "I guarantee Ophelia would rather have her fingers broken than be fucked by me."

Gunnir laughed. "Fair point. I think they're bad for each other, though. Down there, all planting."

Planning, not planting. But now wasn't the time to correct him. "What the hell would you suggest? Kill yours or mine?"

"We could get rid of mine," Gunnir said with a shrug.

"Do what you want, but I'm not sharing Ophelia like we shared the whore. Unless you want to start jerking off into an old sock, I suggest you keep her alive."

Gunnir released a full-bellied laugh that echoed in the small kitchen. "Start? I ain't ever stopped jerking off into a sock."

I thought for a moment. "We could chain Ophelia in my room. Then they won't be ‘planting' nothing," I mocked.

Gunnir shook his head. "No. You just want to keep her locked away from me. I like to watch her when I fuck mine. Pretty thing she is. Makes me come harder."

For being as dumb as he was, he'd figured out my ulterior motive. That was precisely what I wanted to do. It was selfish and not very Bruggar-like to want to keep her for myself, but I didn't care. I'd spent my whole life watching Gunnir get everything and anyone he'd ever wanted. It was my turn to have something to own.

"Fine," I said through clenched teeth. I had a plan, and if it had any chance of working, Gunnir needed to think it was his idea.

I went to my room and eyed the closet. The door was falling off the hinges, and some of the wooden slats were missing. I needed to repair it soon. I kept some of my mother's things in there, and if Gunnir found them, he'd burn them in front of me. I touched the box that held papers from when she and I had learned to write with the help of a book from the library. Gunnir still didn't know how to write or read, and the latter was why he couldn't drive. If he were by himself, he'd be halfway to Mexico before he realized he'd been going the wrong way. As much as he hated my literacy, I knew he was glad I could read road signs. It made it easier to find women outside of a one-mile radius. If we hunted too close to home, we were more likely to get caught. The Man always used to tell us that, at least.

The box also held the clip that had pulled my mother's thin hair away from her face and a bead bracelet I made for her. I'd taken both things from her body before The Man threw her in the bone pit with the others. Gunnir would destroy them all because they were tangible things that told him what our mother and I had was real. That he'd never had any of that with her, even though he didn't want it.

The wrong parent died that day. I'd remedied that injustice later, but I wished I'd had the strength to do it sooner. It would have saved my mother and so many other women. But it was what it was, and we were who we were.

I looked at the bedside table rotting against the wall. I pulled it away until I could see the metal plate screwed firmly into the hardwood, a chain loop rusting on top of it. A tide of memories rushed toward me. When I was younger, I'd been kept chained too—my punishment for rebelling against the system The Man created. I had tried to get my mother off the chain, and he couldn't allow that. He tethered me to my bedroom until I learned that freedom for me meant captivity for others. There was no way around it. I had to learn the system or become the waste rotting beneath the barn floor.

Now I wanted to attach Ophelia to this chain. Make her sleep in bed with me. Fuck her with the old mattress beneath her to cushion each thrust. Maybe she'd even find some comfort in my presence the way I found comfort in my mother's presence. Maybe she'd fall for me. But even if she did, it wouldn't matter. Love had never been enough within these walls.