Chapter 7

Ophelia

The rhythmic notes of clanking metal—the sound I focused on when Alex used me. I tuned out the groans and grunts from Gunnir as he fucked Sam, and I somehow blocked out Sam's whimpers and the rock of the table as the wheels creaked back and forth on the divots in the floor. I focused on the melody of our chains instead. My chains sang with a soft sound as Alex nudged my body forward. Sam's tune was violent and off rhythm, like a song with missing notes.

I kept my head turned away from Alex as his warm breath washed over me. I couldn't look to the side because I'd see Gunnir staring, digging his fingers into Sam's ass as he licked his lips and glared at me with glazed eyes. If I looked up, I would get glimpses of the man over me. There was nowhere to look that allowed me to disappear in my head except for the rusted hook hanging from a nail with a dusty whip clinging to it. The dark splotches on it were surely from old blood.

"Look at me," Alex growled above me.

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "You get my body, but not my mind." I kept my voice low so Gunnir wouldn't hear me.

His thrusts grew harder, shaking me from the hiding place in my mind. My reality rushed toward me in a nauseating tsunami of sounds and smells. I blinked heavily, trying to fight against the current and slip into my safe space again, but I experienced all of it. The rub of the concrete against my ass. The way he stretched me and spread my thighs. His hands on my chest beneath the unfastened buttons of my uniform. The smell of urine and body odor from Gunnir, and the noxious scent of his come, which I could nearly taste. It was the most overpowering of all, probably because I feared it the most. The scent of bar soap wafted over me from above. Alex was a piece of shit, but at least he wasn't Gunnir. At least he was fucking clean. I was glad I had Alex if I was forced to choose one, but I wanted neither.

I hated him. I hated them.

Focus on the rattle of the chain, I reminded myself as Alex's hand raced down my side and gripped my ass. He leaned into me, and I closed my eyes.

"Do you want out of this basement, O?" he whispered in my ear. I didn't know what he meant, but I whimpered out a yes before he could explain. I knew he didn't mean an escape. He could have meant death for all I knew, yet I nodded. "Be a good girl for me."

I'd been nothing but good for him. I stopped fighting him, even when he took me twice in the past day. I hadn't tried to kill him again. I was being as good as I could be.

The scent of body odor drifted closer, and my stomach twisted as heavy footsteps approached my head. Gunnir's hand rested on his hip, holding his pants up, his dick exposed but spent. He squatted down and brushed my hair from my cheek. His cock was too close to my face, a bead of come perched on the puffy head. His stare was somehow more invasive than what Alex was doing between my legs.

"I want her to suck my dick," Gunnir said with a gap-toothed smile. He brushed his hand over my cheek, and my eyes rushed to Alex.

Alex shook his head and ignored him.

"Oh, don't be like that, Alex," Gunnir said.

Alex put his mouth on me in a show of possession, capturing my lips with his and kissing me hard. His hand wrapped around the back of my neck and pulled me deeper into him. A growl left Gunnir's throat. I wanted to rip away from Alex's kiss, but I knew what would be put in my mouth instead. I'd take his tongue over Gunnir's dick any day.

When Gunnir didn't leave, Alex released my mouth, pulled out of me, turned me onto my stomach, and dragged me toward him. He fisted my hair and forced my cheek onto the dusty concrete. When I exhaled, it blew up the dirt that had gathered on the floor. He leaned over me and pushed himself inside me, covering me with his body.

I knew why Alex did what he did. It wasn't to save me from his brother. It was to keep me for himself. Either way, I'd take it.

"Fuck off, I'm not done with her," Alex growled.

"I don't like that you don't share her," Gunnir snarled.

"And I don't like that you fucking reek. Go clean yourself up."

Gunnir mumbled a battalion of fuck-laced curses before I felt him stand up and back away. The hair on the back of my neck relaxed.

Alex leaned toward my ear. "I need you to do something incredibly fucking stupid," he whispered.

I didn't respond. I couldn't.

"Try to kill me again."

I whimpered, but it wasn't from his weight bearing down on me. It was from shock.

"Alex!" Gunnir yelled from upstairs.

His warm breath rushed against my ear as he exhaled his frustration. "Forget what I said for now. Tell no one."

I nodded as he groaned and came inside me, but how could I just forget what he said? I had so many questions. And of course I wouldn't tell anyone, especially Sam. My stupidity had landed her with broken fingers. I wouldn't put her through that—or worse—again.

Alex pulled out of me and said nothing more. He got up and climbed the stairs as if the strange conversation hadn't passed between us. I rolled onto my back and panted as my chest was finally allowed to expand once more.

Sam scoffed. "I'm so jealous that you have that one. He may be rapey as fuck, but at least he seems like he has half a heart in his chest." A pained laugh crossed between us as she washed herself up. "I saw that kiss," she said.

"He only did it to keep Gunnir's dick out of my mouth," I said as I joined her at the spigot.

Sam shrugged. "Shit, that's sweet."

My eyes leapt to hers. "Your bar is fucking low."

"Get fucked by Gunnir for months and see how low your bar drops."

"I don't know how you do it," I said.

"What choice do I have?"

I sighed, because she was right. We were fully at their mercy.

* * *

Alexzander

I thoughtI would've had a few more minutes inside her to formulate the idea kicking around in my mind. Gunnir hadn't helped the situation. I couldn't think about a plan when I was trying to keep his dick out of her mouth. She hadn't even had me inside her mouth yet. She was mine and he kept creeping too fucking close to what belonged to me. Had I tried to fuck Sam since Ophelia got here? Not once.

He had his. I had mine.

The stress of the situation had set me on edge. I needed something to soothe my nerves, so I went to my bedroom closet and pulled the box of checkers from its hiding place beneath an old blanket. I missed playing this simple game with my mother. She used to beam with pride when I made a smart move. I missed that too.

Had I made a smart move with Ophelia, or had I backed myself into a corner?

I needed to get her out of the basement before he got to her any more than he already had. His fingers had been inside her, and he'd tasted her cunt. He'd had too much of her already. I had to be careful, though. If he thought I was "planting" something, he'd flip, just like The Man had when he found out I tried to get my mother off the chain. He hadn't just chained me to the floor after that. He'd also taken out his white-hot rage on the girl he'd been fucking at the time. He'd torched her and nearly lit our whole house on fire. I tasted burning flesh with every breath for weeks after that, and she hadn't done a thing to him. She'd just been in arm's reach when I pissed him off.

If Gunnir thought I was plotting against him, he'd do something much worse than set Ophelia on fire. I considered him a carbon copy of the man, sure, but he was that and then some. He was worse.

Involving Ophelia might have been a huge mistake, but I'd know soon enough if she spilled what I told her to Sam. The whore had a big mouth. They both might.