Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Michael

I leave the bathroom tired but satisfied.

The cleaning solution stings my nose, but I'm used to it.

Lara stumbles slightly as she steps into the bedroom, her whole face scrunching up in the most adorable way.

The room is clean and sterile, the body gone. Buried, I'm sure.

The bed is made, new bedding and a blanket where the old bloodied sheets and quilt had been.

Steadying her, I take Lara over to her bed as Daniel climbs back through the second-floor window like he's not a six-foot-seven giant of a man whose shoulders barely fit through the frame.

I raise a brow to check we're all good. His mask moves, and I laugh, knowing he's giving me a raised-brow look as if to say does this look like my first time ? His arm reaches out, passing me some rope.

Lara sits on the edge of her mattress, her head shooting up when the rope touches her wrist. "No, no. I'll be good," she promises, frantically trying to move farther onto the bed, but she doesn't get far.

Catching her under the knee, I tug her back to the edge, looping the rope around her wrists quickly.

I wish I could trust her word, but I saw her face earlier. She meant it about calling the cops. She's not getting a moment without me for the foreseeable future. Not until I'm convinced that she's all in.

I tie her to the headboard with enough length that she can turn and lower her arms in her sleep. I want her secure, not uncomfortable.

She proves that she's made for this, made for me as she lays there pliant, blinking up at me. Her cheeks and eyes are dry but red. I roll her to the side. Her face flashes with pain as I bend her legs at the knee.

Pride fills me. Neither time was I gentle with her.

The knowledge that no one else has breached her ass before excites me, and my erection is back in full force by the time I crawl into bed behind her.

"Shhh," I soothe. "You're such a good girl, my good girl." I praise her.

Daniel chuckles from across the room at my choice of words, and I smile but don't look at him. Instead, I sink myself into my girl. Her inner muscles are wet, hot, and sensitive along my cock .

Lara whimpers softly at our bodies joining. Her body pulses, growing slicker with every second.

Rising onto my elbow, I memorize her face as my hips repeatedly hit hers. Hard and rough. That's who I am. I won't apologize for that, nor will I change it.

She's mine—her mind, body, and soul.

I've taken one. She'll have no freedom until I take the other two.

She whimpers below me. Her mouth drops open, forming an o . Her hands grip the rope, which is knotted just above her hands.

I fought this for as long as I could, but now I'm all in. Whether she likes it or not.

Her pussy squeezes at that moment, showing me we both feel this pull between us, and as my brother moves around in the bathroom, cleaning up the mess we made, I let myself fall, releasing into her at the same time I release a prayer into the universe.

Let it take root; let her give me the family I want.