26. Who You Belong To

26

Who You Belong To

Declan

I scrub under my fingernails and watch the water change from red to pink as I wash the blood off my hands. It wasn’t my intention to get my hands dirty in the middle of a party, but sometimes it’s necessary. Like when the Council decides someone is colluding with Simon Blackthorn to funnel Sigma Sin funds into private business ventures.

Paul Donovan pointed the finger at the nearest target to keep his hands clean on the whole situation, which is fine. It’s not like the guy they sent us after was clean either. Joshua Raven was one of the doctors who consulted on Teal’s case when she was admitted to Montgomery, so if anything, they did me a favor.

Right before the party started, my father texted with an address to a motel, letting me know Joshua checked in with plans of heading out of town tomorrow. He knew Sigma House had taken down Simon Blackthorn for his role in the experimental treatments at Montgomery Psychiatric Ward three years ago, and he didn’t want to go down with him.

We had a small window to deal with it, and the party was the perfect cover since people would see us here all night.

As much as I didn’t want to bail on Teal the second she arrived, it was necessary. And if anything, a nice way to let out a little bit of the pent-up aggression that’s been brewing lately. So even if I’d prefer to tell my lying, hypocritical father to fuck off and deal with it himself, I accepted the task.

Kole volunteered because he’s always down to cause chaos. He’s as much of a psychopath as I am a sadist, making us the perfect match made in hell for those who turn on the House. I was a little surprised he offered since Violet was here. But between her friends and the hundred cameras he’ll have on her all night, he isn’t worried.

So we disappeared under the cover of the party like it never happened.

No one needs to know Kole and I left for forty minutes and tracked Joshua down to his motel. No one needs to know Kole hacked all nearby security cameras so no one could tie us to it. No one needs to know we’re the ones who broke in and threw a pillowcase over his head before he had a chance to identify us.

By the time we were done, Joshua’s blood soaked the fabric, and I didn’t stick around to check for a pulse .

I don’t care if he is alive or dead.

He played a part in this game. He’s one more domino in a long line that are about to fall.

Besides, he hurt my girl. If anyone was going to teach him a lesson for that, it had to be me.

People in Bristal think they understand Teal, but they don’t.

She’s the type of beauty that’s so big and loud they can’t possibly wrap their minds around her. She spills out in every direction and fills the space. They say she’s a mess because they don’t take the time to step back and look at the full picture on the canvas.

I see her.

She has hurt laced so deep she doesn’t know what to do with it. She’s been numbed by sedatives and antidepressants but never actually treated.

Her family wants her quiet.

Her doctors want her numb.

The world wants her to be appropriate.

I want to break her the fuck open and show her it’s okay to feel it all.

She’s allowed to be herself, no matter how inconvenient it is for anyone else. She’s allowed to be broken inside. We all are.

I shut off the faucet and grab a towel, glancing at Kole. “Thanks for the help tonight.”

“You’re starting to act like me, Dec.” He almost looks proud.

I shrug. “Joshua stole from Sigma House, so he got what was coming to him.”

“You say that like that’s the reason you didn’t send an initiate to take care of it.”

Kole sees straight through me, partly because I’ve already been showing my hand but also because I’m being obvious. Usually, I would send initiates to take care of a menial task like beating the shit out of someone who crossed the House. Not that I don’t enjoy it, but I have better things to do—especially with my colorful little minx wandering around downstairs.

But Kole knows I’ve been targeting Council members after I asked him to dig up some of their dirty secrets. And he’s starting to see the threads that tie back to Teal.

“He shouldn’t have fucked with something that’s mine.” I shrug.

“Agreed.” Kole smirks, and it’s the closest thing to a smile he shows anyone but Violet.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out his phone and starts flipping through camera feeds in the house.

“Where are they?” I ask, knowing the only thing Kole is ever doing on his phone when Violet’s not around is checking on her.

“Dancing in the main foyer.”

“Does Violet know you’re always stalking her?”

“Yes,” he answers without hesitation or apology.

“And Teal thinks I’m bad.” I chuckle.

Kole glances up at me, hitching an eyebrow in a challenge. “Have you told her what you’re up to yet?”

“No.”

I stare at my reflection .

It’s been a week since I’ve slept more than a few hours at a time, and it’s showing. Dark circles paint shadows around my eye sockets, and my skin is paler than usual. I scratch my cheek, peeling off a fleck of blood I missed.

“And I don’t plan on it until I figure out what I’m missing.” I wipe my hand down my face. “Let’s go. I’m done thinking about it.”

This started as a grudge against the Sigma Sin Council, but it’s turned into so much more. At some point, I stopped doing this for revenge, and it became about her. Now, I need to know the truth more than ever.

I need her to remember what happened that night three years ago. And when she does, they’ll all burn.

Kole leads the way out of the bedroom, and I lock the door behind us. Music fills the hallway, and it’s so loud it’s practically shaking the walls.

“This will take a turn if you keep this up, Dec.” Kole looks over at me.

“Is that a warning?”

“I’m stating facts. I’ll be here no matter how shit goes down. You know that. You were there for me with Liam and Violet, and I’ll return the favor. But you’re going to need more than my support if you don’t want us both to end up six feet under.”

Kole’s a man of few words, so his warning catches me off guard. He’s right. I’m not the only one putting myself on the line right now.

“I’m working on it.” I clap him on the shoulder. “But thanks for looking out. ”

The moment we reach the bottom of the stairs, Kole heads straight for Violet. But I pause for a moment, watching Teal through the crowd.

She isn’t dancing, but her body sways to the beat. She’s at the far end of the room with her back to the wall, sipping water. Behind her is one of the large crosses that line the foyer.

At some parties, we chain initiates to the crosses to torture them. But not tonight. It’s just Teal looking borderline holy with her color-splashed hair and a halo of blonde that draws me toward her.

The second she spots Kole, her eyes start to move around the room.

She’s looking for me, and the satisfaction from the shift in her expression when she finds me is unmatched.

Her green eyes brighten, and her cheeks warm. She wets her lips, and I imagine her dropping to her knees and crawling to me. If I asked her to, she would. She’s mine in every way.

This girl is a siren, and tonight, she’s wearing a short skirt with her long-sleeve shirt. Practically begging me to my knees in the middle of this house just so I can get a taste of the paradise that exists between her thighs.

When was the last time I had that thought?

That I let a woman touch me other than just to get me off. When was the last time I trusted someone to touch me? Or the last time I wanted to make anyone feel more pleasure than pain ?

After losing my virginity at fifteen, I spent plenty of time experimenting. I’ve fucked so many people I stopped counting. But the more sex I had, the less I enjoyed it.

My tastes got darker, and it took more to get off than the effort was worth, so eventually, I stopped trying.

On occasion, I’d host an orgy and let some girls suck my cock while my friend fucked her so the guys wouldn’t think anything of me never bringing women back to my room. But even that has lost its appeal lately.

Tying them up didn’t work.

Making them hurt didn’t work.

Filling their throats with cum didn’t work.

I didn’t know what was wrong with me until the first time Teal wrapped her lips around my dick and took me to heaven. Until I sank inside her and didn’t want to immediately crawl out of my skin. Until I looked into her eyes, and I actually saw something.

She feels so good it hurts thinking about her belonging to anyone else.

She makes me lose control.

I stop in front of Teal, and she shifts her body toward me. It’s a whisper of a movement. So small she probably doesn’t even realize she’s doing it. But I see the gravity that pulls us into orbit.

“Is everything okay?” she asks, looking up at me.

“Everything’s fine.” I don’t elaborate because she doesn’t need to worry, and she doesn’t want to know.

Not really .

I tip her chin up, planting a soft kiss on her mouth, and I swear my soul returns home. Hell’s flames lick at my feet, but she holds my body here with her.

When I pull away, her eyes are still closed. And as desperate as I am to stare into the green depths, I drown in knowing she trusts herself in my hands.

Hands that will rip apart anything that’s caused her pain.

She blinks them open as her breath races. Her neck is red from the rush of excitement, and she has to break stares to try and fight what I do to her. I’ll make sure it doesn’t work, but it’s cute that she tries.

Her gaze drifts to where Mila is standing across the room, pretending to flirt with one of my initiates in an attempt to piss off Marco, who is watching her.

I don’t know why he’s still trying when getting her back would be pointless. He fucked so many girls while he was talking to Mila. I’m surprised she’s willing to even be in the same room as him.

Glancing back at Teal, I try to understand it.

What would be worth losing her?

A cheap fuck?

A blow job?

Nothing .

I’m tempted to sew us together so she can’t escape me ever again. Maybe Kole is right; I’m done for this girl.

Teal’s gaze continues to sweep the room until she spots a couple openly fucking on one of the couches. A few guys are standing around watching them, and Teal swallows hard as her lips press tight .

I rub my thumb down the center of her throat, and her gaze flicks to me. When she realizes she’s caught, her cheeks flush with embarrassment, but there’s no need. I don’t care if she watches, and I understand why she does. I listened to every second of her therapy sessions on a loop until I memorized everything there was to know about her.

Sex terrifies her after the assault she experienced as a child. She couldn’t put a face to the nightmares, so she used other people to do it. When she’s on the outside, she’s not the one being hurt, and she can imagine it all going differently.

Teal had never been with anyone before me because of that, and the fact that she handed herself over and trusted me with her is what sealed my devotion. Her jealousy might flare, and she might worry about the rumors, but I’m hers.

She claimed me just like I wanted.

My fingers rest over Teal’s pulse, and her heart hammers. She struggles with sex, but she’s also fascinated by it. Whether it be porn or people fucking in public, she wants to associate it with good and not pain.

I’ve searched her phone. I know what kind of videos she fingers herself to in the middle of the night. She’s sick like me, but unlike everyone else in her life, I accept her for it without wanting to change her.

“You can watch them if you want. I won’t judge you.” I graze my thumb over her throat again, trailing down along her collarbone. “What are you imagining in that dirty little mind of yours, Teal? ”

“I—” She swallows hard. “Nothing.”

“Don’t lie.” I lick the shell of her ear, and she shivers.

Her fingers grip my sides, clinging tighter when I turn her face toward the couple still fucking at the edge of the room.

“Do you like watching them?”

“Yes.” She bites her lip. “I don’t know why.”

“Because you like seeing her feel good.” I bury my nose in her hair and breathe her in. “It’s why you were so disappointed that night in the courtyard. He left her hanging.”

“How do you know that?”

“I know you.”

Teal wets her lips. “Well, I know you like it too.”

“I don’t mind groups,” I admit. “But I’m not sharing you. I meant it when I told you that.”

My hand clenches on her hip, just considering it, and it drags her attention back to me.

“I’m not sharing you either.” Her voice is tentative, like she’s concerned I’ll be upset about her admitting it.

“I know.” I drag a hand down her side. “I wouldn’t want you to.”

“You mean that?” Her eyebrows pinch.

“Mm-hmm.” I hum. “But you don’t mind the thought of him sharing her, right? That’s what you’re picturing right now.”

“How—”

“Because, like I said. I know you. I pay attention.”

The room throbs with the music and lights strobe in a rainbow of colors. But all I see in the galaxy of light is Tealene Donovan in the middle of it .

Her fingers twine through mine, and they might as well be fibers in a rope, twisting with my own. Binding us together.

Her green eyes meet mine, and a bubblegum-pink piece of hair falls over her eye. She drags me into her splattered mess. The chaos-ridden metal forest that she is, when I prefer order.

“What do you see when you look at me?” she asks.

I pull her close. “Everything.”

Tilting her head back, I claim her perfect ruby lips. I drink the scraps of heaven she offers, sinking my teeth into her lower lip to get a taste of her purity.

“Declan.” Her fingers grip my arms, and she groans as I lick the path I just bit, drinking the blood that leaks from where I cut her lip open.

She’s soft, while I’m sharp.

She bleeds life, while I drip death from every pore.

From the corner of my eye, I catch Jase watching us. His gaze is fixed on where I’m sucking Teal’s lip into my mouth and emptying her. Because everything she has is mine.

Teal pulls back, noticing who I’m looking at.

“Don’t be shy.” I tuck her hair behind her ear and whisper in it, “I might not share you physically, Teal. But I have no problem reminding him who you belong to.”

She follows my gaze to where Jase is facing us through the parted crowd. He’s mid-conversation, but his eyes find her again and again.

I get it.

Teal is the center of gravity .

The focal point in which we’re all bound to orbit.

I skate my hand down her side and grab her thigh, hitching her leg up over my hip as I push her back into the giant cross.

Lifting my fingers to her mouth, I tap her lips. “Suck.”

Like a good little pet, she opens and sucks my fingers in. Her cheeks hollow as I drive them deeper, and her red lipstick paints a picture at my knuckles—one I plan to recreate on my cock later.

With my fingers nice and wet, I lower my hand between her legs and shimmy up her skirt enough to gain access without anyone being able to see anything.

My fingers sink into her soaked cunt, and there isn’t a person in the room who won’t know what I’m doing if they look over here. But I don’t give a fuck. I hope they all watch so they understand who she belongs to.

Teal’s head tips back, and her eyelashes flutter. “Declan.”

I lean in and bury my face in her neck, sinking my teeth into her soft flesh and giving her the hint of pain she needs to feel good. A bite to ground her in this moment so she doesn’t float away.

Music drowns out her scream, but I feel every vibration. Every flutter of her pussy squeezing my fingers as I pump them into her.

“Who’s the only person you belong to tonight, pet?” I lick her neck. “Tell me.”

I drive my fingers in deeper and rock the heel of my hand over her clit.

“You.” Her nails dig into my arms, breaking the skin .

“Exactly. Me.” I turn and look over at Jase, who’s watching Teal writhe against me. “Show him.”

Her pussy drips with my command. She squeezes me when her gaze meets Jase’s across the room, and she becomes the subject of her own sick fantasies. The one to lust after. The one to cherish.

“Show him who you belong to, Tealene.” I shove my body against her harder, pinning her to the cross. “Prove to him why that is never going to change.”

Teal shakes her head, mentally resisting, even as her body submits like the good girl she is. She doesn’t take her eyes off Jase, and I watch her expression change for him. I watch everything I’m doing to her paint her face, knowing he can see it.

He can want it.

He can wait and wish she was his.

But she’s mine.

And no matter what her pretty mouth says about how temporary this is, I’ll do something about that.

All around us, the party rages on. I’m sure more people than Jase are watching me fuck Teal with my fingers, but all I watch is her.

My piece of art.

My masterpiece.

Crimson-painted cheeks that brighten with the flick of my thumb over her clit.

Her pussy squeezes me as my fingers slip in and out. She’s on the ledge, and I hold her there, just for a moment. Long enough to appreciate that I’m the only one she trusts to take her to this place .

And just as she’s about to come, I grab her jaw and force her eyes back to me. Others can watch all they want, but I’m the only one who gets to stare into her eyes when she comes. I’m the only one allowed in her mind when she falls.

Her cunt squeezes so tight when her climax hits that my cock aches, desperate for the pain of being inside her. Teal grabs my T-shirt and buries her face in my chest, screaming against me with her release.

“Good girl.” I pull my fingers out and release her leg to tip her chin up. “You’re mine, Teal. Even if I have to lay you out in the middle of this room and fuck you in front of all of them to prove it.”

Drawing my wet fingers to her mouth, I slowly paint her lips with her cum. It mixes with her lipstick, and she’s a sight to see.

Her beauty is sacrilegious.

She leans back on the cross, and I’m tempted to get on my knees when she’s the only deity worth praying to.

“Fuck, your cum is pretty on your lips.” I graze my thumb over them, leaning down to claim her mouth.

To taste her.

And when we break apart, I look over at Jase with the taste of Teal’s pussy on my tongue. His eyes are lit with rage.

Good.

Competition is what makes games so much more fun to play.