CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

As soon as the door shuts behind the three of us in the office, someone winds his fist in my hair.

"Hands on the wall." Carter tugs on my locks, his voice gruff in my ear.

Killian takes the vase from my hands, placing it somewhere behind us.

Carter's teeth are on my neck. "You're making me wait, A."

A thrill courses through my body. My toes tingle.

My heart, however, that asshole still feels. Still hurts. Reminding me of why I rushed over here.

When I don't do as he says, Carter yanks at my hair harder. Killian's firm hand sneaks up to my throat from my side.

"Muffin." I gaze into Carter's eyes as mine start to water.

"Begging won't work today, pet." He shoves me to the wall, pressing my cheek against it. "Not now. Not after you came here without calling us first. Not after nearly giving me a heart attack."

"Carter." His name on my lips is a plea for him to continue.

I thought I wanted to talk. I don't. I just want to be touched. Groped. Hurt by these two strong men.

Have the pain pummel through the thoughts of my grim future.

Neither Carter nor Killian listen to my silent plea.

They move in tandem as they manhandle me. Carter steps to my side. Killian wrenches down my underwear, grips my hips, and hauls me to his front. My ass is pressed to his hard cock. My hands are being forced to the wall by Carter.

"You have no idea how worried we were." Killian grabs a fistful of the skirt of my dress, shoving the soft material up my waist.

After the violence I witnessed at the bar, I should be scared of them. Of the rage they exuded. I should run for the hills, scream for help.

I won't.

I'm desperate for more. For everything they can give me.

Because they're not mad at me for being here. Aren't ashamed of me.

They care.

My sexy, feral forces of nature. Their cruelty has been a surge of love and life, mending my broken heart. The way they defended was a beacon of light to the darkness that almost swallowed me whole.

I don't care that they're a little too aggressive to be hotel managers.

More. More. More.

I need more.

"You shouldn't have." Twisting my head, I gaze at them. "There was a knife at the bar. I could've stabbed him."

Violence and brutality pour from their eyes. Sex, too.

And love. They so love me.

"I'm sure you would've." Carter pinches my ass hard enough that I scream. "How'd you get here, though?"

"Uber," I whisper, trying to say the word without twisting my lips.

Carter and Killian exchange a glance.

A moment later, two large hands strike each cheek of my ass. Hard enough that I scream and try to squirm away from them.

"Scream all you like." One side of my ass is mauled, squeezed, and abused by Carter. "The office is soundproofed."

I whimper, the sting of his abuse burning my ass.

Killian shrugs off his jacket and drops it on the floor. His eyes don't leave mine when he rolls the sleeves of his shirt up his muscular forearms. Once done, he takes me from Carter so he can remove his jacket as well.

"We, on the other hand, will hear you." Carter, my sadistic lover, winks. Pleased as fucking punch. "Every scream. Every cry for mercy. It'll be ours. A payment for your little stunt today."

"Unless," Killian starts, his index finger trailing up and down my crack. "You tell us what happened. Give us the name of the person who hurt you. We'll hurt them instead."

How do they know? I gave Christopher attitude. Smiled at them. Did everything to hide the pain in my heart.

"We'll hurt them good, A," Carter drawls. "Maybe even worse than what Christopher got. Depends on how badly they wronged you."

"You plan on doing to them what you're doing to me now?" Jealousy bubbles inside me at the notion, eviscerating my doubts. They're mine. "You'd fuck them?"

Carter's hand connects to my wounded ass cheek. Smack.

"Hell, no."

"Well, Amara?" Quirking an eyebrow, Killian nudges his finger to my tighter hole. "Names."

The thought of the two of them leaving me or pitying me is infuriating. Plus, I really don't feel like talking about my parents and losing my shop.

I need my men's cruelty. Their rough touches. For the three of us to get lost in each other.

Anything else won't do.

"No." I pinch my lips. "No one's hurt me."

"Liar," Carter says affectionately, lifting his palm and—

Smack. Smack. Smack.

"Leave my ass alone," I squeal, wiggling. Fighting them for the sake of fighting.

Then the adrenaline gives me an advantage over both men and I'm being torn from their grip.

I make it two steps to my left when a large, muscular arm hooks around my middle. Dragging me back to them.

"You're staying right here, beautiful girl." Killian shoves my dress up again. His palm connects to my ass one, two, three times. "That's for running. And for not answering us."

Carter grabs my waist while Killian pushes me into the wall. He hikes my ass up in the air, and Carter helps him to hold me in place while Killian whacks my ass another three times.

This. This is what I needed.

I still cry out. It hurts so good that tears of relief stream down my cheeks.

"We handled Christopher for you." Another slap from Killian. This time to my pussy. "But you came here for another reason."

"You didn't drive up here in a freaking Uber to get punished." Carter flips his palm, spanking my pussy too. Sending painful, delicious pain through me. Pain that makes me forget. "Something happened. You're going to tell us what it is, or we're going to torture it out of you. Either way, we're finding out."

I have another go at wiggling away from his hold. I get absolutely nowhere.

"You're ours, pet." His tongue laps at the top of my ass crack, and I jump on my toes. Ignoring me, he twists his head and bites the flesh of my ass. "We take care of what's ours."

Looking back at them hurts my neck, but I can't stop. Two powerful men in their black suits. Broad frames. Fierce eyes.

Both of them spanking and tormenting me in turns.

"We're listening." Carter stands up straight.

My body tingles, the anticipation burning my skin.

Killian tilts his head. His stepson mirrors his posture. They're not just looking at me. They see through me. Into my soul. Slowly, leisurely, their gazes move lower. Between my legs.

"Drenched." Carter trails two fingers along my inner thigh. He dips them into his mouth, sucking on my arousal. "So sweet, our beautiful little slut."

"Is she now?" Killian taunts. He grips Carter's chin, pressing their mouths together, slipping his tongue into Carter's mouth. Tasting me on him.

A moan escapes me, my thighs clenching. These two are beyond beautiful together.

"Yes, she is." Killian breaks the kiss, returning his attention to me. "I would've licked every drop from your pretty little cunt, Amara. Would've taken turns with Carter. But you still haven't told us who hurt you."

No words come out of my mouth. I can't cry.

If I do, they'll see. They'll see the pain that poisons me. How it hurts to have heard what my parents said to me. How I'm going to lose my shop.

No. No. No.

"Staying silent, I see." Carter drags the pads of his fingers back and forth over my slit.

I growl, raging at the infuriating tease.

"Behave."

Carter doesn't wait for me to control myself. He slaps my pussy. More animalistic sounds rush out my throat when Carter teases my clit, tender and completely unsatisfying.

"We'll edge you for hours, A." Carter taps my clit, torturing me. "Us. The only two people who are allowed to hurt you. The two people who'll always be there to protect you."

Killian raises his palm a few inches above my ass. Taunting me.

"Break me." I seethe. "Do it."

"You'd rather have your ass whipped, pinched, and bitten?" Killian's eyebrow hikes up. "Be denied an orgasm for hours? Maybe days? Is that what you're telling us?"

"Yes." Anything better than my emotional pain. "Make me fucking bleed. Make me beg for relief. Fuck in my face while I'm shackled and crying with the need to join you. Do. It. Already."

"Sure about that?" Killian squeezes a fleshy part of my ass. When I clench my teeth and give them nothing, he joins Carter. They're taking turns on me. "We're not fucking around, Amara. We'll keep it up until you talk to us."

The pain they inflict doesn't do what I need it to anymore. Instead, it brings the memories high up to the surface. Where I don't want it. Where it hurts.

My soul cracks, the agony rushes out of me in the form of tears. Of sobs.

"Whatever you do, it'll hurt less. So, go on," I beg through the tears. "Have at it. I fucking want you to."

They exchange a serious look. Killian returns to study me first. "We'll get you through it, beautiful girl."

"Begonias, Amara. Remember begonias," Carter reminds me of my safeword. "Say it for us. Let us see you remember."

"Begonias," I whisper.

The world stills for the whole of a second before Carter smacks my ass. The blow is so hard that he sends me to Killian. I'm howling in pain.

The best kind of pain.

Killian doesn't give me pause. Doesn't soften the next blow, either.

They take turns on my ass. Burning me. Marking me. Delivering pain that's too much. That isn't enough.

They continue saying nothing for what seems like hours. Grunting with effort. Stopping every few minutes to check if I'm about to say my safeword.

I never do.

I never will.

I need this.

They go on until the skin on my ass feels raw and wounded.

Until my heart bursts open. More tears come, more furious than ever. A flood soaking through my cheeks and down to the floor.

The physical pain doesn't bother me. It's my emotions that rise to the surface, making a mess of everything.

My chest heaves. I hiccup. Sob.

"Beautiful girl."

"Pet."

Their voices are grunts. They filter into my ears. Their strong arms, one from each side, hook under my belly. They're warm. They're loving. They're them.

I'm being hauled into one firm chest and one arm releases me.

A hand winds in my hair, angling my face to the side. To meet the beautiful man with gray, stormy eyes. Sweat beads have formed on his forehead. Fire burns from his every pore.

"Amara, I can't fucking take another second of this." He yanks my hair harder, his other hand going to my throat. "Tell us right the fuck now what happened, or so help me…"

"They're selling my shop. I won't have any place for my flowers. For my plants." My gaze darts hysterically between him and Killian. "It'll be months before I find a new place, and they'll sell the shop by then. I won't have anywhere to keep my plants. Won't be able to sell anything. They ruin everything. It hurts, Carter. It hurts so goddamn much."

Carter pins me to his chest. My hands ball into fists, but I need them. I need to hold onto something. Someone. Killian sees through my crumpled face, grabs both my wrists, and brings my hands to the place where his heart beats.

"They said they wished I'd never been born," I mumble, leaning my weight on Carter. His lips don't leave the top of my head. They're tender. The violence he radiates isn't. "Fuck, it hurts so fucking bad. Why did you make me talk about them? Why?"

I do, in fact, know why. It's the same reason I fled from their penthouse and showed my face here. To have them love me. Take care of me. Tell me I'm not alone.

But fuck, the pain. It's shredding me. Now that I've said the words, my grim future is real. So real.

"Her landlords? Why the fuck would they say that?" Killian asks Carter, probably realizing I'm too much of an emotional mess to elaborate.

Carter has kept my landlords' identity to himself. He hasn't gossiped.

"Carter." More tears streak my cheeks while my chest inflates and deflates with soft sobs. And through it all, I smile.

Carter doesn't share the sentiment. His jaw tics and his teeth make an awful gnashing sound.

"Of course Killian doesn't know, A." He loosens the hold on my hair, stroking it lovingly. "Your story is yours to share. Only yours."

"It's embarrassing." It is, it really is. This outburst, my relationship with my parents. This whole day. "I shouldn't have come."

"Let me tell you what you shouldn't have done." Killian squeezes my wrists. "Stayed alone. You're not alone. You did the right thing. Even if you endangered yourself and rode in an Uber. This is where you belong. With us."

"Thank you." My tears dry slowly. My heart, though, bleeds for these two men.

"Go on, Amara." Killian's brows furrow. "I'm listening."

"My landlords are my parents." My fingernails scratch his shirt repeatedly, my mouth scrunching. "They hated it when I talked to flowers. They hated that I didn't pay attention in class. That I got in trouble in school, even though I was the one being bullied. I wouldn't—couldn't—be the perfect little girl for them."

"They're wrong." Killian's eyes are ominous. Bloodthirsty. "You're perfect. Every part of you is."

"Y-you don't know me enough to say that." Hiccup.

"Of course I know enough," he thunders.

"Three losers, that's what they are. Her parents and her sister." Anger seeps through Carter's words. His fingers are full of love, though, weaving through my hair, softly untangling the knots. "I'd have burned their fucking building if Amara would've let me."

It's their pity and passion talking. I don't need either at the moment. We've said enough, and I don't need to talk anymore. I purged what hurt me the most, and now, I want more.

My relief will come in the form of breaking my skin. Of taking and giving, of blunt fingernails and sharp teeth doing every unholy thing imaginable to me.

But they won't let me stop unless I'm done telling them what happened, so I hurry the fuck up.

"They always held money over our heads as an incentive to behave. Never created a trust fund for either me or Melina. Melina did exactly as they said, which is why they let her have everything she wanted. I didn't. I don't care to have millions of dollars if it means becoming the bitter people they are. Bitter and fake and sleeping in separate bedrooms. No fucking way."

I loosen Killian's tie, hinting at what I want in return for my honesty. Despite the shame of him knowing what my parents think of me, I ask for his affection.

And he gives it to me. He lets me touch him.

"Since I was fifteen, I rode the subway downtown whenever I could. I walked the neighborhood dogs, babysat kids for pennies." My actions must spur on Carter because his hold on my throat tightens. "As long as it meant saving up, I did it. By the time I was eighteen, I was able to rent their shop and the apartment above it. Barely. I…"

I sigh.

"You what, pet?" Carter splays his hand on my stomach, pressing our bodies together.

I tell them about Airbnb to which Carter bristles. How my parents used this phone call as an excuse to both disown me and ruin my life. To crush the bug under their proverbial boot.

Carter and Killian glare at each other. Their silent conversation ends, and now they're looking at me.

Neither of them says a damn thing.

Their faces say everything. Scrunched eyebrows. Murderous scowls. Venom dripping from their eyes.

They might bash my dad's head in like they did the guy at the bar. Threaten my mom. Make her pee in her silk designer underwear. Force Melina to watch her idols humiliated by my avenging angels.

A girl can dream.

"End of story," I say when the silence becomes overbearing. "Fuck me or let me go find a new home for my plants if that's even possible. But don't hug me. Don't be sweet. Just don't."

"You're staying right here, Amara." Killian takes me from Carter. He's not gentle, placing me on the floor, shoving my dress up, baring me to them. "You'll stay, but trust me, you'll wish you hadn't."

Carter steps next to him, pulling down my panties over my sneakers and kicking my legs apart with his shiny dress shoe. Both men stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder. Their thick cocks outline their black pants. Their arms are crossed over their chests.

Dirty blond hair by raven-black one with two sets of intense eyes eating me up.

My pussy is bare for the two of them to see. My clit is swollen, my nipples straining against the fabric of my dress.

"No bra," Carter muses, rubbing the scruff on his chin.

"It's like she came here asking to be fucked," Killian adds.

With each second ticking by, the emotional pain dissolves. My depravity wins over.

I cried plenty for my bitch-ass parents. Now it's time to cry for my sadistic lovers.

Carter slips Cyclone out of his pocket, falling to his knees. "What Amara wants, Amara gets."

A second later, my dress parts in two.

Just like that.