Chapter Nine

Poe

T here were secrets between us. And I'd been keeping the biggest one.

This house was too empty without Bailey in it. She needed space though. I hoped a night away would be enough. The guys and I had gotten so used to it just being the three of us for so long. Now that Bailey was in our lives, I couldn't imagine it without her.

I should have fucking told them about Raine. I feel like such an ass . Bailey knew in her soul that there was something else lurking about, and I didn't say a fucking word. A part of me hoped he would go away. That he'd leave her alone. But our precious little fox was too irresistible. I should have known he'd stalk her like a fucking psycho.

Daisy Wickford warned me about him all those years ago. She told only me. Grim and Saint were too hot-headed to listen. So she told me the whole story about how she killed her husband. I should have warned them about that too. Because we ended up just like Raine Wickford. Dead and trapped in a house that continued to consume us.

But I was a selfish prick. I wanted to keep fucking Daisy. And so I kept her secret.

The war had done a number on all of us. I was a short-order cook on a ship, so I didn't see too much fighting. But the ones who did, the ones who died, had been my friends. That scared the shit out of me. I saw firsthand how short life could be. Couple that with months upon months at sea… well, it made me a horny bastard who couldn't wait to fuck the first woman I saw.

So when the war ended and I landed a job cooking at Wickford Mansion, I didn't protest one bit when Daisy started showing up naked in my room every night. Grim and Saint had already been living there for a few months before me. She was going to their rooms too. When all three of us realized it, we made a pact to share her. It stirred carnal cravings inside us we didn't know we had. We took turns fucking her. We watched each other fuck her. And everyone was fucking happy. Until we found out she was batshit crazy.

I knew deep down that Grim wasn't pissed at Bailey. He's just scared. Terrified that she's losing her mind in here just like Mrs. Wickford did. The guilt I've been carrying for keeping these secrets was eating me up inside now.

Daisy was crazy before we ever got here. She killed her husband, and I didn't say a fucking word. This whole mess was my fault. Grim, Saint, and I could have left before she did it to us. If they had known and I hadn't been thinking only with my cock, we could have gotten out of this house.

But as fucked up as it sounded, we would have never met Bailey if we hadn't been murdered in this house. For that reason alone, I didn't have too many regrets. Only that I kept these secrets from them for so long.

I could hear pacing outside my room. "Come in already or go away."

The door creaked open and Grim popped his head in. "She's not back yet."

I stood from the bed and reached for my clothes. "Relax. She's probably sleeping in. You know how drunk she gets when she's with Maureen."

He leaned in the doorway, watching me as I zipped up my jeans and threw a black T-shirt over my head.

"How long have you been lying to all of us?"

I froze, my shirt still around my neck. "A long time," I rasped.

Grim's eyes flashed with contempt and hurt. "Saint's waiting for us downstairs in the parlor. We expect you to come clean about everything."

I nodded as he slammed my bedroom door behind him.

" Why have you been keeping me a secret? "

My heart raced. I spun around to see Raine perched on my windowsill. "Fuck off. I'm not in the mood for your shit. Actually, I could ask you the same thing. Why have you only shown yourself to me and Bailey."

He smirked. "Because I know you're a selfish little bitch who wouldn't dare do anything to upset your sweet little family unit." He licked his lips. "And as for Bailey… I've been watching that pretty little cunt of hers for a while. Thought it was time to finally show her what she's been missing."

I charged over to him. "I don't like this fucking game you're playing. I accept the fact that we're all stuck here together, but Bailey is off-limits. She belongs to us, not you ."

Raine stood up and looked down at me, his nostrils flaring. "I say we let Bailey decide that. You know, just like she did with you three. Oh, wait, she didn't really have a choice in that, did she? "

I didn't care that he was taller or bigger or even crazier than me, I would not let anything happen to our little fox. "You don't know shit about us. Bailey is happy here. Or at least she was until you ambushed her in her own bed."

He stepped into me, forcing me back. "Don't be so sure about that, Poe. Your sly little fox has some secrets of her own."

Something about the way he talked about her hit a nerve. I shoved him back. "Well, this secret is out in the open. Everyone knows about you. Good luck sneaking up on Grim and Saint now. They're not as patient as I am. Which reminds me, I need to go downstairs before they lose their shit."

Raine laughed. "Yes, run along, Poe. You're good at that."

I bit my tongue. I had wasted enough time indulging this psycho.

"He wants Bailey," I rasped.

The fire blazed in the hearth. Saint leaned over it, stoking the flames with a metal poker. The flames created a glowing reflection against the walls. It was midday but winter was on its way and the days were growing shorter. The sky was gray and provided little light through the windows.

Grim paced behind him. "We'll get to that in a minute. First, tell us why you've been lying to us for over a hundred years."

When he put it like that, it made me feel even worse. I shrugged. "Self-preservation. Fear of rocking the proverbial boat. Fuck, I don't know anymore. If you tell a lie enough times you can start convincing yourself it's the truth."

Saint jammed the poker back into its stand with a loud clank. "So Mrs. Wickford killed her husband, told you about it, and you said nothing. I understand that part, actually. It's fucked up, but I get it. We were young men back then. We'd seen horrors in the war. And you didn't want anything to fuck up your new comfy situation."

I nodded as he continued, taking a seat across from me on the overstuffed couch. "What I don't understand is how you could let Bailey think she was losing her mind this past year. How you let us look like assholes every time she tried to convince us there was someone else in this house. We rocked her world. Took her from her life and promised her safety and love. All the things. And yet you kept this from her ."

"Yeah, how is she supposed to fucking trust us now?" Grim growled.

They were right. I was a complete and utter asshole. "I'm sorry. I thought that I could keep him away from her. That he would, I don't know, grow bored and leave her alone. I wasn't thinking clearly. And it was selfish of me. I see that now. But all those years ago, I didn't really believe Mrs. Wickford. And then after what she did to us … I was even more afraid to tell you. Besides, Raine didn't start showing himself until Bailey moved in."

Saint's eyes darkened. "Well, I'm guessing he didn't have too much love left for his wife after she murdered him. But Bailey is fresh meat to him. A craving to be satiated. He didn't have much use for us then, but now…"

"Now he wants our little fox," Grim snickered.

I shook my head. "That's not going to happen. Maybe we can find a way to bind him to one of the rooms, just like that witch did to us."

Saint sucked in a sharp breath. "There are two problems with that idea, Poe. One, we don't know any witches. And two… we don't know what Bailey wants."

My heart sped up. "What the fuck does that mean? She ran out of here the second he showed himself to her. There's no way she wants him too."

Grim braced himself against the hearth and gazed into the flames. "No. She ran out of here because of how we reacted. We didn't even stop for one second to ask her how she felt. This is all our faults… You didn't see the hurt in her eyes when she left."

"No, I didn't. My stubborn ass didn't even bother to say goodbye. Fuck. I wouldn't blame her if she didn't come back," Saint murmured.

Fuck. This was a disaster. How did we get from pure happiness to this hot mess in just the span of a few nights? We had her right where we wanted her. With us. She was ours to play with, to defile, to love, and to worship. And we fucked it all up.

"She'll be back." I nodded, reassuring myself as well as them. "Bailey loves us. She won't abandon us."

Grim slowly turned to each of us. "And when she does, we need to remind her why she said yes to us, to begin with."