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More gags, even louder retches. Nothing is coming up any more. My stomach is sore. Empty. My head hurts as the pain rolls around it.
Was it just during everyday life... or was it... did they...
I grip the toilet, trying to force myself to continue throwing up. I need it gone. All of it.
I can’t feel this way. I feel dirty. Disgusting.
They played me.
“Stop,” a hard voice commands as I continue forcing myself to throw up. It’s not coming, no matter how much I try, and I’m gagging so hard.
“I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.” I’m sobbing, and I have no idea when the tears even started pouring, but I can’t contain myself. I can’t do it. The hiccups and sobs are stopping me from speaking properly, the gags and retches burning my throat.
“Stop. Crying. Now.” The words are a forced growl, and I fall back on my bum, my eyes wide as I stare towards the doorway. My mind is still racing, but the hysterics are just cut off, as if Topher himself flipped the switch. “Calm down.”
He’s stolen my panic, and I know I should be mad, but I’m not.
“Thank you,” I choke out through my burning throat.
My eyes are wet and sore, my cheeks swollen and covered in tear tracks. I need to brush my teeth and probably change my T-shirt.
I’m a mess.
“What happened?” Alex asks softly. He’s the one on the floor with me, and it’s Topher in the doorway.
I bite my lip as tears well up in my eyes again, and I shake my head to try and stop them from falling. “He… they…”
“We did nothing,” I hear Oliver shout. I freeze, looking at Topher, whose eyes are narrowed in concern. “We never swapped places, Maia!”
“You thought they swapped places?” Topher’s gaze is wide, his feelings portraying nothing but shock, as I nod pitifully.
“Oh, little butterfly,” Alex whispers, tugging me into his lap. He wraps his arms around me tightly, and I’m torn between crying and pushing him away so I can go hide.
“We never did that!” Oliver shouts again.
“We can just kill him,” Topher offers, and I know that he means this genuinely. “Then we don’t need to determine if we can trust him or not. I’d make it brutal. Send body parts back to his family, you know? Organise it properly.”
I giggle slightly, my head and stomach still reeling, and Alex presses a soft kiss to my forehead.
“Breathe, princess,” Topher demands. “We’re figuring it out.”
***
“Ryan never knew what love was until he met you,” Oliver says softly. I can’t look at him. My face is red, and I’m full of shame at my actions from earlier.
The garden is so beautiful, so serene, and yet, I’m a huge mess, inside and out. My guys were hesitant about letting Oliver and I come out here alone, but I wasn’t as nervous. There’s a small part of me that trusts him.
I don’t find him a big threat. He loves his brother, that much is clear, and he’s got affection for Phoebe and I. He’s not a wolf, and whilst I have no doubt he could hurt me, I know my guys would get here before that could happen.
I’m safe, and I want to hear what he’s got to say.
“He never had it easy, none of us did, really.” He stretches his legs out and looks around the garden. I’m trying not to focus on him, but I can’t help seeing the little movements out of the corner of my eye.
Tracking them in an effort to keep myself calm, even though there’s no true risk from him.
“I don’t know what they’ve told you, what Ryan told you, but we all had it hard living in that toxic household. Phoeb—Morgan was the favourite. She was special.”
“You’re all special.”
