Page 78 of Silver

I purse my lips, not willing to comment. I draw my knees up closer and hug them tight against me, keeping my face tipped down.

“It wasn’t a conscious decision,” he continues, “but maybe I pulled out the ski mask and knife in order to jolt your memory. When I went downstairs to get dinner, my brothers were waiting for me in the kitchen as if they were staging an intervention. They weren’t pleased that I hadn’t told you. Maybe they got to me.”

“You called me a whore,” I mumble. That was the part that finally made me snap.

“I know.”

“I’m not a whore.”

“I know, precious.”

“I’m not a slut, either.”

“You’re also not a slut, but I’ll never stop calling you a slut when I’m dominating you. It makes you wet. It objectifies you and gets you hot. Whore isn’t going to work for you, though. The words don’t have the same weight. A whore implies you’ve fucked everyone in town, which we both know you have not. A slut, though… Even though I understand you never regularly flaunted your body to anyone, you did plan on stripping for money. You’ll never be in a position like that again as long as I’m alive, but you’ll always be my slut. My naughty girl who shakes her tits at me and makes my cock hard. I promise I’ll never call you a whore again.”

I sniffle. Is this his way of apologizing?

“I also won’t ever touch you with a knife or use a ski mask. You have my word.”

I hug myself closer. My head is spinning. This happens a lot. He says things that shouldn’t sound rational, yet he makes his words seem reasonable. It confuses me.

“I’m so angry at you,” I mutter. It sounds ridiculous.

“I know you are, precious girl. You have a right to be. But you’re still my girl. Deep in your heart, you know I’m right. You can be angry for as long as you’d like, but it won’t change the fact that you’re mine. You could even walk out the door, but you’d be back. You need what I’m offering you as badly as I need what you’re offering me.”

Did I, though? Did I offer myself to him? Or did he take it? Take me?

I guess I sort of let him. I made a choice the first night. He even told me I couldn’t go back on my decision. He would never let me change my mind.

“Would you let me leave if I asked?”

“No.” At least he doesn’t lie. “It’s not safe out there. I’d be in a panic, worrying about you. I couldn’t sleep while I knew you were out there in your car. You’re mine, and therefore you’re my responsibility. Mine to protect. Mine to guide. I’d lay down my life for you, and I won’t let you do anything dangerous. You’re too distraught right now for me to allow you to leave.”

Why does he have to go and make sense?

I reach for the pendant he gave me, pull it out from the sweatshirt, and finger it. I know it’s a tracking device. Any normal person would have run straight to the police and had them cut it the fuck off. But I’ve found it to be calming. I’ll never be lost because Silver will always be able to find me.

I’m fucked up. We both are.

“What happened to you?” I ask in a barely audible voice.

He sighs. Seconds tick by before he responds. “When I was six, my mother got pregnant by my stepfather and had a baby girl. Briana. My stepfather was already abusive and evil. He did unspeakable things to my mom and me. Luckily, he never got his hands on Briana. One night, he beat my mother to death while I was locked in a closet. I heard and felt it all as he kicked her against the door and shouted at her. The neighbors heard the domestic dispute and called the police. I was still in the closet when they arrived, there was a standoff, and my stepfather ended up getting shot by the police.”

I gasp but say nothing. I don’t want to interrupt him.

“My sister and I were taken into state custody and separated. She didn’t even know I existed, but I found her when she was in high school. I also convinced her to attend this university. It’s a coincidence that she met Rook and became his freshman prank victim. But I digress…”

My chest rises and falls as I listen to every word.

“I was in and out of various foster homes until I was placed in a boys’ home. That’s where I met my brothers—Rook, Dante, Talon, and Lucien. We’d all been through the shitty system. We were all intelligent and neurodivergent. We bonded as we lived through the hell that was that fucking boys’ home. The man who ran it was a total dick. He terrorized the fuck out of us, but we made a pact that we would not let him get to us. That we would survive that horror and become successful members of society.”

Tears run down my cheeks, but I don’t make a sound.

“We didn’t all go to the same college for undergrad, but we came together here after graduation. We pooled our money and bought Brimstone House. And we invented the freshman prank.”

My breath hitches.

He gives a soft chuckle. “I know it’s fucked up. I can’t explain why we do it. We were twenty-one at the time and needed an outlet for our anger. We decided that if we each chose a girl every fall and scared the fuck out of her, it would take away some of our own horror, piece by piece. It’s been cathartic. But then you came along, and I couldn’t get you out of my system. A one-off experience scaring you wasn’t enough. It happened to Rook, too. With my sister. And I suspect it’s also happening to Dante as we speak. He’s still fighting the pull, but I know he’s found a girl, too.”