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Chapter Fifty-Six
RORY
Aloud smash jolts me awake. I sit upright, trying to pull myself from a deep sleep and figure out what’s going on. I’m warm and naked, curled under my soft bedding. Mischief barks and runs away as I lie here. What the hell? How did I get home?
What happened?
The last thing I remember was experiencing the best orgasms of my life in that club with Alistair and then being in the limo…then nothing. I guess I crashed hard, which isn’t surprising after the week I had. I’m surprised I’m alone though.
Just then, the bedroom door flies open and all three Dixen brothers storm in. Their faces are hard, and their eyes are cold and angry. Maddox is almost vibrating as he glares at me and turns on the light, causing me to squint from the brightness. Rogan glances away for a moment before crossing his arms, clenching his jaw hard. And Ali? He won’t even look at me, keeping his eyes on the floor with his head bowed and his hands fisted.
“What?” I ask in confusion, half asleep as my brain tries to play catch up.
Maddox is at my side in a moment with a black rope in his hands. My fear escalates, wondering what kind of game this is, but he doesn’t speak, doesn’t joke. I glance between them. “Maddox, what’s going on?” I question, starting to get worried as my brain kicks into gear. Adrenaline pumps through me, chasing away the sleep.
He roughly grabs my arms and rips them above my head. I gasp in pain as he deftly ties them to the bed above me. I twist and turn, tugging on them as he moves down my body.
Is this a new sex game?
“This isn’t funny. What are you doing?” I snap, tugging on my hands before sagging. They wouldn’t hurt me, this must be a joke, but he pulls the covers off my naked body and yanks my legs apart as I shriek. He spreads me wide, making me vulnerable as he binds my ankles too.
Tightly.
Maddox adjusts the ropes until they’re bordering on painful, my skin still chafed from playing with Alistair last night, and then he steps back. Maddox’s dark eyes are on fire with anger…and a spark of hurt. Rogan stops next to him, touching his glasses nervously as he frowns. Disappointment and pain reflect in those whiskey depths. I glance at Ali, but he still refuses to look at me.
“Ali?” I ask, wondering what’s wrong. A few hours ago, he was rocking my world and gazing at me like he loved me, but now he jerks at my voice like I slapped him and turns away slightly, so I look back at Rogan and Maddox. A sick, knowing feeling starts in my stomach, the kind you get when you’ve been keeping secrets and you know you’ve been caught.
Even if you don’t want to believe it, you know…they have found out.
“Guys, seriously?” I prompt, my voice soft like a whisper as I swallow. My nakedness is making me feel small and defenseless.
“Tell us it isn’t true,” Maddox snarls, stepping closer as he glares down at me.
My heart freezes, my stomach rolling. Oh God, they do know, but how? What am I going to do? How much do they know? Instead, all that comes out is, “What?” Dumb, real dumb, but I’m panicking as I tug at the ropes.
“Tell us it isn’t true!” he roars in my face.
Rogan steps forward as I flinch, tears filling my eyes. He touches Maddox softly, but he jerks out of Rogan’s grip and stomps away, stopping at the wall. Maddox presses his head against the wall like it’s the only thing stopping him from wringing my neck. My gaze stays locked on his, because underneath it all, I felt it, heard it…the agony.
“Rory,” Rogan murmurs, and I look at him. I don’t know if it’s the kindness in his tone or the way he’s staring at me, but the tears start to fall and he nods. “Tell us everything.”
“I don’t know—”
“Don’t lie to us!” Alistair shouts and shows me my burner phone. The phone Bronson uses to contact me. “I found this while I was lying in bed falling in love—” He stops and turns away, and I see his shoulders shaking as he expels a stuttered breath. My heart fucking shatters into a thousand pieces.
“You can’t lie to us anymore,” Rogan says, his voice harder. “Tell us the truth, all of it, before this turns from bad to worse.”
I sag against the mattress, closing my eyes for a moment. “It’s not what you think,” I whisper brokenly.
“No? What do we think?” Maddox sneers, and I flinch from the venom in his tone. I understand why they’re mad. If they found the phone and got into it… Shit, maybe it is like they think. I open my eyes and focus on Rogan. He seems the least scary at the moment, and staring into those whiskey orbs gives me the strength to spill my whole story.
All of it, and each word lifts a weight from my chest. I tell them everything, from start to finish. It’s silent as I talk, and at the end, my voice is cracking, but they don’t offer me a drink. They stare as the silence stretches around us.
“I wanted to tell you for so long, that’s what’s been wrong all week. I’ve been wrecked over this. I don’t want to betray you. I wasn’t going to,” I admit, and Alistair snorts, so I shake my head. “I promise, I wasn’t going to betray you,” I say adamantly, and I know it’s true. I wasn’t going to, I would have gone back to jail first. “I care about you. At first, I didn’t. I didn’t know you. You were strangers, an option between a bad situation and a worse one. I had to do it.” I want them to understand. “I had to do it for my family. You understand that, don’t you? It was the only way, please,” I beg. “Believe me, I was never going to betray you. I was going to meet up with Bronson and let him do whatever he wanted to me—toss me back in jail, kick my brother onto the streets. I was never going to tell him anything else or give him any cause to come after you. Even if it meant me rotting behind bars and my brother dying, because I care about you. And you three have become my friends, my family…”
“Yet you sold us to him anyway,” Maddox growls.
“At the beginning,” I hurriedly defend. “When I didn’t know you, when you were just a job and I felt like I had no choice. Then you let me into your family, you cared for me, protected me, provided for me. I’ve never had anything like that before. I’m a fucking street rat, the lowest of the low. All I know is how to survive, no one ever gave two shits about me…before you.” I force myself to look at them, beseeching them to understand. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I hurt you. I wish I could go back and change what happened, but then I never would have met you. It’s selfish and I’m sorry you found out this way. Please believe me when I say I would never betray you, not ever again—”
