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Cal keeps rubbing my back as saliva coats my chin and falls onto my body. “I know you’re wondering why,” he says after a minute. “It’s too large a punishment for what you did. But Wes can’t stop thinking about you. And… well, I like it when you cry.”
I can’t take this.
I’m not sure what exactly makes the thought pop into my head. Probably the idea that they’re doing all this shit to me because of somethingIdid. I haven’t done a single thing to hurt them.
Before Cal continues, I elbow him in the stomach. I put all my strength into it, and he grunts, doubling over.
Springing from his lap, I bolt for the stairs. But he grabs my hair and yanks me back, making me scream with pain. Tears flood my eyes and fall ontomy cheeks.
“Nice try,” he says roughly, “but you’ll have to do much better than that if you want to get away from the three of us.”
With a groan, I massage my scalp, glancing back at the stairs. I almost made it, but Cal’s right—it wouldn’t have mattered. Wes and Kellan’s footsteps sound on the metal, and soon we can see them ascending.
When Wes sees us, he raises an eyebrow. “Maybe I was wrong.”
“Told you,” Kellan says.
Cal still has a firm grip on my hair. “Are we ready? This next part is my favorite.”
My stomach turns with dread. That can only mean one thing—tonight is about to get much, much worse.
Chapter Nine
Cal
Once we pull Athelia’s dress back up, we all put our masks on. Wes leaves us without a single glance at Athelia, and she glares after him.
“What the fuck was he talking to you about?” I ask once he’s gone.
“Wanted to make sure you wouldn’t go too easy on her.” Kellan nods to Athelia before grinning at her. “You’re going to hate this next part,ma belle.”
She refuses to look at either of us, staring at the floor instead. It’s cute, honestly, that she thinks we care.
Well—maybe we care alittle,but it’s more amusing than anything.
“I’m not gonna go easy on her,” I grit out. “But Wes was about to fucking kill her.”
Kellan rolls his eyes. “He wouldn’t have gone that far, and you know it. Now let’s get moving.”
When Kellan grabs the cuffs again, Athelia tries to hide behind me. I really don’t know why she thinks I’ll save her. Plenty of people have labeled me as the nicest of our trio, and I suppose that’s true, but only by a very thin margin.
With my help, Kellan manages to cuff Athelia’s wrists in front of her. Her breaths are short and quick as we guide her down the spiral staircase and out into the hallway.
It’s still empty up here, exactly as it should be. We can’t take Athelia through the main parts of the house like this, but we already built that into our plan. There’s a second staircase that leads to a small mudroom, and that’ll take us out into the side yard.
Wes said there were some renovations done to the house in the nineties, and the plan was to turn the house into a hotel of sorts. Some guy wanted to attract the types who’re into creepy, haunted houses. Considering the history of this one, it would’ve been a perfect tourist trap, but he fell off a ladder and broke his back before he could finish.
I go down the stairs first because I’m pretty sure that if Athelia falls, Kellan won’t bother catching her. We keep the light off to avoid attracting attention from anyone who’s gathered around the fire in the backyard.
“If you start making noise once we’re outside, I’ll spank your ass until it bleeds, you hear me?” Kellan tells Athelia.
I can just barely make out her nod as she steps off the staircase and into the mudroom. Kellan peers out the window before slowly opening the door that leads outside. We pull Athelia through.
Obviously, we’re both half-expecting her to run. She’s terrified, and she knows it’s only going to get worse from here.
“Don’t,” Kellan growls when she glances at the fire.
No one has noticed us. It’s completely dark out, and everyone is absorbed in their own conversations, just as we expected.
