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I don’t expect him to answer, but he does. “Carter’s brother.”
I drop my hands and look over to find him eyeing me. “Maison. His name is Maison.”
“I want to hear it from him.” He lifts his chin defiantly, suddenly confident. “And in front of Carter, so I know it’s actually Maison.”
“He’s not here. Maison - he’s way too far for us to meet up with him. Not that he’d ever agree to meet. I mean, that’d be so fucking stupid and dangerous-”
“Your phone doesn’t work?” he asks, cutting me off.
I can’t help but gape at him for a second, not sure where this sudden shift of attitude is coming from. “You guys could call him. Sure. That’d be - yeah, sure.”
“Okay.” He pushes up to his feet and nods. “Let’s go.”
“Okay.” I stand up too, feeling much better. He must be starting to believe me, right? Starting to let himself hope?
I step forward, heading for the door, but he flinches away and brings his hands up to protect his face. Then he falls right back to his knees and blurts, “I’m sorry, Master! I’m sorry! Please punish me. Please - I want to be good again.”
My heart sinks.
He doesn’t believe me. He was pretending. The only thing he was hoping for was a punishment, which would mean this game is over. But it’s not a fucking game.
“Get up,” I order, deciding I’m going to follow through with his plan even if he didn’t actually mean it. Calling Maison is a good idea. That’s how we convinced Carter when we tried telling him the truth. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it this time around too. “On your feet. Let’s get you that phone call.”
“Don’t punish Carter,” he whispers, looking up at me with watery blue eyes. “Please, Master. It’s not his fault. Punish me.”
“Come on,” I say instead of acknowledging his words. He won’t believe me regardless of what I say. It’s better to just hurry this along. Hopefully Carter and Maison will do a better job at convincing him. “Let’s go.”
He whimpers but pushes to his feet and wipes the tears that have fallen down his cheeks. The sight fucking breaks my heart, but I put on a brave face and lead him out the room and down the hall again.
Casey seems to waver the moment we’re inside the bedroom, but he thankfully doesn’t go to his knees like before. I give Carter a pained smile when I see the worry on his face. “I thought it’d be good for the two of you to call Maison.”
“Oh…” Carter shifts on his feet, eyeing Casey for a moment before turning to Travis. “Does Maison even know Casey is here?”
Travis nods. “We told him, yeah. We’ve been talking with him on his burner phone a lot lately, updating him about everything. I didn’t want him in the dark when - if - you decided to call him.”
Carter releases a resigned sigh. I know he’s been avoiding his brother like the plague since finding out the truth, but I have a feeling Casey is important enough to him to override that. Sure enough - “Then I guess we call Maison.”
“I’ll send him a text on his burner to let him know. He’ll call when it’s safe,” Travis explains. He tilts his head at Carter, his expression softening. He’s such a sucker for the boy. It’d be laughable if it wasn’t fucking doomed for misery. “You okay?”
Carter just nods, making a sound that seems to be affirmative. Then he turns to Casey. “Are you… okay? Casey?”
Casey shuffles his feet nervously, like he always does when I force him to stand for me. He lets himself look at Carter through his lashes, his lips parting like he might say something. He doesn’t, though. Instead, he looks over at me and clamps his mouth shut, then looks down at the ground again. I deflate.
“You need to leave,” Carter says.
For a moment, I think he means me and Casey. But then I realize he’s looking at me and Travis. I arch a brow at him. “No, that won’t be happening.”
“You can tell him he’s safe to do whatever until you’re blue in the face, but with you here, hovering over him? He’s not going to believe it. He’s not going to even try.”
“Carter, he’s been through a lot.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” he nearly growls. “We’ve both been through a lot. But right now, you’re not helping.”
I almost argue again, not sure that’s what’s best for Casey, but then I see the way Casey is looking at me and remember how he’s been looking at me every time he’s wavered, and I realize Carter is right. With me here, Casey is too focused on behaving for his master. It’s not until he’s alone that he might be willing to believe this whole thing.
“I should be packing anyway. And going over final security checks.” I look at Casey, giving him a small smile. “Casey, you’re safe here with Carter, okay? I’ll be back.”
Casey seems to curl in on himself as he turns his wide blue eyes on me. “B-but-”
