Page 29 of Taken By my Brothers' Best Friends

I silently got off the island and tried to tiptoe to my room but when I turned, I saw Reed walk in from outside with his face twisted in annoyance. The sight of him had me frozen in place.

“Let’s have dinner. Afterwards, we’re going to go over the rules again.” His voice was hard and I felt a shiver at the prospect of being on the receiving end of his hand again.

CHAPTER 24

Dean

“What’d he say?” I moved the salad and pasta around on my plate without actually eating anything. My stomach had crashed the moment I saw Reed’s face. He was going to introduce Vera to some of his darker interests and we all knew this could all be over that fast.

It should’ve been over. It should never have started. We had no business touching the Hellstone’s little sister. Except, we were. That ship had sailed. I could still taste her minty breath on my tongue and I wanted more.

“They have someone in the area already. That’s all he’d say. The FBI is working a big case, I guess, and they weren’t too happy at the idea of us stepping on their toes.” Lennon finished his dinner and sat back in his chair. “We didn’t mention Vera, of course. Agent Henderson just thought we were trying to be vigilantes. Stupid.”

“This is bigger than we thought, then.” I rolled my shoulders. “I’ll do a walk around the property after dinner. Maybe we should invest in a few more cameras.”

“You’re busy after dinner.” Reed’s calm voice was worrying. He’d shifted into his dominant side and there was no arguing with him.

“With?”

“You’re going to sit in and watch me introduce Vera to my ropes. She has to learn to follow the rules. She didn’t.” Reed cast a dark look at her door before turning an even darker one at me. “And you. If we all throw the rules out the window, we’re just fucking our friends’ little sister for the hell of it. There are no boundaries. There have to be boundaries if we don’t want this to blow up in our faces.”

I knew he was right but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “It’s too early. It’s fucking day two, Reed. You’re going to scare her.”

He flinched at my words and I instantly felt like an asshole. “I trust myself, even if you don’t. I won’t scare her.”

Lennon pushed away from the table and scowled at me. “Really?”

I wanted to punch something. Or someone. I hadn’t meant to hurt Reed by saying what I said. It was complicated, though. What he did was too intense for a lot of women, for almost all of the women we’d tried to be with. We’d gone through several relationships that ended because our partner tried to exclude Reed. His desires were just too much. He knew it. We knew it. If not for his darker tastes, we would’ve been married with kids years ago.

I didn’t blame him, though. The perfect woman would like what he brings, too. Reed was a part of us. There was no happy ever after without him. That meant I needed to be careful with what I said. Reed had grown sensitive and closed off about his interests and if I wasn’t careful, I was going to say something that made him walk away.

“I’m sorry.” I caught and held his gaze. “I do trust you. It’s just harder because of who she is. Whatever you think is right tonight, do it.”

“I will.” He pushed his mostly uneaten dinner away. “If… You’ll be there if it goes sideways and she wants out. She’ll be comforted by you.”

A flash of anger rolled through me, at myself and at the women who’d come before. “She’s not scared of you, Reed. I’m sorry I made you think that she is or will be.”

Our conversation ended when Vera brought her plate out of her bedroom, mostly untouched. She cleared it and put the dishes in the dishwasher before coming around the island to stand in front of us at the table. She’d taken a shower and dressed in a t-shirt of Reed’s.

“Okay. I’m ready.”

Reed barely glanced at her. “Go to your room and undress. I’ll be there soon.”

She hesitated and chewed on her lip. “What are you going to do? Just spank me?”

“Get on your hands and knees on your bed and wait like that. Naked. The more you hesitate, the longer I’m going to be, Hellcat.” Reed finally looked up and locked eyes with her. “And the worse your punishment will be.”

Amazingly, Vera nodded silently and ran back to her room. Lennon and I exchanged glances and then focused on Reed. I let out a laugh and shook my head. “I think that’s one of the first times she’s listened that well.”

Reed cracked his neck and drained the rest of his water. “We’ll see how this goes. Right now, she thinks she wants this. It’s new and exciting. It could be a different story in an hour.”

“And what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to sit there and watch. Both of you deserve to be punished for breaking the rules. You’ll watch her take hers without ever lifting a finger to touch her. Understand?” Reed slowly stood up when I nodded. “I’m going to go upstairs and take my time sorting out my ropes. She can use this time to think about what’s going to happen.”

I looked at Lennon after he left. “Well.”

He laughed. “This is your own fault. You broke Reed’s precious rules. You know how he is.”

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