Page 89 of The Dollhouse

“Well,” I spoke, unable to hide my own grin as they finally approached me, both men standing less than two feet in front of me, “what do we owe this visit to?” I smiled at them both, noting how each of their gazes traveled along my body, taking in my curves, my tight pants, the way my shirt hugged my chest and ended just above my belly button.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what we want,” Carter grumbled, acting grumpy—like his usual self. He was pretty much grumpy at all hours of the day, except when he was balls-deep inside me. Then he was an animal. I didn’t think Carter had any other moods, frankly.

Roman adjusted his tie, his black-haired head gesturing for me to follow him. And I did. Roman led the way, Carter taking up the rear, and we walked through the Dollhouse, past the bar where Jamie stood. Our eyes met, and Jamie smirked and shook her head, not saying a single word.

Through the club we went, past the patrons eyeing up the waitresses and the girl swinging on stage. We pushed into the back room, a padded place with a lock for privacy, its walls built thick to hide most noises that arose in the space. The room held a leather couch, along with a leather chair—Roman usually took the chair while Carter and I did anything and everything on the couch.

“How is it going here tonight?” Roman asked, taking my wrist and pulling me with him as he sat down on the chair, holding me on his lap. His bare fingers danced up along my arm, and I shivered with the slight touch. It wasn’t often his touches were gentle; more often than not, it was all rough all the time.

Not that I could complain. Not that I would. I liked it rough, at least with these two. With Lake? I couldn’t imagine a rough fuck with Lake.

“It’s going,” I said. “Everybody’s paying their tab, so no complaints.”

Roman’s hand went to the back of my neck, fingers weaving in my hair and harshly pulling my head back. His other hand went to trace the front of my throat, starting just beneath my jaw, all the way down to my collarbone. As much as I wanted to lose myself in him and Carter, I did want to bring up what I’d spoken with Jamie about.

“There is something I want to talk about, though,” I started, and Roman was slow to let me go. Even though I didn’t really want to get off him, I found myself crawling out of his lap—only to pace the room. Mostly because I didn’t know how to bring this up, how to convince both these guys that I needed to do this. As far as they were concerned, since Bryan was gone, that was that.

But it wasn’t. I needed closure when it came to my shitty family.

Carter went to stand beside Roman, his arms folded over his wide chest. He wore a dark grey button-down shirt, tucked neatly into his pants. His jaw was set, full of scruff. He’d kept himself clean-shaven when he had to go out with Lola on jobs, but since that had stopped, he was back to his usual stubble-ridden self.

That’s fine. I liked the stubble. I liked how it scratched when his face went certain places.

“I need to go back to Hillcrest,” I said, stopping my pacing and staring at both men. Neither one reacted right away, which caused me to carry on, “Like, soon, I mean. I need to go back and see my family. I need closure.”

“Your ex is with the fishes,” Carter grumbled, sounding unhappy. “Why would you want to see those assholes again?” While he asked, Roman leaned back, running a finger along his jaw, watching me, waiting for me to explain more.

Heaving a sigh, I said, “Yeah, but… getting shot made me realize that I spend way too much time still thinking about them. I need to put Hillcrest to rest. I need to have a proper goodbye with my family, and—this is the biggie, okay—I want to fuck shit up for them.”

Carter’s eyebrows rose, while Roman still listened, damn near expressionless.

“I want to mess up their lives, give them a taste of their own medicine. I don’t give a shit if it’s petty. As far as I’m concerned, I have every right to be petty when it comes to them.” I glanced between them. “I already asked Jamie if she’d handle the Dollhouse while we’re gone.”

“We?” Carter harrumphed. “What the fuck is this aboutwe?”

Jutting out my bottom lip in a pout, I asked, “You’d make me go alone? You wouldn’t be my backup?” Once I was sure the pout had delivered its full power on the two men, I gave them a wide smile. “You wouldn’t want to be my sexy boyfriends and help me give my parents a heart attack? You two aren’t exactly the kind of guys they’d approve of.”

Roman leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees as he looked at me, the intensity rolling off him in waves. He had that way about him, a quiet power, a demeanor that demanded respect and fear. “You really want to go back?”

I nodded. “I do.”

Carter whipped his head toward Roman, saying, “Tell me you’re not debating this, Roman. Come on—Hillcrest is the last place we should be. That city’s full of rich people. I fucking hate all those stuck-up bitches, no offense.” That last part was spoken to me, but I shrugged it off, because as far as I was concerned, I wasn’t a stuck-up bitch.

“Do you have a plan?” Roman inquired, ignoring Carter for the moment.

“Not really, not yet, but I can come up with one. I deleted all my social media profiles, but I can make new ones and do a little internet stalking.” I bit my lip, wondering if Lake would help me out with that. I hadn’t told him of my plan to go back yet, but I knew he’d be supportive. That was Lake. The perfect boyfriend, the one who put all other boys next door to shame.

He wouldn’t want to help take my family down or make a fool of my sister, but he’d support me. Carter and Roman, on the other hand, I did think would help if I asked them to. I mean, they killed people for a living, so why would they care about my family?

Roman let out a sigh, dark eyes on me. “Fine, we can go, but I want you to have a plan, first. The Lucianos do have contacts in Midpark, so if you do end up needing something, I’m sure we can call on them again.”

“What?” Carter huffed, sounding like he was whining. He kind of was. “You’re joking. You’ve got to be fucking joking. Hillcrest, really?”

“Sometimes it’s best to put the past completely behind you,” Roman stated. “If this is what Zoey needs to do, then it’s what we’ll do.”

As I listened to him, I couldn’t help but grin ear to ear. I was the only one who could make Roman and Carter do something they didn’t want to do. I’d given him an ultimatum about Lake way back when, and Roman wasn’t the kind of guy who took something like that laying down. From me, though? He took it from me.

“Thank you,” I said.

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