Page 61 of Tormented Kings

“I like that couch,” Grayson adds in a chipper tone. “I bet there's lots of good memories on it.”

He turns a grin towards me, and I shoot him a glare, praying my cheeks aren’t red at the thought of what we did on that couch.

Mom looks confused. “Ah, yeah, I guess. Lots of movie nights when you were a kid,” Mom states to me, and I groan as Grayson chuckles. We ruined that couch for life.

“Alright, I have a guy who can come here in twenty minutes. For now, I’m going to do what I can to clean up. I want you two to head back to the house,” Mark instructs, stepping inside the house and to my mother’s side.

“I’m not leaving. I’ll stay here and help,” Grayson counters.

“I wasn’t talking about you.” Mark chuckles, his attention turning to me. “Sadie, you’re going to need a place to stay until everything can be cleaned and fixed. I’m not going to tell you what to do, and you can say no if you like and we can find you other accommodations, but you're more than welcome to stay at the house. There’s a room for you and everything. It’s your home now, too.”

“Oh, please!” Mom’s eyes light up. “Yes, Sadie, come and stay at the house. I’d love to have you close again. I miss you.” My heart sinks at her sad tone.

I’ve missed her too. She’s one of my best friends, my person, someone who’s always been there for me. Being alone in this cottage all the time has gotten lonely. I thought living on my own would give me some sense of freedom, but in reality, it’s just empty in here.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Grayson interjects. “Would love to get to know my soon-to-be new sister better.” Grayson’s smile seems friendly enough, but I know my dirty-minded man is thinking about how he’s going to have easy access to me now.

And I don’t hate that idea.

“Yeah.” I nod. “I don’t see why not.”

“Yay!” Mom claps her hands excitedly. “Let’s go pack a bag for tonight, and we can come back tomorrow for the rest. We need to get some sleep. You have school in the morning.”

That has me groaning inside. I’m going to be dead to the world. Maybe if I sit in the back, no one will notice?

Once I’m done packing, the guy who’s here to vacuum the water out is already at work.

Mark gives Mom the car keys and kisses her goodbye. Grayson follows after me, snatching my bag and putting it over his shoulder.

“So, you're not mad at me?” I ask Grayson, hanging a little bit behind my mom as we head for the car.

“No, Pretty Girl. I’m not mad. Anything with me, Collin, Declan, and Preston is free game.”

“I don’t get your guys’ way of thinking.” I shake my head. “I’ll need to talk to Declan, though, and see what he thinks.”

“Dude is going to cream his pants when you tell him.” Grayson smirks.

“What?!” I gape at him.

“You know how much he likes Preston. The two people he’s head over heels for are now fucking? It’s his nerdy little dream come true. Only thing better for him would be if he was there too. I should show him the video, give him some new material.”

“Material?”

“Something to beat the meat to.”

“Oh my god.” I cover my ears with my hands. “Grayson.”

He cackles. “Pretty Girl, you have no room to talk. If I remember clearly, a certain someone was playing with her pretty pink pussy to a video of one of us.”

Fuck. I almost forgot about that. And how could I? Grayson fucked me so damn good on those stairs.

“So, what you’re saying is I’m overthinking this?” I ask him.

“A little. But that’s okay. Honestly, I like that you’re worried. It means you have a conscience. That you don’t want to hurt us.”

“I don’t,” I insist, coming to a stop. “I never want to hurt you guys, any of you.”

“I know, Pretty Girl.” He goes to reach out to touch me but looks over in my Mom’s direction. “And we don’t want to hurt you. If we ever do, know it’s not on purpose. Preston isn’t just some random guy. He’s someone you have feelings for, someone who you have a history with. And... he’s one of us.”

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