Page 16 of The Devils of Saint City

He huffs. “Of course she won’t be. She thought she won something by stomping on that bracelet and putting a damn lock on her door. She has to learn she doesn’t run shit here. You got any other ideas on how to train her?”

She shouldn’t have to be trained,something inside of me whispers, but a much louder voice saysno. I don’t have any other ideas at this point because we’re long past talking this shit out. He made sure of it... and I only helped solidify it. “She’s going to look so fucking hot in that collar,” I admit.

“Like the perfect pet,” he agrees, both of our heads shooting toward the hallway when we hear her clambering out of bed.

I get the camera propped up just in time for her to stumble through the empty doorframe. That might be worse than the collar, honestly — but Asher was furious she snooped throughhis things. Now she has no door at all, nothing to keep her from us.

Her eyes are just as cold as they were last time as she makes her way toward the couch. But where I expect her to head straight for Asher again, she surprises me.

“Manson,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around my waist before I have a chance to sit back down. “You found me.”

“I did,” I reply with a smile, unable to help the feelings I get from being wanted. She might be asleep, but something inside of her just gravitated toward me, and something inside of me knows it. “You were such a bad girl today, pet.”

I can see Asher’s tight fists on his lap as he watches us, but I do my best to pretend I don’t. It’s my turn to take the lead whether she chose me knowingly or not.

My hand slots into her hair so I can tug back and get a closer look at those dead eyes, and they remind me more than anything that none of this is real. She doesn’t know what’s happening to her. “I was bad?” she asks, voice slow and thick. “What did I do wrong?”

“You went through our stuff, put on that lock, broke your bracelet. Take your pick.” I’m speaking to her like she’s a kid, but awake or not, I know she hears me. “Your brother was nice though, he still bought you a new necklace.”

“Really?” Her head tilts, but she doesn’t look away from me. “I was protecting myself. How is that bad?”

I click my tongue, moving her hair behind her ear. “You’re not supposed to protect yourself from us. You belong to us.”

Her expression sours as she draws back from me. “Oh. So you’re going to hurt me?”

So I guess her flight is still activated from earlier. Great.

“You liked the way we hurt you last time? Tell me what you felt when you watched it.”

I motion a finger behind her so Ash knows to move in with that collar before she tries to pull away even more, and when she feels his chest against her back, she flinches hard. “I don’t know.” She knows, she’s likely just not quite as coherent as she was last time. “I—”

“Shhh,” Ash cuts in, fingers ghosting along her throat in anticipation. “You need us, remember? Be a good girl.”

She exhales hard, tipping her head back against his chest. “I am. I am a good girl.”

I don’t miss the small movement of him leaning in to smell her hair, I just choose not to call him out on it and reach into her panties instead.

“What did you come out here for, pet?”

“I was running,” she whispers breathlessly, fear overtaking her features again. “These two guys, they’re keeping me captive. You found me. You always find me.”

I’m too shocked by what she said to move before she throws her arms around my neck and kisses me. How fucking confused is she?

It takes me a second to kiss her back, the shock fading to arousal as I reach down to grip her ass.

Ash takes a step back, but I’m too lost in her to see what type of expression he’s wearing or how he feels about this.

She’s kissingme.

She ran tome.

She thinks I saved her, even though I’m the one she needs saving from.

Fuck, that made me so hard. Maybe not all of me is a monster.

I strip her slowly then lift her up, taking control of her sloppy kiss as I begin to back toward the couch. Ash follows us closely like he’s watching my every move, but I still keep my focus on her.

I can feel that she isn’t awake, yet that knowledge does absolutely nothing to turn me off.

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