Page 42 of The Devils of Saint City

Aw, poor little Ash is embarrassed. “I ordered pizza. She can make us breakfast in the morning, but I was craving Rio’s.”

I’m happy I have the remote when he shoots me a frown and grabs the towel to cover up again, but I know he won’t be mad at the fact that I ordered his favorite place.

I leave him there before he can say anything else and join Rhea again in the kitchen, showing her the remote with a huge grin on my face. “Peace of cake. Wait, speaking of, do you ever bake?”

“I do whatever you two ask,” she reminds me.

And the reminder is like a slap in the face. “Really? We can’t even have a normal conversation, Rhea? You know what, forget it. I’ll go shower then.”

I excuse myself without another look back and remind myself what we’re doing to her. It’s hard to remember we’re forcing her into everything when it shouldn’t be, she reminds us every single day. I’m just an idiot who wants to play pretend with someone that might actually kill me if she had the chance. Asher sure thinks she might, but there are times where she looks at me and allows me to believe the lie I keep trying to tell myself.

Once I’m clean, I walk back out to the living room with my head right. Ash may be an asshole, but he’smyasshole, and if she’s going to make me choose, I can’t keep getting distracted by the pretty lies. I have to trust he knows what he’s doing.

“I thought you ordered pizza,” he asks me before I can sit with him, and after we track our delivery driver, I watch himrelax. I wonder if they’ve even said a word since he came out here.

“Be here in five, hangry,” I say loud enough for her to hear, lowering the strength on the shock collar as low as it goes before I tap the button. “You’ll be fed soon. Hey, pet. Can you bring us some beers?”

It’s still enough to make her body jerk as she drops the spray bottle she was holding. Without a word, she brings us each a beer and refuses to make eye contact.

The timer on her phone dings to let her know the washer is done, and we both check out her ass as she walks away from us to take care of it.

“What are we going to do about her attitude?”

Asher seems genuinely curious about my thoughts here, but I don’t know what to say that we’re not already doing. Escalating seems... dangerous. “Accept it?” I offer halfheartedly. “We’ve done just about everything we can do except for actually cage her.”

Something dangerous flashes in his eyes a second before we share a small laugh. “Yeah, you’re right. Accepting it seems like the easiest route to take.”

“We’d have to break her completely to ever get rid of it. And something tells me that’ll be harder than we think.”

“I don’t think she’s someone who breaks,” he replies, and somehow it feels like the biggest compliment he’s ever given her. “She’d end up breaking us in the end.”

Watching the way his eyes darken and he takes a slow sip of his beer, I have to wonder if she already has. Neither of us seem to know which way is up anymore, and if we’re not careful... we’re all gonna wind up in pieces.

17

The pizza was good, but those assholes didn’t let me stop moving until the laundry was done and the house was clean. Every muscle in my body hurt when I went to bed, but I was so tired I could’ve fallen asleep standing up.

At least I know I didn’t have an episode last night. Whether I like it or not, I’ve never been this sexually sated. Even the few flickers of arousal I felt when their eyes locked on my naked body dimmed quickly. There’s no way I wanted sex last night.

Still, there’s a little bit of doubt in the back of my mind as I get up out of bed. I don’t feel cum dripping down my thighs and I don’t think I have any new bruises, so I think I’m safe — but at some point, one of them cuffed me again.

So much for that break they promised me.

Bracing myself for another long fucking day, I make my way out to the kitchen and get their stupid peppermint mochas ready.

“Morning,” Manson chimes first, and I realize it’s just him on the couch this morning. He’s watching the news for some reason, and his eyes are glued to the screen. “How’d you sleep?”

They usually only ask that as a way to fuck with me after an episode, so it almost feels genuine this time. “Like a rock, honestly. You?”

“That’s good. I slept alright, but you and Ash slept better than me. He’s still out.”

He smirks slightly to himself, but I don’t think I want to ask why. Maybe Manson took the bullet for me and fucked him to sleep, or maybe he put something in his drink like he did the first night they took me. Either way, I’m glad I have a few minutes before I have to deal with Ash.

Carefully, I take Manson his coffee and sit a couple of feet away from him. “It was nice not having an episode.”

“Mmhmm.” He taps the couch next to him. “Come sit over here.”

I know better than to argue, so I scoot the rest of the way and focus on the tv. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way. I just mean I’m never really very rested after one, so it was nice to get some real sleep for once.”

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