Page 8 of The Devils of Saint City

The door is locked. It’s not a deadbolt or one you just flip, either. It’s biometric.

That spare key he gave me was just for show.

He wasn’t kidding when he said I couldn’t leave.

“Already trying to break our deal, all because I stated facts.” Ash walks over to me and snatches my bag out of my grasp, nearly shoulder checking me as he leaves to take it back to my room. Manson just looks disappointed in me.

“I have to piss, Rhea.”

He jerks his head toward the hallway for me to lead the way, so I hold my head as high as I can as I walk past him.

When we’re alone in the bathroom, I take a moment to meet his eyes. “I thought you were different. I thought maybe since you lived here too, things would be okay. That you’d be mean to me in front of him like always, but when push came to shove, you’d be there for me. That I’d be safe here. But you just want to use me, too.”

I fumble to pull his cock out and try to look away as we aim, but Manson grips my chin and forces me to look at him. “I can be that for you, I just want something in return. Is that too much to ask? Is this whole fucking thing not transactional for everyone else?”

It is for him, too. Ash isn’t the only one I agreed to take care of, just not with my fucking body. “Asher said it himself. I can’t stay awake forever. At least then, I won’t have to be coherent for whatever you do to me.”

He stares at me for a long moment before he releases me and takes care of his business, and this time I don’t get any praise or warmth at all when he finishes. “I think you’ll enjoy it either way. Like I said, this can be a fun thing for us all.”

“For you two, you mean. He tried to kill me, Manson.” I hold up my hand, forcing him to acknowledge it. “And it’s not just that, he wanted me to suffer. To hurt. I’m glad that you two feel like you just won the lottery, but I willingly walked into my own personal hell because I didn’t have a choice. I’ll see you after work.”

As I wash my hands, he stays there watching me until I’m done, and then he blocks the doorway with his arms crossed. “Have you ever thought about it?” He nods toward Ash’s room. “Fucking him.”

“I grew up believing fucking your siblings was wrong, so no,” I say firmly. We both know it’s only partially the truth. I never would’ve thought about it before, but last night? It was all I could think about. “Save me the blood relation spiel. I know.”

Shrugging, he leans in to share a secret. “You’re better than him then.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“You’re a smart girl.” Winking, he turns away to leave like he didn’t just insinuate my step-brother jacks off to the thought of me. “Figure it out.”

I knew Asher was cruel. Hell, I knew he was a little bit insane. But this? Manson’s right, I am a smart girl. I’m smart enough to realize that the only reason Ash let me move in here is because he knew that with my sexsomnia, he can have me whether I want him to or not. He can break me, awake or asleep. At night, I’m uninhibited. My subconscious doesn’t seem to remember all the reasons I’d have to say no, it just...wants.I won’t remember in the moment that he tried to kill me or that he’s currently trapping me in this house. All I’ll remember is the way it felt to have his cock in my hand, and how deliciously taboo it would be to fuck my only stepsibling.

I’ll want it when I’m sleeping. I’llneedit.

And there’s not a damned thing I can do about the fact that he knows it.

4

Asher

It doesn’t matter how much time passes, Rhea will always get under my skin.

She walks around with my father’s last name without any of the guilt she should carry, daring to act confused about the fact that the sight of her kills me.

Her mom killed my dad. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised she’s slowly doing the same to me, but I’d be lying if I said she didn’t do other things to me as well. She rocks her faded pink hair better than any other bitch out there, and those blue eyes fucking call to me —baitme — and I willingly bite every fucking time.

It’s infuriating.

I met her when I was fifteen years old and had every internal and external reaction to how beautiful she was. I wanted to be close to her, to know her — not as my stepsister, but as another human living in this shitty world alongside me. I was angry when my dad sat me down for the talk, the one that deemed her off limits in any way that wasn’t familial. I didn’t even know how to be around her anymore.

So I pushed her away, and when I looked into their past and saw what happened toherfather, I tried to warn him. He didn’t believe me and she denied it to protect the fucking Black Widow, so again, I pushed the people closest to me away.

I felt so alone I became distant and angry, and the only person to claw through my darkness was Manson. He didn’t let me pull away from him, and I’ll forever thank him for it. We may not live on the straight and narrow, but I don’t know who I would have become if it wasn’t for him.

Or if I’d even be alive right now.

“You’re doing it again,” he says quietly. “Come back to me.”

---