Page 40 of Under Your Care

Life was good.

It was just a few minutes past three in the afternoon when my focus was stolen from the television by the doorbell ringing. I reflexively stood up to answer it, but hesitated just short of the door, shifting from foot to foot. The last two times I’d opened the door without Greyson around had not gone well, to say the least. I bit my lip in thought. Deciding to be cautious but still answer, I rose up on my toes to look through the peephole. My eyes widened in surprise as I saw Greyson’s brothers on the other side.

As I nervously opened the door - brothers or not, they were still psychopaths - two large bodies pushed their way into the apartment.

I swallowed thickly, wringing my hands, before speaking up. “Um… Greyson isn’t home.” Two sets of icy blue eyes locked onto me, pinning me in place where I stood.

“We’re not here for our brother.”

My pulse skyrocketed. “Oh, uh, okay… D-Does he know you’re here?”

He would as soon as he saw the alerts from his security system.

“Relax. We’re just here to bond with our new brother-in-law,” Hayes snorted. They strode further past me to the living room, setting up residence on the couch. I reluctantly followed them, flinching when I saw one of them pick up my new stuffed animal.

Hudson smirked at the soft toy before handing it to me. “I would say that it’s ridiculous for a grown man to have children’s toys, but that’s part of why we’re here.” My brows furrowed as I protectively held my whale shark.

Hayes sighed, “Stop acting like we’re here to hurt you.” He rolled his eyes, annoyed with my anxious state. “We want your help with Oliver.”

My eyes flicked between them, confusion evident in my features. Hudson spoke, “You’re a great captive.”

I sputtered, “Please do not take me captive.” They laughed as if I hadtold them something funny.

“No, no. You’re our brother’s. What I meant to say is that you’re a very good captive for him.”

“I’m not a captive, I’m his boyfriend.”

Hayes rolled his eyes and said, “Exactly.”

I rubbed my temple, feeling a stress headache coming on just from being in their presence.

“Greyson’s success with you made us believe that it would be easy for us to claim our own person,” Hudson explained. “He laid a simple foundation down, took you, and now you’re calling him your boyfriend. The only hiccup was when you ran away for a night, but we understand there were extenuating circumstances. It was foolish of us to assume that we would have the same experience, but,” he gritted his teeth, “Oliver is not succumbing as we thought he would.”

I hesitated, “Did you come here for love advice?”

“Of course not. You’re not listening. How can we make him want to stay?” Hayes questioned as they both gazed at me expectantly.

I took a deep breath. “Wouldn’t it be better to ask Greyson?”

They both shook their heads. “We want to ask you because you know Oliver.”

“Okay… But our situations are different. I already had feelings for Grey before everything happened. I didn’t think Oliver liked you guys. He’s always told me about his past crushes,” I shrugged.

Hudson nodded and asked, “If we make him like us romantically, that will make things easier?”

“I guess that’s one way to put it. I don’t know if that’s even possible now though. He doesn’t think like I do. I’m sure if I wasn’t sick in the head like I am, I wouldn’t have responded positively to what Grey did. It’s not normal to think being kidnapped is a romantic gesture. Oliver made it extremely clear that he thinks that’s not okay. I’m not sure I even want to know… but what have you guys tried so far? You’re being nice to him, right?”

The twins glanced at each other. “We’ve fed him.”

My eyes twitched. I needed Grey to handle this. “You’vefedhim. Okay, keep doing that. What else?”

“We gave him a mattress,” Hayes said.

These goddamn idiots were going to give me a brain aneurysm. I thought psychopaths were supposed to be intelligent, so clearly that was either wrong, or Greyson’s brothers both had brain damage.

“Have you tried treating him like an actual human being?”

“How so?” Hudson questioned.

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