Page 38 of Sweet Misery

I felt so used and dirty.

It wasn’t necessarily a good thing, especially considering my circumstances, but it beat being dead, so I wouldn’t complain.

Renzo tucked himself back into his pants while Roman wrapped my sheet around me again. I shivered at the cold material on my skin. Renzo placed a jacket on my shoulders and helped me put my arms in. Before I could snuggle too deeply into the warm material, Renzo scooped me off my feet and into his arms. His body heat radiated through me.

Without hesitation, I snuggled against him. He stiffened for a moment before he began to walk, Roman beside us.

No one said a word.

At least none that I heard because I fell asleep almost instantly, feeling almost safe for the first time since I’d arrived there.

14

SEVER

Istood staring down at my twin brothers in Roman’s bed later that evening. I’d paced forever it seemed, waiting for them to come home after Roe sent the message they’d found her. I drank and eventually fell asleep in my bed before my eyes snapped open and I got up to go to her.

I wanted to make sure she was safe. That she was OK. Roe and Ren were rough and violent, not that I wasn’t, but the two of them tended to get carried away. They didn’t know Arianna like I did. No one did. She was mine in the beginning, and I was grappling with the idea that my brothers were fucking her as I drown my sorrows in a bottle of scotch.

She lay between the pair, her braid perfect and Roe’s white t-shirt on her. Her head rested on Renzo’s chest, his arms around her, Roman cuddled up against her back.

I should have been happy she was safe and they hadn’t killed her and left her for the wolves to eat, but I was trembling with fury. With anger. With… jealousy.

She looked too comfortable with them. Too innocent between two hungry wolves.

They’d rip her to shreds.

If anyone was going to do that, it would fucking be me. She owed me for what she’d done to me.

My fury grew until I couldn’t contain it any longer.

I grabbed her by her leg and tugged hard. Her eyelids flew open and she cried out. Ren and Roe fumbled sleepily for her as they tried to get their wits about them.

I dragged her down the mattress, kicking and screaming until she was on the floor at my feet, a beautiful, sleepy mess.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Roe shouted out in a sleepy voice.

“Finally lost your damn mind?” Ren heaved his pillow at me before sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

I didn’t say a word. Instead, I grabbed Arianna by her arm and tugged her to the door. She struggled against me, breaking free and trying to rush back to my brothers. I was quick to grab her leg and bring her out to the hallway. Roe and Ren came barreling out of the room, Ren shoving me hard and breaking my hold on her.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he snapped at me, his blue-gray eyes flashing with anger.

“Taking her back to her fucking bed. She’s a fucking toy for us to use and abuse, not to play fucking house with.” I shoved him back, pissed off as Roe helped her to her feet, seeming to dote over her.

I had no idea what the fuck transpired in that woods, but it wasn’t going to fucking fly. We’d never kept women in our beds, especially the toys our father sent. Seeing it pissed me off beyond anything I’d ever felt before.

“Fuck you, Sever.” Ren snarled, shoving me again and getting into my face. “We won tonight. She’s ours to do with what we want?—”

I punched him in the face before he could finish his sentence.

In the background, Arianna screamed. I didn’t look at her though because I was too busy fighting with Ren, our fists flying at each other.

“What the fuck is going on?” Mass roared, shoving us apart so hard that I stumbled into the wall. I was quick to bounce back and wipe my bleeding lip and glare at Ren.

“Fucking ask these pricks. I walked in to find them all cozied up with her.” I jerked my thumb in the direction of Arianna.

Mass’s gray eyes traveled to where I’d pointed, a frown on his face. I dared to look to find Roe cuddling her against him, her face buried in his neck. He shot me the finger, causing me to snarl at him.