Page 26 of Break

“Be our toy?” The question flies out of my mouth before I can filter it. Jesus, I’m an asshole for saying that.

“Yes,” she whispers.

Ex-squeeze me? Did she just sayyesto that?

Kerrington and I look at each other in the mirror again, and the shock on his face almost makes me laugh.

“You want to be our fucktoy, Nicole?” He leans forward and cups her chin, forcing her to make eye contact with him.

I almost rear-end the person in front of mebecause I’m too caught up in their connection and not paying enough attention to the road. “Shit! Sorry.”

“Answer me, Duchess.” Kerrington keeps his focus on her while mine is on the traffic light.

Calling her Duchess must trigger the response that Nicole wouldn’t otherwise give. “Yes.”

My stomach drops and leaps at the same time, which makes me dizzy. Having a bombshell like Nicole be our fucktoy is a goddamn wet dream come true. But I don’t want her used like that all the time. She’s not a flesh light, she’s the woman I lo—

Likea whole lot.

Yup, I like her. Have for a while. Like is the word, right? That means you think about them all the time, light up on the inside when you see them, worry for them, crave them, are in awe of them, can’t stop looking at them, stalk them on social media and get all butt hurt when they ghost you after the most passionate night of your life.

What I feel for Kerrington is different.

He’s home to me. We’re not perfect, but it doesn’t matter because to me, what we have is better than perfect. I’ve never told him that, though. I don’t think he’s ready to hear my confession, just like Nicole wasn’t ready to hear how I felt that night six months ago when I finally got her in our bed.

“—out for a few days. Then things can goback to normal.”

Shit, my thoughts got too loud, and I missed what she said. “Say that again, please?”

“I said I want to check out for a few days. Then things can go back to normal.”

“Why does it feel like we’re the toys in this situation?” Kerrington asks with a twinge of humor.

“I suppose maybe you are.” Nicole’s smile cracks across her face and I suddenly don’t care who’s playing with who.

“Define going back to normal,” Kerrington says cautiously.

“I’ll go back to New York and you guys can go back to California.”

I feel sick again. Does she think we can walk away from her so easily? I know she certainly doesn’t have a problem running from us, but damn, this hurts.

“Bold of you to assume you’re going to get away from us again, Duchess.” Kerrington leans back and smirks. “If we have to, we’ll put a short leash on your sweet ass. Ghosting us again is not an option.”

My throat tightens. “He’s right. If you want to do this, you can’t run again when you’re forced to face us in the morning.”

“I’m already agreeing to be with you for a week. That’s commitment enough.”

I pull into a parking lot and cut the engine. “Not for me.”

The look on her face is half fear, half I don’t even know what. Relief maybe?

“You’re right.” I clear my throat. “We need boundaries before we do anything else.”

Because I have a horrible feeling all three of us will get hurt if we aren’t careful and I’ll do anything to protect the ones I love.

Chapter 10

Nicole

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