“He told me the names of the people who’d show up at the trailer. How they used Viktor like a punching bag, how he’d try to hide, but they’d find him, drag him out, punch and kick him. It was a game to them. Cat and mouse.”
This makes my chest constrict, and I feel my hand clenching the water bottle far too tightly. “Where are they now?” I grind out.
“Underneath us.”
I lean my head back and let out a long breath. “Thank you.”
“It was my pleasure.”
“Does Viktor know you killed them all?”
“No, but he doesn’t need to know. All he knows is they’ll never hurt him again. I made sure of that.”
I nod and sip at my water, listening to his heartbeat through that dark screen. It’s a balm for my aching chest, the only thing keeping me still.
“What about the foster parents?” I ask after another moment of silence.
“Mm. They’re gone too. When I met Viktor, he was traumatized, quiet and ashamed. But after a few years, he opened up about whathappened. One of the dads was a creep. I made sure to cut off his cock before shoving it down his throat.”
That soothes something inside of me.
“Good to hear.”
“It was quite nice to watch.”
Our eyes turn back to Viktor, and Anthony reaches out and squeezes my knee.
“He’s damaged, but so are we. He needs someone to fight for him, to care for him, to be gentle when he needs it.”
I think of the way I’ve fucked with him, the way I’ve driven my cock down his throat, the dirty things I’ve said, and guilt wells up within me.
He liked it though, I tell myself. He likes it like that.
“I can be gentle.”
“Can you? Sometimes I think we weren’t made like that. That it was bred out of us.”
“You’re gentle with Tatum. You were gentle with Laura. Your sons.”
“I know.”
I sit with that a moment, and then Anthony adds, “You were gentle with Laura as well.”
“She deserved it.”
“So does Viktor.”
“I know.”
I lean my head back and my chest expands as I take a deep breath, letting all these thoughts filter through my mind. The abuse Viktor went through, the way he copes with it now. The way I should treat him moving forward. Owning him and yet being gentle. Rough when he begs and soft when he needs it.
“How did this all start between you two?” Anthony asks.
He’s staring at me intently, and I know I’m going to have to give him something.
“I saw him at a club three years ago. Things happened afterward.Things I won’t talk about. Things only he and I know. But I tried to forget and move on.”
“What the fuck happened? What did you do?”