Page 178 of Did They Break You

“I want to do something that hurts,” he says, then smiles a little when my eyes nearly bug out of my head. “I helped my uncle with renovations, and I liked it a lot. At the end of the day, I want to come home exhausted, to a house with a lot of land, not many neighbors, and…” He looks at me, his expression serious. “Someone I love. That’s it.” He runs a hand through his hair, and I see his bicep flex. “The thing that scared me the most about going to prison…”

My stomach drops.

“…is I’d be separated from my family.” I see his throat bob as he swallows. “My dad. My little brother.”

I think about his words to me on the way to the cavern. Why he never introduced me to his family. The same reason I never introduced him to mine.“My life was a shit show.”

“And I’d skip all that time I could have myownfamily.” He smiles again, and I see a faint pink blush on his tan skin. “I like kids,” he admits. “I liked hanging out with Tristan. It was never a burden, or a chore. I just liked it.” My heart skips a beat in my chest as his granite eyes come to mine. “Would you ever want kids?”

I think about him coming inside of me last night. All the times before.“We’ll deal with it,”he’d said that time in his truck. We never did.

My stomach hurts, thinking about it. What Silas would say.

“Maybe,” I whisper, feeling warm under the blanket, but it’s a different kind of warmth. One from the inside. “Yeah,” I correct myself. “I would.”

His gaze is hooded as he stares at me, jerking his chin to the air mattress. “Come sit with me.”

Those familiar words make my blood heat, but I don’t move. Not yet.Can’t we stay like this?I want to ask him.Does this all have to end tomorrow?

“Remi,” Cortland scolds me. “Get over here.”

Smiling, I drop the blanket from around my shoulders and go to stand, but he shakes his head.

“Nah,” he says, his eyes on mine. “Crawl to me.”

My mouth falls open as I blink at him. “What?”

The corners of his lips tip up in a wicked smile. “You want me to use you, pretty baby?”

My words from the truck come back to haunt me. “Cortland, I’m notcrawlingto you?—”

“Just do it, Rems.” His voice softens, tugging at my heart. “For me, baby.” So manipulative.

Wolves have teeth,I remind myself. And if I want to run with them, I’ve got to use mine, too.

Little wolf.Storm’s name for me sends a bolt of confidence through me.

“No, Cortland,” I whisper, holding his gaze. “I thinkyoushould crawl tome.”

His brows shoot up, that cocky smile faltering. “What universe are you living in?” He laughs, arms still draped over his knees. “That’s not really what I?—”

“Crawl to me, Cortland.”I cross my arms over my chest and pull off his hoodie. I’ve got a white, cotton cami on underneath, and I drop the hoodie, feeling my nipples pucker with the cold of the tent. Running my hands up my thighs, I look over at him, my face flushing with warmth, but I hold my head high. “Tell me how sorry you are for letting your friends get their dirty hands on me.”

I see his jaw tighten, veins straining against his forearms.

I shift my hips, sitting up and slowly pulling down my shorts, my underwear, past my knees, then off as I toss them into a pile with my hoodie. I sink back on my heels, spread my thighs, and my heart is beating too fast. He could deny me. He could mock me. He could turn away.

But when my palms come to the crease of my thighs as I stare at him, I see his lips are parted, and that angry look is gone from his face.

“Show me how much you hate that your friends got to fuck me.” My voice is strong, but I don’t stop talking, because he hasn’t gotten his ass up yet. “You wanna let me stay home? You wanna let me write? You want me to have your kids, Cort?”

He chews his lip, his eyes locked on mine as I shift my thighs wider, running my finger up my center, moaning a little as I do.

“How do you think they’d feel?” My voice is hoarse, and I see his throat bob as he swallows. “Knowing theirdaddylet his friends hurtmommy?”

His eyes narrow. “That’s enough, Remi, you made your fucking point.”

I part my lips with my fingers and his gaze dips down, his chest heaving beneath his shirt.

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