Page 53 of Until I Break

“Okay,” I sigh. “I assume you want to know what happened?”

“Only if you want to tell us,” he says.

“I do. I’ll… tell you while you help me undress. So, I’m distracted.”

“Okay. Go slow,” he says, kissing my temple. “Oscar is here too.”

“Okay,” I sigh and relax when I feel Oscar stroking my hair as he sits on the bed beside my head. Gunner and Collin cut my clothes off. I tense when one of them starts cleaning my shoulder and the other is rubbing lotion into my body. I am holding my breath as the pain in my shoulder intensifies.

“Breathe, Cass. You need to breathe,” Oscar urges.

“It hurts,” I whimper.

“I know, baby, but you need to breathe. Long, deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Come on,” he says before imitating what he is asking. I force myself to take shaky breaths in and out until both Gunner and Collin are rubbing lotion onto my back. They work their way down and do not hesitate to touch my ass and thighs.

“I don’t think I like how much you just relaxed,” Oscar remarks. When Gunner and Collin chuckle like they do when they’re being mischievous, I giggle. “Is that funny, little sister?”

“Yes,” I laugh. “You have to respect the bravery. You threatened to bury them if they ever touched me, but you won’t fuck with them right now.”

“I did not say that!” Oscar objects.

“Uh,” Gunner laughs. “Yes, you did. I remember because that’s the day my heart broke.”

“You’re being dramatic,” Oscar laugh.

“You really did say that. You’ve said it a lot, actually,” Collin says.

“So, what are you saying? Am I preventing something?” Oscar asks.

“I’m too naked to run away from this conversation,” I complain. “Please, stop. They don’t want me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Collin asks.

“It means I’d be fucking kidding myself to think anyone decent would want me,” I snap.

“Hold up,” Oscar says.

“Don’t even start. You’re my brother, and you don’t count,” I say.

“Yeah, but he isn’t your biological brother; he’s your stepbrother. You aren’t even related. He could totally have a ‘help me, stepbrother. I’m stuck,’ kind of fantasy,” Collin laughs.

“You are clumsy. I wouldn’t put it past you to get stuck in something,” Oscar laughs. “You might be my sister, Cassidy, but not so much that I don’t notice how beautiful you are,”

“What the fuck is this?” Gunner asks, touching my hip. I wince and move away from him, but he simply grabs my legs and flips my body over. I feel some type of way about how fucking easy it was for him to do that. He just threw my ass around like I weighed nothing. I still panic and pull a nearby blanket over my chest and face as I try not to start crying.

“Oh my God,” Oscar says. “Why are you bruised?”

“Is that from a stun gun?” Collin asks. “Cass?”

“Please don’t,” I say tearfully when he pulls the blanket off my face.

“Is that from a stun gun?” Collin repeats.

“Yes,” I whimper.

“And the bruises?”

“He grabbed me. He… likes to call me various farm animal names when he fucks me. It’s his way of reminding me that I’m fat,” I say bluntly. The anger that flashes across this man’s face is unlike anything I’ve ever seen from him. Collin is the calmest of the three, and rage isn’t usually his thing. Gunner? Maybe. Oscar? Definitely. ButCollin? Never.This makes twice now that he has gotten angry.

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