Page 70 of Bear
“Somewhere.” Dad nods, his smile not meant to reassure any of us, least of all Mason. He has to know something about why Mason can’t stand his brother. They can’t have been so blind as to miss the bad blood between them. It’s existed for years and years but was particularly bad after Lily Mikaelson’s death. The way Hunter got on Mason, it’s not a wonder he thinks like he does. They practically brainwashed him into taking the blame, and no matter how much Duke and I have tried to pull him out of it, the damage has proven irreversible. Who can compete with a dead mother who shows up? The idea that he was at fault is lodged so deep in his psyche, I don’t know if it’s ever coming out.
I draw in a deep breath. There’s enough tension in the room already to make my head spin. The crazy part is I don’t believe it has anything to do with Hunter. Not with the storm brewing on Tristan’s face.The fuck is going on here?He wears a contemplative smirk as he watches the three of us. “I’m going to get right to the point, boys. We know you don’t want to auction Lennon off tomorrow.” He stops and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “But you’re going to. That girl needs to earn her place, and she’ll bring a pretty fucking penny. I’m sick of her giving me trouble with no return.”
Sweat dampens my back. First, how the fuck did they know how we feel? That I’m aware of, none of us have said a damn word since we got that list of girls for the auction. Do we have a fuckin’ leak? Or cameras we don’t know about? Second, what a way to speak about your stepdaughter… as if Lennon is some milk cow that isn’t producing like it should.
Duke grimly shakes his head but before he’s formulated his thoughts, Tristan chuckles, scrubbing his hand over his neatly-trimmed beard. “I can see what you’re about to say son, but youwillput her up there. I don’t care if the three of you have made her your personal slut.”
Mason jerks as if he’s about to lunge across the coffee table and take him out. I swallow hard, grasping his arm so he doesn’t make that mistake. I squeeze. He continues to breathe hard, his eyes narrowed on them, but he remains on the couch.
Duke huffs out a breath, his voice rough as he asks, “What about this Elliot girl?”
I can’t fucking tell what my grief-stricken friend is thinking, and I do remember the anger in his eyes while he watched Kingston following the pretty brunette out of that party. I worry that he’d probably love nothing more than to agree to putting her up for auction just to piss Kingston off. But it makes no fucking sense for the OG Bastards to be demanding it. And that’s probably got him thinking twice about following through with it. At least I fuckin’ hope it does.
Clearing his throat, Dad looks pointedly at each of us. “Elliot Ashford being auctioned off is one small part of our plan to get Murdock out of the prison he’s been caged in.” He works his jaw back and forth, his gaze landing on Mason, who is practically vibrating, he’s so shaken by this very fucking unexpected news. “But that’s nothing you need to worry about. Just trust us that we know what we’re fucking doing.”
My teeth grind. “What the fuck do you want from us? Why are we here? Because I’m about done with this conversation.”
Dad levels me with a lethal stare. “You’re done when we say you’re done, son.”
And this is where I bite my tongue because if I don’t, things won’t go well for me, and I can’t risk that, now more than ever.
Tristan picks up where Dad leaves off. “At the moment, we’re not too fucking sure we like how you’re handling things as the heads of that damn house. What we need from you is pretty simple.Bethe fucking Bastards of Bainbridge Hall—the ones we’ve raised you to be so that one day you can have all this.” He gestures with an agitated hand around the room, but I know we’re supposed to be envisioning their filthy business empire. He exhales hard through his nostrils. “Remind everyone who you really are and why we command their respect. Prove yourselves to us, prove that you’re worthy members of our brotherhood. Fucking do what we’re asking.” His lips twist. “Hunter will be there to watch every damn move you make tomorrow night and to make sure the event is carried through in the way we need it to be.
“It’s an important fucking night, as it is every year, but even more so this year with what we have planned. You will work that motherfucking crowd; you will make sure we get out of it what we need. And if you can’t fucking do that, then maybe you don’t deserve the lifelong benefits of being one of the brothers of Bainbridge Hall. You’ll lose the respect that’s already slipping away. You’ll be banned.”
I blink. “Fucking hell,” I mutter under my breath. He’s dead fucking serious. My stomach sinks like a stone into my gut.
Duke runs his hand over his face, then meets his father’s stern gaze. “I don’t know about this Elliot girl but Lennon can’t be controlled the way you think.”
“Don’t tell me you can’t handle some little girl, son.” Tristan’s teeth clamp down so hard I can practically hear them grind together.
I run my hand over my jaw, scrubbing my fingers through the growth of hair. I glare hard at both of them, irritated because my goddamn hands are tied.
Dad leans back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. Low and dangerous, he grits out, “The three of you will put those little bitches up for auction. Period. Or face the fucking consequences.” I don’t like the gleam in his eye, especially when his gaze dips to my shoulder. “Get the fuck out of here.”
I blink, then stand. Duke also gets up, his jaw popping. I can totally tell he’s holding back everything he wants to say. But it comes down to this—we don’t want to deal with the potential fallout because weknow. All three of us. Our fathers are really fucking bad men. Bad enough that I’m beginning to suspect they don’t care if their sons will be around to carry on their twisted legacy.
A cold sweat breaks out on my forehead, which is due to one of two things: the current situation or perhaps the lack of oxy I’ve had today. I draw in a stabilizing breath. I’m going to be fine. I’m going to be fucking okay. But at the moment, there’s someone worse off than I am, and my eyes and thoughts drift to him.
Mason sits stock-still, staring at his hands, as he clenches and unclenches his fists over and over. I don’t know how the fuck they plan to get his father out of prison or what this Elliot girl has to do with it, but it’s fucking thrown Mason bad. Combine that with telling him that Hunter is lurking around here somewhere and will be in our home tomorrow?Fuck.
“Mase. Let’s go.” Duke puts his hand on his shoulder and bends at the waist to murmur something in his ear. I don’t know what he says, but Mason shoots up off the couch, flips off both my dad and Tristan with a double bird and storms away. Wide-eyed, Duke lets out a heavy breath, running his hand over his jaw.
I track Mason with my eyes as he stalks out. Under my breath, I murmur, “Go with him. I’ll be right there.”
“You sure?” Duke’s gaze flicks from me to my dad. The sudden sick grin on my old man’s face is making me ten kinds of nervous.
I nod. “There’s something I need to speak to my dad about. I’ll be thirty seconds behind you.Go.We’ve been here too long already.”
Duke shoots me an agonized look, but takes off after Mason.
Once he’s left the room, Tristan stands, winking at me. “I’ll leave you to… your transaction.”
Anger shoots through me as he ambles away, not a care in the fucking world. Slowly, I twist around to meet my father’s gaze. “You fucking told him?” I hiss out.
“I needed some help procuring what you needed.” He tosses a baggie at me. “Should be enough to get you through the game tomorrow. We’ll see how things go at the auction before I allow any more. I’ll send it with Hunter.”
Hand shaking, I shove the pills into my pocket, staring at him incredulously. “So you’re threatening me.Again.”
