Page 90 of Vicious Kitten

Outside the bedroom, she does have a naivety about her when it comes to relationships, and yeah, she can be a sassy little minx, but her love for Ty, for all of us, is real. There’s no doubting that.

“I don’t understand how you can be ok with this.” Marcus grits his teeth at Shaun.

“I guess I’m more like Ty and Rhys than the rest of you are. I get their connection, and yeah, I was fucking shocked when I first found out, but then Rhys explained to me how it came about, and I understand Ty didn’t seek her out. He avoided her for a long time. Until…”

“Until what?” Marcus snaps, pacing in front of the fireplace.

“Until they were forced together by Master Hill.” Shaun stands from the couch and starts pacing. “Rhys was given two options. One was to go with Master Hill alone, down to his fucking sex dungeon. The other was to fuck Ty on the podium in front of everyone. They both chose it. She chose Ty because she’s terrified of Master Hill. And Ty sacrificed his reputation to do that with Rhys because he knows how she feels about the Master, and there’s no way he was going to let that happen.” Shaun tries to explain, but it’s like talking to a brick wall when Marcus is this worked up.

“You do realise how ridiculous all that sounds, right? She had a third option. It was to get up and leave that fucking sick place.” Marcus snaps, his fists balled like he’s ready to throw down again.

“You’re right. It does sound ridiculous.” I interrupt. “To us, it does. But not to the people who go to places like that. And not to Rhys. I don’t mean to sound like a prick, but are you forgetting about her addiction, Grady? To Rhys, taking away that place was probably like asking her to never have sex again. She needed it, man, at least until we came along.”

“It still doesn’t make sense to me.” Marcus huffs, finally dropping his arse on the couch next to Simon.

“It doesn’t have to make sense to you. This isn’t about you. It’s about Rhys.” I point out, and Marcus glares at me.

“It is about me if I take part in a fucking orgy with my PE teacher.”

“You’re right.” Rhys’ voice gains our attention as she limps past the kitchen to where we are seated on the couch. Tyler enters the room after her, having spent a good twenty minutes cleaning up her feet, but he hovers near the kitchen, giving us space.

“You should have been told who you were getting naked with.” Her voice is flat. It’s filled with shame, and fuck, I hate hearing it. She comes to stand in front of us, her eyes red from unshed tears. She seems unusually nervous, her hands fidgeting in front of her. “I’ve been selfish. I always have, I guess. I used to think it was my addiction. Maybe my selfishness is from that, maybe it isn’t, but it doesn’t make it ok, either way.” She turns to Marcus. “I strung you along for weeks last term, telling you what I couldn’t give you, yet not letting you go. I was so messed up because I wanted you, but didn’t want to admit it. I couldn’t figure out how a relationship with you would work, and I knew that I’d seek out sex from someplace else, eventually. Not because you aren’t amazing, but because I’m sick and need things that aren’t normal.” She slowly drags her eyes from Marcus to Shaun.

“As soon as I realised it was you under that mask, I should have stopped you because I knew it was wrong. I knew it was a betrayal to Marcus.” She takes a deep breath like she’s trying to compose herself, and fuck if I don’t want to walk over to her and lift her in my arms and take her pain away. “But I didn’t stop because I let the need control me.”

“But-.” Shaun tries to speak, but Rhys holds her finger up, shaking her head, silently telling him not to say anything.

“I also had the chance to stop it from going further at school. But I was weak and a mess after seeing Marcus again, and with all the shit going on with Julie…” She shakes her head, looking down as she sighs. “So I took what I needed once again.” She turns to Simon. “And you, Sy. Fuck, you deserved someone nice and sweet to take your virginity. Not a whore.”

“Hey! Now that’s enough!” Simon leaps from his seat and comes to stand in front of Rhys. “Don’t you talk like that, Cherry. Ever. I won’t have it, and I understand that you feel like you need to explain things, but you don’t. We all understand what the situation was in the beginning, but that’s not what it is now. You’re different now, Cherry. We haveallchanged.”

“I may have changed, but I’m still me. I’m still selfish. How can you say I’m not when I’m asking each of you to share me? How can you deny that when I hide a huge secret of who Tyler is from you? How can you even trust what I’m saying?”

“You never lied about Tyler, Baby Girl.” I stand from the couch, approaching her as Simon backs away. She cranes her head back to keep her eyes on mine, and when I reach her, I cup her rosy cheek. “You were honest about not being able to tell us who he was. He was the one that asked you to keep his identity a secret, and you were respecting his wishes because of the legal ramifications.”

“I feel like I’m as bad as a predator, though. I feel like I’ve manipulated you all into something you don’t really want, and one day you’re going to wake up and think, what the fuck am I doing? This isn’t right,” her lip trembles, “and then you’ll leave.”

“You didn’t manipulate us.” I brush her dark hair back off her face, staring into her chocolate eyes that are filled with so much torment right now.

“Yes, I did.” She pulls away from me. “I manipulated Tyler. I basically blackmailed him. I-.”

“Enough!” Tyler snaps, coming to join us in his living room. “The past is in the past. No more talk of it. We can’t change it. All we can do is focus on now and the future.” He eyes each one of us then, and I step away, giving him space with Rhys. “I’m not going anywhere. You may not understand it, but what I have with Rhys is real. I am happy to share her with you, only if that’s whatshewants. If it means she can only be with me when the both of us can be alone because you’re uncomfortable with me, then that’s fine. I won’t ask any of you to do anything you’re not comfortable with, other than sharing Rhys with me.” He turns to Rhys. “None of us are perfect, and Marcus is right to be pissed. He needs time to think over things. But the loving you part won’t change, beautiful. He loves you. I love you. The other three love you. I’m not going anywhere, and I get the feeling they aren’t either. So, let’s just figure out how to make this work.”

Rhys nods up at him hesitantly before sinking against his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist, seeking comfort.

“What do you say, fellas? Are you willing to figure out how to make this work?” Tyler asks us over the top of Rhys’ head, and fuck it. I nod because I’m not going anywhere.

“Yep. I’m definitely willing.” I announce, and Ty gives me a nod.

“You know I am.” Shaun offers.

“I’ll admit, I’m still freaking out that I watched my PE teacher bang my girl, but yeah. I’m gonna make Cherry an honest woman one day.”

We all laugh at Simon, and the wordsget in lineare on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t say them.

We all glance at Marcus then. His face is sullen but not fuming with anger like it was before, and he stands, puffing his chest out and making himself taller as he approaches Tyler, who still has Rhys in his arms.

“I’m willing to try, but I’m telling you right now,” he points aggressively at Tyler, “do not get your dick out in front of me again unless I say you can. I’m gonna need a whole fucking lot of time to get used to this.” He huffs then, dropping his hand. “But yes. I love Rhee, so I will try.For her.” Marcus reaches forward then, snagging Rhys by the arm and tugging her out of Ty’s grip, only to pull her to his chest and hug her tight.

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