Page 13 of Seduction

“I said, go the fuck away, Ollie! I don’t want to play some stupid ass kid games with you, let alone anyone else here! I just want to find my fucking father!” Haliee shouts, finally jumping up from the bed to pace the bedroom.

I mask the hurt at her words and try again.

“Come on, Haliee. It won’t be the same without you. You’ll make it fun, and you’ll get to know us better too,” I say, trying to sound hopeful.

“Why the fuck do you care so much whether or not I play? It’s pretty clear to me I’m nothing but a possession to you all, a toy. Let me guess, you want me to just bend over too before you fucking lie to me and shatter my world?!?” Haliee shouts again, letting her anger get the best of her.

I know for a fact she doesn’t even believe the words she’s spewing, but her emotions are all over the place right now and she needs someone to blame.

Between not knowing where her father is, and Lukas not being here, she feels alone, and I get it. She doesn’t know the rest of us the same way.

“It’s not like that, Angel. You make us better men. You’re as much a part of us as we are to each other. We just want to look out for your best interests and make you happy,” I say, starting to feel vulnerable.

“WHY DO YOU CARE SO FUCKING MUCH!?!” Haliee screams at the top of her lungs.

I won’t be surprised if any of the guys bust into the room soon. What I say next needs to count to try and get through to her, so for the first time in my life, I drop the walls I fortified around my heart.

“I care because no one cared about me until them, and now you. I know the loneliness you’re feeling right now, and I know the helplessness from the unknown,” I say gently, dropping my head down and sitting on the bed. “I have three little sisters and two older ones that I’ll never see again. Once I ran from my old life, I never looked back and never will. I couldn’t help them then, and I sure as fuck can’t help them now.” I take a deep breath, not chancing a look at her just yet.

“I came from a hard-core religious cult, Haliee. Even if I could help my sisters, they’re too brainwashed to leave at this point,” I tell her on a whisper, as the trauma from my past rips open the scar left on my heart.

Haliee stands in shocked silence when a knock sounds at the door.

“Everything ok in there?” Comes Torren’s muffled voice.

“We’re fine. Give us a few, Tor,” Haliee replies, making her way over to me and kneeling down.

“Tell me more, Ollie. If you can and only if you want to,” Haliee whispers softly, placing her hands on my knees in support.

“I was groomed. I was the prodigy of one of the most respected families of the community. The deacons had particular tastes they enjoyed, and it was mainly me being passed around for their fun. I was too young and innocent to understand that wasn’t okay behaviour. I thought with all my heart I was doing the right thing and making my community proud by pleasing the deacons. They wanted to ‘train’ me to be a dominant man, a leader, one who could rule women the way they were meant to be handled.” I let out a harsh breath, and Haliee squeezes my knees, lending me some strength for this next part.

“When it was my turn to choose my future wife, they gave me two options. A girl that was only five years old at the time, or one of my younger sisters. Something clicked in my brain that it wasn’t okay. I knew the community married older men with younger girls, but never that young. I didn’t get it. One of the deacons got upset with me over my reaction.” My hands tremble as the flashback hits harder than it should.

“He led me down to his office and had me remove my shirt,” I start, and then lift my shirt over my head. If Haliee’s going to understand she needs to see too.

I don’t think she noticed my scars in the darker room when she watched Corden fucking me, and I’m glad she didn’t.

This feels like the right way for her to find out.

I turn around and let her see the damage of my past. Every ugly, jagged scar on my back that spreads down my ass and thighs.

“It was when I first learned I was a sick bastard. I—I liked the pain. It made me feel like I was being given the punishment I deserved for not doing my best to make everyone happy,” I tell her, turning back around and pulling my shirt back on.

“Ollie,” she whispers, then swallows hard.

“Shortly before it was time for me to officially choose a bride, one of my sisters killed herself.” I feel my heart crumbling as I remember finding her body. “She was thirteen and my parents were trying to force her into a marriage with a forty-year-old. She couldn’t see a way out, so she took her life.” My throat catches on the pain.

“Ollie.” My Angel is sitting beside me, clinging to my arm, but I keep going. She has to know.

“When the day came for me to turn in my choice of bride, I ran. I couldn’t continue with the lifestyle. The one my sister feared so much she left me. I couldn’t make them happy, and I didn’t want this life of manipulation and deceit. I spent the better part of four months living beneath one underpass after another, before getting picked up by CPS.” I take another shuddering breath.

“But…” Her voice is so broken.

“Nobody cared. Nobody even noticed I was gone. No one filed a report of me missing. So, they took me to a group home where I met the guys,” I finish, giving her the ugliest parts of me. “And you know the rest.”

Haliee moves to kneel on the floor, clutching my arm with tears marring her beautiful face.

“Don’t cry for me, Angel. I don’t deserve your tears,” I say, wiping my thumb across her cheek.

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