Page 73 of Dollhouse

“You are home, Tate. You’re looking for a fight and I’m not going to give it to you.” His right hand wraps around my throat, tight enough to block my airflow, and instantly, I stop fighting him and my attention zeroes in on him and only him. I know he’s not doing it to hurt me. He’s doing it to calm me. I realize quickly that Ineedpain to feel normal. It’s all I’ve ever known.

Rowen backs me against the wall, his left hand gripping my waist. “You. Are. Home. You are ours, and you better fucking understand that. I fucked up once by not running away with you but, baby, I’m here. I’m not running, and you don’t need to run anymore either. I’ve got you.” His face is so close to mine I can feel the warmth of his breath across my lips. He says his words through gritted teeth, and I lose it.

I fucking lose it.

Salty tears stream uncontrollably down my face. My legs shake and give out, Rowen wraps his arms around me and falls to the floor with me, holding me against him while sobs rake through my body.

Every single emotion I’ve ever felt is being exiled.

I cry for the little girl that lost her innocence at a young age.

I cry for the girl who wanted to be loved so badly that she found herself in the arms of a man who beat her.

I cry for the girl who doesn’t know how to be loved, but still desperately wants to be loved and to love, even if she isn’t sure how.

Rowen holds me tightly in his arms, so tight there’s no way I can break any further, I can only heal.

He protected me in ways he didn’t have to. Even as a child, I believed I loved him. I felt something for him.

I feel something for him, for all three of them, that I had never felt before. I’m not yet sure what the feeling is exactly, but there’s something blossoming within me.

We could hear Tate’s screams and cries from my office, so King and I stayed behind to allow her and Ro to have their moment.

They have a bond that none of us can deny.

They were forced into something disgusting and inhumane as children, and for as long as I’ve known him, he’s always had a soft spot for her.

Even if he hadn’t seen her, he still thought about her daily.

I still remember the night he told me about her. It was six months after we’d met, and I’d woken him from yet another nightmare. I did that nearly every night, but he finally caved and told me all about the dreams that haunted him. He told me about how he was forced into child pornography by his foster father, and how he was forced to rape a blue-eyed girl when she was only ten. He told me everything, and through the years, he still brought up Tate. Well, Lee, since that’s who she was at the time.

“What are we going to do about Ace Jackson?” King asks as he takes the file from my desk that I and our security put together on Tate.

“I’ve already given his name to security. We’ll have a complete report back soon. In the meantime, I’m still digging through her past. Anyone who knows her as Lee is a suspect.” I can feel my resolve slipping. I enjoy control in all things. Due to our line of work, I especially have to be in control. And this situation is something that I can’t fucking control. We’d initially run a background check on Tate when she’d arrived in our city. But we decided to dig deeper and uncover every possible secret we could find. And I’ll admit, Ace did a good job of deleting her background, but he’s no match for our security team. They can uncover files that have been deleted.

I’m becoming furious with the fact we don’t know who wants Tate or why. We have no information and we’re not any closer to getting it either.

The only suspect we had was her husband, and he’s been ruled out. For now, he’ll stay put in that mansion of his where he beat her repeatedly. But once the dust settles, you bet your ass that we will be paying him a visit and giving him just what the fuck he deserves. We must wait.

I push back from my desk and stand. “I’m taking Tate into the city with me tomorrow. I have a meeting I can’t miss.” King nods, not needing me to explain to him what I need him and Rowen to do. He’s capable of reading between the lines. If I’m at our office, that means he and Rowen are doing the groundwork today. I need both of them this time. No one can stay behind to babysit Tate, they’ve been doing that enough lately.

“Ro and I will go tomorrow and find out what we can about Ace. We’ll visit his apartment to see if he’s home. I have a few others we’re going to meet with as well,” King explains.

“Who are the others you’re going to meet with?”

“The Westside Disciples have a new leader. They’re operating under the radar, and they have left our city alone. But I think someone within their organization may know something about the contract placed for Tate.”

Fuck. This is news to me. Last I checked, the disciples were deteriorating after the death of Malakai. King has access to more information than I give him credit for.

“Alright. Take Ro and stay strapped.” I don’t have to tell him to stay alert, he’s loaded already, but at least it gives me a piece of mind.

I never want to lose either of my brothers, and after Rowen was shot, I’m being even more cautious.

With a nod, King leaves my office and I follow behind.

The common areas are empty, so I assume Rowen has taken Tate upstairs.

Whatever this thing or relationship it is that the three of us have with her has moved way too quick. We’ve known her a short amount of time, sans Rowen, but yet here we all are, each of us sharing a different type of relationship… a relationship that is more sexual than anything else.

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