Page 22 of Their Best Friends' Bratty Little Sister

Instinctively she knew the house wasn’t empty. She could feel their potent presence through the walls.

Taking a deep breath, she walked into the kitchen and found Rowan and Cameron drinking their coffee. Lawson was nowhere in sight.

“Good morning,” she said politely. She didn’t want to come off as hostile again. She needed them to do her bidding so she was going to be very congenial.

She brushed aside the hotness that splattered across her cheeks at the sight of them. Everything they had done to her the day before flashed yet again through her mind.

They had seen her spread open. Had punished her until she gave them what they wanted. She had also climaxed like a pathetic weakling with no pride.

A part of her had taken her embarrassment and built it into defensiveness. She should be mad. She should make them apologize to her for treating her like that. She should demand they tell her they were sorry for making her come.

But she drew in another breath. She had to let that go. Although the memory had been etched into her soul and would forever haunt her.

“Whoa,” Cameron said, then whistled. She didn’t know why she blushed like a teenage girl when they both perused her. To cover that up, she rolled her eyes at Cameron while at the same time blushing anew at the thought of how he had braided her hair the same way he had used rope to bind her to a chair.

“I appreciate you allowing Anna to send me my clothes. Thank you.”

It was all good. She was coming off as sincere.

“I also want to thank you for allowing me to get that about the blackmailer off my chest. I know it’s going to be impossible to find him, he told him so himself so I shouldn’t try, but I feel lighter now. So I guess this is goodbye?”

She could never truly understand why her implying she wanted to leave changed the atmosphere around her from almost pleasant to one where it appeared as if a dark cloud had erupted.

Cameron, who she didn’t know had any other expression except one of lazy sexiness, gritted his teeth until his jaw rippled.

Rowan did nothing except invade her space as if he were the very dark cloud himself that opened its doom over their heads.

She gasped, weakened at Rowan’s closeness. At what he had done to her. How invasive his touch had been and how hot it still made her feel despite remembering what the burn of the ginger root had done to her.

“You still have until the end of the next month to be here. That was the arrangement your brothers made with us. I suggest you find that list of chores and get started. We’ll be happy to keep you here longer than the next few weeks in order for you to be able to follow that list properly.”

Argg. Rowan and that damn flipping list of his.

She wanted to start throwing things, she was so frustrated. But she kept her composure. She merely pursed her lips and swallowed her retorts as Rowan then strolled past her and exited the kitchen.

She still had a few days to figure things out. She wasn’t going to be defeated.

When Cameron followed she did a daring thing and snagged his phone from his pocket.

“If I’m going to be here for what is going to feel like forever, I want my best friend to know I’m a little okay.” She didn’t look up as she started typing. “Even prisoners get one phone call,” she said laced with sarcasm. She didn’t care that she called them demons and referred to her time there as her personal hell. She did however end it on a positive note. She was stronger than she had given herself credit for.

Her message remained unsent, so she handed him back his phone. Obviously, he had to put in a password or something. Why was there just no normal internet like there is for normal people? Oh, right, they weren’t normal.

She expected Cameron to delete her message, but he didn’t. He sent it anyway, then walked out. She was glad her friend would know she was still alive. Somehow she knew Alyson was going to be okay as well. Her brothers didn’t fully realize how strong she really was and their wealth didn’t impress her one bit.

Alone in the kitchen, Sienna stood still for a few minutes. She heard their pickup pull away and her thoughts drifted. She had never really thought about what they did. Cattle ranchers. That’s what they were. Clearly the whole thing was operated much farther from the house, not that she knew anything about actual real-life ranching. She had the intuition that they didn’t allow anyone onto the perimeter of their house.

She hadn’t seen another soul since she had been here. That wasn’t normal either. Did they really enjoy living off the grid so completely?

Granted the land was beautiful, with the mountains and the timeless trees, gardens filled with marigolds, roses, and other pretty flowers she couldn’t name. The lawns were lush and well kept. There was a woman’s touch to the gardens. Was it their mother?

She didn’t know anything about them. Which was just as well because she wasn’t staying.

Still, the whole secludedness of everything wouldn’t work for her. She needed to be free to go wherever she wanted whenever she wanted.

Yet there was a pull on her, a yearning for this kind of life. She hated the pressure of being in the limelight, although most would say she had been born into the role. But she was also a great pretender.

Fine.

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