Page 32 of Addicted to the Ruin

“I think we may have finally broken her.” He laughs, using his grip to pull me into his enormous arms. I go willingly, wrapping myself around him like a koala bear, and he chuckles again, which only makes me whimper as my now oversensitive cunt brushes against him. “No more?” I shake my head against his chest, unable to verbalize my answer. “Okay then, princess. Let’s get you out and dry,” he says, his hands cupping my ass as he stands up and strides over to the steps. The others follow after washing off, and by the time they’re stepping out, Knox has me tucked up in Aeron’s bed, one of Aeron’s dark navy T-shirts covering my body and the covers pulled up to my chin.

The bed dips as Knox gets in behind me, pulling me close, and I sigh as I nestle against him.

“Promise I never have to sleep alone again,” I say on a yawn, my eyes already closed. My lips tug upwards as someone gets into bed in front of me, and by the smell alone I know that it’s Aeron as he tucks a stray hair behind my ear.

“You will never sleep alone, Dove,” he whispers, leaning in and placing a kiss on my forehead. “But we are going to need a bigger fucking bed.”

“You always were a bed hog,” I hear Jude tease as the bed dips again, but my lids are too heavy to lift, so I just snuggle down into the warmth of my guys and listen to them bicker as I drift off into sleep.

Lark

“Hallelujah” by Boyce Avenue

Hands grope me, pain radiating between my legs as he forces his way inside me over and over again, my voice reduced to ruined whimpers after all the screaming.

“I told you you’d wish for death long before I gave it to you, girlie.” Dean’s rank breath washes over my face as he continues to rut into my unwilling body. I’m desperately looking around, trying to find those ocean eyes that helped me last time, but I can’t see them, it’s just too fucking dark.

“A–Aeron,” I croak, searching as Dean jolts my body with the force of his thrusts.

But I’m all alone, facing this horror again.

“No one is coming to save you this time, girlie. You’ll never be free of us,” Dean whispers like the words of a lover, his hand coming around to the front of my throat and squeezing until the darkness eats my vision…

“Lark!” Strong hands shake me, the familiar voice filtering into my subconscious and dragging me from the nightmare that has plagued me for the past week. “Baby, wake up.”

My eyes fly open as I gasp, sweat covering my skin even as I feel freezing cold and my teeth chatter, my body shivering.

“That’s it, Nightingale, breathe for us,” Jude’s worried voice urges, and I blink to see Aeron over me, his hands grasping my shoulders like he was about to shake me again. Jude is beside him, one of my hands in his as he rubs it. “There you are, Princess Nightingale.”

A sob stutters from my chest, my lips trembling as I try in vain to hold the storm of anguish inside me. Suddenly, I’m enveloped in Aeron’s clean cotton, amber, and vanilla scent as he wraps his arms around me. We’re both naked, and I drink in the contact of our skin as I hold him back and cry into his chest.

“It’s okay, Dove. They can never hurt you again,” he soothes, Jude rubbing calming circles on my back as Aeron strokes my hair. “You’re safe.”

“W–when will I be free?” I sob, looking up at him with tears in my lashes, my voice thick. “When will they stop haunting me?”

His brows dip, his jaw tight as he looks down at me, the darkness in the room telling me it’s still the middle of the night. I’ve insisted we sleep with the curtains open ever since we got back a week ago, so only the city lights below us illuminate the space. I just couldn’t stand the idea of being shut in the dark. “I don’t know, Dove. You’ve been through so much. Maybe it’s time that you spoke to someone about it all?”

I’m shaking my head before he’s even finished. “I don’t want to tell some random stranger all of my dark past,” I rush out, my tone stronger. The idea of admitting my abuse to someone else makes bile rise to my throat, I can barely face the memories myself. Aeron sighs, leaning down to place a kiss on my forehead.

“Okay, love, but you’ll have to face it eventually. You can’t keep it bottled up forever.”

“I’ll go make you some hot chocolate,” Jude offers, bending over and kissing me lightly on my cheek. “Then we can both let Aeron fuck the crazy out of us.”

“Fuck’s sake, Jude,” Aeron groans, his tone exasperated but I can hear the smile regardless. It tugs my lips upwards too, the world not feeling so terrible now. Jude has that effect, and I’m beyond grateful for it. “I’m not fucking you, we’re related.”

“Sure, big bro. You keep telling yourself that,” Jude answers with a wink, getting out of bed and striding out of the room completely bollock-ass naked. I giggle and Aeron settles us back down in the bed, pulling me into him.

“You’re good for him, Dove,” he tells me, drawing patterns on my back with his fingers. “You’re good for all of us, but I’m not sure we’re good for you.” My breath catches and I try to jerk upright, but he holds me in place. My ribs are still sore so I can’t fight against his stupid man strength either. “Calm down, Dove. We aren’t letting you go anywhere, we’re all too selfish for that.”

“Then why say something like that?” I question him, my fingers tracing his lark tattoo. He lets out a deep sigh and my body moves with the rise and fall of his chest.

“Because I worry that we’re not what you need.” His voice is so soft that I would have missed his words if I wasn’t listening so carefully. This time I manage to push up, only enough so that I can see his face lined in the soft light of the city at night.

“All of you are exactly what I need,” I tell him, my hand stroking the side of his face, and his eyes close briefly at the touch. “It took me until I thought I’d lost you, after I set you guys up and we were in those horrible cages, to realize that what I needed wasn’t to run away from this place. What I truly needed, craved, was to find a family, somewhere that I truly belong, and that’s with you guys. You are my family.Weare a family, Devil man. We belong together.”

I wish I could see his eyes clearer, the shadows are a little too deep for me to discern what’s going on in those blue orbs that remind me of the ocean so much. His own hands come up to frame my face, and he draws me close, his lips a hairbreadth away from mine.

“You are exactly what we all need too, my love, and what we didn’t realize we were missing for so fucking long,” he breathes against my lips, kissing me softly and then pulling away. “But don’t let Knox hear you talk about family. He’s got a hard-on for putting a baby in your belly.” He strokes the slightly raised bump under my arm where my implant is, and my brows dip as I consider his words.

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