Page 42 of Kept

“You’re making me leave?”

I swipe a hand over my face. She’s so fucking naïve, I can’t work out if I want to shake her or pin her down and show her exactly why she shouldn’t have volunteered to come home with men whobroke into her fucking apartment.

Jesus. If I make her leave, she’ll be a prime target for any asshole on the street. One look at her and she screamsvictim.

If I allow her to stay, she might become one anyway.

But she’d be ours, the voice whispers.

She stares at me beseechingly, and behind her, Enzo pins me with a hard stare. “She stays.”

Zella turns to him, relief flitting across her face. “Really?”

Straightening, I reach out and turn her face towards me, my fingers gripping her chin.

“He’s not the one you have to convince, Zella.”

Even her bones feel fragile, breakable under my hand as her soft puffs of breath fall against my skin.

It would be so easy to break her. And easier for us than most.

She wets her lips. “Please,” she asks quietly. “Please, Maverick.”

Fuck if her words don’t make my cock harden like a damn rock. The choked sound next to me tells me Ryder feels the same way.

My fingers rub her cheek. “If you stay… there are rules.”

Her eyes brighten immediately, and she nods enthusiastically. “I can do that. I’m good at following orders.”

Ryder lets out a strangled groan. “Princess.”

“What?” She tries to look at him, but I won’t let her.

I need her to see the risk she’s taking.

“We are not good men, Zella,” I tell her quietly.

Ryder and I are fifty shades of fucking grey. And Enzo is ninety-nine per cent dark.

But she nods anyway. A small hint of what looks like hesitation enters her eyes. “You’re talking about the room downstairs, right? Where I woke up?”

Enzo stiffens next to her.

“You don’t go down there,” I say firmly. “Not unless one of us is with you.”

She nods eagerly. “What else?”

“No going outside.” At my words, her face crumples.

“At all?” she whispers. “Not even the garden?”

“Same rules apply. With one of us only.”

She blows out a shuddery breath. “Okay.”

Her acquiescence does fucking things to my insides.

The last rule slides out too easily. “Finally, you do exactly as you’re told.”

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