Page 31 of Little Stranger

“Are you out of your little mood?”

I accept the beer, but I don’t drink it. “You just offered me up to all your friends.”

“Yeah, I did. Is that a problem?”

I grit my teeth and stare forward, flinching as he brushes hair from my shoulder. “I asked you a question, Olive.”

“My name is Olivia.”

“It doesn’t really matter what your name is though, does it?”

My chest heaves as I watch the clock. Malachi knows I’m out with Parker—he made sure his cum was coating my mouth and throat before I left, kissing me harder than ever before to prove a point. When I got to Parker’s, he forced his mouth on mine, and the only positive was that he would’ve had my brother’s taste on his tongue.

Asshole.

There’s a disturbance outside the basement door, and Parker sits up straight to see, but someone comes smashing through it, knocking the door off its hinges, and everyone jumps to their feet as five masked men walk in swinging bats.

I feel myself smile as the one in the middle, his face covered with a balaclava, twirls the silver bat between his fingers. Malachi’s eyes find me, and he tilts his head towards the broken doorway, telling me silently to get out.

I run without giving it a second thought, shrugging off Parker’s hand when he reaches for me.

I stop beside Malachi, whose gaze is now fixed on Parker. “Thank you,” I say. “He was going to make me blow him and his friends.”

Parker lifts his hands as Malachi raises the bat and storms towards him. “Hey, man. She’s a goddamn liar! She—”

He’s silenced by the bat smashing into the side of his face, knocking him sideways.

I run out of there just as I see my brother grab Parker by the hair and punch him hard in the nose, breaking it instantly.

“Olivia? Malachi?” Mom’s panicked voice reaches my ears as the front door opens, gentle, bloody hands on my shoulders as my brother walks me in. “Jamieson! Jamieson! Malachi is covered in blood!”

Heavy footsteps, then I hear my dad. “What the hell happened?”

“The next time you pair me up with someone, make sure he isn’t a piece of shit,” I snap at her. “Parker and his friends were going to attack me. He said that if I didn’t agree to it, he’d tell the world you paid him to take my virginity.”

Mom presses her hand to her chest. “Did he hurt you?”

My chin trembles as tears slip down my cheeks, and I shake my head. “I sent Malachi my location, and he got to me before they could do anything. Him and his ten friends were going to—” I stop, my stomach twisting. “Don’t ever pair me up with someone like him again.”

“Ten of them?” Dad shouts. “That piece of shit.”

But then Malachi’s burning, fuming gaze lifts to Mom, as if it just hit him what I said.You paid someone to fuck my sister?

It takes her a second to realize he communicated with her. “Don’t speak like that,” she scolds. “And I did it to help you, Olivia. I never intended for him to attack you.”

Dad steps up beside her, glaring. “Wait. Did I hear that right? You paid Parker fucking Melrose to sleep with my daughter?”

“He said no to the arrangement! I had to make him say yes! She was a virgin, and he didn’t want someone innocent!”

Dad’s jaw ticks, his nostrils flaring the same way my brother’s do when he’s mad. “I’ll speak to you later about this.”

He gives me a warm smile. “I’m going to fix this, angel. No one tries to hurt my child and gets away with it.” He walks away, shouting over his shoulder, “Malachi, grab your baseball bat and meet me in the garage.”

“Oh, he already got them.”

Dad stops, turning. “What?”

“They’re all dealt with.”

---