You're ours now

SARAH 

Their driver from last night insists on taking me home. He says they would kill him if they find out he let me take a taxi home. I don’t want to ride in their car. I can’t risk them knowing where I live. 

So, I take his offer, but I only allow him drive me to the club from last night. I thank him and find my car in the parking lot. As I sit in it, I realize that I have to return to a place that was once my home. I realize that the fundamentals of my marriage have changed, and what I thought would be happily ever after for my husband and I have turned out to be anything but. I shake my head to fight back the gut wrenching feeling of disappointment as I turn the key in ignition and bring the engine to life. 

When I’m home, I barely shut the front door before Aaron’s voice cuts through the house. He’s standing on the foot of the staircase in blue cargo pants and a white vest. Yes. He’s not dressed for work because he doesn’t work. All he did years ago was help me start my insurance company, Wellspring, and he’s been reaping the benefits ever since. 

“Where the hell have you been?”

I don’t answer right away. I kick off my shoes, shrug out of my jacket, and pretend he’s not standing there. I can feel his gaze burn through my skin when he looks at the skimpy red dress I’m wearing. I always keep a coat in my car just in case. 

“I asked you a question, Sarah. Where are you coming from looking like a half baked slut?” 

I take in deep breaths and raise my gaze to him. When I finally speak, my voice is even. 

“It’s none of your business what I do, Aaron. We’re in an open marriage, remember? What I do, with who, and where is none of your business.” 

He laughs. 

“That’s cute,” he says, shaking his head. “Wait a minute, Sarah. You think you can make me jealous? You? Come on, Sarah, you’re too damn lame for that. And let’s be real, if you ever try to fuck someone else, they’ll tell you the same thing. I’m sure wherever you went looking like a tramp, you were probably treated like a low budget one.”

Was I? 

I don’t know why, but his  words hit harder than I want them to. 

I tell myself I don’t care—that I expected this from him. That the HawkThorne brothers are enough to show me that I’m desirable. Aaron’s opinion of me shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t. 

But my body betrays me. My throat tightens. My chest caves in. I turn on my heel and walk straight up the stairs, and into our bedroom. I find the bathroom, and shut  the door behind me before I let my tears spill over.

I sit on the closed toilet lid, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to force the ache away.

 This is what he wanted, right? An open relationship. Freedom. Then why does it feel like I’m the only one breaking? Why does he get to be happy while making me feel miserable? I’m in the bathroom for hours, just bawling my guts out. I’m late for work already, but who cares? 

My personal assistant can always…shit. I fired her. I sent word to the HR while on my way to the club that she was fired, and I made sure to add why even though I knew how it made me look. Who knows? If she wasn’t a middle aged woman, Aaron would have tried to fuck her too. I clean my eyes and rise up. I have to get to work. Wellspring is all I have now. 

By the time I gather myself and step out, I hear something. A muffled moan accompanied by the creaking sound of furniture. My heart pounds as I follow the sound. My heart knows what I’m about to find, but my feet can’t stop moving. 

The sound leads me to my home office.

The door is slightly ajar. I push it open just enough to see—

Aaron. With another woman. Not my personal assistant this time. It’s someone else. The motherfucker has a whole roster. And he’s fucking her right there on my desk.

As she screams in pleasure, she slaps a portrait of me down to the ground, and the glass frame shatters into tiny pieces. Aaron doesn’t stop, doesn’t acknowledge what she has done. 

My stomach drops. 

I don’t cry. I don’t scream. I don’t even breathe. I just turn around and walk out, return to the room, and get dressed for work. 

I sit in my car for hours, staring at the empty street, hands clenched in my lap. My phone rings, snapping me out of the daze.

Kevin. My darling brother. Just the person I needed to speak to. 

I clear my throat and answer. “Hey.”

“You okay?” His voice sounds normal, but I know him too well. There’s something beneath it.

“I’m fine.”

“You sure? ‘Cause my friends—you remember the HawkThornes?— said they ran into you last night. They said you seemed gloomy, but they made sure to cheer you up. Is there something you want to talk to me about, berry?” 

A cold sweat trickles down my back. My grip on the phone tightens.

Cheer me up? And yes, my brother calls me berry. I ate a lot of them when I was younger. It was my comfort fruit. But, back to my panic…

“They… they told you that?” My voice is breaking as my heart pounds against my chest. Surely, they didn’t tell him anything else, right? 

Kevin hums. “Yeah. Why?”

I exhale slowly, forcing calm. “Nothing. Thanks for checking in, Kev. I gotta go.”

I end the call before he can ask more. My pulse is erratic now, a different kind of panic settling in. I pull their card from my purse, stare at the number, type it in my phone, and before I can talk myself out of it, I press dial.

It rings once. Twice.

Then a deep voice answers. “That was fast.” It’s Ronan. 

I grit my teeth. “What the hell did you tell my brother?”

Malachi chuckles over the phone.

Are they always in the same place at the same time? 

 “Relax, sweetheart. We were just looking out for you. Since you’re ours now.”

I scoff. “I’m not yours. What happened was a mistake. It can’t happen again.”

Silence. Then Ronan’s voice comes again, darker, lower. 

“That’s cute, Sarah. But you don’t get a choice.”

My stomach tightens.

“We’ve tasted you once,” he continues, “And we’ll do it again. And again.”

Heat pools in my core. 

Stop it, Sarah. You shouldn’t be feeling this way. 

I know it. But I can’t stop it. 

Jaxon’s voice joins in, smooth and knowing. “I bet you’re already wet, just from hearing us.”

I hate that he’s right.

I hang up before I can betray myself any further.