Page 35 of Better Run

Slowly, I move my eyes back to him.

His gaze is shuttered. “Are you going to be sick again?”

I take stock of how I feel. Like shit, but not like throwing up. “No,” I mutter. Arrogant fucker. Inconvenienced by my puking when he forced the drugs on me. Or maybe mad at me for running. I don’t care. Either way, he asked for it.

He gets back to tattooing me. When he’s done, he gets off me. My back feels like it’s on fire. I stand and stretch, glaring at both men, hoping it makes me look hard. Inside though I feel…tired.

I cross my arms. Jayden pulls out a phone and snaps a picture. He flips it around so I can see.

He’s tattooed both of their names between the two dimples in my back. I gasp.

Cole makes an appreciative sound. “God damn. It’s so hot to have you branded as ours.”

I want to say something but no words come out. It’s clear Jayden has skill and the names are written in clean, legible flowy script, though my skin is raised in irritation. Jayden starts to tend to it.

“I hate it,” I say in monotone.

“Wash and lotion it twice a day and don’t scratch it.”

I wait for the anger in me. It doesn’t come. “Can I go to bed?”

Both of them give me quick looks as if that wasn’t the reaction they were expecting.

“Have anything else tucked in there to hit me with?” Cole asks.

“No.”

He shrugs. I start to go to my room, but Jayden says, “Crawl, kitten.”

I snap to look at him.

“Remember the rules. You break a rule, you crawl.”

I hate it. I hate him. I hate everything. But I drop to my knees and crawl to my room. I feel their heated stares on my ass as I leave. When I get to my room, I shut the door almost all the way. I vaguely notice there are warm, fuzzy socks on my feet. I drop on my stomach on the bed and close my eyes. What the hell were they thinking? Tattoos are fucking permanent. How am I going to explain this to Kyle?

Fuck. I just need sleep. Just sleep, and I’ll figure out a way to get home after that.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jayden

My bedroom door clicks shut, and I’m startled awake.

Instantly I know. Dread starts in my belly and moves out.

The bed dips, and I squeeze my eyes shut. I’ve stopped believing that closing my eyes will make it stop, but I do it anyway.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Cole

“Get up.” Our girl has been in her room for two days. She’s only come out to eat, otherwise, she stares at the wall. I’m worried about her.

She looks at me from her bed. Her blue eyes are vibrant, looking vulnerable and angry even in the soft light. She’s a strong woman, but I’ve been watching her get beat down. I tried to tell Jayden he can’t go so fast with her or he’ll break her mind too far. But as usual, he doesn’t listen.

There’s an art to shattering someone without driving them insane. Sometimes you have to break them gently, kindly even. Then you can build them back up slowly in the direction you want them to go.

“I’m tired.” She turns away.