Page 13 of Climbing Everest

I’m actually surprised he or one of the others hasn’t demanded to supervise me in the bathroom with the way they’ve tried to control my every movement since I arrived less than two days ago.

The door to the bedroom closes and I release a sigh of relief.

I know there’s someone outside the bedroom door, and I know anyone can come in here at any time, but at least I have a modicum of privacy for the time being.

Actually…

I look around the room, into each corner to check for cameras. Only one, and it’s pointed toward the shower. At least there isn’t one aimed at the toilet.

Assholes.

Oh, how tempted I am to strip naked and flip the camera the bird before showering. But I’m a grown woman, and I’m not convinced one of them won’t take it as a challenge and barge in here. They always did love when I was defiant.

A faint smile tugs at my lips as I recall our thousands of hours spent together. It all might be in the past and all those feelings they had for me might be dead…but at least I still have the memories.

Okay. Time to get this show on the road.

Until I can figure something else out, I have to play their game, follow their rules, and that starts with making sure I’m pretty and wearing what Brix chose for the day.

He didn’t set out any shoes, but I’ll just find something flattering yet comfortable.

They sure as fuck bought enough to pick from.

The remaining items they ordered had apparently been put away by one of their staff while I’d met with Alexa last night because the shower is stocked with different types of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and soap.

I pick each at random, not really caring after using drug store crap for so long. But damn, do the silky suds feel good against my skin.

Once I’m clean and fresh, I grab the fluffy green towel from the shower door and start to dry off.

Until I realize it’s a forest green towel. As in my favorite color. Whoever put this in here remembered. So…maybe they don’t hate me as much as I thought.

Wrapping the towel around my hair, I find a robe hanging on the back of the door – also in forest green – and slide it on so I can at least be covered while I do my skincare, makeup, and hair.

I highly doubt the guard outside the door would dare come in here, but I still don’t want any of them to see me naked.

Sure, they’ve seen me naked. They’ve touched me, tasted me, fucked me in every way possible. But that was a lifetime ago.

And until they start treating me with a little more kindness and respect and perhaps even listen to what I have to say, I have no intention of willingly lying down and spreading my legs for any of them.

Who are you kidding? One kiss from Maddox and your body was instantly on fire.

“Shut up,” I mutter to my stupid inner voice. Because I really don’t need the reminder of the way Madd’s lips felt nor the way my body awakened, and it felt as though my soul was stretching toward its other half.

It takes me close to thirty minutes to apply enough makeup to look like I didn’t drink half a bottle of wine and tame my long hair. Then I pull on the cropped sweater and the skirt that flares out almost like a schoolgirl’s skirt and leaves very little to the imagination.

No way am I going commando under this thing. One breeze and I’ll be flashing my ass and pussy to anyone looking in my general direction.

They can pretend to hate me all they want, but if they’re as possessive as they were before, someone might end up with a broken nose if I accidentally flash my body at them.

This whole thing might be a tactic, but Kato has staked his claim. The only people he has ever or will ever share me with are Brix and Madd. Like Karolos said, it would be a death sentence if Kato thought I was even thinking of another man.

Ducking into the closet, I settle on a pair of ballet flats, sliding my feet into them before making my way to the bedroom door. I don’t bother with a purse since I literally have nothing to stuff inside; no phone, no ID, nothing.

Kato has stripped me down until I’m fully reliant on him for the time being, and wives of any of the Families don’t work. Hence my surprise that Alexa was not only working as a wedding coordinator but had divorced her husband.

But they still have their talons in her.

She might have been able to walk away from her husband, but the Antonious will never let her walk away scot-free, not with her life intact.

Even when we know next to nothing about the inner workings, we women are seen as a risk if the police were to ever question us.

It’s all a bunch of archaic, antiquated, and highly misogynistic bullshit.

I’d thought my guys were different. They were different.

Kato has become his father, though. Like the moment he had to step up as the head of the Greek Family, he was molded into someone he used to despise.

The new guard stands outside my door and steps aside when I open the door. And, like they’d said would happen, he falls into step barely two feet behind me as I move through the hallway and descend the stairs in search of a quick breakfast before this mystery appointment Brix told me about.

“Where is everyone?” I ask over my shoulder.

The guy doesn’t answer.

I stop on the foyer, and he almost plows me over in his attempt to stop.

“Did you hear me?”

His eyes drop to my face then raise over my head.

“Seriously? You’re not even going to look at me? How the hell are you supposed to watch me if you can’t look at me?”

“He can watch you without ogling you,” Kato says as he steps into the hallway from another door. The office, if I remember correctly. “You’re not leaving the house in that.”

“Well, being as you’re the one who set the rules, you might want to discuss that with Brix. He picked this…outfit.”

I grab the sides of the skirt and tug them to the sides a little. And maybe it’s a bit of a tease being as the movement flashes the bottom of my panties to the room, but I don’t care.

Minute by minute, I’m growing angrier. Which, in my opinion, is the exact opposite effect Kato is going for by the flare of his nostrils and the clench of his jaw.

When he storms toward me, I raise my chin to give him access to my throat since I’ve quickly figured out exactly what he plans.

“If you’re going to choke me, the least you can do is call me a good girl this time,” I say.

It takes almost everything in me to keep from smirking at the way Kato’s steps falter and his lips fall open.

I would bet the last of my sanity I would find a bulge in his pants if I were to lower my eyes to his crotch.

“Where is Brix? He said I have an appointment today. What’s it going to be? Waxing my pussy? Already bare. Or maybe you guys want me blonde? You know, I wouldn’t mind a change,” I say, pushing my fingers through my dark, auburn hair and away from my face.

“You need something between those lips to keep you quiet?” Kato growls out.

And now it’s my turn to be stunned into silence. He seriously just turned the tables on me, played my own game against me.

Whatever. What’s the worst he can do? Kill me? Cool. Fine. Whatever.

The only thing that kept me going over the last four years was the knowledge the loves of my life were safe, that I had kept them alive by sacrificing everything about myself, including my body, my safety, and my sanity.

Here’s the thing, though. The thought of dropping to my knees right here in the foyer and pulling Kato’s cock from his pants makes me…

fuck, horny as hell. I’d always loved the sounds he would make when I swallowed him down, the way his fingers would tighten in my hair as he guided my head and set the pace.

Pushing those thoughts away, I move toward the kitchen, ignoring my shadow and letting my shoulder brush past Kato’s arm as I seek out something to eat before I’m dragged to who knows where.

“You ready?” Brix asks as I round the corner.

“You said an hour. I have fifteen minutes. I haven’t even had coffee yet.”

He pushes to his feet, grabs a travel mug, and pours it to the brim with coffee before replacing the lid and setting it on the counter, watching me with a raised brow.

“Take it or leave it. Time to go.”

With a put upon sigh, I grab the black coffee – the asshole knows I like my coffee swimming with sugar and creamer – and follow his brooding ass to the garage.

Why the hell do three men need so many vehicles? I know the guards’ SUVs are parked in a separate garage, so all these fancy ass cars, trucks and even motorcycles belong to Brixton, Kato, and Maddox.

Brix leads the way down the row, stopping beside a truck that looks like it requires a step ladder to enter. At least for those of us who aren’t giants.

He pulls the door open and stares down at me.

“How the hell am I supposed to get in there, Brix?” I ask.

He sighs heavily through his nose, as though I’m frustrating him before gripping me by the hips and lifting me onto the seat like I weigh nothing.

I squeak out a surprised sound and frown down at him. “Seriously, B?”

The nickname slips out before I can stop it.

And the look on his face…

He’s not happy.

Before I can stumble or stammer through an excuse, he swings the door shut so hard the entire truck shakes.

Then he’s stomping around the hood before climbing behind the wheel like I would in my piece of shit sedan back in Georgia.

“Kato isn’t happy about the outfit you chose,” I say once he’s started the engine and pulled out of the garage.

“What does it matter? All of Georgia has already seen your tits and cunt.”

Asshole .