Page 34 of Don’t Hate Me (Secrets of Ravens Hollow #2)

Orlando and Romeo disappear into the den again after breakfast, leaving me with time to catch up with just Onyx and Reef without the tension of the twins around.

I look over at Onyx, chewing the inside of my lip. “What do you think they’re talking about?”

“It’s none of our business, trouble,” Onyx grumbles.

I roll my eyes, looking back at the door they both disappeared through.

“Why don’t you come over here and sit with me,” Reef offers, patting the seat beside him, trying to entice me. “Romeo gave me his laptop so you can catch up on the club.”

My pulse quickens. “Really?”

He nods with that damn cheeky smirk he does so well, and I move as quickly as my legs will take me.

He pulls up last night’s security footage, and I study every little detail of it, watching as Sally and Myriah work the floor, chatting to our regulars and having a laugh.

They look okay, no different from normal.

Then I click on the next camera and watch the VIP room, dancers up on the stage and Erica working the bar happily.

She doesn’t look sad like she was the night I was taken.

But then I realize who she’s talking to.

Asher is sitting at the bar in front of her, the two of them clearly flirting. “He needs to stay away from her.”

“Erica’s a big girl, Sloane, I’m sure she can handle him,” Onyx mutters.

I glare at Onyx, knowing that’s not true. I sigh heavily, handing the laptop back to Reef. “Thanks, but it’s not the same. I want to go home.”

His hand laces into mine, and he gazes back at me. “I know, wildcat, I’m sure you will be able to soon.” His words don’t fill me with any confidence. None of them will let me leave this place until Syd is dead and Papa Moretti is dealt with, but that could be a long fucking time, and he knows it.

I stare back at him, wondering how I get around their rules. I just need a little sliver of my old life, something to give me hope that I won’t be this isolated forever. “Can I talk to Jagger?”

“No!” they both say at the same time.

“I know you both think it’s too dangerous, but isn’t there some way?” I ask, more hopeful. “Please.” I offer them my most charming smile, hoping to get my way.

Onyx’s eyes meet with mine, a seriousness washing over him I don’t like. Mr. Bossy is back, great! “Sorry, Sloane, it’s not going to happen. Jagger knows you are in safe hands and that you’re okay, and that’s all he needs to know.”

I don’t know why but his words get my back up. I’m sick of being shut down, told no and being kept in the dark. They want to help me, then fucking include me in it all, I don’t care how bad it is. “Are you hiding shit from me?”

Onyx looks confused. “Why would you say that?” he snaps.

“She thinks she overheard something this morning, but she was eavesdropping and probably didn’t hear correctly,” Reef answers for me, a brow raised that says he thinks I should keep my mouth shut about what I heard.

I shoot Reef a furious glare for butting into the conversation and having an opinion when it doesn’t concern him. With a careless shrug, he dismisses my snippy attitude toward him. “Are you?” I demand, wanting to know what Onyx knows.

His brow rises and his dark eyes intensify. “I wasn’t the one talking to Romeo this morning.”

“Who was then, was it Orlando? I know it wasn’t Reef, he was behind me at the time, and it was one of you.”

Reef’s hands grasp my shoulders, his intense gaze burning into me. “Settle down, Sloane, he could have been on the phone talking to anyone. No one in this house will intentionally hurt you in any way. You mean too much to us.”

“Do you promise me?” I whisper, needing to hear it.

Reef looks me over, and I see the flash of concern in his pretty features. “Sloane, what’s going on with you? This isn’t the girl I know, freaking out over a conversation.”

I run my hands through my hair, feeling like I’m losing control.

“Have you taken your meds?” Onyx asks more seriously.

I jerk my head back to look at him, my eyes widening.

“Yes, I have taken them,” I snap. Then my sharp gaze moves back to Reef.

“You lot have happened to me. I’m locked up here like a caged animal.

You know I need to be free, need to do things my way, and you have all stripped me of any control. It’s fucking with my head.”

They exchange a quick glance, in a way that makes my blood boil.

I stand in a rush. “Stop hiding shit from me. I’m done with the not-so-subtle looks, fuckers,” I spit, a surge of erratic energy radiating through me. I’m not even sure what I’m going to do right now.

“Sloane,” Reef utters my name in warning.

“Sit down, trouble,” Onyx growls, his voice holding more of a threat than warning.

I shake my head, telling him not to come any closer. He holds out his hand for me, and I can’t. I turn on my heel and run, sprinting back through the house as fast as my fucked-up ankle will let me.

“Sloane!” I hear them both shout my name from behind me.

But I keep moving. I don’t know where I’m going to run to, but I need out of the confines of this place.

It feels like the walls are caving in on me.

Like I’m slowly suffocating. Like my fucking wings have been clipped.

I’m a raven and I need to fucking fly. I can’t stay cooped up.

I swing open the front door and run out into the storm.

The wind is so strong it pelts rain against my face, feeling like tiny little needles shooting into me. In seconds I’m drenched right through to my skin. But I don’t care. It hurts less than feeling trapped and out of control at their hands.

Right as I make it to the sandstone stairs, Onyx comes barreling through and knocks me to the muddy ground.

Water flies everywhere, and I have to spit out the mouthful of dirty water I just ate.

With his hands firmly pressing into my shoulders so I can’t move, he stares down at me, raging like a fucking bull.

“Calm the fuck down, trouble.” His glare is colder than the rain.

My eyes narrow, giving him the stink-eye back.

“Fuck you,” I spit out at him because I’m so fucking frustrated I can’t see straight.

The torrential rain comes down in sheets, the mud flying up, plastering my clothes with a heavy, cold coating.

But I’m not moving for him. I would rather stay out here in the cold and feel the tiniest slither of freedom, even if it’s just an illusion.

“Reef, get the fucking door,” he grumbles over his shoulder as he scoops me up in his arms. I wrestle against his grip on me, but he’s holding me so damn close to his body, I couldn’t wriggle free if I tried.

I hate it, that they all have so much power over me.

But at the same time, I know while he wasn’t with me, all I did was crave his authority and wish he was here to save me.

I’m a massive contradiction and I know it.

Reef watches us together, his eyes filled with fear as he watches me struggling with Onyx as the big dude puts me in my place.

Onyx battles with me through the door and marches me up the stairs to the room the two of us spent last night in. With a hulk-like strength, he throws open the bathroom door and dumps me in the shower. He turns on the water, with me staring up at him, wondering what the fuck he’s doing.

“Hate me all you fucking want, trouble, but I didn’t do this to you.

Reef didn’t do this to you, neither did Romeo or Orlando.

You have four men dedicated to protecting you, saving you from the monsters out there who would do anything they can to destroy you.

Is that what you fucking want? For us to let them? ”

I glare up at him, my ragged breaths catching in my throat as the warm water soaks through my freezing-wet clothes. A gentle heat radiates through me, melting away the chill and soothing my aching body.

“Is it?” he yells, his voice booming off the tile walls in a way that vibrates right through me. He’s furious.

“N-no,” I stutter, not sure how to take him like this.

“I just want my fucking life back,” I whimper, his anger getting the better of me.

I can’t stand it when he’s mad with me. But doesn’t he get what this feels like?

He knows me better than anyone, he knows what I need and that I can’t live like this.

He takes a controlled step back from me, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turns away from me. “Stand up and get your clothes off.” His voice is thick with authority. This is his no-shit tone, but I don’t get it.

“W-what?” I stutter, not sure what to do when he’s like this. The last time he was, he removed a door with his bare hands.

Reef steps into the room, making eye contact with me. “Do what he says, wildcat.” His voice is gentler but still holds that same authoritarian edge.

With my whole body trembling, I stare back at the two of them.

What the fuck. Is this more of Onyx’s controlling shit?

But when I see his eyes darken to nearly black in the reflection of the mirror, I stumble to my feet and strip my shirt off over my head, followed by my skirt, then my panties and bra. I’m totally bare for the two of them.

Onyx turns back toward me, his gaze holding mine, but I notice the tremor in his body and the ragged gasps fighting for release.

“You think you have no control! But you have four men obsessed with you. That would die for you. That would give up their dreams, their life, for you alone. You have all the fucking power here, Sloane.”

His words make my heart race. Is he right?

His glare doesn’t leave me for a second. “Reef, get your wet clothes off and get in the shower with our girl,” he tells him without even so much as a glance over his shoulder.