Page 39 of Marked by the Pack (Crooked Point #2)

Thursday

Zoey

All the guys turned toward Titan.

“Why do you have a video from her site when this whole time you said you weren’t interested in her?” Bennett asked.

“Fuck,” Titan said. But he didn’t offer any more information.

“I was going to tell you guys,” I said. “When the time was right. It just seemed like such a hard thing to bring up right away. I didn’t want any of you to look at me differently.

I wanted you to like me for me. But I was always going to bring it up so we could talk about it.

To figure out if you wanted me to stop.”

“ If we want you to stop?” Bennett asked.

“Sorry but, can we see that video or not?” Otto asked. “Because I bet it’s fucking hot.” He smiled at me.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he wasn’t upset at all. He was still speaking to me like he always did.

Bennett on the other hand? Practically fuming. And the twins didn’t exactly look happy either.

“No you can’t see the video,” Bennett said. “Titan, what the fuck? Why do you have it?”

“It’s fine,” I said. “He was just looking out for you guys.” I had no idea why I was defending Titan. But I’d never seen him look anything but pissed off before. And now? He looked…regretful. He looked sorry.

“No, it’s not fine,” Bennett said. “Titan. Answer me.”

“I wasn’t going to leak it, Zoey,” Titan said. “I swear. And I had no idea that you had a sex tape leaked before or I never would have…”

“Never would have what?” Huxley asked. “Titan, you didn’t.”

“I didn’t leak the tape. I just wanted proof that she wasn’t serious about this relationship.”

I felt tears welling in my eyes. That wasn’t true. I was serious about them.

“Fuck off, Titan,” Otto said.

“I was only going to show it to you guys as proof of what Zoey was doing behind your backs,” Titan said. “And I gave her a chance to tell you herself. I was only going to show you if she didn’t tell you by tonight.”

“You seriously blackmailed her?” Ace asked.

“No,” Titan said. “Yes. Fuck, I didn’t know!” He turned back to me. “I swear I didn’t know about what happened back in college. Or I never would have.”

I shrugged. I didn’t know what he wanted me to say.

“Zoey, I’m sorry.” He took a step toward me, but Ace put his arm out to stop him.

“Don’t pretend to be nice to her now after blackmailing her.”

“I was just doing my due diligence since all of you didn’t,” Titan said. “Are we not going to talk about the fact that she’s stripping for men online for money when she’s supposed to be dating us?”

Ace shook his head. “Since when were you part of the us when it came to Zoey? ”

It looked like Ace and Titan were about to fight. And the last thing I wanted was for them to lose control and shift. “Stop! All of you, just stop. It doesn’t matter why I told you. What matters is that I did. And it’s done. And if Titan could please delete that video…”

“We seriously don’t get to see it?” Otto asked. “I really want to see it.”

“Delete it now,” Bennett said.

Otto groaned.

I forced a laugh. Because Otto was trying to make light of the situation. But everyone was just pissed off at each other.

I watched Titan pull out his phone. He pressed a few buttons. I assumed it was done.

“So…yeah,” I said. “Now you know.” I stared at all of them. They all looked angry, pissed off, hurt. Except Otto. Because Otto always tried to make me feel better. I wiped away the tears beneath my eyes.

I swallowed hard. “Thank you guys, for everything. I meant what I said. I think you helped heal this piece of me that was still hurt by everything that happened back in college.” And hopefully tonight I’d find a way to pay them back for that.

“These last few days were some of my best in the last ten years.” I nodded.

“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say. “So thank you. And…I’m just going to go. ”

“Stop,” Bennett said.

I stared into his blue eyes. I was going to miss them.

“You’re just going to walk away?” he asked.

“I don’t have anything else to say.” I could feel myself breaking. I needed my bed. And Emma. I could really use one of her hugs right now .

“You don’t want to hear what we have to say? Because you said you wanted to talk about it.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. “I think it’s pretty obvious how you guys feel.”

Otto smiled. “I think it’s hot. Can we star in one of these videos with you?”

Huxley hit him in the back of the head.

I laughed, but it came out forced.

“Zoey, we’re in a relationship,” Bennett said. “So no, you don’t just get to walk away from us before we have an actual discussion about this.”

“I really am sorry,” I said. “I was going to tell you. I just…”

“Titan blackmailed you before you got a chance. Yeah. We’ll handle that later.”

“Okay.” I glanced at Titan.

He really did look sorry. I was so used to seeing him looking pissed off.

“So let’s talk about this,” Bennett said. “And figure it out together.”

“Wait. You…you’re not breaking up with me?”

He finally smiled. “No.” He closed the distance between us. “Are you breaking up with us?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” He put his hands on the sides of my face. “Back to back breakups in such a short span of time would have seriously wounded my ego.”

I smiled up at him. I was pretty sure I was in shock. Was he seriously not breaking up with me?

“More importantly though…” He wiped away my remaining tears with this thumbs. “I don’t want to lose you. ”

Gah, I was going to start crying all over again. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed the side of my face into his chest.

His hands settled on my back. For just a few moments, he held me. While my heart started beating normally again. And the pain in my chest eased. I’d expected the worst. I’d pictured them calling me a slut and kicking me to the curb. I never expected them to forgive me. To accept me.

“We do need to talk about this though,” he finally said, breaking the silence. “All of us.” He exhaled slowly as he pulled back from me. “I get why you started your MyFanatics account. But why keep it going for so long?”

“It’s my job.” It was more than that though. For a long time it had been everything to me.

“I thought you were a personal fitness instructor? Which honestly…I think we should probably talk about too.”

I pressed my lips together. If he didn’t like me instructing men in person in a non-sexual way, he definitely didn’t like my online job. “The personal fitness thing is just so that all my money isn’t so suspicious.”

“Like a front?” Ace asked.

I nodded. “Kind of, I guess.” That sounded like I was laundering money through it or something.

But it wasn’t for that. “It’s just so people in Crooked Point don’t go digging into my private life.

” I pressed my lips together. I wasn’t expecting to be talking about this too.

“So you guys don’t like that I’m a personal fitness instructor? ”

“I don’t like your hands on anyone else,” Huxley said.

“Not when we’re not present,” Ace added.

Honestly, I understood that. I didn’t want them touching anyone else either.

“It’s not just that,” Bennett said. “There are some rumors going around.”

I internally groaned. “What rumors?”

“That you sleep with your married clients.”

“Well they’re just rumors. I’ve never done that. Ever.”

“Good,” Bennett said.

“I feel like there’s a but coming.”

Bennett nodded. “I agree with Huxley and Ace. I don’t like it. But I don’t like the other thing even more.”

I swallowed hard. “I don’t care about the personal fitness thing. I’ll give it up.”

“But you do care about the camming?”

“It’s not just my job, I shouldn’t have said that. Yes, it’s my livelihood. But it’s been such a huge part of my life for so long. This secret part. I enjoyed it.” I used the past tense without even realizing it. Because I didn’t enjoy it as much now. “I’m really good at it.”

“I imagine so,” he said. “One of the top accounts on the whole site?”

I nodded.

Bennett exhaled slowly. “I don’t think I can handle knowing this is what you do when we’re not together. I know my limits. I’m honestly angry just thinking about it.”

I knew what he was saying without actually saying it. If he was having a hard time controlling his anger…he could shift. I didn’t want that .

“What exactly do you do on the site?” Huxley asked.

“I…um…” I looked at Titan. I kind of wished he had the video now. He could just show them.

“I post pictures on my main page,” I said. “And livestream. I wear a bunny mask and play with phallic produce.”

Otto smiled at me. “Play with?”

“Yeah. Lick the side of it. Deep throat it. That kind of thing.”

“Oh. Like that thing you did with a banana that one night? That was hot.”

He hadn’t said anything during the personal fitness instructor debate. But I was happy to see him still joking around. “Yeah. That’s actually how Titan put it together.”

“You subscribe to her?” Bennett asked.

Titan nodded. “For a while.”

I thought he might look embarrassed, but he didn’t.

I knew what Titan liked now. Watching while a woman wished it was him.

I assumed his friends knew that. It’s probably what Titan did when he approved of the woman they were all dating.

Watching while waiting to be begged. So it wasn’t exactly a surprise that he’d like something like MyFanatics.

“So that’s it?” Bennett asked me. “That’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be.”

“No, that’s not all. I also do private sessions. Where I take things further.”

“With the fruit?” Otto asked.

I shook my head. “No, usually not. Sometimes the guys want to see more of that. Sometimes they just want to talk. More often they want me to pleasure myself while they picture themselves fucking me. Not with the fruits. With my fingers. Or a dildo.”

Bennett’s Adam’s apple rose and then fell. His nostrils flared ever so slightly.

I turned to the twins.

They each shook their heads at the same time.

“Fuck,” Otto said. He ran his hand across his jawline. “I was trying really hard to be the voice of reason here…but…” He groaned and bent over.

Ace slapped him on the back. “Breathe.”

“I have a bad habit of being the worst at keeping my cool,” Otto said while still staring at the floor.

I took a step forward, but Huxley put his hand up to tell me to stop.

“Give him a minute,” he said.

I watched Otto trying to breathe slowly. All I wanted to do was comfort him. But I knew it would just make everything worse.

“I know I sent you mixed signals,” Otto said. “By telling you I couldn’t date you.” He took a deep breath, but still didn’t look at me. “But you know why I did that. I just needed to wait for Bennett to come back to town. And I meant what I said a couple of nights ago, Zoey.”

“Me too.”

He finally looked up at me. His face looked pained. “You’re my girl. And I’m not okay with this. I’m sorry, Zoey. My vote is no.”

His vote?

“It’s a no from me too,” Huxley said.

“I think we share you enough,” Ace said. “It’s a no from me too. ”

Bennett nodded. “The same thing applies to this as the fitness instructor business. I can’t do it. I don’t think any of us could handle it.”

Titan cleared his throat. “It’s a no from me too.”

I wasn’t sure he was saying that because he was just hoping this would get rid of me? Or because he didn’t like the idea of sharing me.

“Don’t look so surprised,” Titan said. “I told you. The five of us share one girl. We give her everything she needs. Her body belongs to us.”

It was the same thing he’d said last night. Minus the comment about stripping for money for horny strangers. Was he saying he wanted to be part of this relationship now too? I just stared at him.

“I’m sorry to give you an ultimatum, Zoey,” Bennett said. “We want this. All of us.” He nodded at Titan. “But we can’t risk losing control…”

“Okay,” I said, cutting him off. “I don’t want you to lose control either. I’m done. I choose you. The five of you. I’ll shut the account down.”

He smiled. “Yeah?”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t? I came in here prepared to give it up. I just didn’t think you’d want me after you knew the truth.”

Bennett pulled me back in close. “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m into you?”

I smiled up at him.

“And I mean…I think we all realized that you’d done something in order to get the experience to handle all of us at once. I’m just glad you haven’t hooked up with every married man on Main Street.”

I scoffed at him .

He laughed and pulled me into a searing kiss. But he pulled back far too soon. “You owe me a private session though, baby,” he whispered against my lips.

“Deal.”

I turned toward my other boyfriends. “So what am I supposed to do all day now?”

“Me,” Otto said and winked at me.

I laughed.

“I have a feeling we’re going to be keeping you pretty busy,” Bennett said. He lightly slapped my butt.

And I ran over and threw my arms around Otto.

He laughed as he spun me around. “You love me,” he said.

“I was worried I was never going to get to tell you.”

“Say it.”

“I love you, Otto.” I kissed him as he set me back down on my feet. God, I could stare into his hazel eyes for a lifetime.

But Ace pulled me into his arms. “I knew you’d win Titan over. I just didn’t expect this to be the way.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“No, I’m not mad.” His lips pressed against mine for just a second before his brother pulled me away.

“We both knew Titan would come around,” Huxley said. “And neither of us are mad at you.” He placed a kiss against my lips. “But I think Titan probably wants a word with you.”

Titan was staring at me. But not in the same way he usually did.

I reluctantly let go of Huxley and walked over to Titan.

“I owe you an apology,” Titan said. “If I had known, I never would have… ”

“I know.” I didn’t before. But I knew now. I knew he was sorry. He didn’t have to say anything else.

He nodded. “Maybe the two of us could start over?”

“I’d really like that, Titan.”

He put his hand out for me. “Hi, I’m Titan.”

I smiled. “I’m Zoey.” I shook his hand.

I thought that would be the end of it, but then he lightly touched the side of my face. More gently than I expected anything from Titan.

“For the record, you’re too beautiful to hide your face behind a mask, doll.”

I remembered the comment that stung so much ten years ago. Butter face. It felt like the last piece I was holding on to from my past.

I took a deep breath and let it go. Titan thought I was beautiful. All five men in this room did. I thought moving to this town was my fresh start. But I was wrong. This right here was the fresh start I’d been searching for.

I just hoped that what I was about to do in the next couple of hours wouldn’t ruin everything.