Page 13

Colton

I can feel Haven’s glare on the back of my neck as I leave the kitchen. Good. I want her pissed. These days, it’s the only time she looks alive.

In one of the downstairs bathrooms, I rummage around the cabinet for a first aid kit. I’m still ticked about the fact that she ran into the street and almost got herself killed, but I’ll deal with that later. For now, I’ll take care of her injuries and put her to bed.

A plan is already forming in my head. Idly, I’ve thought of finding a way to trap her into something like this. To torture her more intimately, to have her pretty tears to myself, to...

I swallow.

Not that.

But then Haven walked directly into a trap I hadn’t even set yet, practically throwing herself at my feet and begging for my help. She has no idea what she’s done—no idea what I’m going to do to her.

Making my way back to the kitchen, I pull out my phone and shoot a text to Xander and Lucas.

Colton: Get over here fast. I have Haven. Bring the cage upstairs.

Not bothering to wait on their replies, I shove my phone into my back pocket. Haven is waiting obediently on the counter where I left her. I’d call her a good girl just to set her off, but we both know she’s not.

Instead, I soak her in as I cross the room. Fucking hell. Even though she ran halfway across town and then almost got hit by my car, she’s still as tantalizing as always.

She looks like my specific brand of sin, all curves and black lipstick that I’d love to smudge across her cheek. Images of her tied to my bed flit through my mind before I can stop them. Of her crying, screaming—from pain or pleasure, I’m not sure.

“This will probably sting a little.” Setting the kit next to her, I open a few alcohol wipes and start with her scraped knees.

She shies away. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Getting these cleaned up before they get infected.”

“Yeah, I know that.” She bats my hand away when I try to continue. “But why are you doing it?”

“Don’t think you’ll particularly like the answer to that, angel.”

She winces at the nickname, as she often does. It held a different meaning before I started spitting it out with disdain. Back before she revealed herself to be a traitor. It hurts her, but she knows she deserves it.

She snatches the wipe from me. “I can do it myself.”

My hand is wrapped around her throat before I’ve made a conscious decision to do so. I squeeze gently, just enough to make her eyes widen with fear. With my other hand, I pluck the alcohol wipe from her grasp.

“I don’t think so.”

“God, you’re so—”

My grip around her throat tightens. “Shut up. I’m sick of having to listen to your voice.”

Her jaw drops, and god, I love the look of fury that takes over her face. She’s shocked enough that she obeys, and I take it as a preview of what’s to come.

Quietly, Haven lowers her gaze. At first, I think she’s watching me as I dab at the scrapes on her knees, but then I realize her eyes are fixed on the star tattoo on my wrist.

Out of all my tattoos, it’s the only one I regret. Don’t know why I haven’t bothered to cover it up yet.

Once Haven’s knees are clean, I bandage them and move on to her hands. They aren’t too bad—probably won’t even need covered up by morning—but I want her to get a good start on the healing process.

Haven winces as the alcohol stings her cuts, but she doesn’t pull away. I frown when I realize she’s shaking. That man, whoever he is, scared her real good. When she was begging me to help her after I almost ran her over, I recognized the fear in her eyes. It was the same kind that would overtake her when she’d have panic attacks from cult flashbacks.

During our two months of friendship, I helped her through countless attacks. So did Luc and Xan. She never told us that her panic attacks were triggered by things that reminded her of that cult. In fact, she usually lied and said that wasn’t the case. There wasn’t a single time we believed her. It was too obvious, and she’d always start mumbling the same thing.

Can’t go back, can’t go back, can’t go back.

It’s what made me decide to help her. Either that man is from the cult she escaped, or he reminded her of someone from back home enough to set her off. I fucking hate her, but I’d never harm her physically, and I’d never let someone else hurt her.

Even now, the little bitch somehow has me on a short leash, and she doesn’t even realize it.

“How do they feel?” I ask, inspecting her hands once I’ve finished.

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this,” Haven mumbles.

“That’s not what I asked.”

She rolls her eyes. “Why the fuck do you care, Colton? This morning, you were on your usual bullshit. So what the hell is this?”

I chuckle. “Oh, angel.”

She scowls. “Don’t fucking—”

With a hand over her mouth to shut her up, I lean in close, until I’m the only thing she can look at. I savor the way she looks so furiously helpless.

“You can resist me all you want, but for now, you’re mine, and I take good care of my belongings.”

She’s got a retort brewing, I can see it. But before she can get it out, I’m scooping her into my arms and carrying her through the house.

“Colton!” she screeches. “Stop. Just stop.”

My feet come to a halt, but I don’t set her down. “Do you want me to throw you out? Send you back to campus where that creep is probably still looking for you?”

She goes stiff.

“Didn’t think so. That means you’ll abide by my terms while you’re here. We’ll discuss everything in more detail tomorrow. For now, you need to sleep.”

Silently, Haven blinks up at me. God, it’s so easy to get her to comply. All I have to do is shock her a little bit, and it’s like she forgets how to think. She has no idea how to deal with me like this.

So easy to toy with.

In my room, I set her on my bed and go through my drawers until I find an old T-shirt. “Get changed into this.”

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

I toss the shirt into her lap before getting in her face. “Let me be clear. If I tell you to sleep in my bed, you will. But that’s not happening tonight. You have to earn that privilege.”

Her brows draw together, and shit, she’s so cute like this. Still drunk, all fucked up from fear and confusion, and trying to piece together my words. “Privilege?”

I can hear the guys coming up the stairs, so I cross the room and open my door as wide as it’ll go. Xander and Lucas haul in the extra-large dog crate I keep in my basement and set it in the corner near my black armchair.

“W-what’s that for?” Haven asks weakly.

“I think you know the answer to that.”

She stares at the padding on the floor of the cage. It’s thin, not even as thick as your average dog bed. “You wouldn’t.”

Xander smirks. “Oh, you have no idea what kind of fucked-up shit he’s into. This is tame compared to that time he—”

“Xan.”

He stops. “Too soon?”

I nod. “We’ll go over details tomorrow. For now, she sleeps.”

Haven’s breaths have quickened, and I can make out her panicked thought process just from her expression. She wants to run, but she’d never get past all three of us. And what’s outside seems to be worse than her three bullies locking her in a cage overnight.

That has a familiar sensation sliding over me—hot, sticky, and unbearable in a way that makes me want to claw my skin off. I hate being left in the dark. Haven may think her secret is safe, but I’ll find out what she’s hiding about that man, even if I have to force it out of her.

Which, let’s be honest, I’d enjoy.

Without another word, I scoop Haven into my arms and carry her into my ensuite bathroom. “Come out when you’re changed. There’s a spare toothbrush in the right drawer.”

She glares at me. “I’m not getting in that damn cage.”

“Fighting is pointless, angel,” I remind her. “You’ve got nowhere else to go.”

Her eyes glisten, and she turns away from me. I want to grip her hair and force her to meet my gaze, to hurl insults at her until she’s sobbing in my arms. But instead, I leave, shutting the door behind me to give her some privacy. It’s a luxury she won’t get often after tonight, but it’ll be easier on all of us if I ease her into this.

“What the hell happened?” Lucas asks, crossing his arms over his large chest. “She looks…”

I raise a brow. “What?”

“She looks scared,” Xander finishes. “And not in the way she normally looks at us. Did you… did you hurt her?”

“Not more than usual.” I lean against the wall, hands in pockets. “But someone else was trying to.”

That has Lucas on high alert. “What?”

“Some guy was chasing her. She was desperate enough to get away from him that she got in my car, and she’s got nowhere else to go, so…” I shrug.

“She willingly came with you?” Xander asks incredulously.

“You saw how scared she is, didn’t you? That isn’t because of me.”

“Well then, who the hell is this guy?” Lucas asks.

“Beats me. I didn’t get a good look at him, and Haven won’t say anything about who he is.”

Xander narrows his eyes. “And you’re just letting that slide?”

“For tonight, yes. She’s shaken enough.”

Lucas grins. “Going easy on her already?”

“I’m making her sleep in a fucking cage,” I reply dryly.

“Too bad we’ll miss it,” Xander mutters, staring longingly at the crate. “God, I’d love to watch her sleep in there, all trapped and lonely. I bet she’ll cry when you put the lock on it.”

“I want you both to move in. She needs protection, and I’m not going to let that fucker hurt her. You can move into some of the spare rooms.”

Xander shrugs. “Sure. More space than our dorm, anyway.”

Lucas nods in agreement. The moment he felt he could, he moved out of his stepfather’s house. I know he felt guilty, like he was abandoning his little sister, but that place was awful for him. He had to get out.

“You can move your stuff tomorrow. For now, you know where the spare rooms are.”

“You know, for someone who hates her, you’re sure putting a lot of effort into helping her,” Lucas points out.

I raise a challenging brow. “Would you do any differently?”

Lucas clamps his mouth shut, eyes hard. He knows this is complicated. His own feelings toward Haven are a mess of attraction and hate.

“We may be offering her protection from whoever is out to get her, but don’t make the mistake of thinking she’s safe,” I say quietly yet forcefully. “Her life is about to become a living hell—one she can’t escape. And you two are going to help me.”

Xander perks up the way he always does when Lucas or I suggest some new way to get back at Haven. We’re all sadists, but sometimes I think he’s the worst out of all of us.

“It’s the same policy as before,” I tell them. “No one hurts her. No one but us.”

Lucas narrows his eyes. “But there’s more to this. You carrying her, making her brush her teeth. What the fuck is that? You don’t care.”

“I take care of what’s mine,” I say, repeating what I told Haven. “We’ll make sure her physical and mental needs are met. In exchange, she’s ours to do whatever we want to.”

Xander lets out a low whistle. “She agreed to that?”

“Agreed to what?”

I whip around to find Haven standing in the open door to the bathroom. She’s wearing the T-shirt I gave her while clutching her clothes to her chest.

“We’ll discuss it in the morning,” I say. “For now, bed.”

She scoffs when I nod to the crate. “Absolutely not.”

“You do not want to test me,” I warn, voice low.

“Really, you don’t,” Xander adds in. “You really should’ve learned that by now.”

“I’ll sleep on the couch downstairs,” Haven says. “Hell, I’d rather sleep on the floor than in there.”

“My apologies if I made it sound like you had the option to say no.”

Haven’s eyes widen as I stalk toward her. I yank her clothes out of her arms and throw them to the floor before scooping her up. She has a little tummy, but she’s still tiny—short and practically weightless for someone who works out as obsessively as I do.

“Colton,” she protests. “You can’t do this. It’s sick!”

“You act like a bitch, you get treated like a bitch. Let this be a lesson for next time.”

“You can’t be serious! I’m not going in there.”

I set her in front of the crate and open the door. She tries to run, but I don’t let her take a single step.

“You will,” I tell her, my lips right by her ear, “because you don’t have any other choice, angel.”

“I hate you,” she whispers.

“The feeling is mutual. Now get in.”

Her gaze turns pleading. “Please, Colton.”

“In.”

With a sniffle, she gets onto her hands and knees and crawls inside. With how short she is, she can sit up fully, but she won’t be able to stretch her legs all the way out when she lies down.

It’s the perfect reminder of her predicament. A taste of freedom even though she’s still trapped.

She glances at all three of us, tears falling onto her cheeks. “Haven’t you done enough?”

“This is where you belong,” Xander says, nudging the cage with his boot. “We own you now, doll.”

“Can I at least have a blanket?”

“Tomorrow night,” I answer coolly. “If you behave well, that is.”

“But it’s cold.”

“Oh, you’ll survive,” Lucas says, and even though he’s behind me, I know he just rolled his eyes. “Stop being a whiny baby. I bet you haven’t even thanked Colton yet for helping you out.”

“Thank him?” Haven sputters. “For forcing his dick down my throat and locking me in a cage?”

“Oh, what’s this?” Xander laughs and throws me a surprised glance. “Damn, you really couldn’t wait, could you?”

“Needed to shut her up somehow. And you saw how she was dressed tonight. She’s lucky all I did was fuck her face.”

Haven gasps in horror.

“Unlike you, I have the patience of a saint.” Xander’s eyes sparkle with amusement.

“Enough.” I wave them out. “Haven needs to rest.”

“I don’t know how you expect me to sleep in this,” she says, her voice wobbling.

Cutting her a glare, I close the door behind Xan and Lucas. “Shut up. I don’t want to hear another word from you until morning.”

“I—” She cuts herself off when I raise a brow.

“I’ll keep your phone on my nightstand. Tomorrow, if your behavior warrants it, I’ll allow you a few minutes with it. Supervised, of course.”

She’s glaring at me through her tears, but this is necessary. Since I don’t know anything about the man chasing after her, I have to proceed with caution. That means no one can know where she is—not even Athelia. And… well, I don’t think I trust Haven to keep secrets from her best friend.

“Lie down,” I tell her, my voice going soft. “You’ve had a long night.”

Begrudgingly, Haven obeys, curling up into herself. Her skin is raised with goosebumps, and she tucks her legs into my shirt to try and keep warm.

I sigh. “All right, fine. You haven’t earned it yet, but I need you to get a good night’s sleep, and you can’t do that if you’re freezing.”

She looks up at me with hope and watches silently as I toss a blanket into the kennel. I slam the door shut and grab a padlock from one of my drawers. Haven gasps when I secure it to the cage so she can’t get out in the middle of the night.

“Colton, you—”

“I’ve given you one damn rule,” I grit out. “Fucking follow it, or there’ll be consequences.”

She lets out a startled, distrusting sound and clutches her blanket to her chest, but she doesn’t utter a word.

Silently, I get ready for bed, shutting off the light five minutes later. My mattress feels larger than normal, colder, emptier. Haven’s soft sniffles coming from the crate only seem to make the bed expand.

Dammit.

I roll over and close my eyes, doing my best to shut her out. I’ve already given in to her more than I’d like. I’m not letting her out of the cage.

Xander is right. It’s where she belongs, whether she accepts it or not.