Page 160 of Restitution

“I don’t belong to you, and you don’t belong to me.” Kade lets go of his throat and grabs the back of Base’s head. “I fucking love you, but you need to stop. You’re with my sister.”

Base freezes completely, his breaths stalling, then he releasesmy hand, pulling away from us. His hands run through his hair, and he looks erratically around the room. “Fuck.”

Bernadette tries to chuckle. “S-See? No… No one w-wants you.”

“Shut the fuck up,” he spits. I think he’s going to start mocking her more, but instead, he snaps, dragging her from the cage and punching her across the face, making her smash into the floor. “You did this to me!” He hits her again, but Kade grabs my attention by shifting us, so it’s my back against the wall this time.

He slams his mouth to mine then, claiming me as his forever, thrusting into my hand while his best friend cries behind us. He’s losing it as he yells in Bernadette’s face that she tried to ruin his life and failed, before hitting her again. There are tears coursing down his face – it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Base show this level of emotion.

He’s too busy beating the living daylights out of Bernadette to notice us as Kade kisses me deeper, whispering possessive words against my lips as he yanks my body to his, wrapping my legs around his waist.

“Stop looking at me! Stop, stop, stop,” he yells, punching her between words. “Fucking stop looking at me!”

Base drags a bloodied Bernadette to a chair and ties her to it while Kade sucks along my jaw and down my throat, marking the skin at my pulse.

He presses his rock-solid cock between my legs, and I moan and grab a handful of his hair, tugging his mouth back to mine. “We can’t do this in front of him,” I say breathlessly. “It’s not right.”

There’s a horrifying scream that doesn’t stop Kade from grinding against me, and I look over his shoulder as he goes back to kissing and biting my throat to see Base using a small blowtorch on Bernadette’s face.

I look away before I can properly see the details of her eyes melting.

The smell is terrible, but all I can focus on is Kade’s hands sliding down my sides, as if he’s committing each inch of me to memory and not paying any attention to the gruesome torture going on behind him.

Base tosses aside the blowtorch and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “You need to force people to be with you, but me and Kade? We have people who love us. We love each other. And you tried and failed to screw with that. Every time you ordered me into your bed, you thought you were breaking me. But up here…?” He taps his temple. “Stronger than ever. I’m going to be a father, and I’ll make sure I’m the best damn father that I can be.”

Bernadette is shaking, her face destroyed. She’s unrecognisable.

Kade grabs my jaw. “Do you want to go home?”

The glint in his eyes makes me smile despite the screaming going on in the background. “My home is wherever you are.”

He kisses the tip of my nose, lowering his voice. “I think I’m ready,” he says quietly, and I’ve never heard him so… vulnerable. “You can go if you don’t want to see this.”

I swallow and kiss him. “Do what you need to do. Then we can live.”

Base steps away from Bernadette, coming towards us. “I’m seconds from killing the bitch.” He hands Kade the blowtorch. “Your turn.”

He laughs and takes it but places it down. “I have a better idea,” he says, staring down at how pathetic Bernadette looks, clawing at her melted face. “The first time she made me kill someone, I was forced to strangle them.”

Base crosses his arms. “Me too.”

Kade fists his hands then unclenches them, and Bernadette flinches as he grabs her by the hair and forces her to her knees. He’s behind her, holding her up. “Wrap your fingers around her throat.”

I move to the other side of the room so I can watch as Base cracks his neck from side to side and laughs like a maniac. “Bernadette, Bernadette. How weak you are, Bernadette.” He grabs her by the throat with one hand. “Try to scream and beg for mercy – I dare you.”

She bats at his hands, failing to get out of his hold.

“Press your thumb into her carotid artery,” Kade says. “And tighten your grip. Make sure she can’t breathe.”

Base does just that, tightening his fingers around her throat. She’s fighting but getting nowhere between his hold and Kade’s fistful of her hair. She can’t see them – can’t see the look in their eyes as she slowly loses her battle of slapping at them.

I should leave, but I can’t. The depraved part of me wants to watch this.

Her mouth is open, and I can see her tongue as she tries to gasp in air, desperate for that one bit of oxygen that may save her life. If her eyes weren’t melted, I’d see the light slowly vanishing from them.

“That’s it. The blood flowing to your head is reducing,” Kade says, pulling a small blade from his pocket and pressing the sharp edge to her cheek, cutting into the skin while Base chuckles. He grits against her ear, “Your brain is being starved of oxygen and nutrients. Isn’t it, Bernadette? Your skin is changing colour. Feel how we rob you of breath, of life.” He lets go of her hair and holds her nape, pushing her into Base’s hold. “Fucking die.”

“Fucking whore,” Base spits as they both press into her neckfrom the front and behind, and her legs give up, her body already unmoving, her arms straight and shaking from the pressure going to her head.