Page 21

Luke

Broken by The Devil Wears Prada

H er soft, even breaths whisper against the skin of my exposed chest. I’m not really the cuddling type of guy, but she looks so soft and sweet, I couldn’t dream of moving her right now. She took so much for me, and took it so damn well—she deserves to be held. I’ve never wanted to treasure and care for another creature like this in my entire adulthood. It’s … new . Not bad necessarily, just different. My arm is curled around her, keeping her warmth snuggled up against me. Her leg is thrown over my own and her head rests peacefully against my chest. It’s comfortable. Usually I have a to-do list running through my mind that keeps me constantly moving. But now, I’m completely calm and relaxed. I don’t remember the last time I felt this at peace. It’s nice.

The right side of my body is cold though. I’m acutely aware that we’re missing a piece of our puzzle. My sweet siren belongs here with us. They’re both mine and I won’t rest until they’re both here in my arms.

“Why me?” Her breathy whisper is barely audible.

“Why am I absolutely obsessed with pulling every ounce of pain and pleasure that I can from your sweet little body?” I ask teasingly as I grab a handful of her plump ass and squeeze.

She shrieks and slaps my chest playfully before snuggling back in against me. “Why did you and Garett pick me to bring into the woods that night?”

I knew this question was coming. Ever since I decided to keep her, I knew I’d have to explain. You don’t get kidnapped by two masked men, chased through the woods, almost murdered, and then kept as a captive without having questions. I’m just not sure I’m ready to give her all the answers she craves. Fear clutches around my heart, constricting tightly as I think about telling her everything. Will she be disgusted by me? Will she run?

I sigh a deep breath before I begin to carefully reveal some pieces of the puzzle. “Garett wasn’t lying, we’re out for revenge. There’s some bad men out there who deserve to die. The plan was—is—to frame one of them for your disappearance.”

She pauses for a moment in silence. I can practically hear the gears turning in her pretty little head. My girl’s not dumb; I’m not going to lie to her, she’d know.

“Why not just kill them?” she asks finally.

“We have killed some. We hunted them down and slaughtered them like the fucking pigs they are. But Brody deserves worse than a quick death for what he’s done. He deserves a lifetime of suffering. Plus, justice was never served for the life he took and the lives he’s ruined. He deserves to spend a lifetime thinking about what he’s taken from others while rotting away.”

I feel my anger rising at the thought of what he’s done, who he’s hurt.

“Whose life did he take?” she asks me as she rubs soothing circles over my skin with her fingernails.

“You have to understand, Sweetness,” I bring my fingers to her chin, pulling on it so she’s forced to look at me. Her beautiful hazel eyes are flecked with gold that seem to shimmer in the low light. “I’m a bad man. I have lied. I have hurt. I have killed. But these men are monsters far worse than me.”

She nods, acknowledging that she understands exactly who she’s in bed with.

“My foster brother, Will, is a sick asshole. He’s always gotten off on hurting people. And not in the consensual way that we share.” She audibly gulps at my admission. She knows about my past, about my mom, and being put in foster care. I’ve let her have little pieces of the man beneath the mask. But the story that I’m about to share is one that only the Devil himself knows in its entirety.

“Will was horrible to me. The things he did to me will certainly earn him an eternity of suffering in the next life. When I was in high school, there was a group of guys led by Will.” I take a deep breath, attempting to calm the anger that flares whenever I think about that time and those people. “They enjoyed drugging others, gang raping their victims, and filming it.”

A soft gasp escapes her pretty red lips. My hands ball into fists.

“Garett’s sister was just thirteen, barely a teenager at her first party when they set their sights on her. They put something in her drink then dragged her into a back room…” I trail off, too lost in the memories to speak the rest. The video was the most vile thing I’d ever seen.

“She was a fucking child.” My voice is angry and aggressive when I finally continue. I expect her to flinch and shy away, but she grabs my hand, holding it and rubbing soft circles against my whitened fingers with her thumb. “Will was twenty, an adult.”

“If it’s filmed, why was he not arrested? Why are they not all in jail?” She sounds angry too.

“She shouldn’t have been drinking, shouldn’t have been at a party with older kids, shouldn’t have been dressed that way, name an excuse and they gave it. Plus they never showed their faces, so they ‘couldn’t prove it was them’ the police said.”

My girl shoots straight up, glaring down at me. “That’s bullshit! She was a kid and they took advantage of her!” A tear rolls down her pristine, pale cheek.

I pull her back down to my chest, rubbing circles on her tensed back. “I know, Sweetness. But a rape kit was never done, there were no willing witnesses, and their victim was passed out for most of the crime. The only proof a crime was committed was a grainy video of some people where you couldn’t even see their faces. There wasn’t enough evidence for them to make any charges stick.”

Somehow holding her helps to keep the demons of my past at bay. I’m angry, fuck, I’m murderous with rage, but with her the darkness doesn’t seem so suffocating.

“They did it to others, too. Most were girls from our school or the others in town. I think they’re still doing it, too. The men we’ve dealt with so far have claimed they stopped, but we know that Will’s still making the videos and he sells them on the internet.” I try to be as vague as possible, she doesn’t need to know all the specifics, not yet anyway.

“And Garett’s sister?” Her tone is softer now, as if she already knows what I’m going to say.

“She couldn’t live with what they’d done.” A silent sob racks through her body and she buries her head into my chest. I grab on to her and hold her tightly against me.

I can’t bring myself to explain all the details. It’s just too much. But we all know the details, they were reported pretty widely in the papers. Of course, no one mentioned what drove her to commit suicide, that little piece of information about the golden boys of the town got swept under the rug. Their families were wealthy and able to make all the allegations disappear. There was no justice—not until we took matters into our own hands. My girl’s sobs shake her entire body as she cries for a broken young girl she never even knew. She’s so caring and soft, it’s one of the things that drew me to her. She pretends to be hard and tough, but when she cares, she cares deeply.

Eventually, her sobs cease and her breathing slows. We sit in a comfortable silence, curled against each other, finding strength and comfort in just each other’s presence. She fits so perfectly against me, like she was fucking made for me.

When she finally speaks her voice is so small. “I get it. I get why you’d want revenge but…” she cuts herself off with a soft sigh.

“But what, lovely?”

Her tear-filled eyes find mine as she cranes her neck up to look at me. She’s so fucking beautiful that it hurts. It physically pains me to look at the gorgeous creature in my bed and know that other men have had the privilege of seeing her naked and vulnerable beneath them. Maybe I should have her write down all the names of the men that have been inside her before me. Then I can hunt them down and castrate them. The idea makes me growl in delight. The thought of fucking her in the blood of her ex-lovers makes my cock twitch between us. She does look good covered in red.

“Why me?” she finally asks with a cock of her head.

I bring my hand up and gently push a lock of her raven hair behind her ear.

“You’re the key to everything, Sweetness. Garett needed you out of the way so he can get close to the girl he’s been obsessed with since childhood. Your disappearance allows us to frame Brody, Will’s second in command, for your apparent murder which will allow Garett to get close to her.”

Her eyes scan mine searching for more, but I won’t give her anymore. I can’t give her more information. Not yet.

Pulling her back down onto my chest and holding her tightly in my arms, I place a soft kiss on her temple. “That’s enough for now, sweet girl. Let’s get some rest.”

She doesn’t fight me. She’s such a good girl, so obedient. I lay with her, waiting for her breathing to even out into the soft and steady rhythm of sleep. But I can’t sleep. My mind is too full.

Revenge has driven me for most of my life. Everything I’ve done, every decision I’ve made, has been for revenge. But what if there’s something more important than revenge? I’m starting to wonder if these women that have wrapped their way around my heart and soul, constricting until I’m entirely consumed by them, are more important than my need for revenge.

Once I convince Liv to be with us, maybe I’ll just take my girls and leave. We could go somewhere warm. The thought of both my girls relaxing on the beach, wearing skimpy little swimsuits, makes my cock twitch underneath the sheets. Fuck, they’d both look so good laying out in the sand in very minimal clothing.

Maybe once this all is done we can be free. Maybe we could even be a family. Maybe even a monster like me can have a happily ever after.