Page 153 of Twisted Play

Cole’s lips twisted unhappily, but his shoulders relaxed a bit. “Tristan’s a liar, sparrow,” he growled. “You’ll beg, beg, and beg some more.” He released her throat and stepped away. “Get on the bed.”

The understanding in Eva’s eyes as she looked at Cole took my breath away. She, too, saw through his cruelty to the complex man underneath.

Tristan’s hand slid from Eva’s shoulder to her back, drawing small circles there. His expression held none of Cole’s sharpness, but I recognized the same possessiveness in his gentle touch.

I tugged on her hair one more time to check on her, tomake sure she truly wanted to be treated the way Cole treated her.

While Eva met my gaze, Tristan stood and joined Cole beside the bed. Eva smiled tentatively, scared and determined and strong and every fucking thing I loved about her. “I want this,” she said, her voice soft and low and unsure. I hated the uncertainty, as if she wasn’t sure I’d approve, as if this were my choice and not hers.

I stood and offered her my hand. “Then you’ll have it.”

She kept my hand in hers as we walked to the bed, and I marveled at her trust in me—a man who’d forced her into sexual servitude for a job, who’d intended to use her as an instrument of revenge.

I vowed to earn her trust, whatever it took.

“This is awkward,” Tristan said, interrupting my thoughts with an open, easy grin. “How do we even…?”

Eva giggled, and Christ, I wanted to hear more of her joy. To my surprise, Cole’s expression turned tender at the sound.

“Hey,” he said softly as she sat down. He pushed her hands away from her buttons so he could undo them himself, the movement uncharacteristically gentle. “Why did you come to Coach’s room?”

Cole’s question held more than simple curiosity. His eyes darted between Eva and me, a flash of raw vulnerability crossing his face before he masked it with his usual arrogance.

“I needed to get out of my head, and I didn’t want to wake you and Tris up,” Eva answered, and god, she flayed me alive. She came to me when she needed peace and calm. I’d known it—she’d been visiting my office for weeks now—but to hear her admit it, that I gave her something no one else could?—

Cole flinched. It wasn’t enough for Eva to notice, but I caught it—the momentary crack in his armor. He turned away, jaw working as he processed her words. When he turned back, his voice was rough.

“Is that still what you need?” he asked her.

She scoffed, the sound almost bitter. “Yes.”

Tristan moved closer to Cole, his hand brushing Cole’s lower back in a gesture so quick I nearly missed it, a silent communication that spoke volumes about their own relationship beyond Eva.

Cole closed his eyes as if he were in pain then scrubbed his face. “Do you need?—”

“I need to not have to make so many fucking decisions,” she snapped. His eyebrows shot up, and after a long, silent moment, his lips twisted into a sharp grin.

“Do you need to be my mindless little slut, not a thought in her head except pleasing me?” Cole’s voice dropped lower, crueler, his words cutting through the air like a knife. “A sweet little fucktoy who doesn’t have to think about anything, worry about anything, except whether I’m going to take a strap to your ass or fuck it raw until you can’t walk straight tomorrow?”

To my shock, Eva’s lips parted as she stared at Cole. Her breathing sped up as he finished unbuttoning the shirt before pushing it off her shoulders and revealing her glorious tits.

I looked at her with new eyes as she waited for Cole’s next instruction. She’d responded to my careful degradation, but Cole’s cruelty was another level.

“Crawl to me,” he snapped, kneeling on the other side of the bed and stripping off his t-shirt. “Then suck my cock like the filthy little fucktoy you are.”

“A gorgeous fucktoy,” Tristan added, running his handsup her curves as he settled against the headboard. “So fucking perfect for us.”

As Tristan’s hands traced Eva’s body, I noticed a tremor in them—subtle, barely there. For all his easy smiles and gentle touches, Tristan was fighting for control just as fiercely as Cole and me.

Eva tugged on Cole’s sweatpants, freeing his cock, and immediately licked it like a lollipop. I hardened at the sight. Fucking gorgeous.

Cole tugged on Tristan’s hand until they knelt together on the bed, their muscled builds gleaming in the warm light of my hotel suite.

“Beautiful,” Tristan murmured, stroking a finger along the curve of her neck, and Eva’s eyes fluttered closed.

“She knows,” Cole said roughly, but his voice held an affection that surprised me as his hands combed through her hair. “Don’t you, sparrow?”

Eva swayed between the two of them, her body flushed with arousal.