I’m too broken to deserve love?
My thoughts spin and spin like a whirlpool as I struggle to get a grasp on my emotions. But trying to hold them is like trying to grab the wind—utterly impossible.
“Let’s go.”
As fate will have it, Ray is the one to open the door when we knock, his face scrunched in confusion. He wears a pair of gray joggers and a loose-fitting t-shirt. I recognize the outfit as his standard jogging attire. He used to force me out of bed at the asscrack of dawn to take a run through the neighborhood with him. I hated him each and every time he poured water on my head, telling me that only lazy asses stayed in bed this late.
He scowls at us, muscular arms flexing as if he’s imagining taking my men in a fight.
Ray? He’s a beguiling package wrapped in a prickly outer shell. He’s crass and oftentimes erratic, acting before he thinks things through, but I love him fiercely.
Which is why his betrayal will only hurt more.
“Ray?” I venture tentatively, taking a step forward. Immediately, Helio grips my wrist, almost as if he wishes to push me behind him. His body emits a low, dangerous growl as he examines Ray like one would an out of control, feral dog.
“What the fuck is going on, Emmy?” my brother demands, glaring at where Helio touches me. His eyebrows furrow as anger flitters across his handsome face. “And let my sister go!”
“You know what would be fun?” Sin interjects with a wicked smile, a smile that promises more pain than an average human can endure. A cigarette dangles from his lush lips as he skips up the porch steps and stands beside me. Slowly, never removing his gaze from my brother, he grabs the cigarette and points it at my brother’s eyeball. “Did you know that eyeballs drip down your cheeks like wax when they burn? It’s quite erotic, isn’t that right, baby?” He addresses the last question at me, snaking his arm around my waist and sliding his fingers beneath the hem of my shirt. His touch tantalizingly soft, he begins to brush at the sensitive skin, his power heating his fingers and causing pain to erupt wherever he touches.
And didn’t I tell you that he would talk about burning away my brother’s eyeball? Say what you want, but I know my men.
“What the fuck?” Ray bellows, and this time, his eyes are frantic and dark with worry. “Emily, come here.”
“Emily likes the pain I offer,” Sin continues, ignoring my warning glance. Desmond begins to laugh giddily from behind us, and I see Avery facepalm himself. “She has a thing for wax on her titties.”
This time, Ray’s face is green, and he looks seconds away from vomiting across the front porch.
“Enough!” Shrugging out of Sin’s embrace, knowing that I’ll have burn marks on my waist and lower back, I shove the piece of paper that fell out of Ray’s pocket into his hand. His eyebrows furrow further as he glances from the slip of paper and then back to me.
“What…? Huh…?” Confusion mars his face. “Where did you get this?”
“It fell out of your pocket.” I can’t keep my voice from raising an octave as pain once more spears my heart. How dare he act innocent? How dare he act as if he hadn’t just ripped my still-beating heart straight from my chest and stomped on it? That’s how you can die while still breathing.
“Okay?” He still sounds genuinely bemused as he carefully folds the paper back up and slides it into his pocket. “Why are you pissed about this? We were going to invite you, you know.” He glances at the other men surrounding me, eyes narrowed into slits, even when his gaze reaches Avery. “The others? Probably not. Like, what the hell, man? What happened to bro-code? You don’t start relationships with your best friends’ little sister.”
“Don’t you mean, fuck best friends’ little sister,” Sin supplies oh so helpfully. “I heard them going at it in her closet the other day. Apparently, Avery and my girl are into spankings.”
I’m going to murder him.
But, knowing the sick bastard, he’ll get off on it.
Avery has the decency to look sheepish, especially when Ray’s eyes bug out of his head and his face turns an unnatural shade of burgundy.
“I’m going to fucking murder you—”
I cut off his tirade; he’ll have time to threaten Avery’s manhood at a later date.
“Ray, what is that paper? Why did you call