I nod, understanding everything. Understanding that no one, not even family, is going to save me. Understanding that this is all life is for me now, one sicko after another, lining up to take something from me. Someone a little more naïve might think it was bad luck.
I know better.
I open my mouth and take him in.
I close my eyes and try to shut everything out, to curl into the back of my brain the way I’ve learned. It isn’t me doing this. This is just automatic. Something else has taken over my body and I’m watching it, locked away somewhere safe.
I can’t quite get to that place this time, though.
Tristian makes a low sound, hand fisting in my hair as my lips slide up his shaft. Rath’s breaths are loud against my ear and his touch is inescapable, hand cupping my breast, rolling my nipple between forefinger and thumb.
“Never sucked a dick before, have you Cherry?” Tristian’s thumb prods at my cheek, and despite his disapproving words, his voice emerges in a pained rasp. “You realize that’s where the real money is, don’t you? Daddies would pay a sweet penny for some head if you can do it right.” He tightens his grip on my hair and thrusts into my mouth.
I sputter angrily around his cock, jerking back.
He holds me still. “I thought I told you to look at me. Not very good at following instructions, are you?”
My hands curl into tight fists against my side, but I do it. I pry my eyes open and wrench them up, meeting Tristian’s glazed eyes.
“That’s a girl,” he says, patting my head like I’m a dog. “I’ll make this easy on you.”
It’s laughable. Easy. Nothing about this is easy. I’m trying so hard to ignore the sight of Killian in my periphery, of Rath’s hand skating down my ribs, that I’m taken by surprise when Tristian starts thrusting in and out of my mouth. My hands shoot up to his hips, holding him back, but his eyes narrow, grip tightening in my hair.
“Either I fuck your mouth or you get better at this. Your choice, Story.”
I hold his hips, glaring up at him even though my eyes are welling with tears. And then I start bobbing my head. I’m pretty sure blow jobs aren’t supposed to be like this—bitter and angry in the way I work my tongue against him. I look into his eyes as I do it, watch them dilate, jaw slackening. Now, it’s more of a promise than a blow job.
A promise that these boys aren’t going to break me.
I can feel Rath behind me, the bounce of his arm as he jerks himself. His hand snakes down my stomach, shoving into the waistband of my shorts, and I know better now than to fight.
Doesn’t mean I don’t try.
“Shh,” he says into my ear. “Relax.” Despite what’s happening here, his fingers are slow and teasing when they push into my panties, shoulders curling around me. I already know what he’s going to find down there, but it doesn’t make it any less humiliating when he pauses. He whispers low into my ear, “Should I tell them how wet you are for this?”
My fingers are digging bruises into Tristian’s hips, but he doesn’t even seem fazed.
“I don’t think I will,” Rath decides, fingers rubbing tight circles around my clit. “Now we can both have a secret. Keep your mouth shut about mine and maybe I won’t tell everyone how much of a slut you are for all three of us. You are, aren’t you?” His chuckle is warm and damp against my ear. Loud enough for the others to hear, he adds, “You could be ours, you know. We could take turns. We don’t mind sharing if it’s with each other.”
My angry tears spill over, making hot tracks down my face. Tristian keeps his eyes locked on mine, but brings his hand to my cheek, thumbing them away. “Don’t cry, now. We’re just having a good time. You want us to have a good time, don’t you?” My only response is the way I stare at him, wet-eyed and full of hate. He sighs as I suck him. “I don’t get it, Killer,” he says, talking to my stepbrother. “Used to be, we could show a girl a little attention and she’d trip over her own feet to be ours. Nowadays, all these bitches do is fuck around.”
He fists a hand in my hair, yanking me deeper onto his dick, glazed eyes flashing. It makes me cry harder, because that, combined with what Rath is doing to me, is making my hips want to grind into Rath’s hand, and god.
It’s the worst part of all of this, knowing that Rath could be right.
Maybe this is what I am.
A magnet for creeps, something to be used, and a slut for all of it.
Tristian’s head falls back, eyes falling closed, and I’m grateful for the reprieve when the sharp, building ache between my legs reaches a full crescendo, clenching as Rath moves with the movement of my hips. The reprieve doesn’t last long. Tristian thickens and pulses in my mouth, his thick, salty release surging against my tongue. He cups the back of my head and presses me close, holding me there as he empties himself between my lips.
Behind me, Rath grunts, yanking me against his chest, and I’m caught in the middle of them, being pulled two different ways. I hear more than see Killian finish, his rough, breathless groan startling me.
Tristian pulls out of my mouth, but not before he grabs my hair and rasps out, “You know what to do now, don’t you?”
Rath takes his hands out of my shorts and grabs my jaw, forcing my chin up. “Swallow him down, pretty girl.”
It takes me three tries to do it without gagging, but I hold Tristian’s gaze as I obey, swallowing his release. I hope it looks like how Killian had before—hostile—a warning—instead of showing this lost, aching thing in my chest.
“Good,” he says, stroking my cheek. “You’re so good for us, aren’t you, Cherry?”
I don’t know how I manage to get my feet under me, but I do. I clamp my hand over my mouth as I bolt away, the sound of their breathless chuckles following in my wake.