“Rick Denton,” the man who’d taken her said, coming forward.
She took a step back.
Rick smiled. “That there is my nephew, Jacob Denton, and the other guy, Gabriel Colton.”
“Why do they look like brothers?” she asked.
“They are. They’re half-brothers. My brother had a little affair. Let’s call it that, shall we?”
“I’m the family drama,” Gabriel said.
“She looks exactly like her, apart from the hair,” Jacob said. “And she what, served you? You’re a waitress?”
“I want to know why I’m here. Why you took me, and why I should ever answer any of your questions.”
Rick pulled something from his pocket and held it out. “If you want to have some answers, you’re going to have to come a little closer to understand the truth.”
She hesitated. “I want to go home.”
“Not happening. We need you. All of it will become clear. Take the photo.”
She’d never been one to back down from a fight, and she wasn’t about to start now. Stepping closer, she took the photo and looked down at it with a frown.
The girl.
She was her, only she wasn’t her. This made no sense at all. “That’s not me.”
“We know that. Her name was Sarah Smith. The boy she was with, let’s just say he’s causing us some trouble. She belonged to him.”
“Belonged to him? She was some kind of present to him?”
“The Denton men, and we have yet to know if it will extend to Gabriel, we have a certain … affliction.”
“Affliction?”
“You do know what these words mean, don’t you?” Jacob asked.
“Yes, I know what they fucking mean.” She glared at him.
“Please, no arguing.” Rick thrust his hands into his pants. “We know who our women are before they do. When we see the woman who’s meant to be ours for life, we have this feeling. It’s like an impulse, a need. We can’t control it. We need to claim her, put a ring on her finger, make her ours. It’s what we have to do. Sarah was Landon’s, but I’ve got a feeling she wasn’t, not really.”
She looked at each man in turn. “Okay, I’m going to let you stop right there.” She pointed the photo at each of them. “I think it’s time you went to the doctors and got on some meds or something. I mean seriously, this isn’t real.”
“Oh, it’s very real,” Rick said. “You’re Landon’s woman, and we need your help to bring him in.”
“Wait a second, you think I can help you to bring in some psycho? First of all, this isn’t me. The next point, no matter how desperate my situation may look to any of you, I’m not going to be second best, ever.” She pointed at the guy in the picture. “This is the guy you’re after, right? He’s looking at her as if she walks on water or something.”
“It’s not the truth.”
“Yeah, truth or not.” She tore the picture up. “I’m not helping you.”
“Okay then.” Rick got up and the two men followed him.
“Let me go home.”
“Not happening.” He slammed the door closed and she heard the lock flick into place. She was royally fucked.
Chapter Three