Keep Me (Broken Heroes 3)

As soon as I turn the corner at the top of the stairs and look down the hallway, I see my nightmare coming to life. I lose control, my heart vibrates through me, fear for the safety of my son consumes me.

It’s just two women standing in the middle of the hallway, talking like they are old friends meeting for some coffee but to me, it’s a sign of betrayal… from both of them each in their own way.

“Hey…” Keira notices me first and her eyes go wide at my appearance. Whatever she was going to say is cut off in her throat.

Looking at them, all I can fucking think about is that I need to protect my son.

She knows… she knows about him. I feel like I’ve somehow failed my little boy. Bringing her here was a mistake. Keeping her alive an even worse idea.

I clench my fists, my muscles tightening with anger. There is no going back now. There is only one way out for her now, and it’s not alive.

My legs start moving on their own, heading straight for my mouse… my enemy… I see red. I need to take her out, protect my family. Her big blue doe eyes go impossibly wide, and even from a few feet away I can see that she is shaking.

The smell of her fear tickles my nose and hardens my cock.

“Take Q to his room, Keira!” I order without looking at her. “Now!”

I cross the distance between us before anyone else makes a move. Mouse tries to take a step away from me but I’m much too fast. I take her upper arm into my hand and yank her toward me, making her wince.

“Why didn’t you stay in the fucking room?” I mutter more as a question to myself than to her. She doesn’t answer, and maybe she doesn’t have an answer, or maybe she thought she was safe, I don’t know. But instead of talking, she just starts crying, most likely hoping that her tears will have an effect on me… and they do, they crack me wide open. But I can’t show her mercy, not on this, not when it comes to protecting my son.

My fingers dig into her soft flesh, and I know when I release her, she’ll have bruises. She starts struggling, trying to get away from me but my grip on her is unyielding.

Fight all you want, Mouse… all it does is make me want you more.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Keira finally moving. “You’re hurting her. Let her go!”

“Shut the fuck up and mind your own business,” I sneer.

“Hey, don’t talk to her like that.” Damon appears from the staircase, his face a mask of horror as if he cannot believe that I’d fucking talked to his wife so harshly. My head is spinning, emotions I don’t understand firing off inside of it.

“Get your wife on a fucking leash then.” I start dragging Mouse by her arm in the direction of the staircase but she digs her heels into the marble floor. I almost laugh at the pitiful excuse of a human she is. She’s weak, tiny, and she thinks that she can fight me, that she can escape my grasp?

“Please, Xander,” she begs with a shaky voice, panic written clearly on her doll-like features. Her soft pleas for me to stop are fucking with my head. Aggravated, I bend down to pick her up, throwing her over my shoulder. Her belly lands hard against my shoulder, and I hear the distinct swoosh of air leaving her lungs.

“You should have stayed in the room,” I growl and walk past Damon. His eyes meet mine briefly and I know he’s silently judging me, most likely hoping I’ll let her go but he has no idea what I have planned for my tiny mouse, not a fucking clue. I descend the stairs, Mouse’s tiny fists beating against my back.

“Damon, do something!” Keira yells in the quickly fading background.

“Stay out of it, baby.” At least my brother hasn’t completely lost his mind.

I quickly make my way down to the basement, all with Mouse crying hysterically on my shoulder, her tiny hands fisting into my shirt. I can feel the heat of her body through my t-shirt and half of me wants to put her down and fuck her against the wall, showing her who owns her body, and soul. But I don’t… even as my cock strains against my pants.

You brought this on yourself, Mouse.

Walking into the cell, I try to put her down onto the cot, but she is clinging to me, throwing her slender arms around my neck, pulling me closer.

“Please, Xander… Please, don’t leave me down here.”

“Shut up.” I don’t want to listen to her begging. I don’t want to hear the longing in her voice. I want to erase it all from my memory. I want to go back in time and be strong enough to pull the fucking trigger. I pull her off of me, peeling her limbs from my body while she desperately tries to hold onto me like I’m her life jacket and she’s seconds away from slipping into the dark deep ocean water.