He ignores me. “Beast, get in here.” He barely waits for the shorter man to walk through the door. “Hold her. I need to loosen the straps.”
I tense. “No!”
Beast climbs onto the bed. It’s a sturdy four-poster with a square frame connecting the posts that look strong enough to suspend people on. I can’t think about that too hard because he’s advancing on me. I expect him try to get behind me, but he settles right into the cradle of my thighs, his jeans creating an obscene friction. He props himself over me and studies my face. “Disappointed you didn’t get more of a chase?”
“Fuck off.”
The strap on my left ankle loosens and Beast uses his thigh to hitch my leg up, keeping me splayed. His grip grinds against my wrists and the ache makes my veins feel like there’s pure heat flowing through them. I don’t understand. I don’t understand any of this. I’m so busy staring up at him in confusion that I barely notice Gaeton loosening my right ankle and Beast shifting me up the bed until the tension is tight again. “What are you doing to me?”
“What we should have done in the first place.” Beast looks up and releases one of my wrists. Gaeton clasps another cuff around it, then moves around the bed to repeat the process with my left wrist. I pull on the new bindings, but I am spread out and utterly helpless.
Beast sits back on his heels between my thighs and surveys me. “Nice setup.”
“Saves me from having to improvise.”
I twist to examine the cuffs on my wrists. They’re wide and padded on the inside. Tight enough that I can’t slip my hand out, but nowhere near tight enough to cause any kind of damage. It strikes me that he must have used them on others before. He brought others here and tied them up and—
Jealousy spikes, hot and toxic and something I have absolutely no right to.
Beast grips my chin lightly and turns my face back to him. His brows pull together the smallest amount as he considers me. “Is it being tied down that makes you unhappy or something else?”
Safer to say I hate the bondage. Safer to keep the selfish part of me hidden deep, because they will use any and all revealed vulnerabilities against me. I close my eyes. I promised honesty. I can do this. I don’t have another choice. “I like the bondage.”
“That’s a very careful nonanswer, princess.”
I swallow past my suddenly dry throat. “I was thinking about Gaeton having other people here. About what happens when he does.”
“How very hypocritical of you.” Beast looks over, guiding my face to do the same, to find Gaeton leaning against the wall, watching us with shuttered dark eyes. Beast sounds almost amused when he says, “Well, Gaeton? How many people have you fucked on this bed?”
“Answering that question serves no purpose.”
Relief twines with something less pleasant. He’s definitely had people in this bed. He doesn’t want to admit it. Gods, this hurts. It’s nothing more than I deserve, but it hurts all the same.
“Tell me something, Isabelle.” Beast drags his thumb over my bottom lip.
I’m not going to like what comes next. I already know it. “What?”
His voice is soft in my ear, but designed to carry to Gaeton as well. “How many cocks did you ride in the year since you rode ours?”
The smart choice is to keep my mouth shut, but I’m still dealing with the sting of Gaeton’s nonanswer. Beast moves back enough to look me in the eyes, and I have to fight the urge to snarl at him. “Answering that question serves no purpose.” I don’t know if I thought it would feel good to throw Gaeton’s words back in their faces, but all I’m left with is a hollow sense of sorrow. None of those people matter. None of them made up for what I lost.
I expect anger. I expect a mirror of the jealousy sticking its barbs deep into my heart. I don’t expect him to laugh in my face. “Sounds like you missed us.”
I blink. “How the hell do you make that jump in logic?”
“How many times did you fuck me and go straight to Gaeton because once wasn’t enough? Or the other way around?”
My face flames. More times than I care to admit. Because I couldn’t get enough, yes, but because they both offered me different things, even while they held back so much. “I’m sure you have a point you’re trying to make right now.”
“My point is I’m surprised as hell you didn’t fuck your way through the entire territory.”
“You are such an asshole. Who’s to say I didn’t fuck my way through the entire territory?” I want to spit poison, if only to expel it from my veins. This hurts. It hurts so much and even if I deserve it, I am incapable of taking the pain without lashing out. “Maybe the reason I fucked you both on the same day so often is because neither of you could get the job done.”