Page 29 of Did They Break You

It’s Brinklin.

He hasn’t taken his eyes off of me and Remi, and I wonder what he’s thinking. I wonder what the fuck we’re all thinking. If anyone saw us with her,we could get fucked all over again.But we’re far enough away from the party, deep enough into the woods where she walked out alone like she’s the same naïve girl she was back then, that I don’t think anyone will notice.

Even still, it’s not a good look, us all being with her out here.

And when Brinklin says, “Let’s take her back to your house. We need to talk,” I think that’s the worst possible idea in the world.

But Storm seems to disagree with me. “He’s right,” he mutters, his words quiet. “With you here, and her here, there are some things we should discuss.”

Remi scoffs in my arms and I inhale her scent, feel her warm body pressed against mine.

I think of Maya, somewhere beyond me. What she’d do if she knew I took Remi Ocean, girl who tried to ruin my life, to my house. But maybe they’re right. Best to just get this shit out of the way. Discuss how things are going to go.

“What do you say, Rems?” I ask her, my heart racing, thinking of all of us alone with her in a house. “You wanna work this out tonight? Talk aboutboundaries?”

Chase narrows his eyes, crushing the cup in his hand and dropping it. Brinklin looks like he’s holding his breath, his green eyes just visible in the dark. At my side, Storm is quiet. Waiting.

“No,” Remi says, her voice soft. She tries to shrug out of my grip, digging her nails in deeper. “No.” Louder this time, like she’s found some fucking guts.

I hold her tighter. “Looks like you figured out how to say that word, huh?”

Chase’s lips kick up into a smile, and the look in his eyes makes my blood heat. Hearing the things he did to her, things I didn’t even realize, that drove us further apart.

She tries to twist out of my arms. “Let me go,” she says softly, then louder. “Cortland, let me go.” She thrashes her body and unlike Maya, she’s in sneakers.

She finds her footing well enough and I let her think she shrugged me off. I release her, only to have Chase grab her, wrap his forearm around her throat as he spins her around, her back to his chest.

I can feel my pulse pounding in my head. Looking at the muscles in his forearm flex, thinking of the stitches in Tristan’s…

“Chase.” I swallow, hard, as Remi freezes in his arms.

He squeezes his forearm tighter around her throat, her hands flying up to pry him off. Dipping his head, his mouth comes to her ear. “What?” he whispers. “You think this little bitch actually has a say?” He laughs and Remi’s eyes hold mine, her chin tilted upward by Chase’s arm lodged between it and her neck. “She tried to put us in prison. Blame us because she’s a little whore.”

I take a step toward them. Chase lifts his head, a lock of blond hair flopped over one eye. He arches a brow. “She’s coming back with us.”

“Let her go.” I circle my hands into fists.

Storm steps closer, too, shoulder-to-shoulder with me.

Then Chase grins, and shoves her into my arms. I wrap them around her, holding her to my chest. She doesn’t move but I can feel her pulse flying with her body pressed against mine.

“My friends are here,” she says, her words rushed. “You can’t drag me out of the woods.My friends are here.”

Chase laughs. “Ah, you hear that?Her friends are here.”He mimics her voice, soft and low, adding a scared inflection. “You think we’re scared of yourfucking friends,Remi?” he snarls.

“Whatever you have to say to me,” she says, pulling back from me, but I don’t release her, “you say it here.”

I smile at that, shaking my head. “You don’t get to call the shots, Remi. I think you’ve done enough of that.”

She shoves at me again, and I spin her around, wrapping my arm around her throat just like Chase did.

She’s frozen against me, and with my back to the party, no one can even see her.

“Yeah,” I whisper in her ear, “stop fighting me, Rems. You don’t want to get dragged out of here, then listen to what we have to say.” I glance at Brinklin, then to Storm, who is staring at me.

“We’ve missed you, Remi,” Chase starts with, leering at her as he steps closer, all of us forming a tight circle around her.

I feel Remi shiver, but I keep my arm around her throat, one wrapped around her waist.

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