Page 25 of Break

Hope sputters for a second, then starts to shut the door. “This is for bed! What do you want?”

“Your dad is here. He wants to see you,” I say.

Her face turns pale as her breath quickens. She sticks her head out and looks around before sinking further behind the door.Her voice comes out in a terrified, horrified whisper. “In this building?”

I nod and watch her shift on her feet. Her eyes are unfocused, like she’s trying to figure something out. This isn’t the reaction I anticipated. Maybe I thought she’d slam the door in my face, but I didn’t expect… this.

She’s frozen, unable to move, and her hand shakes slightly. She starts to curl in on herself as a little gasping sound leaves her throat. Is she seriously afraid or just an actress? She shakes her head slightly, but I’ve been sent to do something and I’m going to do it.

If something is really wrong, she’ll fight, she’ll raise her voice, she’ll do something that allows us to step in.

Her dad is twice our age. We can take him. I reach out to her. “Hope.”

She doesn’t respond at all. With a sigh, I grab her, toss her over my shoulder, and swat her ass.

She screams at me, pounds on my back and tries to kick me. “No! Jax! Put me down! Put me down! Let me—”

I swat her ass again. “You’re going to wake the neighbors if you keep that up.”

She lets out a more breathless yell. I’m guessing it’s because my shoulder’s in her belly, but she beats my back as another door opens. Jared. Of course, it’s Jared.

“Um, what’s going on here? Hope, are you—”

“Nothing to see here, Jared,” I call back to him without looking. I don’t stop. I go right to Knox’s room, shut the door, then set Hope on her feet between me and the rest of the apartment.

Hope stares at me, her face pale, her lips pale, her hair a mess. She looks at me like I betrayed her.

Her dad moans softly, and I hear his beer bottle hit the table harder than necessary. “You always had the best scream, angel.”

I motion for her to go deeper into the apartment, then poke her side. She walks in, her eyes bouncing to Dimitri in the kitchen, then Knox who’s on the couch. She stops in front of Knox, her eyes focused on him with something that looks like hope.

Then her father grabs her wrist. Her hand is limp. She just stands there, and Coach chuckles.

“Be sweet, be polite, angel,” Coach says before tugging her onto his lap.

She says nothing as he buries his face in her neck and strokes up her bare thigh all the way to her shorts.

Her eyes zone out and her whole body goes slack, like she’s not there anymore. It’s like she was beamed up by aliens or some shit and they left her body behind.

I look over at Dimitri. His confused gaze goes from Coach to me. I see the same worry in his eyes. Maybe she never wanted this. He glances at her limp hand, the fact that she’s just sitting there, but I shake my head slightly and he looks back. More worry deepens his features.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen her on his lap. Hell, he used to grope her in front of us. Maybe it’s the time that’s passed or a new perspective on what’s right, but I swear she didn’t look like that when he did it. She’d hide her face in his shoulder like she was embarrassed he was doing it in front of us. Maybe itwas because we were too horny and enjoyed seeing her being touched, but now it just feels wrong.

I feel slimy and wrong. I don’t want to watch him touch her.

Still, Knox just talks with Coach like nothing’s happening. I don’t know what they’re talking about. I can’t sit down. I feel restless. I want to pull her off her dad’s lap, want to stop his hands from wandering closer and closer to her ass. I want to bring her back to her body.

Her lips tremble and my gaze flicks to Dimitri again. I shake my head ever so slightly, so Knox and Coach don’t see, but he sets his beer down softly. He knows something’s up. Something is wrong.

Coach stands, making Hope stumble off his lap. She comes back to her body as Coach pats just above her ass—only above because she manages to move ever so slightly. He grins. “I’m going to use your room, Knox. I’m sure you don’t mind.”

Hope looks between us, her gaze focusing on Dimitri. Coach spanks her and finishes his beer, making a mess of it. He stumbles slightly but grabs Hope’s ass as if it’s the only thing keeping him standing.

After one step, I move forward. “Knox.”

Knox arches an eyebrow at me. I look at Hope obviously, then back to him. He didn’t even want Jared to ask her out, but he’s okay with this?

Knox takes another sip and shrugs. “What? She doesn’t want to be ours yet, so she can still have some fun.”

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