Page 37 of Break

I look up at him. “The… the video?” I force myself to ask. “Are you going to show it?”

He grinds his teeth. “Our team needs their eyeballs in their heads.”

“And that video…” Dimitri trails off.

Jaxon nods, though. “Tell her, Knox.”

“Tell her yourself, asshat,” he quips back.

Jaxon chuckles. “Just so happens that video was deleted. Knox must have let his thumb slip while jerking off.”

Knox flips him off without moving his hand from my breast. His thumb keeps making passes that have my nipples hardening. Dimitri rubs my hip. “Next time we make a video, you’re approving the angles and begging for a copy.”

“Not that you’ll need it,” Jaxon said. “Three guys with high libidos are a lot to keep up with.”

My legs pause. Knox nearly trips over himself, and Dimitri walks forward a few steps before he realizes I’ve fallen behind. All three of them stare at me. Jaxon smirks at me, obviously proud of himself for bringing it up. Knox is watching me warily, and Dimitri arches an eyebrow.

“Are you going to beg already, sweetheart?” Dimitri asks.

“You really deleted it?” I ask, looking between them.

“Felt wrong considering the context,” Jaxon says.

“Means I need to replace it, and now that you’re here, that seems like it’s a matter of time,” Knox says, tightening his grip on me and hauling me forward. “Very soon.”

I shake my head. “Never.”

Twenty-one

“Don’t,” Knox warns. “The more you try to fight this, the happier I’m going to be to tie you up.”

I shudder as I look through the three guys. They’re rough with each other, they banter, tease, push each other’s buttons. They’re sharp, but there’s something warm between them, and being part of what they share in common feels good. Especially when they’re not picking on me, shoving me, or hurting me.

Maybe there’s something right about Knox’s cruel, aggressive words. The past is the past. Unchangeable. But thefuture… there are options there, and whether I want these three to be a factor or not, it doesn’t seem like they’re ready to let go of those options.

“What are you doing?” I ask as my brows furrow.

“What do you mean, sweetheart?”

I shake my head as I hold up my hand. “Stop calling me sweetheart. I’m not yours. We shouldn’t… I know we will always be tied together in some way, but…”

“Hope, don’t lie. Don’t make us,” Dimitri says.

My hands ball into fists. “There it is! If I keep saying no, you’re going to do it anyway, aren’t you?”

He huffs and steps closer. “You can never get rid of us. Get that into your head!”

There’s a truth in that, I know there is. I also know I want to keep saying no, I want to keep pushing them away because who am I if I give in?

How will the little girl of my past react seeing that I gave in to the men who used me, who claimed me in ways that I can barely wrap my head around? It wouldn’t be right.

But since when is anything in my liferight?

I grit my teeth. “I forgot my phone,” I say and turn to head back inside. I need air. I need to breathe. Anything that keeps the distance between me andthem.

I hate it when they’re mean to me, but I hate it almost more when they’re beingniceto me. It’s confusing and fucking me up because I can’t possibly be nice back, right? I shouldn’t even grace them with a smile.

“Don’t take too long,” Knox warns me, suspicion glinting in his eyes as I look over my shoulder at him.

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