Page 40 of Break

“Let him go, Knox,” I plead, and Jaxon and Dimitri step closer to Knox. Just because he has stopped now doesn’t mean he won’t get another wave of rage and continue.

“What happened?” Dimitri asks Knox.

And Knox answers. “He touched her. She didn’t want it.”

“Okay,” Jaxon says so simply and turns to me, grabbing my arms and pushing me out of the room.

“Jaxon, don’t,” I say, but as the door closes, a cry that hits my bones echoes.

I know I shouldn’t care what happens to Jared, but still, a sob breaks free from me. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, not in the way they can. Why does so much pain surround me?

“I’m not yours to protect,” I say.

Jaxon pushes me at arm’s length. “When do you get this? You’re ours.” He rips my hands aside, letting my shirt fall open, and presses his finger to my chest. “We’re carved into your soul and skin. And there’s no way we’ll ever let you go again.”

I rip myself free and shake my head. It isn’t right. I shouldn’t be marked, and I shouldn’t find a tiny flicker of comfort in knowing that they’re bound to me. If they hadn’t been here tonight… I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened. Jared is obviously more unpredictable than I ever could’ve imagined.

“Just…” He sighs and takes off his jacket, tosses it around me, and closes up the front before he wipes away the tears from my cheeks, his fingertips lingering on my flushed skin for a second longer. “Go home, Hope. Don’t worry about this.”

My lips part to stop him, to say anything, but it’s already too late as he disappears into my office.

I grip his jacket tighter, daring to breathe in his cologne that lingers on the leather patches on my shoulders. It warms my stomach, scaring off the goosebumps on my skin as it encompasses me.

But what I don’t dare to think about is…

What does this mean? Does this change anything, to watch the ones who haunted my dreams turn into the ones who protect me?

In the most twisted way.

Twenty-two

Icouldn’t close my eyes, too scared of the shadows in my room. I stayed at the front door, leaning against the wall, listening to when they came home. Or if I would hear Jared.

But nothing.

Not a whisper, not a creak or a sigh.

They never came home, or they stayed at a different floor.

I have no answers about what happened last night after Jaxon told me to go home, and all I can think about is how beaten and broken Jared looked on the floor. I don’t see them lettinghim just walk out of there, but what else can they do that won’t end up with them arrested?

And it’s not like I can say anything. Will anyone believe me? Will Jared lie and claim he didn’t try to force himself on me?

I could lose my job. I could lose… everything.

Everything but the men who barely ever let me out of their sight.

Why is everything so messed up?

I clench my eyes shut while I sit in my parked car in front of work. I have to go back in. I have to show my face, but what will I find?

A soft knock on my window makes me flinch, and my eyes fly open.

Dimitri stares at me, his expression blank. He nudges the door, but it won’t open.

I slowly unlock the door and let him open it for me. He doesn’t wait, and the cool morning air crawls inside the car. My body tenses as I gaze up at him, the sun rays gleaming behind his head and almost forming a halo. How ironic.

“I’ll walk you in,” he says, and I swallow.