Page 37 of Fear the Reapers
I needed to make amends for our neglect right away. Stevie was going to love being taken care of so much, she’d never want to leave us.
Wait, what the fuck am I thinking?
She’d leave our asses the minute she had a window of opportunity. I saw the look in her eyes when we told her what her role was here.
Malcolm had lied to her and us. We should’ve expected as much. But the situation felt less fucked-up when we thought she agreed to be ours.
Now that we knew her a little better, it was obvious she didn’t agree to any of this.
We should let her go.
Better men would.
Unfortunately for Princess, none of us were planning on being the one to save her.
“Angel.” Ezra called over, patting his thigh. “Sit.”
I could see the reluctance in her movements as she headed towards Ezra. She was teetering. Caught between outright rejecting or fueling the affections of a psychopath. Both paths were dangerous, and as she looked at the rest of us, she could see that none of us were going to bail her out. The decision was hers to make.
The moment she caught Atlas staring daggers at the two of them, suddenly her steps seemed more sure and within seconds she was in front of Ezra. Ezra beamed at the three of us while Stevie sat on his lap as directed.
“Such a good girl.” Ezra cooed, smoothing her hair. “You deserve a treat.”
Ez fed her forkfuls of eggs and potatoes while kissing her lips between each bite. Stevie looked terrified, but made no move to stop him. She sat perfectly still and accepted everything Ezra offered her.
It was the most chaotic, forced intimacy I had ever seen. Even Tris, who pretended not to give a fuck, and Atlas, who barely knew the girl, looked uncomfortable. I wanted to step in to stop it. But he wasn’t technically hurting her. If anything, he was treating her more delicately than I had ever seen him treat anything in his life. Even as kids, Ez always had a fascination with destruction, but Stevie was bringing out a whole new side of him. He was almost… nice. Well, as nice as a man with a mind like his could be.
“We’re late.” Atlas growled, shooting up from the table. “Ez, come join Tris and I whenever you’re done playing with your fucking food.”
Atlas took one last look at Stevie before storming off, with Tristan following a few steps behind him.
“Sorry Angel,” Ez said, standing up and placing her on his now empty chair, “Cyrus is on guard duty. Stay out of trouble, okay?” He asked, tilting her chin up to lock eyes with her.
“Okay.” She whispered, offering him a small smile.
That seemed to satisfy Ez, and he gave her a quick kiss before jogging off.
Once everyone else had cleared the kitchen and it was just her and I, I spoke up.
“So... that was interesting.” I remarked, taking a sip of my coffee.
“Yup.” She answered shortly, focusing her attention on her plate.
Okay. Stevie obviously wasn’t going to address what happened, so I changed the subject.
“How much of that little argument did you hear?”
“Enough.” Stevie mumbled, looking down at her fork as she stabbed her potatoes.
“Listen Princess, it’s not what you think-”
“Look, I get it.” She said, cutting me off. “You guys didn’t realize how much of a fucking burden keeping me around would be, and now you’re fighting over who has to watch the pet.”
“You are not a pet.”
“Can I leave?”
“Of course not.” I said, stating the obvious. “But you have freedoms, and there are perks to belonging to us.”
