My legs went limp, and I broke. Sobbing, I buried my hands in my hair on the side of my head and curled my fingers, my nails scraping against my scalp so hard my skin stung.
I threw my head back. “Michael!”
“Michael?” someone called after me.
And then someone else sing-songed, “Michael, where are youuuu?”
“Mi-chael!” the third one rang out, their voice echoing up the stairs and down the hall.
“I don’t think he’s coming!”
“Or he’s already here!” Will taunted.
“Stop it!” I raged. “Why are you doing this?”
A head nudged my ear, making me jerk. “Payback,” he said in a hard whisper.
“A little revenge,” Will added.
“And restitution for time served,” Kai finished.
Tears streamed down my face. What were they talking about?
Where was Michael?
But then someone grabbed my hips from behind and pulled me into him, his arms circling my waist.
“You belong to us, Rika,” he breathed out in my ear. “That’s what’s happening.”
My eyes widened, and fire spread through my stomach as despair set in.
It was Michael’s voice. No.
“You’re Horsemen property now,” I heard Kai say, “and if you want to have money to eat, you’ll be just as nice to us as you were to Michael last weekend.”
“He said you were a halfway decent fuck,” Damon chimed in, “but we’ll get you up to par.”
“With some training!” Will boasted, sick amusement in his voice.
“But you won’t like it,” Kai growled next to me. “I promise you that.”
“And if you want college money—or rent money—” Damon threatened, “well then, you better be especially pleasing.”
I hunched forward, feeling sick. I wanted to drop.
What the fuck?
“Hey, what are we supposed to do when we get tired of her?” Will asked somewhere to my right. “We can’t pay her for nothing, can we?”
“Of course not.”
“I guess we can just pass her around,” Will suggested. “We’ve got friends.”
“Yeah, shit,” Damon interjected. “My father loves the young ones.”
“He used to give you his sloppy seconds,” Kai joked. “Now you can return the favor.”
Michael’s arms tightened around me, and I heaved, trying to clench my stomach to push back down the vomit.