Colby’s voice was strong and forceful, and she knew he was trying to alert Keats, who had to be somewhere in the house. His bike was outside. But Keats stepped out from the hallway a moment later, unaware of what he was walking into.
“Stop right there, asshole,” Phillip called to Keats, shifting to Georgia’s side and aiming the gun at Colby. “I’d hate to accidentally pull the trigger.”
Keats lifted his hands, his shocked gaze flicking to Georgia’s.
Phillip gripped the back of her neck. It was a place Colby often held her, and she hated Phillip touching her like he owned her. He squeezed tight. “Don’t you see what’s going on?”
“Please let us go,” she pleaded. “You don’t need to do this. Please.”
“No!” he roared, shaking Georgia like a dog shaking a rag toy. “I need you to see. Open your eyes and look at what’s going on here, sweetheart.” He said the last word with a cloying, whiny tone. “This scum you’re giving yourself to cares about you so much that when you’re not around, he’s sticking his dick in whatever hole he can find.”
Georgia’s teeth rattled in her head from the shake. But she’d registered enough of what Phillip had said to realize he hadn’t put it together that Georgia had been seeing both Colby and Keats. Phillip thought he was uncovering her cheating boyfriend. So his hatred was going to be directed at one person. Colby would be his target.
“I didn’t know,” she whispered, scrambling to get him calm. “You were right. I should’ve never dated someone else.”
“You let him disrespect you, Georgia,” he said, seething. “All that I’ve done for you. All that I was willing to give you, and you let some redneck cocksucker in your bed. What is wrong with you?”
She could see what it was doing to Colby and Keats, to see her treated this way, but she prayed they wouldn’t do anything stupid. If they made one move, Phillip wouldn’t hesitate to kill them.
“I’m sorry, Phil,” she said in her most placating voice. “I needed to take a break. I needed to get some perspective. I wasn’t ready for a commitment yet. You deserved more than I could give you.” The words made bile rise in the back of her throat, but she pushed past it and kept talking, frantic. “But if you hurt them, you’ll go to jail for good. There’ll be no way to hide it. And we’ll never be together. I know what you did before was just to show me how much you wanted to protect me. But you don’t need to protect me from these guys. It was just a fling. I was using Colby. We can leave and go back home now. I won’t testify in the case, and we can be together. No one has to know you came down here.”
Phillip’s hold on her neck softened ever so slightly, and he gave her a narrow-eyed look. “How do I know you mean any of that? You’ve lied to me before.”
She blinked rapidly, searching for something, anything that would keep his focus on her. “I can show you.”
His gun arm wavered a bit. “How?”
“Colby has . . . restraints. We can tie these two up and then go to the bedroom.” She fought hard to keep her voice from shaking. “It’s been so long since you’ve touched me. Let me show you that I mean it.”
The flare of interest in his eyes was hard to miss. “Now you’re talking some sense, sweetheart.” He ran a knuckle over her cheek with his free hand. “And won’t it be fun to let these two watch while I show them how a real man takes care of his woman?”
Colby made some low noise deep in his chest, but she forced herself not to look his way. She wet her lips in what she hoped was a provocative way. “I’ll help you tie them up.”
Phillip released her neck, his eyes on her but his gun still aimed at Colby. “Take off your clothes, sweetheart. I want to trust you, but I also want to make sure you don’t try to do something stupid like run.”
Panic welled up in her gut, but she wouldn’t let it take hold. If she gave in to that now, she had no shot. “Of course. Whatever you want.”
She moved slowly so as not to startle the dude with the gun and tugged her T-shirt and sleep shorts off.
“Panties, too,” Phillip said, his voice dropping lower.
Working hard to keep her hands from shaking, she pushed her panties down and off. She knew when she looked up again that this was her best chance. Phillip was getting aroused. And an aroused man was a distracted one. She gave him her best come-hither smile. “Let’s go to the bedroom.”
“Lead the way, love.” He waved the gun at Colby and his voice hardened. “Follow her. Try anything or touch her and it’s a bullet in the back.”
Georgia could tell it was taking everything each man had for Keats and Colby to obey Phillip, but she sent them both pleading looks
that she hoped conveyed that she needed them to play along.
They all filed into the bedroom, and it was clear that Colby and Keats had definitely had a fun night. Cut rope was on the floor and a riding crop was on the top of the dresser. The sheets were in a tangle. A pang of sadness went through her that she hadn’t been part of it. That she’d shut them out.
“Jesus Christ,” Phillip said, taking in the scene. He waved the gun at Colby and Keats. “On your knees, hands where I can see them.”
The men obeyed but not without shooting Phillip death glares. Please, please don’t try to be a hero. That was the plea she tried to channel their way over and over again. Phillip was expecting the guys to try something. He probably wanted them to try just to make it more fun to kill them. The guys had to play along or they were all done.
If there was any chance at getting out of this, it was up to her. She was the only one Phillip had a hair of trust in. She went to Colby’s chest of drawers and pulled out handcuffs. “These should work, right?”
“Are there two sets?”