I shake my head, my jaw dropped open in horror. “If you think for one second that I will ever refer to any of you three as ‘master’ you’re going to be sorely disappointed.”
“Then you must not speak directly to us unless we are alone,” he explains. “These men … when I say they’re just like me and my brothers, I don’t mean this version of us that you have gotten to know. I’m referring to the version of us you see plastered all over the news. This is not a place you want to be caught slipping up.”
I nod and pull on the rest of the lingerie and feel sick to my stomach as Levi steps in behind me and helps to fasten the cheap bondage straps around me to make my skimpy slave look really pop. He doesn’t put the collar around my throat and explains that he’ll wait until we’re pulling up at the location.
My ass crashes down onto my bed and I pull the thigh-high boots up my legs and instantly hate them. I’ve tried running in boots like this in the past and it’s not easy.
Levi gives me twenty minutes to do my hair and makeup and soon enough, I’m making my way downstairs in my ridiculous little outfit with an oversized hoodie covering my body. “You ready?” Marcus demands, his gaze sweeping up and down, and despite how annoyed he is with me throwing myself at Roman last night, he can’t deny that he likes what he sees.
“Would I be down here if I weren’t ready?” I throw back at him, striding straight past his stupid ass and making my way through to the dining hall. The boys follow my lead as I walk through the main kitchen and down into the small room they spent five years digging a tunnel out of. They shove the old bookcase out of the way without wasting a second, and I make my way into the long, winding tunnel.
It takes us ten minutes to walk right through it, and all too soon, I’m in the back of the Escalade with my nerves on high alert. Roman takes the driver’s position as usual with Marcus in the front passenger seat and Levi sliding in beside me.
Roman hits the gas and we go sailing out of the small garage they’d built and out into the thick woods. He keeps his eyes glued to the road the whole time, not once daring to look at the rearview mirror and see the fiery rage staring back at him.
The drive seems to go on forever and I find myself cursing their father for locking them up so far away from civilization. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that they live so far away from the city. It’s probably what’s kept most of us safe all these years, but right now, it’s an inconvenience to me.
Three long, silent hours pass before the Escalade is pulling to a stop deep inside the windy streets of an old, gothic-looking cemetery. Chills sweep over my body, already hating where we are. “There are no other cars,” I comment, looking up and down the streets. I mean, if this were a party, there would be lots of guests … right?
“They’re out there,” Roman says, his voice low as he watches out the front windshield. “You just can’t see them, just as they can’t see us.”
I close my eyes for a brief second, trying to remind myself that I’m not the scared little girl who first came into this world. I’ve faced down the impossible. Tonight is nothing more than a weird dress-up party with a bunch of shady dudes. I can do this. I just have to remain in character and then we’ll be back inside this Escalade before I know it.
The sound of the thick bolt releasing from the heavy collar has my eyes springing open and I shoot my hard stare across the back seat to Levi who looks guiltier than I’ve ever seen him. “It’s time, Shayne. You need to put it on.”
I let out a heavy sigh and nod, allowing him to inch closer to me and lock the collar around my neck. The heavy metal immediately weighs down on my shoulders and the feeling has me wanting to curl into a ball and cry, but there’s no way in hell that I’m about to do that here. “Let’s just get this over and done with,” I tell them once Levi finishes fixing the bolt into place.
We climb out and the boys seem to create a protective shield around me as I strip off the hoodie and toss it back through the open car door before finally walking deeper into the creepiest graveyard I’ve ever been in.
Massive tombs surround us, and the deeper we get, the more luxurious they become with angel statues and marble stones. I follow Roman’s lead and find myself shaking as he comes to a stop right in front of an ancient-looking tomb with big black iron gates with skulls incorporated into its thick metal bars.