This could be your life,a small voice in my head whispers.Coming home to them, playing these games, wild, crazy, satisfying sex whenever you want it. Everything you could need or want taken care of. A roof over your head, food on the table, never a single worry about bills or groceries or anything else. They’ve given you a credit card and a phone, who knows what you could convince them to give you in time? A bank account of your own, maybe. A job. A car. A normal life, or as normal as it can be when you belong to the heirs.
The temptation is huge. But there’s just that one huge, glaring problem—I don’t want to begiventhings. Everything they give me is a debt I owe, a reason for them to exert control over me whenever they wish it. A reason for them to change their minds on a whim, tell me what I can and can’t do, restrict me in ways that I’m not willing to give in to. I don’t want to be on a leash, no matter how long it is. And if that’s the only way I can stay—then I’m going to leave.
No matter what it takes.
But for now, I want to enjoy what I do have. I want to have these memories when I leave, to remember that it wasn’t all bad. For all the bad times, there were nights like this, watching Dean and Cayde play chess in front of the fire and challenging them to a strip version. I know it will make it harder to leave in the end, and I know it doesn’t make everything they did okay.
I just need this. Just for a little while.
“Do you even know how to play chess?” Dean glances over at me as he captures Cayde’s knight.
I roll my eyes. “Of course I do. My dad taught me. You know, chess isn’t some elite game. Bikers can play chess too.”
“I didn’t think it would be their game of choice.” Dean laughs.
“Your bias is showing.” I glare at him. “Just wait. I’m going to beat the pants off of you—literally.”
“Bring it.” Dean smiles, sliding his queen up. “Check,” he tells Cayde, who grimaces.
“Fuck. So what, if I lose, I watch while you and Athena strip down?”
“Until I lose, and she gets to play you.IfI lose,” he adds with a smirk. “There’s no guarantee that I will, ever. So maybe you’ll just have to sit and watch, and that’s all you’ll do.”
“No way.” Cayde laughs. “Stay clothed while you two get naked and have fun? Sounds like a shitty game to me.”
“Those are the rules,” I pipe up. “Time for you two to play one ofmygames.”
My heart skips a beat in my chest when I say it, because the truth is that they don’thaveto do anything. They could simply refuse. After all, they hold the real power here. They could make things go back to the way they were before, or worse, with the snap of a finger.
In a way, this is a test of how serious they are about changing, about trying to do things differently. I want to push them to see if they’ll crack when they’re no longer the ones in control. If they’ll snatch it back, as violently or more so than before.
It’s a dangerous game, but it’s one I’m willing to play. I want to test the limits. Because the game I’m playing is more than just their struggle for power or a silly fireside chess game. It’s a game for all of our futures.
In the end, Dean is the one who wins the game. He looks over at me triumphantly as he resets the board, gesturing for me to take Cayde’s place. “Well?” he grins. “Let’s play, then. Just don’t be mad when you’re naked and I’m fully clothed.”
“That’s a lot of confidence for someone who’s about to be playing with his dick out.” I glance over at Cayde. “So, if we get to the point where one of us is completely naked, then you choose what that person has to do next as their penalty. Got it?”
Cayde smirks. “This sounds like it could be fun even if I’m not getting naked.”
I feel a small flicker of relief as I take my spot on the other side of the ottoman. So far, they’re playing along, and it makes me feel almost—normal? I know I have to be careful, that it could be all too easy to forget that this isn’t normal. None of it is. And Mia is right that they shouldn’t be so easily forgiven. But also—shouldn’t I give them a chance to prove themselves if they want to change?
Shouldn’t everyone be given a chance to change?
“You’re white. You go first,” Dean says. “Or well—I guess you knew that already.” He smirks.
“Keep being arrogant,Lord Blackmoor,” I tell him, moving my pawn forward. “You’ll regret it later.”
“We’ll see about that.”
For all his bluster, Dean is the first one to have a piece taken. I scoop the pawn off of the board and grin at him. “Lose the shirt.”
He makes a face, but I don’t think he’s too unhappy about it. He strips his t-shirt off, slowly enough that I know it’s deliberate, letting me see the flex of his muscles across his abs and chest as he tosses the t-shirt aside.
“Like what you see?” Dean asks with a smirk as he sees my eyes settle on his pecs.
I shrug. “It’s alright. Your move,” I add, nodding at the board.
“That’s not what you were saying the other night.” He moves his bishop, putting one ofmypawns in danger this time.