“Since when do you think I’m ugly?” I demand of my twin.
“Since you stopped looking like a Dolce girl.”
“Yeah, well, who made you the judge of what I get to wear? Not everyone thinks I have to hide behind a pound of makeup to look good.”
“Who doesn’t?” Royal asks, his eyes narrowing and his nostrils flaring with fury. His fingers crush my wrist in their grip, but I refuse to flinch.
“You know who,” I say quietly, staring right back at him.
“Say his name to me right now,” he growls. “I fucking dare you.”
“Where’s your bag?” King asks, looking around.
“I left it in science.”
He turns to the girls huddled in front of the mirror watching the drama. “Can one of you ladies go get my sister her handbag?” he asks, flashing them a quick smile.
“Sure,” Carmen says with a giggle that’s nothing like the bitchy attitude she shows me. She’s all too happy to scamper away with her friends and help me out if it’ll get her points with my brothers.
“Would the rest of you mind watching the door?” he says. “This is a family matter, and we need a little privacy.”
They fall all over themselves to obey, batting their eyes and sending inviting smiles our way as they sashay out. I roll my eyes at them, but they’re too busy eye-fucking my brothers to notice.
The minute the door closes behind them, Royal jerks at my wrist again. “What do you have to say for yourself, Crystal?”
“Nothing,” I snap, twisting to free myself from his bruising grasp. “Now let go. You’re hurting me.”
“Did you say that to Devlin Darling when he was trying to fuck you?” Royal asks.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I demand. “Who even are you?”
“Royal,” King warns. “Let her go.”
“Me?” Royal asks, ignoring our brother. “Who are you? I left my twin sister and came back a week later to some football team-servicing slut.”
“Don’t call me that,” I say through clenched teeth. “You don’t know anything about it.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” he says, shoving me away. “Because you didn’t tell me.”
“You’re one to talk,” I burst out, rubbing my wrist. “You’ve barely said two words to me since you got home.”
“Fine,” he says, crossing his arms over his chest. “I didn’t really want to hear about it, but if it makes you happy, tell me. Tell me all about how you stuck your ass in the air like a slot machine and let every single guy on the football team stick his dick in you while the rest of them cheered each other on. Tell me how you sent them off to the game in high spirits, because what else could get them so pumped up but running a tag-team on my sister?”
“You’re disgusting,” I whisper.
“The feeling is mutual, little sister.”
“Crystal,” King says slowly. “Why don’t you tell us what happened? Because the rest of us have been hearing about it for the past two weeks, and we all know how rumors twist the truth, but it’s not something a man wants to hear about his little sister.”
I look up at my oldest brother. He is a man now, eighteen, all tall and broad and destined to bring some girl to her knees before she even knows what hit her. And even though it’s none of his business, and it’s my body and not his, I suddenly want to tell him. I want to tell him because his dark eyes are filled with such an ache that it twists my heart around and makes me want to cry. I know that no matter what my brothers do, King’s number one priority will always be the rest of us. He’s a born protector, even if he was born into a world where protecting everyone you love is impossible.
But how do I tell him what happened without getting people killed? Because he will want revenge for this one. No matter what I say, it will come out worse than it was. He’ll kill Devlin, and the Darlings will kill him, and it won’t stop until every member of both families is dead.
“I can’t,” I say, dropping my gaze and turning away. “It’s too hard to explain, and you won’t understand it.”
“Try me,” King says, his voice gentle but commanding.
“Okay,” I say, bracing my hands on the sink and taking a trembling breath. I remember leaning on this sink in a very different situation, with Devlin between my thighs.