“Dad would never threaten us,” Baron says. “He used to use Crystal to get Royal to do what he wanted, though. But he’s not blunt like Royal. With Dad, it’s always a subtle suggestion, a gentle reminder of where we stand.”
“You admire him,” I say. It’s laced through every word he speaks, in his tone of voice, as clear as his admiration for his brother. That makes him that much scarier. He’s so detached it’s unnatural and a little terrifying. How can that same boy be lying here stroking my hair and pillowing my head, giving me his sweatshirt when I’m cold and telling me I’m his friend?
“He’s a self-made millionaire,” Baron says. “What’s not to admire?”
The fact that he pimps out his own kids, first off.
I don’t say anything, though. I don’t know if their father does that or if it’s Royal’s doing. I don’t know if the twins know, or if they do it, too. And I’m not about to spill that kind of information to anyone, not even Royal’s brother, without knowing.
“Duke’s passed out cold,” Baron says after a few minutes. “Guess we’re alone.”
“Yeah,” I say, moving to sit up.
Baron’s hand tightens in my hair, though, and he sits up, so my head is in his lap. “Stay,” he says. “Maybe now that we have a minute alone together…”
“What?” I ask, turning toward him even though I can’t see him in the dark. “You’re going to hit on me?”
“No one would know,” he says, his fingers gently stroking my hair.
“I’d know,” I say. “You’d know.”
“Just a little suck?” he asks, and a second later, he pushes himself against my face. I don’t know when he whipped his dick out, but it’s hard and hot and so shocking that for a second, I don’t move.
Then reality kicks in and I scramble away. “What the fuck, Baron.”
“You make me so hard,” he says. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since I saw you going down on Royal. And listening to you lick that sucker… I know you feel it, too. You’re attracted to me.”
“Look, Baron,” I say. “Sure, I’ll admit you’re hot. Maybe if I wasn’t into your brother, I’d be into you. But I am, and I’m not.”
“Just for a minute,” he says, his voice almost pleading. He takes my hand and gives it a little squeeze. “I just want to feel your mouth. I won’t even make you swallow.”
He pulls my hand down, wrapping my fingers around his hard length. It throbs in my hand, and I gulp at the sensation.
“No way.” I yank my hand back, my heart hammering. “You shouldn’t even be asking. The only way that’s happening is if you rape my face like your brother did.”
“I’m not going to force you to do anything,” he says. “If I did, you’d tell Royal, and he’d kick my ass. But if you want to do it, no one will tell him. It’ll be just between us. Our little secret. Like what I told you here tonight. I trusted you. Don’t you trust me?”
“It’s a little hard when you’re literally telling me to keep a secret from the guy I—the guy I’m seeing.”
He’s quiet for a second, and I think he’s going to ask what I was about to say, if I was going to let slip the L-word.
“Just this once?” he asks instead.
“Fuck you, Baron,” I say, getting up and feeling my way through the dark. I don’t know where I’m going, but I want to be further from him and his dick. My pulse is still stuttering, and I don’t like the uncertain feeling in my belly one bit.
“I could make it worth your while,” he says. “I could make you a Swan.”
“What?”
“Just because you didn’t let us take turns with you, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t still count. If you fucked multiple Swans… You’d be sexed in.”
“You said three of you.”
“I bet I could convince Duke,” he says. “Maybe if you just gave him head, too… It’s not even sex. But we could tell them it was.”
“And I’d be a Swan.”
“Betray a friend for a Swan…” he says, quoting the challenges I read.