“You’re paying for what you did,” I say simply.
“I did,” he says, his gaze flying from one of us to the next, like my brothers can help him. “I just did, man. Look, I’m sorry I ever touched Harper—trust me, I’d never have done it if I knew you were still into her. They said you were done, that you didn’t care. They promised.”
I look at my brothers.
“That’s what you said,” Duke points out.
I speak slowly. “I pulled her out of the river for you when you were done with her.”
He swallows and looks away. He knows.
This isn’t just Dawson’s punishment.
It’s theirs, too.
They won’t fight, either. Not for the same reasons—my brothers aren’t weak. They know how payment works, though. Baron knows most of all, even better than I do. In his mind, everything is a transaction. That’s how his brain measures the appropriate response in the absence of a moral compass. They won’t interfere now any more than I interfered with them and Mabel.
“I thought you were letting Harper settle the score,” Dawson says, backing away from us. “That’s what you said when I came home. That I had to face Harper. Not you.”
“She settled her score,” I say. “This isn’t for her. This is for me.”
Dawson looks around, like he might run now, when it’s too fucking late. I didn’t expect it to take so long for him to figure out he’s never walking off this bridge. He’s even dumber than I thought.
“What do you want me to do?” he asks.
“Get out your phone,” I say. “You’re going to write a little post before you jump.”
His eyes widen, and he glances over his shoulder.
Baron steps past him, then turns to face me. We stare at each other across the center of the bridge. Even Dawson knows better than to think Baron’s taking his side, having his back. He’s there to make sure the asshole doesn’t try to run like a scared rabbit.
“But… The water’s shallow,” Dawson says, having the balls to show disbelief.
“Don’t worry,” I say, pulling a package of rope from my bag. “You won’t be hitting the water.”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “No, man. You can’t do this. I didn’t mean to do anything! I was just going along with your brothers. They told me to, that they’d make things bad for my sisters again if I didn’t go. That’s the only reason. I’d never have touched Harper otherwise.”
“Why not?” I ask, tossing the rope to Duke. “Are you saying you didn’t want to fuck Harper?”
“What? No, of course not.”
“You don’t think my girl’s hot?”
“No!” he blurts. “I mean, yeah, but—”
“Well, which is it?” I ask, pacing forward. “You think she’s hot, and you wanted to fuck her, but you didn’t before that because she was mine? Or you don’t think she’s hot, and you only did it because my brothers told you to?”
“Both,” he says. “I mean, what does it matter if I think she’s hot?”
“It doesn’t,” I say. “You touched her, and she was mine, and this is my revenge. She had hers. She wanted to knock you around a little for touching her. But you didn’t just take something from her. You took something from me. This is your punishment for touching something that’s mine.”
“It’s tied,” Duke says, holding out the other end of the rope. He looks at me, and I can see the question in his eyes, but he won’t ask if I’m sure about this any more than I’d ask Harper if she was sure that’s all she wanted to do when they were right there to hear it.
“You know what to do with that,” I say, nodding to the rope.
He stares at the end of it hanging in his hands. I went easy on them before. I’ve always gone easy on them. I took every one of Dad’s clients out when he asked so my brothers wouldn’t have to. After King was gone, I stepped up and took care of the rest of the Darling men with Dad, so the twins wouldn’t have blood on their hands. I was going to kill Harper myself, too. If they hadn’t reminded me how many times I’d promised they could have her when I was done, I would have. But they wanted to play, and I had to convince myself that I was done with her.
Watching them with her should have made it impossible to want her.