“Most women see her in the same way,” Steele said. “That’s how she ensnares her victims.”
“How can she live with herself?” I asked turning my attention to Steele.
“Without a heart,” Dallas muttered. “Trust me, this isn’t the worst she’s done.”
I settled my gaze on him. He appeared to be working out some sort of issue in his mind, but was outwardly relaxed, almost as though he was lost in thought and present with the situation, all at once.
I wondered if he was worried about the consequences of being in this room with me. If Charlotte really was as strict and cruel as the men were making her out to be, weren’t they risking life and limb by staying here? Though I appreciated their help, if they were risking their safety for my sake, it wasn’t going to sit well with me, and they had been here for long enough as it was. But assuming never helped things. So, I figured I would ask them. “Won’t you guys be in trouble or something if you’re caught here with me? Don’t you need to go check in or something?”
Malachi waved a hand in front of him. “Let us worry about that.”
“Easy for you to say,” Dallas snapped. “Since you left Steele and I had to endure the weight of Charlotte’s anger. Especially her fucking lectures and endless questioning on where you have been.”
He held up his hands in mock surrender. “Sorry, not sorry.”
“Admit it,” Steele said. “You were only trying to take her before we could.”
“Not this again,” I said, covering my face with a hand. Why do they have to fight over me?
“Does it matter?” Malachi asked.
“I think it does,” Dallas said.
I stood up on the bed and moved toward the head of the mattress. I wasn’t about to be caught in the middle of their spat. The last one got uncomfortably close to a brawl. And because I didn’t want to be placed in the middle of that sort of uncomfortable situation, I found my own way out. As I moved, the men’s attention was put on me. “If you three are going to insist on destroying everything in this room in some sick, twisted show of masculinity thinking this is what it will take to win me over, have at it. But I refuse to be caught in the middle, never mind the fact that you are wasting your time.”
“There’s no changing what’s been done,” Steele said. He settled his gaze on mine. “You’re right about that. But that also doesn’t mean I’m okay with it.”
His glare shifted toward Malachi, and I could almost see the fires of fury within them.
“Fair enough. However, there might be a way out of all of this,” Malachi said. “A sort of solution to all our problems.”
“Oh god, here we go,” Steele said. “What half-cocked, genius plan did you concoct this time.”
“What is that?” I asked, ignoring Steele’s comment.
Malachi smirked at me. “You can choose one of us to be your mate. If we were mated to you, she would be forced to let whichever one of us you chose go.”
“Mated?” I asked. “What does that mean?”
He chuckled under his breath. “Forgive me. If you decided to have a relationship with one of us.”
I shook my head. “I met all of you a few days ago. I’m not ready to jump into a relationship with anyone much less the three of you.”
“Well, you did jump into bed with us, so you’re really only filling in the missing steps,” Malachi said.
“Even if you were somehow mated,” Dallas said, “you would still have to be extremely careful.”
I turned my head to look at him. “Why? I thought he had a loophole.”
He sighed and his eyes darkened as though he revisited a painful memory. “Because I’ve seen what Charlotte has done to some of her subordinates who decided to break the rules and become involved with someone despite her rules. It’s not pretty. Trust me.”
I gaped as an arrow of fear entered my gut. He might not have spelled things out to me, but the darkness in his words, the nightmare in his eyes, and the way his lips curved downward… it wasn’t hard to guess what happened.
I shuddered and said, “I can’t make a decision like that anyway. So, it doesn’t matter.”
“What if you had to?” Malachi pushed.
I shrugged. “To be perfectly honest, I’m more concerned with the fact that my ex had followed me here, and also with the concept that Charlotte is a liar.”