“Was he sorry?” I can’t help but ask.
“James or Kane?”
I shrug. “Either. Both.”
Phoenix bites his lip for a second. “Yes. More sorry than I wanted either of them to be. The guilt ate at me for too fucking long, and it made me realize that I needed to get my head out of my ass and figure out how to start living again.”
“And you did.”
Phoenix pushes me away and cups my face, his thumb roaming over my skin wherever it can reach. “And I did. Then our king made me watch a beautiful princess all day, every day, for two fucking years. He made me learn every single thing about her with the promise that she was the path to my revenge. All I had to do was accept that she was a means to an end.”
I swallow thickly. Was Leo right? Was this all some kind of sick game?
“You threw a wrench into all our plans, Alice,” Phoenix whispers, then leans in and kisses me. “You’re the happily ever after—where no one dies at the end.”
I kiss him hard, straddling his lap and opening my mouth for his tongue, which is spicy with liquor and so fucking hot. He rips his mouth away, only to pull my shirt up and cup my tits so he can bite my nipples. I’m on the verge of begging when he uses his left hand to cup my mound, and I grind down against him.
“Take what you want, princess,” he orders, licking my nipple and then biting down on my shoulder. He moves his free hand to my waist and urges me to move against him as his fingers play over my hole through my leggings. “Command your orgasm. Show me you can do it.”
I’m already close. His trust in me will not be misplaced. I’m ready to flay myself open and be whatever these men want me to be for them. Leo was right—I’m too far gone.
I circle my hips on his hand, and a second later, I’m coming. It’s not nearly as powerful as it usually is, but I cream my panties and feel completely out of breath as Phoenix cradles me close and shoves his fingers back into my hair.
“Do you want me to—” I brush my hand over his hard cock.
“No, beautiful,” he murmurs, lifting my hand and kissing my palm. “We don’t have time. James is two minutes from the front gate, and we need to get Kane tended to, or he’s not going to make it.”
Icy-cold fear shoots through my veins. But there’s something in Phoenix’s voice that tells me if Kane starts to lose his grip on life, he’ll march right down to the underworld for his soul and bring it back, kicking and screaming.
Chapter8
KANE
Home.
Strange word, impossible concept, except that I know my boys are behind these walls, along with Alice, who is becoming just as precious to me. The pain is enough to keep me distracted, but it’s not long before someone’s got me on the good shit. I have three top medical professionals on my payroll, so it’s no surprise when I come to consciousness completely numb from the waist down, an IV in my hand and my head swimming with both fatigue and whatever narcotics they pumped into me.
There are probably antibiotics, too, with the way my stomach is churning, and I appreciate that because I know shit was starting to get infected by that final day when they dragged me into the storage shed.
The injury itself—the permanence of it—hasn’t quite hit me just yet. I knew Romano was going to make me pay, and frankly, I’m surprised it wasn’t worse. Though to be fair, the leg incident was a series of stray bullets in my only escape attempt.
The real torture hadn’t been the pain, however. The real torture was when the slimy, drugged-out little fuckers Romano had guarding me started watching the video. Romano must have known that sharing her first time with the dredges of society would have put me into a possessive rage, deeper than I have ever known.
It surprised even me.
It caused the death of two men before they were able to subdue me in a hail of bullets that cost me ten inches of my body.
A pound of flesh, they say.
But Alice is worth it.
I was able to bide enough time for the boys to sweep in, and having Ari’s and James’ hands on me was enough to bring me back to life.
I have no idea how long I’ve been lying here, and even if I wanted to, there’s no chance in hell I could get up. But I’m ready to be more than a useless lump on some hospital bed, so I fumble around for the button that controls the light, and I manage to get the bed upright before the door opens and someone walks in.
My eyes are a little hazy without my contacts, but as he comes closer, I see it’s James. He’s wearing a smirk, and he unfolds my glasses, pushing them up over my nose as though my hands aren’t working just fine, thank you very fucking much.
I flex my fingers, and shit. Okay. Maybe not perfectly fine. There’s probably a little nerve damage there, which I know for a fact wasn’t on purpose. It was due to Romano’s inability to have anyone remotely competent working under him.