Faithless (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (28 page)

Ding-don
g

And
now I’ll never know…

Thank you, baby Jesus.

“I’m not answering it and I’m not dragging Boyd out of the sack, either,” I breathlessly hiss, dropping Wil’s wet finger like it’s poisoned. “Ah,” I groan when he sucks my spit off it. Challenging me, Wil grins as his finger disappears between his full lips. “Rat-bastard.”

“I’ll get the door,” Wil growls, hitching his pant leg with a wince.

I start hysterically giggling because Wil is pained and that twisted part of me is orgasmically thrilled. While Wil answers the door I try to calm myself down. When all I do is get hotter, I put my head in the sink and turn on the tap.

“Fai
th,” Cort’s sardonic voice flows from just behind my back. My body tenses in shock. Could this day get any worse? Why, yes… yes, it could.

My lies meet face-to-face.

“What are you doing here?” I guiltily grumble. I dry my hair on a kitchen towel, peeking at the guys from beneath my bangs.

Wil is checking out Cort, happy like it’s…
like it’s frickin’ Christmas afternoon. Cort is staring me down. And Ezra is inspecting Wil, his fists clenched at his sides and his mouth drawn in an angry line. Master Ez is very close to the surface. The way he looks at Wil, it makes me wonder how chatty Aunt Pearl has been with her progeny- does Ez know about the game?

“Boys, this is Wil. Wil this is Ez and Cort,” I introduce them. “I’ve got nothing else to say. You ask, I’
ll walk,” I warn in my
I’m not fucking around
voice.

“You’re the kid that lost his dad?” Cort
ez, being oblivious, chats about what they have in common. “It’s very noble that you’re raising your sister.”

Ezra, being the more ruthless of the Ezes,
growls, “What did you do to her, you piece of shit?”

“Who? His sister?” Cort stares at Ezra, handsome face scrunched in confusion as he looks from a frozen Wil to an incensed Ezra.

“No. What did he do to Faith? This is the d-bag that screwed her.” Ezra growls at Wil- a second from kicking the shorter, but stronger man’s ass. “He’s the reason she… changed,” Ez says in a strangled voice.

“Boyd,” screams long and loud from my lungs. “Get
your ass down here, right now! Your other guests have arrived, fuckface!”

“Seriously, what the hell was Boyd thinking?
” hoarsely flows from my throat. I lean on the counter, head in hands. “What a cluster fuck of… I’ve got nothing. Nothing compares to this shit. I wish I was an only child,” I hastily add.

“No, you don’t,” Ezra and Cort say as one.

“Bullshit,” Wil and I say at the same time and in the same inflection. I smirk at the knee-capper and bashfully shake my head.

“I’ll hold him down while you geld him,” Wil
says with sadistic pleasure. He turns into my buddy as soon as we have a common problem- and I feel it, really feel it to my bones- Wil and I would be epic partners if I could shut up my slut of a snatch. “You know why Boyd asked them over, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I ain’t slow,” I say with a smirk.
“And I’m not touching my brother’s sweaty balls. That’s all you, buddy.”

Cort looks like he’s been punched in the gut and Ezra is staring at us with open curiosity. They changed temperaments so fast that I’m dizzy.

“Cortez Julian Abernathy, don’t look at me with betrayal in your eyes, like I just killed your puppy. I told you I was a bad girl and you laughed. You get it now, don’t you? I tried to apologize and you ignored it.”

“Nice to meet you, Wi
l,” Ezra politely offers his hand to Wil. But Ez has a calculating glint in his eye. “I’ve heard a lot about you,” he stresses.

“From who?” Wil’s voice is strained. He thinks I betrayed him.

“Not from Faith,” Ezra seriously says but winks at me. “I would’ve been more concerned if I’d known
you
were the guy who’d upset her.”

“What’s going on?” Cort grumbles, for once not being the center of attention.

“Hey guys, thanks for coming,” Boyd cheerfully says as he cockily swaggers into the kitchen in just a pair of trousers, proving that he trains and trains hard. His button nose scrunches up as he sniffs. “Mmm… smells good. The wife will be down in a while, she had to bathe.”

We all stare at Boyd like he grew a second
head and started singing opera. “Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Wife? I like that. It was a long wait.” Still staring. “I got married this morning,” Boyd announces as explanation.

“The fuck?” Cort
mutters. He looks so lost that I bark a sharp laugh. The laugh quickly dies on my lips when I notice that Ez’s looks concerned, but not entirely surprised. Ez knows.

“I need two minutes of Boyd’s time.” I
quickly grab for my brother’s arm and see scratches. I drop it like it’s hot and dipped in dog shit. I roughly scrub my hand on my pants- yuck! “Alone,” I say to Wil, Ez, and Cort, since they all moved to follow. “Wil will fill you in and you can get to know each other,” I say with a saccharine smile since I’d rather juggle live grenades than leave them alone together in a room that has knives. 

“I’m going to annihilate you,” I growl as soon as I yank a sexed up Boyd into the half-bath- that is eerily just like mine. “This is seriously creepy. We should have gotten a discount because they bought this shit by the truckload.” I gesture
to the hideous wallpaper that is giant golden lion faces.

“It’s in every house in Crest
view Drive,” Boyd deadpans, but can’t keep that smarmy smirk off his face.

“Yeah, ya finally got laid, so what?” I hiss.

“So what?” Boyd devilishly grins at me, running his hands over the red trail of nail marks on his chest. “As soon as you quit your bitching, I’m going back up there to do it again. I’ll grab a snack on my way through the kitchen.”

“You’re a real bastard, you know that? I c
an’t believe you did this to me,” I whine.

“Did what?” he innocently chirps, giving me huge puppy dog eyes.

“Using me is gross, but using Wil…”

“I’ll do what I have to do,” Boyd hisses in my face. He goes from sexed up newlywed to pissed off big brother in a heartbeat. We stand nose-to-nose, growling in each other’s faces.
“I’m not the only one who has to make a kid, Faith. You’ve been slacking with your new found celibacy. You needed a nudge.”

“So you invite the three of them together and see what happens?”
My voice sounds defeated… and if that just doesn’t put a fire in my belly.

“If I have to use Wil as a stud horse to get you worked up, I will. Horny now, aren’t ya?”
Boyd insultingly sneers.

“You’re a fucking pervert,” I snarl
in his face, spittle landing on his cheek. “Don’t you care about my feelings?” I use guilt to take the
I’m gonna fuck a bitch up
look off my brother’s face.

“You can pine after Wil all you want, as long as you do your duty with Ezra.”
Boyd makes a show out of wiping his face, and then stares at my spit on his fingertips. Boyd scowls as he cleans his fingers on his pant leg.

“I hate you,” I cry out.

“No, you don’t,” Boyd exhaustedly sighs. “I get it. I do. I’ve never known anything else; it’s why I can easily accept it. I really do love Greta. Do I know what the future holds for us? No. But I’ll chance it. Stop fighting it, Faith, because Wil is not for you.”

“I get that. I want to throw up, because we all have a counterpart
, and I have a feeling that Wil has one too.”

“Don’t ask
, because then I will have to answer, and you’ll be glad you’re in a bathroom with a toilet to throw up in,” he cautions, and I don’t ask.

I slump against the sink, defeated. “Did he know?”

“Who know what?” Boyd innocently asks, but he knows what I’m asking. He just wants me to ask it out loud- the bastard.

“Did Wil know you needed him to work me up?”
I ask underneath my breath, eyes glued to the tacky gold flooring.

“All Wil
said was that you
like
to argue with him… and it never fails… you argue with him.” My brother’s eyes glitter with mischief and a nasty smirk twists his lips. I hate the sound of the joy that flows from his mouth. He’s happy that his plan worked, even though it hurt me.

I just slowly shake my head back and forth in disgust. I fling the door open and walk out.
Boyd thinks this is funny. He thinks it’s a big joke. He’s right; it’s all he’s ever known. What he doesn’t understand is that it’s now Gretchen and him as a team. The elders weren’t forcing something on either one of them that they didn’t already want.

When I leave here, Boyd and
Gretchen will go to bed, and have each other. Ezra and Cortez will go home to their family and have each other. I get to go to an empty house- at sixteen, I will spend Christmas alone.

Alone is better than being disrespected and played like I’m worthless.

I’m so furious that I’m shaking, teeth chattering. Wil is dishing food up to Cort, Ezra, and Gretchen, who are quietly chatting. Seeing them acting as if this is normal, breaks something inside of me. I start to cry out of frustration.

It’s cry
, or kill something or someone.

Wil sees me first, pale eyes flicking to
my brother- a flash of panic washes over his face. I just unerringly stare at Wil and reevaluate my life.

“I’m not a whore,” I whisper to the room, voice cracking. I clear my throat, and try again. “I’m not a whore. I’m a person. I have feeling
s. I hurt. You cut me, I bleed. You push me, and I will pull. You tell me to do something, and I will always do the opposite. I don’t care if you see no value in me, because your opinion doesn’t matter- no one’s opinion matters but mine.”

Gretchen
stares at me, fork poised an inch from her gaping mouth, the food Wil and I prepared filling its tines. Cort moves and Ezra clamps a hand around his wrist in silent warning. Boyd looks like he’s ashamed. And Wil… I don’t look at him. I stare at my boots, but I speak directly to Wil.

“I get it. You don’t want me. But don’t play me like that. Don’t take one for the team so that you can work me up and push me at guys you want me to screw. Please,” I be
g, rolling my eyes up to meet Wil’s, “give me some dignity.”

“And Boyd,” my eyes cut to my brother, glaring all the pain and agony I can shoot in his direction. His flinch says I succeed. “If you didn’t want to explain what I’m talking about to Ezra and Cortez, y
ou shouldn’t have ambushed us. That’s your fault, not mine. You get to deal with the fallout- not me! Congratulations, and have a happy life. Contact me again, and you won’t like what rises up to meet you.”

“Pixy,” Wil calls as I flee the room.

I spin on my heel and scream at his face, “Don’t ever call me that again.” I snarl, baring my front teeth. “Push, go ahead.” I smack my chest. “Let’s see where I end up. I can guarantee it won’t be where you want me. Push me too far, and none of you will ever find me. What you don’t get,” I keen deep within my chest. “What none of you get, as you selfishly think of yourselves, is that I have other shit going on right now, too. My world doesn’t revolve around you guys. I have more important shit to deal with. There are only two people on this planet that have ever unconditionally loved me, and they deserve my concern. Unconditionally, do you know what that means, Boyd?” I pin my brother with my glare.

I snarl at Wil. “It was rhetorical. See, Wil, ignorant Fa
ith does know what that means. Unconditional: to love without conditions. To be loved, just because you are who you are. Only my daddy and Aunt Amelia have ever loved me. So while you all worry about your agendas, I worry about them. Twenty-to-life in a maximum security prison is what overpowers me, scares me. I can’t even talk to them. It’s Christmas, and I can’t even talk to the woman that raised me or my daddy. It’s Christmas… and I can’t even tell them I love them. I’m not even allowed to write them until the trial is over. That is what I give a shit about!”

“Faith,” this time it’s Ezra trying to calm me.

“Do you know what’s going on, Ez? I think you do. You’re fighting them, too, aren’t you? I see it in your eyes. I bet it’s why Master Ez has been so close to the surface. Here,” I rip my t-shirt off and my turtleneck quickly follows. I ignore the gasps as they all see my tattooed body. “I’ll just hop on the table and we’ll get it over with, kay? We’ll make a little bastard right now, and then they can report it to my mother and grandfather. That’s all they give a shit about, ‘cuz they sure as fuck don’t give two shits about me!”

“That’s enough,” Ezra commands, his sharp voice hurting my ears. “No one leaves this room until I get back. Put your shirt back on. You’re right, you deserve dignity. If you don’t want them seeing you, cover up.” My shirts are forcefully shoved into my outstretched arms.

“Ezra?” Cort says in a wavering voice.

“Faith needs me right now, okay?” Ezra’s voice softens as he speaks to Cort. “She’s always there for us. I’m going to prove that we deserve her friendship. Just stay here, okay? I’m sure Boyd can think of a convoluted story to explain this away so I don’t have to lie to your face.”