Page 27 of Merciless

“Can you fuck off to where you’re meant to be now and stop drinking my coffee?”

“Bro, you need to get fucking laid. You’re like a bear with a sore head,” Ezra scoffs.

“You’ve got a girl downstairs who’s good for it. I bet she’d even beg if you asked nicely. I’ve heard she—”

“Out,” I demand, pointing toward the door. “We’ve all got jobs to do. How about we fucking do them.”

Silence falls as they abandon their mugs in the kitchen and disappear from sight. A few seconds later, the front door slams, leaving me and JD alone.

“They’re right, you know. You’re in a bitch of a mood, considering you’ve got a new pet. How is she, anyway?”

“Wet,” I mutter, dumping my own mug in the sink and turning to pull the refrigerator open.

“Kinky. I like it.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I bark, pulling eggs and bacon out as my stomach growls. “Go do your rounds. But you so much as fucking touch her and I’ll cut them off,” I warn.

He salutes me like the prick he is before backing out of the room.

“I’ll have mine sunny-side up. Thanks, man.”

Before I can tell him where to go, he’s gone, the sound of a slamming door echoing behind him.

I trust JD with my life. But I also know how his mind works and the second he sees Alana tied up down there sopping wet, it’s going to go straight into the gutter.

7

ALANA

My teeth chatter and I’m pretty sure my bones are shivering.

I’ve been cold a few times in my life. It was one of my father’s favorite punishments to lock me in a dark, freezing cold shed so that I could think about my actions and bad decisions, while he was up in the house with Kristie.

Fuck, I used to be so scared.

As far as I knew, he never touched her, never said a bad word in her company. But just like his temper, I knew that could switch at any moment.

The only thing I wanted back then was to protect her. And if I fucked up, I ended up locked away, unable to do anything should he turn on her.

I’ve never been more terrified in my life.

They could do whatever they wanted to me. I’d endure it so long as they kept their filthy hands off my little sister.

She was too innocent, too pure, too perfect to be tainted by them.

She was going to be something, do something important. I was sure of it.

I just had to help give her the opportunity. Hell knows that no one else was going to do it.

Mom was gone. Dad was…

A violent shiver rips down my spine as the torrent of rain continues.

My skin is so cold that each drop of water that hits is like a needle piercing me. Although, the thought of the warm blood that would spill after makes me wish it were.

My clothes are soaked through, I’m sure making me even colder.

Fighting is futile. I did for a few minutes after that prick walked out but quickly gave up.