Chapter 23: Tarnished Embers: Chapter 22

The party is tomorrow, and I suspect I’m not the only one who feels sick to my stomach about what will happen. Prince told us what Odette said, that if we didn’t comply, she’d use Ember as one of the principal attractions.

I wasn’t the only one to throw something against the wall when he delivered that blow, and what’s worse is we can’t do a fucking thing about it, because we have nothing. No jobs. No money. Fucking nothing. It’s taken Ember coming into our lives to hit that point home.

It’s a fucking shitshow, and I don’t know how to get us out of it.

“Hey,” Prince greets, slipping into the wicker chair next to mine on the patio, the tinkling of water from the fountain in front of us filling the air. It’s warmer today, the spring sun shining down, and although it’s nowhere near the temperature it gets to in Cali, it’s pleasant. So we sat outside for a bit, looking out over the vast garden. It’s looking a little wild, and I wonder how long it will be before Odette suggests Ember takes care of it as well as the house.

My fists clench in my lap.

“Kit.” Prince sighs, reaching over and grasping my shoulder. “I’ll find a way, Kit. I just need more time—” His voice sounds as frustrated as I feel.

“How?!” I shout, the birds startling in the trees and taking flight. I leap out of the chair, spinning to face him, my vision tinged red with pent-up anger at our situation. “How the fuck are you going to get us out of this, Prince? She has us by the fucking balls and there’s shit we can do about it, just like always.”

He flinches, and guilt makes my throat go tight at my insinuation. That somehow he’s to blame for his mother’s behaviour. I know he used to be taken with the idea of free pussy, even if it was older than we would have chosen ourselves, but free and we make some money from it? We all signed up without worrying too much about the stain on our souls.

Plus, Odette always made it seem like not a big deal, and that we owed her for taking us in after the death of our fathers. My chest tightens as it always does when I think about Dad, about how different our lives would have been if he hadn’t got in that car to pick us up.

“I don’t fucking know, okay? But I will figure something out,” Prince implores, his hands coming up to brush through his hair. He’s usually so in charge, the unofficial leader of us, that it takes me aback to see him so unsure.

“Figure out what?” a soft voice asks, and my eyes widen, my stomach dropping like I’ve just taken a leap off a cliff and I’m unsure if the water below is deep enough to cushion my fall.

Ember steps from behind me, and she looks pale as she glances between both of us.

“Who has you by the balls, Kit? Is it Odette? What do you need to get out of?” Her questions land like bullets, telling me she heard everything, and my jaw works but no sound comes out. Prince just sits there, shoulders rounded, looking defeated.

“What’s going on?” Oct asks, his smile dropping as he saunters towards us. “Little Sis, are you okay?”

He rushes to her when she doesn’t answer right away, wrapping his arms around her, but unlike usual, she doesn’t sink into his embrace, and his brows dip low.

“Prince and Kit were talking about someone having them by the balls, about trying to get out of something, and they won’t tell me what it is,” she says, and I can see the slight tremble in her hands, the hurt in her beautiful blue eyes cleaving my soul in two.

Oct turns his wide gaze to us, his tanned skin ashen as he realises what she must have overheard. She looks to him, seeing that he’s clearly in on it, and steps out of his embrace.

“Sugar—” Prince starts, but at that moment, Odette is suddenly sweeping onto the patio, Cas following behind her.

“Ah, Ember, honey, there you are,” she says, and then pauses, looking at each of us. I’m sure I’m not the only one of my brothers who sees a glint of mischief in her eyes. “Why are you all looking so glum?”

“What have you done to them, Odette?” Ember asks, her tone sharp and her blue eyes flashing. She may not understand what we were talking about, but she has a good idea of who the root cause of it is. Clever, beautiful stepsister.

“Nothing they didn’t agree to long ago,” Odette blithely states, waving her hand. “Young men always enjoy sowing their wild oats, the pleasures of the flesh are hard to resist, apparently. I just gave them a way to make that benefit us.”

I’m watching Ember, seeing the exact moment that comprehension dawns, and my heart beats so fucking fast inside my chest that it leaves me dizzy. I lock my knees, refusing to buckle or even sway while Odette, our tormentor, is here.

“The party…” Her mouth falls open, her fingers touching her parted lips. Then she lowers her hand, taking a step closer to Odette. Her lip curls, her pale face scrunching like she’s just tasted something revolting. “You force them to have sex with women for money?”

Odette titters, and the sound grates against my ears, adding to the way my stomach churns. “Oh, honey. They didn’t need any forcing. They were happy to take part. Well, until you came along, but they understand what will happen if they don’t comply this time.”

Ember’s entire body freezes, and I wish she didn’t have to hear this. Didn’t have to learn about the horrors of our world.

“What will happen if they don’t do it?” Her voice is like the rustle of dry leaves, and I step towards her, the need to be close to her overwhelming. Odette takes a step closer, staring right into Ember’s eyes, a vicious smile on her lips.

“People will pay a lot of money for an unwilling pussy.” Ember’s knees give out, and I’m close enough to catch her before she hits the ground, holding her to me and trying to give her my strength to face this ugly truth.

“Y–you’re a m–monster,” she whispers, letting me pull her close as her eyes fill with tears and her whole body shakes.

“Perhaps, but unlike you, sheltered little princess that you are, I know what it’s like to go without, and I swore to myself a long time ago that I would never be in that position again. So wake up, stepdaughter. You were always a prize to be won. So keep them in line and you will remain their prize, no one else’s.”

Then she turns on her designer heels, striding through the French doors that lead back into the house without a backward glance.

Silence descends on us, and a quick glance around at my brothers knows they are just as lost as I am about what to say next. Ember finally knows about everything, and although there’s the relief that the person you love knows your deepest, darkest secret, there’s also mind-numbing terror.

What if she hates us? What if she decides that we’re not worth it, that we’re too damaged to love?

It’s like a gale-force wind rushes past my ears, and although I can feel myself in Kit’s arms, it’s also like everything is softened and we’re all underwater.

“C–can you help me sit down?” I ask him, and he blinks, nodding and helping guide me to the wicker chair that he was sitting in moments ago before my world came tumbling down and I got a glimpse into the nastiness of our world.

“Sugar—” I cut Prince off with a raised palm.

“How many parties have you done?” I ask, regretting the question as soon as it leaves my lips. Will that make a difference? To know how many times they sold themselves? My gaze flits from one to another of them, searching their pale, drawn faces, though I’m not sure what I’m looking for.

“Since I was thirteen,” Prince states, his voice devoid of all emotion. Tears sting my eyes and my stomach is in knots at his confession. “Several times a year, maybe four or five, so that makes…” He pauses, clearly doing the maths. “So like forty, perhaps more.”

Bile fills my throat, and I peer at the others. “And you?” I ask Cas.

“I was thirteen too, so started the year after Prince, you know, because he’s a year older than me,” he tells me, his ears red as his shoulders curve in. I want to reach out and hold him, but I hold back, needing to understand all the facts first. Glancing at Oct and Kit next, not sure why I need to discover how long she abused them for, I wait for their answer, and I have no doubt in my mind it was abuse, even if she wasn’t the one to actually do it herself.

“Thirteen for us too, and it felt like a rite of passage at first,” Oct tells me, coming closer and hunching down in front of me, taking my icy hands in his warm ones. “But the excitement soon wore off, and I could never get clean, no matter how many showers I took afterwards. I didn’t feel clean until you, Little Sis.”

A sob tears free from my chest, and I throw myself forward, out of my chair and into Oct’s arms. He catches me, banding his arms tightly around me and pulling me into him.

“I–I’m so sorry she did that t–to you,” I cry out, burying my face against his neck and trying to breathe him in.

“Hey, hey, Pretty Thing,” Kit says from next to me, and I release Oct to twist and pull Kit in for a tight hug. “You’re not mad at us?”

Pulling back slightly, I gaze into his handsome face and see the lines of worry around his eyes, the way he won’t hold me too tightly as if I’m going to walk away.

“No, you were fucking children, Kit,” I tell him, looking into his stony eyes and smoothing a hand down his cheek. “How could I be mad at you for her abuse?”

“Fuck, Ember,” he rasps, tears making his eyes swim, and then he’s crashing his lips against mine in a desperate kiss. I taste our tears, our sadness at a world that lets this kind of thing happen.

Reluctantly, I pull away, knowing that Cas and Prince will need to feel my acceptance too. As if he knows my intentions, which is often the case, Cas is there, pulling me tightly into him. His heart races against my chest, his grip around me almost too tight, but I don’t ask him to ease up, knowing he needs this just as much as I do.

“You are so much more than we deserve, Cinders,” he tells me, and I’m shaking my head before he’s even said the last word. Keeping my arms around him, I pull away enough that I can gaze into his beautiful copper eyes, and then I take a leap.

“I love you, Cas.” The words feel so right leaving my lips, like they were always there, just waiting for me to utter them into the world, but only for them.

His eyes widen, his jaw going slack as his body freezes. Moments pass that feel like a lifetime, then his copper eyes turn molten.

“Say it again,” he demands in a revenant whisper, and the intensity in his gaze has me wanting to shrink back, but I hold firm.

“I love you, Cas. I love the way you take care of me, the way you make sure I’m okay, and the way you know what I need before even I do. I. Love. You.”

“Fuck, Cinders.” His eyes fill with tears, his voice choked. “I love you too.”

A small sob leaves my lips, but unlike before, it’s filled with happiness, and as his lips come down on mine, it’s the salt of love that coats our tongues. All too soon the kiss ends, and while I understand telling him first was the right move, I need to take the same leap with the others too.

Slowly spinning in Cas’s arms, I see Oct and Kit standing, so I step away from Cas and into Kit.

“I love you, Kit,” I tell him, and for a moment his eyes close, his head dropping back, and a smile so beautiful tugs his lips up, outshining the spring sun. He licks his lips and then stares back at me, his eyes a swirling storm of emotion. “I love the way you make me feel so safe, and like I’m the most precious thing in the world.”

“I love you, Ember,” he tells me simply, and my cheeks ache with the smile that lifts them. He lowers his lips, kissing me with all the wildness that he usually only shows in his eyes, and I take it all.

Then I’m spinning, and Oct hovers his lips above my own.

“Tell me, Little Sis,” he orders, the brush of his lips sending tingles racing across my skin.

“I love you, Oct. You are my personal sunshine, brightening the dullest day until all I can know is happiness.” My voice is a breathless whisper as I lose myself in his eyes.

His breath fans across my lips as he exhales a sigh. “I love you so fucking much, Little Sis.” He kisses my lips like he’ll never get enough of their taste, and I’m the same, dragging him closer with my hands tangled in his thick hair. He’s my sunshine, my breath of fresh air, and I don’t care what he’s done in the past, because he’s mine now.

He slowly ends the kiss, pressing his forehead to mine, and then steps back. My heart twists painfully when I see Prince, still sitting in his chair, looking as if he doesn’t deserve my love, his face a mask of anguish.

He watches me as I go to him, taking a sharp inhale when I climb into his lap, my knees either side of his thick thighs, my short skirt floating around us. The soft fabric of his jeans tickles my bare inner thighs, and I grasp his face in my palms, tilting his head until those gorgeous, sparkling malachite eyes are laser-focused on me.

“I love you, Prince you-will-never-tell-me-your-real-name Marshall Brown.” His lips quirk ever so slightly at my teasing, and his hands cup my arse, pulling me closer to him. “We would all be lost without you, and I love the way you take care of us without ever being asked. That you put us all above your own happiness. None of this is your fault. None of it.”

He freezes, his eyes wide, and I know I made the right judgement call. He’s their leader, the oldest, and the others follow his lead so it stands to reason that he will feel the burden of all that’s happened to them most of all.

His jaw works, and then his eyes close as he lets out a long exhale.

“But she’s my mom, Sugar.” The words sound painful, like a shame that has become a living, breathing thing, a stain on his heart that is poisoning him from the inside.

Nausea fills my throat, and it takes an effort to swallow it down. I assumed she was his stepmother too. His hands loosen, like he’s about to let me go, and his head lowers, like he’s too ashamed to even look at me.

“Look at me, Prince,” I say, my voice thick as I try to keep the tears at bay. He does as I ask, and the pain and torment in his emerald depths cuts me like a knife. “It. Is. Not. Your. Fault.”

Tears make his irises gleam like emeralds, and I lean in to kiss each of his cheeks as they fall, tasting his sadness, his desolation.

“Fuck, Sugar. I love you, even if I don’t deserve you,” he whispers, his voice a pained rasp.

“You deserve everything, Prince,” I tell him, my lips pressed up against his. “And I will give it all to you, my love.”

He doesn’t move for a second, then his fingers grip my arse so hard that I know I’ll have bruises, and he drags me into him, smashing his lips against mine in a kiss that shatters the world.

He begs for forgiveness, and I willingly give it to him, taking all of his hurt and pain and giving him all of my love in return. The salt of our tears combines, and we lose ourselves in each other for a little while, forgetting all the shit that is coming our way.

“Sugar…”

“I know, Prince,” I answer, unable to put into words all the emotions that are swirling inside me right now. Heaving a breath, I release his face, sitting back so that I can look at him properly. “We need to run.” His eyes widen, and he’s shaking his head, but I place my finger against his lips. “I know you don’t have any money, but I have some in savings that my mother left me. It’s not much, but it’ll be enough to get us away from here at least.”

“She’ll always come after us, Cinders,” Cas says, sitting down heavily next to us in the chair that Kit was using. “She won’t just let us get away. We’re her cash cows.”

“Then we give ourselves enough time to find some way to stop her, maybe get evidence of what she’s been doing all these years.” Prince stiffens underneath me, but when I look at him with a raised brow, he just shakes his head. “You said it yourself, we just need time, and I can get us that.”

“How will we get out of here, Sugar?” he asks, a small light coming back into his eyes, a hope that makes my chest tight.

I frown, not understanding what he is getting at. “We’ll just leave when she next goes out. No one will be here to stop us.”

“Not strictly speaking,” Oct says, and I twist in Prince’s lap to peek back at him.

“What do you mean?” I question, my forehead creased as my stomach quivers.

“She’s hired security, fucking dogs to patrol the grounds, the works,” he tells us, and my eyes bug out. “They arrive tomorrow morning, though fuck knows how she paid for it.”

Licking my lips, my mind races. “Then we leave tonight once she’s gone to bed. It’s not unusual for us to be up later than her, watching a film in the living room.”

“Okay.” Prince’s voice has me spinning back around to face him, and there’s the devilish smile on his plush lips that I love to see. “Pack a single bag, only the things we absolutely can’t do without, and we’ll go tonight.”