Page 105 of Their Ruthless Sadist

“The oldest is a divorce lawyer, the next two own a landscaping business, and my younger brother’s … well, he’s not doin’ much of anything these days.”

I noticed the way the pretty boy grinned when he listened to the cowboy speak. I found myself doing the same. This was one of those rare chances for me to learn something about them without meddling. My sister would do that for me so I could sit back and pretend not to care.

Oddly enough, I was starting to care. More than I should. Not that I was going to let them in on that little secret. Throughout the week, I’d continued to play with them. Sometimes in the basement, sometimes in the living room while we watched television. One time, I’d had the pretty boy sit under the kitchen table and blow me while the cowboy and I ate dinner.

I had to continuously remind myself that they were my fuck toys and I had to take advantage while I could. At some point, they would be ready to leave, to find a place here in Chicago, where they would be working full-time in the future. I tried not to think about that end date, but I knew it was lurking.

They needed what I could offer them, and I wasn’t willing to give them more than that. While I found myself fascinated more and more, I knew my place. I was the alpha in this thing, and they already had a relationship. Since the cowboy’s punishment was over, they’d gone back to sleeping beneath my bed. Once or twice I had considered having them join me. Fortunately, I’d shaken off the ridiculous idea before I opened my fucking mouth and said something stupid.

“Are they here in Chicago?”

The cowboy chuckled. “Oh, no. They wouldn’t last a minute in the city. We grew up in North Carolina, but we moved to Texas when I was twelve. My parents have a small farm, a couple of horses, some goats and pigs. The two sisters in the military are both deployed—one army, the other navy. The bakery owner lives in the suburbs of Dallas. My parents are a little farther north. My landscaping brothers moved to Arkansas about eight years ago. And the divorce lawyer lives in California.”

“That’s a big family. Was it hard growing up with that many people in the same house?”

“Even when we had two bathrooms, it wasn’t easy.”

Jamie huffed a laugh. “Only two bathrooms? For ten people? That would’ve been miserable. What about you, Case?”

He turned his head to speak to her. “No siblings. I was more than enough for my parents.”

I glanced his way, silently wishing he would elaborate. Perhaps he could delve into the reasons he needed pain.

“So, you grew up alone?” Jamie asked.

“Not really, no.” The pretty boy turned to face the front, his gaze straying out the side window. “After we moved to Texas, I met John. He and I were inseparable for years. He died of leukemia when he was seventeen.”

The way he spoke said that was a time in his life that wasn’t easy to remember.

“I’m so sorry,” Jamie said kindly. “Were you close to his parents?”

I glanced in the rearview mirror to look at my sister. That seemed an odd question to ask.

“I was. After John died, they moved to the city. Got an apartment. They wanted a change of scenery. Not long after, they split up. I visited them from time to time.”

An apartment? In the city? Perhaps that was the reason he’d had a strange reaction to the apartment here. Had something happened there?

Shit.

That was a question I didn’t need an answer to. It wasn’t my business.

“Well, I had Zeke,” Jamie noted. “Our parents died when I was six, so he took care of me mostly. Him and Opa. We went to live with my grandfather after they died. But it was Zeke who took care of me most of the time.”

“Is that right?” the cowboy questioned, sounding strangely fascinated.

“Yep, without him, I don’t know where I’d be.”

When I heard the sadness in her tone, I turned my attention to the road.

I felt their eyes on me, knew the pretty boy and the cowboy were attempting to humanize me in some form. I doubted they’d done so before now. Part of me wished they wouldn’t. They could continue to see me as the monster everyone believed me to be.

Thankfully, I pulled up to the diner in time to put an end to that conversation. Without a word, I threw the truck in park and hopped out.

My overly cheerful sister was at my side a moment later, hooking her arm into mine and leading the way into the restaurant. While everyone seemed distracted by her giddiness, I did my best to allow the mask to fall back in place.

I hoped like hell the cowboy and the pretty boy didn’t start looking at me differently. If they did … well, if they did, then perhaps it was time for us to move this to the end phase. Maybe that was what was best for everyone.

Especially me.