Page 349 of Coal Hearts

My vision went hazy.

Sobs suffocated in my throat.

I clung to tattered strength as I met Daxton’s dark eyes again and nodded. “Fine.”

“Take off your underwear. I want to see you.”

“Ily, run!” Peter shouted. He earned a kick to his gut from Larry.

He cried out, groaning in agony.

“Come on, whore.” With a curse, Larry dragged Peter through the squelchy grass back to the orchard bordering the lawn. His silhouette, as he tied Peter’s leash to an apple tree, then lashed it around his throat so he couldn’t unclip it, seemed utterly demonic.

With an arrogant laugh, Larry returned, leaving Peter almost choking, surrounded by blood-red apples.

The storm blurred my friend.

I couldn’t see his eyes.

It’s for the best.

I didn’t want to see him while I submitted to this.

My teeth clacked together as Daxton stepped back and unbuckled his trousers. “I gave you an order, jewel. Strip.”

“Seeing as Dax has decided he’s going first, I call next,” Roger barked, already unzipping and kicking off his drenched jeans.

“Fucking assholes,” Larry spat. “I always get sloppy seconds.”

“Sloppy thirds, actually.” Roger laughed.

“If you don’t strip, I’m going to hit you and not stop until you do,” Daxton breathed, almost inaudible in the storm.

With trembling hands, I obeyed.

Unfastening my bra, I tossed it to the ground, then stepped out of my G-string.

I didn’t mourn them.

They’d offered no protection anyway.

My body is just a body.

I’m the watcher within it.

My bones started to rattle with terror.

Don’t watch...

I flinched as Daxton put his hand on my shoulder and pushed.

He kept pushing until my knees gave out, and I crashed to the grass.

Don’t watch.

Shucking off his black trousers, he tossed them into the rain. His erection stabbed white and long in the night.

Don’t watch.