She set her glass on the table, breathing deeply.
“I don’t know specifics,” she told Marly, remembering the pain, the haunting echo of agony reflecting from Brock that night. “I know it was a friend of their father. Mr. August sent them away when they were young, teenagers. The man chained them, abused them.” She swallowed tightly past her own pain. “He forced them to abuse each other. From what Brock said, Cade took the worst of it, to spare his brothers.”
Marly’s face was white. She stared at Sarah, unblinking, almost dazed.
“How long did it last?” It was the voice of horror, speaking in a whisper.
“Months, I know that.” Sarah breathed deeply. “The result was that it destroyed their ability to be brothers. To show affection to each other. Especially the twins. Brock called it isolation. They were mentally and emotionally isolated from one another after they escaped. The only thing that brought it back was when they were with a woman. Together.”
Her hand trembling, Marly pushed back the stray strands of curls escaping from her braid. Tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall.
“When Brock told you about all this,” she whispered. “He told you about me? About being with me?”
Sarah’s heart softened. She was well aware that the men had raised Marly, and each loved her in some sense. She could see Marly’s fear of censure, her fear of hurting any of those men.
“Brock told me it was an extension of his love for his brothers. That through you, through your bond with them, he can be close to them again,” she told the younger woman. “He cares for you, Marly.”
“But he loves you,” Marly replied, her voice just as soft. “In essence, Cade needs to be with you, to express his love for Brock. His bond with him. That’s why he wants you.”
It wasn’t a question. At least not the kind that required an aye or a nay.
“I don’t lust after Cade, Marly. I love Brock. I always have. “ Sarah fought to explain, even though she didn’t understand.
“Sarah.” Marly laid her hand on her arm, her eyes too understanding. Too sympathetic. “I know. I know, because I don’t lust after Brock either. But neither do I refuse him.”
Sarah took a deep, nervous breath.
“I’m scared, Marly,” she could admit this to the woman, but not to Brock. “I’m terrified of this.”
There was no anger now, no sadness in Marly’s expression.
“Because you know you’ll enjoy it. Because you know you want to take that sadness from his eyes, that pain, if only for a while. And the acceptance he has of it, makes you wonder at his love.” She knew.
Sarah bit her lip.
“I love Cade, Sarah, more than you know. But I had to know why, before I could bear the thought of him being with you.”
Sarah shook her head desperately. She wanted to deny it would happen, but couldn’t force the words past her lips.
“Oh Sarah, you don’t know the August men very well.” Marly smiled sadly. “They are seductive, dominating. When you least expect it, when you are at your weakest, they’ll be there for you. Once they touch you and you look into Brock’s eyes and see his pleasure, his joy, you won’t be able to resist. Just as you couldn’t resist last night.”
“How do you stand it?” Sarah whispered.
“You’ve accepted that Brock has sex with me, haven’t you Sarah? You saw his need when he told you, and you let it go. That’s all I can do. I can’t let Cade be destroyed by this.”
“And I’m supposed to just give in?” Sarah asked her incredulously.
“When the time is right, and it happens, you won’t want to stop it.” Marly shook her head, her expression resigned. “I know where Cade’s heart is. I know who fills his soul. I can handle this, if you can.”
“And if I can’t?” she asked Marly with exaggerated patience. “Marly, they want to share their women. That isn’t natural.”
Marly shook her head.
“It’s not natural for normal men. But they aren’t normal, Sarah. They are strong and brave and they’ve survived where others would not have been able. If this is what it takes for them to survive, then I won’t deny them.”
“You talk as though you want me to do this,” Sarah burst out, incredulous. “He’s your lover, Marly.”
“And I’ll have to leave the room and let my lover be a brother, through your body,” Marly bit out. “Do you think that’s easy for me, Sarah? It’s not. But it won’t be for you either. Because you’ll have to do the same. You’ll have to leave, or watch it happen. Which will be easier for you, loving Brock as you do?”
Sarah stood to her feet, trembling, hating the curiosity in herself, the knowledge in Marly’s eyes. Hating the acceptance slowly building within her. None of it was natural. None of it should be acceptable. And yet, in some small way, she was beginning to understand, and that terrified her.
“Sarah.” Marly stopped her as she turned away. “Loving Brock won’t be easy. But I do know he’s loved you, ached for you for years. Can you just walk away from him? And if you stay, can you bear to see this need eating at him, day after day? Can you do that, knowing you can wipe it away? Knowing that in one act, one that will bring you no pain, only pleasure, you can take his pain away? Don’t you understand why I can allow this? That I would love Cade enough to give him this?”
She walked away from the other woman. Walked away from the questions, and the knowledge. But her fears pounded inside her head. Not fear of the brothers, but her fear that she couldn’t resist, and soon, too soon, she would give in.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“You told Marly about the abuse.” Cade stood in the doorway of Sarah and Brock’s bedroom, his expression furious, the color in his eyes shifting like thunderclouds.
Tense, vibrating with his anger, he watched Sarah and Brock with an intensity that should have flayed the skin from their bones. Brock glanced at Sarah with a frown of disapproval.
“You didn’t,” he said with a heavy sigh. “Did you make her cry, Sarah?”
Sarah’s watched them, mingled anger and confusion filling her. She had known Cade would be furious. Had known it would hurt him for Marly to know the truth, but she was sick of these men expecting her and Marly to carry the brunt of their pain.
“What difference would that make? She’s a grown woman, not a child, and she deserved to know why her lover was on the porch last night with his head buried between my legs.”
Her statement had Cade’s eyes narrowing on her.
“That’s not a good enough reason,” he bit out.
“Oh, it isn’t.” She crossed her arms over her chest, watching him with mock incredulity. “Excuse me, Mr. August, but most women would have done more than cried a little bit. They would have killed you anyway, and me with you. They would have cut your damned tongue out so you couldn’t use it on another woman.”
Cade raked his fingers through his hair, frustration and fury evident in his expression and the tense set of his shoulders. He was enraged with no way to expend the fury.
“She wasn’t supposed to know,” he growled, still furious, unrepentant at the secret he had been holding.
Sarah saw more than that in his eyes though. She saw shame. Cade had not accepted the past as Brock had. The helplessness of whatever actions he had been forced to take still haunted him.
“No one told me one way or the other,” she told him, refusing to back down. “She asked, I told her what I knew. Period.”
“It was none of your damned business.” His fists were clenched at his side now, watching her stand up to him, making her nervous, more than aware of the strength of the man facing her so furiously.
“I beg to differ,” she argued. “You forget Cade, the men of this house are doing everything they can to drag me into the little love nest they’ve created. That makes it my business.”
Sarah could feel her own anger edging into her voice. The dominant streak in these men was becoming more than aggravating. Irritation w
as setting in on her fast.
“Sarah.” Brock’s voice held a warning edge.
She turned to her lover, frowning. His carefully controlled expression sent a frisson of unease down her spine, but not enough to make her back down. She wasn’t about to back down. She hadn’t asked to be drawn into this, she would be damned if she would allow them to run over her.
“Don’t ‘Sarah’ me,” she bit out. “What’s the big deal anyway? Didn’t Mr. High-And-Mighty August over there expect that his lover would want to know why he wanted to fuck another woman? I sure as hell would.”
Was it just her, or had the sexual tension in the room risen dramatically?
“You don’t know what you’re doing, Sarah,” Brock told her, his voice low. “Let it go for now.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. She cast both men a disgusted look, impatience filling her.
“Fine. Let it go, Sarah,” she mocked. “I’ll be more than happy to let it go. Now excuse me while I go find lunch.”
She stalked across the room, more than expecting Cade August to step aside when she reach the doorway. Instead, he stood still, watching her from eyes building with anger, emotion.
“Brock?” Cade’s voice pulsed with arousal.
Sarah heard a heavy sigh behind her. She looked over her shoulder at her lover, sitting in the chair to the side of them. His eyes were heavy lidded, aroused, his body tight with sexual tension. Sarah felt a small tingle of apprehension work its way through her body.
“How?” Brock asked Cade, his voice throbbing now with intensity.
“How what?” Sarah stepped back from Cade, her eyes widening as he stepped completely into the room, closing the door behind him.
“What about Sam?” Brock ignored her question as they both watched her.
“He’s gone again.” Cade’s voice was brooding, still angry, but darker, more sexual now.
“Brock?” Sarah wondered why she wasn’t completely terrified. Cade August looked like a man intent on fucking, and Brock appeared more than willing to let him have at her.
“Come here, Sarah,” he said, his voice gentle though filled with the hot throb of lust.
“Why?” she questioned him, almost frantic now.
Cade watched her, his expression filled with anticipation, sexuality. Dark determination defined his body, and his erection bulged the loose jeans he was wearing. Brock wasn’t in any better shape. As a matter of fact, he had risen from his chair and was unbuttoning his jeans as her eyes widened.
“Come here, Sarah.” He held his hand out to her.
“Why?” she whispered, trying to find her voice. Oh God, what had she gotten herself into this time?
She could feel her heart speeding up, sexual tingles of awareness raced over her skin, making her too aware of the intent in their expressions. She could feel her nipples hardening and that sent a flare of exasperated self-disgust through her. She had no self-control. It was pathetic. She wasn’t frightened, but she admitted to being more than wary at the moment.
“Because I told you to, Sarah.” His jeans were pulled off, his shirt falling to the floor, his swollen cock rose from between his thighs, thick and hard.
In an almost absent gesture, she watched as his hand circled his erection, his fingers stroking beneath the bulging head as he watched her. Pleasuring himself, totally comfortable with the act.
“What are you going to do?” She stepped back again, watching as Cade began to undress as well. “ Brock. Tell me what you’re going to do first.”
He moved to the table by the bed. Pulling out the drawer, he lifted the erotic toys he had replaced for her, checking them carefully, laying them on the table, his eyes never leaving hers.
“I don’t want to be punished like this, Brock,” she whispered, her body trembling, preparing itself. She was already wet, aching.
“This isn’t your punishment, Sarah,” he told her, a small grin tilting his lips. “The spanking will be your punishment. The fucking will be your pleasure.”
He walked to her then, his cheekbones flushed, his eyes holding hers. Moving with relaxed confidence, he went behind her, stopping at her back. His hands lifted to the zipper on her dress.
“Make him leave then.” She was breathing hard, too fast. Fighting to draw air into her lungs.
“No. He stays. He gets to spank you, Sarah.” Shock rippled over her in waves.
“Brock, please.” She was almost frantic now as his hands went to her shoulders, the dress inching down her body as he pulled the small straps over her arms.
Where was her strength? She couldn’t find the will to run. They wouldn’t rape her, she knew they wouldn’t. If she wanted to leave, she could go. Why couldn’t she go? She whimpered as her dress fell to the floor. The silk thong she wore went next, Brock’s hard fingers pushing them over her hips, down her thighs until they pooled at her feet.
When Sarah looked up, Cade was sitting on the bed, his cock stretched along his abdomen as he stroked it, much in the same manner that Brock had stroked his own.
“Sarah, when you showered, did you do as I told you?” Brock whispered in her ear.
The daily ritual he had laid out for her, for staying prepared for his pleasures, was burned into her mind.
“Yes,” she whispered. She had just showered less than an hour earlier. She shivered, knowing her body was more than ready for whatever they wanted.
“I want you to go to Cade. He’ll tell you what to do, Sarah.” The hands at her back urged her forward.
Sarah swallowed, fighting the trepidation washing over her body, the lust pulsing through it. She walked slowly, Brock urging her nearly every step of the way towards Cade.
“I’m scared.” She hated admitting that. Merely feet from Cade’s big body, she whispered the words to Brock.
He stopped. She stopped. She felt him sigh deeply.
“Would I let anyone hurt you, Sarah?” She felt his lips at her neck, watched Cade’s eyes darken as he too watched the caress.
“No,” she admitted, the breath heaving from her chest.
“It’s unknown. You’re aroused, more so than ever before. It’s not fear, baby, it’s anticipation. You know that.”
She knew that, but she couldn’t control it.
“Cade won’t fuck you this time.” He breathed hard at her back. “At least, not with his cock. This time, he’ll just play with you. He would never fuck you while he’s angry with you. But he would never hurt you either.”
He urged her into Cade’s arms, then turned from her.
“Where are you going?” She turned to him, terrified as he started to leave the room.
“You aren’t the only one in trouble, Sarah,” he told her softly. “Cade won’t do anything until I return with Marly. She knew better than to draw you into this. So she can share in your punishment.”
She went to stop him, but suddenly hard hands shackled her wrists. Cade was on his feet now, staring down at her, his body too warm, too close.
“This is insane,” she gasped as Brock left the room.
“Do you know what it will do to me, to watch Brock prepare Marly to take her plug? To watch him spank her, then fuck her with the dildo I bought especially for her?” His voice was tight, growling with his arousal.
“It should kill you,” she bit out, hating the way her breasts swelled, her nipples hardening further at the thought. She was as insane as the rest of them were.
“It kills me with pleasure,” he told her, his voice rough. “To know he loves me enough to do that for me. To know he find the same pleasure in it. The same bond I feel as well.” His voice gentled. “The sexual dominance inside us can’t be explained away, Sarah, or governed rationally. It just is.”
It just was. The implication was clear. Her love of Brock would extend to his brothers, or his pain would only intensify.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Brock chose that moment to re enter the room, tugging a reluctant Marly behind him.
“Cade August, I
’m going to kick your ass,” she bit out as she caught sight of Sarah and Cade.
Sarah didn’t like the flare of heat in the other woman’s eyes as she glimpsed Cade shackling Sarah to him.
“Are you darling?” he asked her silkily. “You may very well do it, but your little ass will be spanked first for defying me.”
“I needed to know.” She should have stomped her foot. Sarah could clearly see her desire to. “You’re my lover.”
“You had no need, Marly, to share my shame.” There was the fury, the anger he had been fighting to contain. “I chose to protect you from it. It was not your choice to go behind my back if you were not content with my decision.”
“I needed to understand,” she yelled at him, pulling against Brock’s hold. “I had to, Cade.”
“Had I decided to fuck her, Marly, then I would have told you myself,” he informed Marly as he sat down on the bed.
Sarah cried out in surprise when he pulled her across his lap after him, holding her there effectively.
“Instead,” he continued. “You can watch Sarah’s punishment before receiving your own.”
His hand landed with stinging force on the right cheek of Sarah’s butt. She squealed out, jerking against him. Her body began to hum. Why couldn’t she be normal? A kiss should excite her, not a hard hand slapping her ass. She felt it again. Not hard, but with enough force to make her skin flush, she knew. Enough force to make her vagina tighten in anticipation.
His hand fell again, leaving a burning impression of force. Tears came to her eyes, pleasure flooded her senses. She had never known she could be like this. That she could be so depraved. He slapped her again. She cried out, her eyes locked on Brock, watching his eyes darken in a haze of arousal as his hands moved to cup Marly’s full breasts. Her lover was holding another woman, caressing her hard nipples, and Sarah couldn’t find the outrage she knew she should feel.
Bright burning blows continued to rock her body. At least a dozen landed to the full globes of her rear. Each one sent the juices pulsing in her cunt until she felt as though the slick essence frothed along the intimate lips.