Takeover: A Step-Brother Romance (The Legacy Series Book 1) (31 page)

Except instead of trembling under Nicholas’s touch or tensing for Max’s punishments, I had nothing forcing us together except Darius’s expectations.

Darius would hurt me if Reed didn’t fulfill his duty. And he’d kill my step-brother if I couldn’t convince him to hurt me.

I had no idea how to protect either of us.

“I won’t fight you,” I whispered.

Reed’s eyes blazed a dark, furious green—not nearly as regal as Nicholas’s constant composure or Max’s haunting reprimand.

“I don’t want to do this to you, Sarah.”

“I’ll be okay. I can handle it.”

“I can’t.”

“You won’t hurt me.”

“That’s not the point.”

I folded my hands before I clenched my fists. My words were too forceful.

“I’ll just…lay there. I promise. I’ll look away.”

“Jesus
Christ
.” He stood, knocking over the coffee table with a sudden kick. His hands wove through his hair. “You think that’s how I want you? Just
lying
there? Enduring it?”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“Maybe I’ll be the reasonable one. Maybe I’ll be a fucking man and not rape you.”

“But your father will.” I wrapped my arms over my chest. “And I don’t…it’s not an option.”

“Of course it’s not.” Reed snapped. “But instead you’ll spread your legs for me with no issues?”

Who were we kidding? I laughed. “We’re all gonna have issues because of this.”

That wasn’t the right answer. Reed exhaled. I froze as every hesitance coiling in his soul turned to suspicion.

“What aren’t you telling us?”

My stomach tightened.

Everything
.

Nothing I could tell them. Not yet. I hardened my voice, hedging the question.

“I’m not a helpless little girl,” I said. “I know what I’m doing.”

“So it’s all part of the plan to get raped by your step-brothers?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

“Takes for
what
?”

I didn’t even know anymore. Everything they had done, every way I had been touched, every moment I spent beneath Nicholas dizzied me with stark confusion.

I’d see Darius Bennett decimated.

I thought this was the only way to do it.

Reed paced his suite. He grabbed a bottle of rum from a cabinet, but he didn’t drink.

He swore. “You have no idea what’s happening.”

Apparently not. He wasn’t the first of my step-brothers to allude to something darker, something frightening lurking unspoken and undiscovered within the estate. I didn’t like it.

“So tell me,” I said.

“It wouldn’t matter.”

“Maybe it would.” I bit my lip. “I know Nicholas is planning to take over the Bennett Corporation. He’s pushing Darius out.”

Reed laughed. “It won’t work. My father is too connected. Too powerful.”

“Nick is dedicated.”

“Nick is as power-hungry as my father. He’ll do whatever he can, however he can, to get what he wants.” He held my gaze for the first time. “He does nothing out of kindness. The sooner you realize that, the safer you’ll be.”

“I’m not afraid of Nick.”

“You should be.”

“I’ll handle him.”

“Sure.” Reed perked an eyebrow. It wasn’t a playful gesture. “It’s all fun and taboo and naughty. Fucking in secret and pretending to hate him.”

“I’m not—”

“You’re safe until you get in his way. And, Sarah? You’re already in his way. You are the single greatest threat to the Bennett Empire, and you don’t even realize it.”

“Funny.” My patience evaporated. “Hard to be a threat when you’re captured, fucked, and bred.”

 “That’s the beauty of it,” Reed said. “You don’t have to do a damn thing. We’ll burn ourselves to the ground.”

He paced again. I covered my thighs with the couch’s pillow and dug my fingers into the stuffing.

“What are you talking about?” I didn’t like his frustration. The sincerity of his voice hollowed, jagged and frustrated. “Reed, what are you hiding?”

“You first.”

I lied. “I have no secrets.”

“Then I guess I don’t either.”

“Reed, please.”

“Do you know how fucked up my family is?” He asked.

I tugged on the leash. “I have an idea.”

“My childhood was nothing but pain and misery. Nick made it out unscathed. Max got it the worst. But…” He tapped his right ear. “I lost most of my hearing from one good clip against the head. My tie wasn’t fashioned correctly in a family picture. My father found that… unacceptable.”

None of it surprised me. Was that why he was scarred? “I’m sorry.”

“We survived. He groomed Nick to be the heir. Max was supposed to go into the military, but I guess you figured out how that ended.” He paused. “I admire you.”

“You do?”

Reed crossed to the TV stand and pawed through the video games stacked inside. He tossed me my smuggled research journal. It was only the copy I stole, but I clutched it just the same.

“You’re passionate about what you want to do,” he said. “I wish I had that choice.”

I tapped the folder. He didn’t know the half of it. “My dad encouraged me to go into genetics.”

“Yeah. I get how that works. I’m the third son.”

I shrugged.

“The Bennetts are an old family, and we adhere to certain traditions. The eldest is the heir to the fortune. The second son enters the military and honors his family’s name. The third…” He smirked. “Clergy. I took over what my mother did. Charity work. Ensuring the Bennett name shines like gold while we hold a woman prisoner in our rooms for our pleasure.”

“You have a choice. You can escape Darius.” I clutched at the pillow in my lap. I was so close. “I
know
he had something to do with my father’s death.”

“Sarah.”

“Help me. Nick’s takeover will ruin him, but if I could just find out the truth—”

“Stop,” Reed held up a hand. “Don’t make me pick a side. I like you, Sarah, but you won’t like me if you keep pushing.”

Goddamn it. I looked away. Suddenly, his shirt wasn’t long enough. I tugged it further down and adjusted the pillow. He noticed.

“Did…” He asked the question softly. “Did they hurt you? When they took you?”

“No.”

“I’m afraid I will. It scares the shit out of me.”

He wasn’t lying. I sighed.

“Nick was gentle, and Max wasn’t frightening. You won’t hurt me. You aren’t Darius.”

He fell onto the sofa. “That’s the problem. He
expects
things from me.”

“He has a lot of expectations for his sons.”

“We’re all gonna get hurt by this. I hate seeing you in pain.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

He sighed. “I gotta. Especially when I know what I have to do.”

The silence crawled over me. I dreaded it more than any touch.

“Maybe we can fake it?” I asked.

Reed snickered. “My father anticipated that. He doesn’t think I’ll rape you.”

“I already said I wouldn’t fight.”

That didn’t help. “I’m not the Bennett you want, Sarah. Don’t pretend.”

Dangerous territory. I didn’t like where the conversation headed. My fingers threaded through the buttons on the shirt. I didn’t take it off, but I was tempted, if only to distract Reed from stumbling on any other secret I wasn’t ready to admit.

Enough games. Enough torment. Delaying it wouldn’t help either of us, and it wouldn’t protect Reed from his father.

It didn’t protect me.

I steadied my voice. “How do you…Should I lie on the bed?”

Goosebumps prickled over my skin. Reed silenced. His jaw tensed, and he stood so suddenly I flinched, the memory of too many strikes with a flogger all too real. He didn’t apologize.

“Bed’s fine.”

Reed didn’t wait for me. I heaved a silent breath and softly padded after him. His shirt just barely covered my curves, hardly hiding the last traces of lashed welts still coloring the back of my thighs.

Why was this so hard?

Nicholas took me bound to the bed, wrapped in his arms the next morning, and slammed against the shower wall. Max beat me into a puddle of myself and seized what remained.

But this was Reed.

Reed
.

Warm, caring, and somehow
good
Reed.

Max might have promised his protection through sadism, and Nicholas challenged me in every conceivable way, but I recovered from the asthma attack with Reed. Played video games with him. Watched movies.

He was a nice guy.

A sweet guy.

A
friend
.

And I’d break as soon as he laid over me, filled me, and claimed me with every deviancy his brothers possessed.

His room flooded with brightness—white and clean and washed in the crystal blue of the ocean. The warmth faded as he pulled his shirt over his head. I might have admired his perfect beach body had the darkened tan of his skin not been sullied by the flicks of his scars. The same injuries adorned Nicholas and Max.

What had Darius done to his sons? And why did he have such power over them as grown men in possession of every wealth, luxury, and opportunity?

“Do you…” A flutter of panic built within me. I coughed it away. “Should I undress?”

“What do you want?” Reed asked.

Nicholas
.

“I just want this to be okay.”

“You think this is ever going to be okay?” His voice chilled with the classic Bennett threat. “Do you think you’ll be able to return to your life once this is done? Do you know what we plan to do to you?”

“I figured it out.”

“I’m supposed to hold you down. Fuck you.
Finish
in you.”

I nodded.

“You know I’m supposed to knock you up?”

“Who are you convincing?” I asked. “Me or you?”

“Why aren’t you
scared
?”

I answered him with every honesty. “Because I can’t let myself get scared.”

I’d make this easy for him, before he had any more questions or pried into something I couldn’t reveal. The stress thickened the breath in my chest, but Nicholas’s warning replayed in my mind. I wasn’t going to let Darius Bennett win. He wouldn’t hurt my step-brothers, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to touch me.

I pulled the shirt over my head. The material fluttered to the ground.

I didn’t hide myself—not even as the chill of the room stiffened my nipples. His eyes feasted on me, studying the swell of my breasts, the trimness of my waist, and the bared and silken patch that so enthralled his brothers.

“I’m not asking for romance,” I said. “Let’s just do it so Darius doesn’t have reason to suspect anything. So he doesn’t hurt me. Let him live this perverse fantasy long enough for Nicholas to do what he has to do to free me.”

“You’re never going to be free,” Reed sighed. “If you think Nick will release you once my father steps down, you’re in more trouble than you realize.”

The back of my knees collided with the bed. I didn’t know I retreated.

Reed wasn’t as intimidating as his brothers—he was younger, brighter, and acted as though he actually meant to spread warmth with his single, amused dimple.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t as strong, fierce, and overwhelming as the Bennett name demanded. His scars hardened him. Without his smile whatever violence caused the trauma to his face and neck proved Reed was just as tough as his brothers.

He stood lithe and graceful, possessing a perfect balance of strength and playful arrogance. As he breathed, the muscles over his chest tensed. Not nearly as defined as Max, and not as inherent as Nicholas. A swimmer’s strength.

He hardened.

My nudity had the desired effect.

“On my back?” I asked.

“Why are you being so damned formal? Did you ask Nick how he should fuck you?”

I wasn’t about to tolerate his tone. “Nick tied me down when he took my virginity. Max choked me with a leash. Sorry if I think you might have a particular position in mind.”

“Should I get some restraints?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Should you?”

“For Christ’s sake, Sarah.”

“You tell me! I’m trying to make this easy on us.”

“Easy?” His voice rose. “You think this is
easy
for me?”

“I’m sorry if you’re uncomfortable.” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll
try
to be more sensitive—”

“Goddamn it!” Reed pushed me onto the bed.

I didn’t appreciate the force. I ground my teeth.

“I’m trying to help.”

“
Help
?”

My voice edged with impatience. “I knew this was going to be hard for you. Excuse me for trying to ease you into it.”

Reed stepped away, laughing and swearing in the same breath. His grin widened, but the coldness prickled my spine.

“Holy shit, Sarah, don’t you get it?”

“Get what?”

“Do you think I don’t
want
to take you?” The word echoed against his room. He stared at me. “Sarah, my every goddamned thought anymore is how
badly
I want to fuck you!”

I stiffened.

Uh-oh.

Reed turned from me to kick an ottoman from his path. He paced, ignoring me on the bed though he found my reflection from the mirror hanging on his wall.

“I have been fantasizing about this since we first captured you.”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t think I could.

Reed groaned. “Christ, I’ve counted the hours until I get my turn!”

I twisted my legs under me. My voice weakened.

“But…you didn’t…You’ve been defending me?”

“Fuck.” Reed slammed a hand against the wall. The mirror fell. That was fine. My wide-eyed reflection revealed entirely too much of my shock. It didn’t calm Reed. Nothing would.

“I know it’s wrong,” he said. “The
last
thing I should ever imagine is fucking you. But every night I’m dreaming about sinking inside you. Sarah, you have no idea what you do to me.”

Obviously.

I tensed as he approached. He pushed me, dropping me against the blankets with the faintest touch.

“Here’s the
sickest
part.” He fell to his knees beside the bed and gripped my hips. I yelped as he tugged me to the edge and exposed every part of me. I didn’t fight. I didn’t even cover myself as he spread my legs and groaned at the first gaze of my slit. “I shouldn’t want you. You’re my fucking
sister
.”