Night Is Darkest (12 page)

“There hasn’t been a single call all night, honey.” Ty situated her closer to his heat. “I think your informant might have given up.”

“We’ll get the data back, Lace.” It would be easy to believe Mason’s assured confidence. “Just let us know if there’s anything else we need to move off this machine before morning.”

The deliberation took a handful of seconds. She couldn’t risk anyone cracking her passwords. “There’s a folder named
Jackson
.”

A shiver ran up her spine just mentioning the title. Tyler buffed her arms. The lack of reaction from the guys confirmed they didn’t understand what it meant to her.

“All this time… I-I thought Rob had told you.” Though he’d promised to keep the incident between them, she’d always suspected Ty and Mason knew and that it was the reason they kept their distance from her. She should have known Rob would never break a promise.

“You’re making yourself bleed, Lacey.”

A hint of iron tang burst on her tongue as she licked the spot on her lip she’d worried. “Please, just make sure that folder is gone before anyone else sees my computer.”

Tyler’s biceps locked her in place as he reached around her torso. The screen flashed as he pulled up the offensive directory, preparing to transfer it temporarily to Rob’s old computer. As the files copied over, the content metadata flashed across the screen, sealing her fate.

OSPD-Report-2005-215437.pdf now transferring.

Tyler’s legs went rock hard beneath her ass when every muscle in his body clenched simultaneously. Beside her, a fierce growl emanated from Mason’s behemoth chest. Both men recognized the standard naming convention of a state police report.

“Open it, Tyler.” Mason barked the order.

“No!” She would have rocketed off Ty’s lap but his forearm banded around her waist, pinning her in place.

“What’s this about, Lacey? Tell me or I’ll open it, I swear. If someone’s giving you trouble we need to know the facts.” Tyler had an iron will when it came to those he loved. He would never back down if he thought she might be in danger.

“It’s ancient history guys. Look at the date.” She pointed to the file name. “This is nothing relevant to either of you.”

Lightning didn’t strike her on the spot because she crossed her toes while she lied.

“Open it,” Mason repeated.

“I’m sorry, little one.” Tyler sided with the other man. He reached out to select the file.

A huge sigh of relief deflated her when the password protection box popped up, blocking Ty’s attempt.

“Tell him the password, Lacey.”

She refused to obey Mason’s command.

“If you don’t, I’ll call down to the station and have someone pull a hard copy of the records. Then we won’t be the only ones who know your secret.”

“It’s a state record, not local. You don’t have jurisdiction,” she argued but she’d already lost. They’d never let it go now.

“You think they won’t give us the information? Everyone knows we’re like family,” Mason persisted.

“I wish you’d trust us, sweetheart.” The hurt note layered in Ty’s voice convinced her to do things the easy way.

She twisted in his arms to cup his cheek in her palm. “Promise me it won’t change things between us.” They’d come so far this evening, she didn’t want him to retreat now.

“What did I tell you about that, doll?” Mason interrupted the moment. “No one can ever promise something that ridiculous.”

“Shut up, Mason.” Ty drew her attention back to his reddened face. “Nothing’s going to keep me from you.”

“EatShitAndDie.”

“What?” His head snapped back.

“My password for this file. It’s
EatShitAndDie
. Capitalize the first letter of each word. No spaces.”

Tyler pinched the bridge of his nose while Mason attempted to disguise a laugh with a cough. However, the mood didn’t last long. As soon as he typed in the code and hit enter, the damning document polluted the screen.

“Mother fucker!” The viciousness of Mason’s snarled curse caused her to flinch more than the gory photo pasted to the top of the scanned paperwork. She’d seen the reminder of her stupidity enough times to be numb to the shocking sight.

“Please tell me that’s not you, little one.” Tyler crushed her to his chest. She squirmed in his hold, which threatened to crack her ribs. Instead of reading the text for the millionth time, she watched their horrified faces as they leaned in to peruse it. The words were burned into her memory.

“It looks worse than it really was. I sort of passed out by the time the officer with the camera got up the stairs.” She could guess what they were seeing but, in her mind’s eye, she remembered how grateful she’d been for the darkness that obliterated her mortification after her rescuer informed her she was safe and that Rob was on the way.

An industrial space with exposed pipes and vents painted midnight black, illuminated by hundreds of dripping maroon candles. Her limp body hung at an awkward angle from four shackles. The two affixed to the floor had ensnared her ankles while the two on chains bolted to the ceiling gouged her wrists. Bright blood matching the wax oozed from the lacerations she’d made in her wrists as she thrashed in the bindings, fighting to escape the lash of Jackson’s whip. More crimson stained the skin of her back which had been sliced to ribbons beneath the cat-o-nine-tails.

“The hell it does! Who did this to you?” Tyler’s entire body shook with rage.

“I only knew him as Jackson.” She swallowed then turned away, ashamed of her naiveté. “I met him through an online chatroom.”

“Why weren’t we aware of this?” Mason broke his silence with a flat monotone that scared her.

“I begged Rob not to tell you. But, the way you two treated me like a leper all those years when I could sense your desire… I thought he’d spilled for sure.” Moisture gathered at the corner of her eyes. She focused on the ceiling and blinked a few times to clear the tears. She refused to shed a single drop more today.

“Rob threatened to destroy us if we ever touched you. Said we were too wild for you.” Ty’s deep sigh rocked her forward. “I thought it was just standard big brother overprotective crap but Mason always swore there was more to it. I should have seen it, too.”

“You turned skittish that summer you were home from school.” Mason looked mad enough to spit nails. “I thought it was because we crowded you, so we backed off. Way off.”

“All I ever wanted was for you to come closer.” So much for her no-more-tears resolution. “It hurt so bad to see you give all those women what I needed. D-Do you remember my eighteenth birthday party?”

Ty groaned. “I couldn’t accept your offer. Mason and I promised each other we wouldn’t touch you until you turned twenty-one, no matter how hard it got. You weren’t ready.”

“I know it was stupid.” She hung her head not wanting to add to their guilt but, now that they’d started sharing, it felt cathartic to get it out in the open. Enough time had passed to dull the ragged edges of her pain and fear. “But I thought I’d show you both I could handle your needs.”

“What did you know about our needs?” Mason fired. “You were just a kid!”

“That’s what you thought.” She scowled at him. “You don’t think girls talk? Cindy was my best friend and you screwed her older sister, Theresa, ten ways to Sunday. She told us all about the things you two did to her when I was still in middle school. At night I dreamed you were doing them to me instead. But when I turned eighteen and you still wouldn’t have me, I knew it was time to let go. Time to find someone who would teach me about
my
desires. I thought maybe then you’d want me.”

She paused to collect her thoughts while they stared in shock, then continued. “I’d heard rumors about fancy bondage clubs and I wanted to know what it was like. Except, where the hell do you find something like that in our ho-hum town?”

Tyler looked like he was about to rattle off a suggestion or two but he opted to keep his mouth shut after he caught the death-ray glare Mason aimed at him.

“So I did something incredibly stupid and trusted this guy. Jackson. He seemed so normal and understanding. We met in person for drinks. He was charming, but I think I had too many martinis. Everything got foggy. Next thing I knew, we were in…that place. He changed the second he had me locked up.” She shuddered. “He flipped out and started yelling at me, cursing, telling me I was a whore to want such nasty things. That he was on a mission. And, well… You see how it turned out. I got lucky someone passing by heard my screams and kicked in the door. I was such an idiot.”

Mason reached for her then. He cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“I don’t ever want to hear that bullshit from you again. You were young and inexperienced but you didn’t deserve that. No one deserves that.” His ocean blue eyes darted to the screen, causing his nostrils to flare. “Where is this fuckwad today?”

“Turns out this wasn’t his first offense. Rob made sure he went to jail but he’s up for early release due to good behavior. The hearing is in a few weeks.” She’d been dreading facing Jackson alone at the parole hearing but felt selfish for considering something so trivial so soon after losing her brother.

“Little one, can I ask you something?” Ty ran his hands up her back, down her arms, then over her thighs as though reassuring himself of her health. Exhausted after the retelling, she rested her head on his chest and soaked in his comforting touches. When she didn’t object, he asked, “You’ve stashed all those pictures but you were a virgin. Are there still things you want to try in real life, or did this attack steal your curiosity?”

She winced at the reminder of her innocence but she’d come this far, she might as well go for broke. Staring straight into his eyes so he couldn’t discount her sincerity, she confessed, “I still want it all. I just didn’t trust anyone to give it to me except you.”

Her gaze shifted to Mason. “And you.”

“Everyone has secrets,” she whispered. “Now you know mine.”

Chapter Nine

Mason clenched his jaw as he faced off against Tyler. “This changes nothing.”

“It changes
everything
! Why can’t you man up and admit she needs everything we do? This can’t be about her anymore. It’s all about you and
your
hang-ups. For all you act like a certified Casanova, you’re letting your preconceptions blind you to what’s right in front of your ugly face.”

“Tone down the emo, will you?” A muscle in his jaw ticked but Ty kept right on going.

“Tell me you don’t want to be waiting for her the moment she finishes collecting herself in the bathroom. Swear you don’t need to take her to bed and erase all the lingering memories I saw lurking in her eyes. Convince me, and I’ll drop it.”

Mason stalked the hallway outside Lacey’s bedroom, where she’d retreated after her declarations. “How will you feel when we get lost in the moment and take things too far? You can’t suppress your nature forever, Ty. What if you grab her wrists to pin her instead of caressing her? What if you slip up and kiss me, beg me to fuck you? What are you going to do if she looks at you in horror? How are you going to feel when someone attacks her for her ‘deviant behavior’?”

“Are we talking about me…or you?”

“Fine, douchebag. Me. Maybe you can keep things sweet and tender but we both know I can’t. What if instinct takes over and I want more than she can handle? How do we know she’s ready for a threesome?” He evaded the hand Ty extended in his direction. If they touched now he’d go up in flames.

“I’ll be there, Mason. I believe to the depth of my soul that you would never hurt her but I’ve got your back. I promise I won’t lose my head or let the scene get out of control. It’ll just be the three of us, making love, forgetting about all the bullshit in the background.”

“If I were to do this, I’d have some ground rules.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Ty always teased him mercilessly about his need for order.

“Don’t bust on me or I’m out of here. I’m not joking around with her safety.” The fight leached from the other man as he slumped against the wall.

“Let’s have it then. Christ, just hurry. I’ve never been so hard in my life.”

“I don’t want to hear it. You got some this evening. I’ve been suffering for days.”

“Really? You suffered? You could have had me anytime until you kicked me out.”

“Shh. That’s first. We take things slow. Both of us need to concentrate on her.” Mason cleared his throat. “I don’t want you distracting me with your tricks.”

“Son of a bitch! You make it sound like I rape you.”

“Ty, we don’t have time for this right now. Please, let’s just focus on Lacey. This is like every other threesome we’ve had.”

“No, it’s not.”

Mason didn’t argue further but continued laying out his stipulations instead. “Nothing between us.”

“Yeah, I know the drill.”

Mason ignored the ripple of sickness attacking his gut at the hurt Ty couldn’t obscure. “And no restraints other than our hands. She’s not ready for anything hardcore yet.”

Tyler nodded. “I got it. Do you think I’m stupid? I’d never do anything to scare her.”