Ensnared (Brutes of Bristlebrook #1)

by Rebecca Quinn

Only to stop. My stomach drops to my feet. Three tall, muscular—and very heavily armed—men watch me from the riverbed.

Survival tip #220 Don’t risk your men. No matter how pretty she is.

Her naked fear tugs at all my protective instincts—but this isn’t the old world, and I’m not putting my men at risk for a stranger. We don’t do that anymore.

Survival tip #12 Laugh lines can be deceptive. Sure, maybe this person is good humored and trustworthy. But maybe they laugh while they dismember corpses. Exercise caution.

Survival tip #38 Cheese = safety.

“We decided after the last time that if we had a woman under our roof again, she’d belong to all of us. Equally. Or she couldn’t stay.”

Survival tip #230 Beautiful men make your brain fuzzy. Thinking is important. Abort!

Survival tip #150 When men start swinging their dicks around—duck!

I tear away from his penetrating gaze, lowering my eyes. “Yes, Jasper.” I know this part. I play it as well as any actress. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I won’t embarrass you. I’ll be good, I swear.

“Sit down, gorgeous, and pour yourself a drink. It’s time for Eden to sin.”

“Don’t stop on me now, beautiful.” It’s a plea, not an order, and suddenly I’m powerful—in control of giving or taking away his pleasure. And, with a desperate, warm ache, I realize I want to make him happy. I want to drive him wild.

Survival tip #301 When in doubt, fight it out.

“Don’t you know? Tragic hero is my aesthetic.” His dimple flashes. “Just like bossy jerk is yours, grumpy Hulk is Jayk’s, self-righteous sweetheart is Beau’s, and sexy nerd is Eden’s.”

“I’m not your pet, Beau,” she says. “I am your equal, despite what you all seem to think. I’m more than just your plaything. I can choose to leave at any time if this isn’t working for me.” Her chin lifts with quiet pride. “I’m here for myself—not for you.”

“You went into my room.” Step. “Without permission.” Step. “Rifled through my closet.” Step. “And stole from me?”

“There has been some talk of punishment that I fear has misled you. To be clear, I don’t intend on causing you any harm, or crossing any lines you aren’t comfortable with me crossing. You can always refuse, Eden. Always. And with no consequence to your position in this house.”

“Good girl,” he murmurs, and I beam up at him at the praise.

I wasn’t alone in an abyss with Jasper, after all. I was just alone.

Survival tip #3 Fight for yourself. No-one else will.

“No, I don’t, because I am not a pet, Beau,” I yell. I yell and I want to keep yelling. “I’m Eden, and I deserve better than this, damn you.”

“I’m not nothing, I can help. I can contribute more than just sex,” I tell his chest. “I’m not nothing.”

Enough is enough. I need answers. I need the full truth if I’m going to stay. For my own sake, I can’t accept anything less. Beau doesn’t see me as well as he thinks.

Sometimes I’m not sure what was worse—losing Heather, or losing Beau’s trust.

I wonder if she ever feels rage like mine under all that politeness.

“It’s not feeling safe here, or with any of you, that’s the problem,” she continues, looking at each of us. “I don’t like being lied to. Or coddled. I can help. I want to help. I can’t bear to be bundled up and put on a shelf like a dress-up doll when you’re done playing with me. I think . . . I think I would rather live alone than live like that.”

With her small, warm palm in mine, I have the strangest feeling that I’m handing over far more than I bargained for. Maybe she’s the faerie queen after all.

I don’t want to be defined by who I am to them—I did that with my husband and that was a disaster. I need to be an equal. Free. I need to be defined by who I want to be.

Beau almost shot me.

Survival tip #138 If they think the worst of you, be worse than that.

Heather was the first one who made me seriously think about leaving, but it didn’t get much better after she left. The shit the other day, realizing just what kind of person they really think I am . . . that’s got to be the end of it. I don’t belong here—and they don’t want me here. Not really.

If she’s not back by tomorrow I’m going after her, whatever any of them say. I’ll make sure she gets back to Bristlebrook and that every inch of her perfect little ass is safe—but then I’m done.

It means this is a trap.

Survival tip #72 Enjoy your victories. Your next loss will come soon enough.

“I want to break the deal,” I say, calm and sure. “I don’t want any more conditions attached to me staying at Bristlebrook. I’ll stay because I deserve to be there. Because I contribute as much as anyone, and it has nothing to do with sex.”

“No, I’m not choosing anyone. I care about all of you. I’m attracted . . . I mean, Lucky is so beautiful, and free, and I just laugh, you know? Every time I’m with him. And he really listens to me, for hours and hours he listens.” I smile, warmed through just thinking about him. “And Jayk, well, he pretends to be so brash. He even believes it, I think. But he’s patient—we took apart the washing machine together, even though I’m sure it took twice as long to have me there. He’s so smart, and he doesn’t give himself half as much credit as he deserves. And Jasper⁠—”

“You make me feel safe, and I’ve not felt that often. A few weeks ago, I didn’t think anyone could ever make me feel that way. I’ve been fighting my fear my whole life. Since coming to Bristlebrook, I’ve felt safe, and it’s given me the chance to think, really think, about what I want for myself for the first time ever. And I’m trusting you to listen to that.”

He would let me take him to his knees and fuck his pretty mouth until I came down his throat and he would say nothing but thank you. I could pull him into my lap and just hold him, for hours, and he would stay there happily. Or he would have, before Eden.

“Just be with Eden, Lucien. She’s lovely—she’ll make you happy.” “No, Jasper.” His voice drops low. “It’s not enough.”

“I couldn’t, Jasper. She’s gorgeous and funny and smart and she tastes like a dream. With her, I can finally breathe again in a way I never could before, not even with you. She could be my best friend, I could love her completely, easily, but that edge . . . that thing, that takes me somewhere else, that thing that calms me, and makes me feel safe, and broken . . . it just wasn’t there without you. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to, but I just kept thinking how much I wanted you there with us, taking both of us for yourself. I want her. I might even need her in a way you can never give me, but I need you too. I need you to take control. I need to see her make you come. She should be there next to me, both of us kneeling for you, and⁠—”

“I meant it, Lucien. I truly did. Even if she wasn’t my best friend, even if I didn’t love her, the imbalance of power between you and me was—is—far too great to ever be palatable. In the end, though, she didn’t believe me. She left. She left, and I was alone with the promises that I swore never to break.”

“Those promises are still promises, Lucien, even though it’s been five years and an apocalypse since our divorce. Because you are still too young, you are still my patient, and I still have an ethical responsibility toward you. I’ve been a mentor and a guide to you, and you have confused those feelings with a crush. It would be wrong to take advantage of those feelings.”

“Do you have any idea how condescending you sound? You think we’re the first people who have ever fallen in love that shouldn’t have?” Lucien grinds his dick against me, rubbing against mine through our pants, and I can’t help my grunt. “And I’m sorry, but your wife is gone, and there’s no ethics board here to rake you over the coals. How can you say this is a lie? Do you even really believe that? No matter who you are to me, who you’ve ever been, this is real. These feelings exist whether you want them to or not. They always have.”

Talk? For once in my life, I don’t think I have anything to say. I’ve finally done the unforgivable. Years of brushing close to it, toying with disaster. Years of resistance, and I still failed him.

“It was a lure, to break up our forces, leave us vulnerable. Eden might be a draw, but they couldn’t have known she would go after them. What they really want is⁠—” “Bristlebrook,” Lucien breathes, paling. “They’re coming here, while the others are gone.”

But our furious flight wasn’t enough. We realized too late. They’re already here.

I step into him and rise up on my tiptoes so I can press a light, nervous kiss to his mouth. Dom goes entirely still, and watches me as I drop back down on my heels. For the first time in hours, I have his complete attention.

Survival tip #151 Don’t be a hero.

This is a bad angle for me, but if I move around the shed, I won’t be able to cover Jasper for shit. “Hero.” I fire back twice and look back at Jasper, who’s pulling Lucky behind the truck. “Bullshit.”

Survival tip #224 If you can protect your family, you’ve done the best anyone could hope for in this life.

Survival tip #336 Don’t ever underestimate the bravery of a woman who looks at you with stars in her eyes.