The Twins & Me

Protected

Back inside the apartment, I find Lila, the Brian guy, and Roark in the living room eating their tacos with the TV on.

"Plenty left," the Brian guy says cheerfully to me.

I try not to look at him like I can't stand him, but the fact of the matter is I can't stand him. Just something about him makes me want to punch him in the face. I can't quite put my finger on it.

I ignore his gaze and go into the kitchen to fix myself a plate. I realize I haven't eaten all day; unless you're counting Arlo's cock. A shiver of pleasure runs through me as I pull a plate out of the cabinet.

"At least now I know why you've never brought them around before," Lila says in a sickly sweet voice.

I'm glad she can't see me because my face goes red. "Yeah, why's that?"

"They're both so adorable—I don't know how you could choose between them!"

My fingers fumble with the wrapping of a taco. "What?"

"Oh, come on. You scored big time, Wren. I'm sure you could have your pick of either one if you wanted."

"She can't have both?" the Brian guy retorts. They laugh.

Please, God, kill me now.

"You know what?" I say, emerging from the kitchen. "I think I'm going to eat in my room. I have homework."

"Oh, no!" Lila says, trying to sober her smile. "Please, stay here with us. Watch the movie."

As if by an invitation, Roark makes room on the couch for me. His gaze is on my neck, obviously noting the lack of collar.

But I shake my head, pull a smile. "Nah, it's okay. Maybe later."

Lila pouts but doesn't push me further, and I scurry to my room to hide for the rest of my life.

"It's the moment you've all been waiting for," our professor begins, dimming the lights. "We're officially in the Age of Romanticism."

I glance at Arlo next to me as I pull up the slides for today's PowerPoint. He gives me a seductive look before planting a kiss on my cheek.

I pout, then lean my cheek towards him for another one. I could get kissed by him all day and it still wouldn't be enough.

Without hesitation, he brushes his fingertips along my jaw and tilts my chin to press his lips against mine. His kiss is soft and short, but it still sends butterflies through me. I grin at him when we break apart.

He leans back in his seat to watch me watch the professor, as always.

While I'd rather him take his own notes, he retains an awful lot of information just by listening, so I can't get too upset.

"Tonight," he whispers. "Are you free?"

I squirm a little in my seat. "Yeah."

He moves closer, takes a lock of my hair between his fingertips. "What's wrong?"

I give a small shrug.

He tugs a little on my hair.

I glance at him. "I just feel like this is going to be different, you know?"

He tilts his head. "It will be."

"I..." How do I even express in words what I'm feeling? This will be the first time I'm going to see a proper punishment from Ollie. We're going into the Mystery Room and something tells me it won't be nice in there. What if Ollie actually hurts Arlo? How could he possibly get off on that? I know it's not something I want to be a part of.

He leans towards me a little, sets his chocolate eyes on me. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"I...don't want to hurt you."

He watches me a moment. "You could never hurt me, Wren. Not even if you tried. You don't have that kind of hurt in you."

My gaze doesn't waver. "But Oliver does."

He blinks, then nods slowly. "He knows how to hurt me."

I feel a quiver in my voice when I speak again. "I don't want him to. All three of us know you didn't do anything wrong last Saturday. Why does he want to do this to you?"

He takes my hand in his, almost engulfing it completely. His grip is sure. "It's the dynamic we have, Wren. I think you know this, or can at least sense it. He has to be the one in control, always. With you in the picture, I think he feels insecure because you're now holding power over me, too. And, even if he won't admit it, him. He broke one of his own rules when he made you cum last week. He's never, ever done that."

I watch his face for any signs of distress, but see none. "How are you okay with this? With the relationship you two have?"

He thinks, watching my lips. "Because he takes care of me. He's always taken care of me. Taken the brunt of the beatings from Mom's old boyfriends. He faced our father when he reached out to us because I was terrified to. He's the one I can always count on."

"Even if he's made you play these games with girls?"

Now Arlo's gaze does stray from me, to the screen at the front of the room. I don't even know what slide we're on, or what our professor is saying. The only voice I can hear right now is Arlo's.

After a while, he speaks again. "I can't say I hated it, Wren. It was all I'd ever known. And even though he'd give out punishments and tell me what to do, I still felt safe. Protected." He looks at me. "You feel it to, don't you? Playing with us?"

My mouth is dry. It feels as if the two of us are shrouded in darkness, like we're the only two people in the room, in the universe. Arlo's looking deep inside me, probing a spot in me I'd never dared to examine before.

Even though I can be scared of Oliver, not know what he's thinking or what he's going to do next, he's never gone too far with me. He set his rules from day one. He's never forced himself on me; even the times he's grabbed me for speaking against him or driving to the adventure park without telling me, he was always in control of himself. There wasn't an ounce of him that truly wanted to hurt me, or Arlo.

And while he is unpredictable, he's not brutal. It's true, I realize, his actions have never felt unsafe to me.

"Don't you get it by now, Wren?" Arlo asks, the hint of a smile on his lips. "Ollie's going to protect you like you're his own. You're part of the pack now. He takes no pleasure in torture or punishment for punishments' sake—he does it to remind us that he's there and that he's there for us."