Sebastian showed me to the kitchen, where two boxes of pizza sat on the table. He grabbed plates out of a cabinet and set them on the counter, and I felt his eyes on me.

“Help yourself,” he said, not moving from where he sat down. 

I was anxious to eat before him, for a handful of reasons. Disrespect and poisoning being the biggest two. It felt like he was testing me. 

“Rhory. I believe I told you to help yourself. Why are you still lingering?” Sebastian said, and I noticed he looked slightly annoyed with me. 

“Are you not eating? I was going to wait for you to get yours first.” I said, shifting my weight back and forth between my legs, uncomfortably. As if he understood my hesitation, he stood up and grabbed a plate, and opened the pizzas. He grabbed four slices, two plain cheese and two pepperoni. 

“Now, get something to eat, Rhory,” he said, his tone on the demanding side. 

Grabbing a slice of each, I took it to the table and sat across from him. I waited for him to take the first bite before I started to eat. I polished off the first slice in near record time, unaware of how actually hungry I was. Taking a break to wait for the first slice to settle, I watched Sebastian eat. 

His eyes found mine as he chewed and I kept eye contact with him, soaking in all his features. Breaking our eye contact, I grabbed the second slice and chewed it back. 

“If you’re still hungry, eat some more. There’s more than enough.” 

“Alright. Will do.” I said and went and grabbed two more slices of the cheese pizza. Sitting down, I watched Sebastian get up and get another drink, a bottled beer from the fridge. 

“Want one?” He asked when he saw me watching him. 

“No… I’m alright.” I said politely and stopped watching him. I didn’t want to upset him the way my brother had, that was for sure. 

After dinner, I washed the plates and glasses, ignoring Sebastian several times when he told me I could leave them for the cleaner to do. I didn’t have a cleaner, so this was normal for me to do, and I really didn’t mind. 

Drying my hands on the towel, I turned and almost jumped out of my skin. Sebastian was standing there, another beer in his hand, not saying a word, and truthfully, I hadn’t noticed he had been so close to me. 

“You scared the shit out of me.” I said, my voice higher than normal. His silence on the matter made me slightly anxious. 

“Come. I’ll find you something to sleep in,” he said, tipping back his beer and finishing it. He even made that action look good. Giving my head a good little shake while walking behind him, I followed him to his bedroom. He opened the doors and spoke. 

“Sit on the bed, behave yourself.” 

“Ok.” I mumbled and sat on the edge of the bed while he went into the closet and found some clothing for me to wear to bed. With clothes in head, he held them out to me and waited till I grabbed them to close the gap between us. 

“Leave your clothing on the counter in the bathroom and I’ll make sure it’s washed. And I shouldn’t have to mention this, but I will. If you run away in the middle of night, I will hunt you down and both you and your sweet little brother will regret it,” he said, his tone getting scary near the end of his sentence. 

“I understand.” I said quickly and took off when he said I could go. Yes, being around him so far had been uncomfortable, but this was different. This was actually fear of him. 

Making my way back to the bedroom, I changed into the thin jogging pants and the t-shirt. Both were a couple sizes off of a perfect fit, but they were definitely more comfortable than what I had on before. I quickly and quietly took my clothing to the bathroom, having a quick pee while I was there. Washing my hands, I went back to the room and crawled under the blanket. 

It was too early for me to sleep, or it felt like it. But I could lay here until I passed out. Tossing and turning for a while, I got up again around midnight to use the bathroom again. Hearing Sebastian talking, I wasn’t trying to listen in on what he was saying, but Roan’s name caught my attention. Listening deeper into the conversation, I hung onto every word. 

“True. But I won’t need him for that soon.” 

Did he intend to get rid of my brother after some time? If that was the case, I needed to get him out of here. Stupidly, I crept away from the bedroom doors and into the kitchen. His wallet and keys sat there unsuspectingly. Grabbing the money out of his wallet, I felt pretty pathetic. But this was my brother, and I needed to keep him safe. I didn’t want him to be double crossed by Sebastian. 

Taking his keys too, I crept out of the kitchen and down the hall to the front door. Slipping on the first pair of boots I came into contact with, I stepped outside. 

Thankfully, the truck was still clear of snow and ice. Pressing the unlock button on the key fob, it opened. Getting in, I had no choice but to use a bit of force to close the door, and I didn’t think twice about omg the keys in and starting the truck. 

In the doorway was Sebastian, and the light outside showed how mad he was. Putting the truck into drive, I sped off. If he got his hands on me before I could get to Roan, we would both be dead. 

Making it to Roan, I got out of the truck, not even turning it off. I ran to the door, and it opened. Roan was wrapped up in a sweater, and his eyes were narrowed on me. 

“You are a fucking moron. He’s going to fucking kill you, Rhory!” 

“Shut you have to come with me. He’s going to kill you. You’re not valuable to him. I overheard him tell someone he didn’t need you, and—” 

Roan grabbed me and pulled me inside the smaller cabin. Dinner dishes sat on the table, and the man from before was relaxing on the couch, his shirt undone and hanging open. Marks from lovemaking, or sex on display. 

“You are in a fair bit of trouble.” The guy said, and stood up, buttoning his shirt back up, before he smiled softly at Roan. 

“Roan! Are you even listening to me? You need to get out of here! Right now!” 

Grabbing him, I forced him outside in the snow with his bare feet and shoved him into the truck. Running around the front of the truck, I climbed inside before he could get out. 

With the truck in drive, the cabin was quickly disappearing. Roan grabbed the wheel and yanked it. 

“Stop it! Are you trying to fucking kill us?” I yelled, trying to keep his hands off the wheel. 

“I’d rather die by my own fucking hand than yours because you angered a fucking mob boss!” Roan screamed and yanked the wheel so hard the truck spun out. Unable to stop the truck as it spun around, Roan and I both made sure we were buckled in. 

Stomping on the brakes, the truck rolled over. 

Everything seemed like it was in slow motion, glass bits all around the roof of the truck. Roan looked at me, and he was shaking. I wanted to tell him everything was fine, but I was too scared to speak. 

“We have to get out of the truck.” Roan said, suddenly, and released his seatbelt. Falling to the roof, he reached up and unbuckled me, too. He crawled out the broken window on his side, and the headlights from another vehicle made me hesitate. Roan, being himself, reached inside the broken window and yanked me out into the snow.  

Sebastian got out of the SUV on the passenger side and made his way to Roan. Telling him to go sit inside the car, Roan didn’t even hesitate. He bolted to the SUV, his bare feet leaving tracks. 

Inching closer to the broken window, I bolted, trying to crawl back into the broken window, and he yanked me by my ankles back out into the snow. 

He hauled me back to the SUV, throwing me in the back with Roan. Sitting there, just barely, I turned to Roan, and he punched me in the mouth. 

“Keep your hands to yourself.” Sebastian snapped. 

“He almost fucking killed us!” Roan screamed. 

Pressing my fingers to my lip, he had definitely split it, and I was regretting teaching him how to throw a decent punch. Sebastian took Roan back to his tiny cabin, and he got out. He didn’t even stop to find out what Sebastian was going to do to me or with me. Roan had to be pissed at me, but I was only doing that to keep him safe. 

Leaving, now just Sebastian and I in the SUV, he drove in uncomfortable silence the whole while back to his larger cabin. He parked the SUV in the driveway, and turned to me, that scary look dominating his features. 

“You’ve just used up your only free warning, Rhory.”