Free Insurmountable (Serpentine #1) by Skye Callahan

girl I’ve moved in here.”
    “Aren’t you a Casanova?” Stop, Alley. He’s going to explode eventually and you’ll regret it. But I couldn’t stop the words. I couldn’t stop the hate or the tears.
    “How old were you when they brought you in?” he asked.
    I didn’t want to answer that. I didn’t want to remember and I sure as this was hell didn’t want to talk about it. I looked away. “Sixteen.”
    “Auctioned off?”
    I wanted to double over and scream as the tears fell faster. I nodded.
    “A virgin—”
    “Please,” I barely squeaked out the word, pulling away. Off the bed. Away from him. Away from the pain. Was he determined to break me?
    “Milo took you.”
    “Please.” I shook my head. “Please, Miles.”
    God, I used his name. My knees buckled, but he caught me and pulled me to the bed.
    “How did you end up at the auction?”
    My chest shook so violently I could barely inhale. “This guy, Aaron. I met him at a party. My friends had dragged me there because we all had a crush on the guy who threw the party. They ended up taking off with him, and I met Aaron. We… started hanging out after that. Getting high,” I scoffed at my own stupidity. The tears had stopped with all of my emotion drained. “I must’ve passed out. I woke up in this tiny room. They kept me drugged until the auction.”
    “Milo’s an asshole.”
    He said it so suddenly I had to laugh, even though it sounded more like a sob. “It’s been eight years. I don’t have anything left,” I said.
    “If I count back to the day one of the guards trapped me in the bathroom of the Commons during a big party, I still have thirteen years up on you.”
    Does he mean? I froze, unsure of what to say.
    “Milo lost his shit when he finally found out, but I eventually got back at all them.”
    “How?”
    “By being smarter. I listened. Learned the languages, whatever I had to do until I had something to offer. It wasn’t pretty and certainly never pleasant, but I eventually had enough to make Milo see I was more valuable as an employee than a slave.”
    “Noble.” I scoffed. Deep down, I knew there was more to it, but I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to feel for him.
    “No.” He lifted my chin. Still gentle with every motion. How was it that he wasn’t beyond pissed at me? Beyond tired of my falling apart? “It’s Survival.”
    “I’m tired of surviving.”
    “I’m offering you something more,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to mine.
    But I still didn’t buy it. I couldn’t. Wouldn’t. “Why me and not one of the hundreds of others who’ve passed through your bed?”
    “You’re not one of the hundreds of others.”
    “So, what? Save me and earn redemption?”
    “No,” he said, squeezing my hands. “I’m not deluded enough. I’m not long past redemption. In this case, I don’t have all the answers. I was drawn to you from the moment I saw you. Then, I happened to walk into the empty security room and saw that man beating you. I carried you to the infirmary. I saw that distant look in your eyes and it struck something in me. I can’t promise you the world. No sandy beaches, white gowns, or happily ever after’s. But I’ll give you my bed and my protection, and I’ll try my damnedest to make you forget everything else.”
    When he laid it all out like that, I felt my walls tumble so suddenly that my head spun. I closed my eyes and fell against his chest, letting his broad arms come around me and lift me to his lap. “How’s my makeup?” I asked with a sniffle as I wiped away a fresh set of tears.
    “Well,” he looked me over, “I think the eyebrows are salvageable.”
    I laughed. “Great.”
    Even if he could just make me laugh every once in a while, I thought it might be worth it.
    He wiped the smeared makeup and tears from under my eyes. “Luckily, we do still have about twenty minutes.”
    I sighed. I wasn’t ready for the Overlook. For Ross, the other girls and whoever the