Free THEIR_VIRGIN_PRINCESS by Shayla Black Lexi Blake Page B

hated his perfectly sensible tone. She was past sanity,
     and he sounded so completely cool. She tried to calm down, but they were all so
     close. “I need you to back off. Back off!”
    It wasn’t fair to lash out at them, but she needed to be alone so she could regroup.
     She had to get them out of here before she lost it again. She’d humiliated
     herself enough. And more panic hovered at the edge of her consciousness, stuck
     in her throat, threatening to escape in a long scream.
    They had all conspired against her, even Landon. He’d known
     about the investigation. It was the only explanation for how he’d known where
     and when that meeting about her life had been taking place. All three of them
     had been complicit.
    Broken and ugly. That was all she was.
    “Alea, I’m just about ready to put you over my knee and
     smack that ass until you’re in your right head again.”
    “Nice. Well, go ahead. It’s nothing I haven’t been through
     before. You think you’re so big and bad? Go ahead, abuse the stupid, weak
     princess. Maybe that will make you feel like a man.” She spewed bile his way
     because she wasn’t about to let him know that she needed them to hold her, to
     surround her until she was sure no harm could reach her. Eventually, they’d find
     out she was broken. Then they would leave. She had to erect some really high
     walls that would protect them all, so their rejection wouldn’t hurt so much.
     “Men only see women as punching bags anyway, right?”
    Dane’s face went a bright red, his jaw tightening to the
     point she was sure it would break. He was so righteously pissed that she
     thought surely he would beat her and prove who was stronger.
    Instead, he jerked away from her, then pivoted, giving her
     his back. He didn’t look at her again, merely reached out and grabbed Cooper’s
     shirt, where Lan’s hand had been previously. He twisted his fist in the garment
     and started dragging his friend out behind him.
    “Goddamn it, Dane.” Cooper struggled, but nothing seemed to
     faze Dane. “Let me go. We can’t leave her like this.”
    Dane merely stalked out of the room, hauling his partner
     along.
    Alea’s hands shook as she felt warm, soft fabric cover her
     shoulders suddenly. She looked up. Landon. He was settling her robe around her
     body, covering her nakedness. His face was a careful blank.
    “I’ll admit that I knew you were all kinds of fucked up,
     Princess,” Lan began in that down-home Texas drawl of his.
    She laughed, but there was no humor to the sound. She pulled
     the robe around her like a coat of armor. “Good for you, Lan. You just proved
     you have eyes and a brain that halfway works.”
    He flinched, and his face closed up. Alea fought tears. What
     was wrong with her? Why did she keep saying such horrible things? Why was she
     hurting them?
    Because they terrified her. Because if she hurt them first,
     they might not be able to hurt her back.
    “Wow. That’s a good one, Princess. You know how to go for
     the throat. You definitely kicked Dane where it hurts the most. Did you know
     his ex-wife thought that BDSM was abuse? Did you know that even though he never
     touched her like that, when he asked her to experiment she called him a wife
     beater?”
    She gasped. How horrible. And how terrible she felt now.
     Dane would never hurt a woman.
    Alea closed her eyes for a moment. Sometimes, she didn’t recognize
     herself anymore. When she lashed out like she just had, the fear and hurt
     talked, not her. “No. Oh, Lan, I didn’t know. He wouldn’t have abused her.”
    “Well, you have great instincts, Princess. Dane feels like
     he failed everyone, his whole family, definitely his ex-wife. I’m pretty sure
     I’m the dumbest idiot ever born, so reinforcing that is a surefire way to hurt
     me. Let me give you some advice on how to hurt Coop because I’m not sure you
     figured him out yet. He hides his insecurities really well.”
    “Don’t.”