Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35499 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35499 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
I scoff. Is he fuckin’ serious right now? He can't come with me.
"It's not how it sounds," Legion continues.
"Oh, I think it is, Legion. I think it's exactly how it sounds."
"I'm not telling you to go, I'm not telling you to stay." He leans in closer, whispering now. "I'm telling you that if I walk out, they're gonna kill me."
"What?" No sound comes out of my mouth when I ask this.
"The brand, Savannah, it's a promise for life. And when I made this promise two weeks ago, I thought you were safe. I thought we'd stay in our places and live our lives, and… " He throws up his hands. "Whatever. Hook up, maybe. Or never see each other again. I don't know. But that's not how I feel tonight. Tonight, you're mine. And I want it to stay that way."
“I don’t understand. Why would they kill you if I left?”
“Because I’d go with you. And, like I said, I can’t go with you.”
It takes a moment for all this cryptic shit to fall into place, but eventually, it does.
If you leave, I can’t go.
But if I leave, he’s going with me.
It what I wanted, wasn’t it? That’s what I told him the very day they took us. If I walk away, he walks too.
He said no. He made it very clear that he was not walkin’ out on Badlands.
Now I know why. It’s not because he doesn’t love me.
It’s because of that stupid brand.
They own him.
That’s what that brand means.
And if I get up and walk out of here tonight, he’s going with me.
Will they kill him in front of me? Immediately? Kill us both?
Or will they let us walk away and hunt us down later?
I take a breath, hold it, and slowly let it out. "OK. So… what do you want me to do, Legion?" Because clearly, he needs me to do something.
My suspicion is confirmed when he smiles. "That's the spirit. And it's not even a big ask. Just… " He pauses. Like he knows he's lying. Whatever he’s about to say, it's a huge ask, but he wants to convince me it's not. "Ya just… make them like ya, baby." He leans forward and kisses me. His hand wrapping around my head, fisting my hair.
And it's so nice, this kiss. This touching. It's so much of what I need, that I kiss him back. Grabbing his head now too.
I hear the laughing. The remarks—the approval—all around us.
"See," Legion says. "That's all you got to do. Make them like you by loving me. By accepting my protection. By being mine."
I don't quite understand what this means. My confusion must spread across my face because Legion sits down next to me and pulls me into his lap, making me straddle his legs.
I don't like turning my back on the room, but Legion's got my face in his hands now, so I can't look back. He stares up at me, eyes pleading for my understanding. Nearly begging.
“What?” I whisper. “What aren’t you saying?”
"We're gonna fuck, Savannah."
"What?" I try and look behind me, but Legion holds my face in place.
"You heard me. I'm gonna fuck you on this couch and mark you as mine. Everyone's gonna watch and get the hint. You are one of us now. You are choosing me, and by choosing me, you choose them."
"Choose them?"
Legion must see the panic in my face because he shakes his head. "Not like that. You are mine. And if you fuck me here, they'll know it. Because if you're mine you will do everything I say, even this. In front of them."
"This is what they want?" I scoff again. "Voyeur sex?"
"It's your surrender, Savannah. That's what they want. To know who's side you're on. Mine? Ours? Badlands?" He narrows his eyes at me. It turns him into someone I don't know. "Or the Ashby's."
"You, the man who saved me? Or them, the ones who hate me?" I let out a breath and place my hands on his face now. "It's not even a choice. It's you. It's always been you."
This does not make him smile. Instead, his face grows harder. "You have to own it, or none of this is gonna work."
Very complicated things are happening in this clubhouse that I do not understand. Whatever went on in that back room he just came out of, didn’t quite land the way he hoped.
He wants me to prove something here.
Prove to these men that I am… owned.
Controlled.
Oh. I nearly laugh, that’s how suddenly the understanding floods into me.
Fucking me here on this couch, in front of everyone, is a claim. But more than that, it’s… a pecking order.
Men. Then women.
Right.
Well, I came up in a matriarchy. My mother ran our family the same way she ran our ranch. It was a business. She used me like a product. Turned me into content. Took everything from me.