“God, does she always whine like that? How do you keep from throwing her ass down the stairs?” Deborah steps up, getting in my face while the guys laugh. “Whiny little bitch. So pathetic. Maybe if you had stayed out of here, this wouldn’t be happening. Ever think about that?”

“Now, why would she mind her own business? That’s too much to ask.” Colt leans in, breathing on my neck. “She would much rather act like a victim and whine and cry about how mean everybody is to her. You got yourself in this situation. Only you.”

Like they wouldn’t have found some other reason to get on my case even if I had stayed in my room all night. “I get it, okay?”

“No, not okay.” Nix sits on his desk chair, straddling it, arms crossed over the back. “What do you think we should do to her as punishment?” he asks Deborah.

Her eyes light up, and my mouth goes dry. This is going to be bad. “I don’t know. There are so many possibilities.” She snaps her fingers, beaming. “I know. We strip her naked, shave off all her hair, and leave her in the middle of nowhere.”

Nix and Colt burst out in hysterical laughter while I fight for every breath, thanks to my growing panic. “That’s a good idea,” Nix decides. “I like the naked part, too. The rest of it, though? We’d have a hard time explaining it to the parents.”

She lifts a shoulder. “Then let’s start with the naked part.”

Nix jumps up, eyes flashing, his smile reminding me of a wolf. While Colt holds me still, Nix tears off my pajama shirt. The cool air makes my nipples pucker, and I could die of embarrassment. I could just die. The last sound I hear will be Deborah’s hysterical laughter.

“I have an idea. Hold her still.” Deborah goes to the desk and grabs a black marker. No matter how I try to pull myself free, I doubt I could escape from one of the guys, much less two of them. Not when they’re this determined to humiliate me.

“Now hold still, bitch.” She narrows her eyes, concentrating hard on scrawling the word SLUT across my chest. Every letter she completes makes my stepbrothers laugh harder, louder, until they’re practically howling by the time she’s finished.

She’s only finished with that word, though. She has more to do. Starting from between my boobs, she works her way down to my navel. “W… H… O… R… E.”

“Nice work.” Colt laughs, and all I can do is whimper. “What do you think, Leni? Do you feel more like your true self now?”

“After all.” Deborah smiles in my face like she’s the happiest she’s ever been. “We already know who you are. Now, the rest of the world will know, too.”