For a while we dance together, ignoring anybody who approaches us, but as my glass gets emptier, my confidence increases and when a cute redheaded guy with freckles and serious guns curls his arm around my waist and dances in rhythm with me, I don’t push him away.

23

SEBASTIAN

Allowing her to leave the house, wearing that dress, was a lesson in control. Her long legs and toned body were wrapped in the tight white fabric and it took all of my resolve not to drag her back to our bed by her hair.

She was waiting for me to react. The dress, the hair, the party, it was all for me, she’s testing me, seeing how long it’ll take me to break. She’s been seeing how far I’ll allow her to push me all week and tonight I almost hit my limit, until I saw her face when the gates opened to allow her to leave.

She was hurt. For all the times that she’s told me she hates me and wants me to leave her alone, now she’s sad that I’m not following. We’re both still playing a game, only I’m not sure who’s winning anymore.

The moment the girls drive away in the cart, Evan, Clay and Hunter barge into my room. “Did you see what she was wearing?” Evan growls. “Are you seriously just going to let her go off to a party on her own looking like that?

“She’s not mine,” I answer, hating the way the lie sounds on my lips.

“How long are you going to carry on with this bullshit?” Hunter asks, his eyes narrowing as he dares me to lie to him.

“You all told me what we were doing was wrong, that I needed to let her go, to set her free. What did you think her freedom was going to look like? Did you seriously think she’d want to spend all of her free time locked up in the house with you guys? She was always going to make friends, go to parties, move on. This is what we agreed.”

“Her security detail will stop anyone from approaching her,” Clay says, like he’s reassuring himself.

“She doesn’t have a security detail on campus,” I lie again. There isn’t a moment when she’s out of my sight that she doesn’t have eyes on her.

“Get dressed, we’re going to that fucking party, the two of them are like a walking target. I don’t believe any of this nonchalant shit you’re trying to sell, she’s yours, your little bird, there’s no way you’d let another guy near her,” Evan snarls, stomping into my closet, pulling a shirt from the rod and throwing it at me.

Snickering to myself, I don’t move until all of my brothers have left my room to go and get changed. I don’t really need to go tonight, I have seven guys watching her every move with strict instructions to remove any man but me who tries to touch her, but after seeing her face, I know she needs me. She needs to be reminded of why I’m the only man who will ever own her, the only person she’ll ever choose to belong to.