Royally Claimed (The Triple Crown Club #2)

I wondered if Mitch had sent them demands yet, or hell, how much he was demanding. Mom had money, that I knew. Except it’d been days and I was still in that cell.

All of that life from before was gone, all of it ripped away when I’d been taken. Taken, I might add, by the very same three men who were now somehow deep inside of me. Three men who’d gone from wild unhinged vacation sex flings to…well, more.

A lot more.

So much more that it scared me.

Yes, they’d been the ones to take me from my bed that night, but I knew that it was nothing they’d ever willingly want to do. They were as much prisoners of Mitch as I was, forced into this for reasons outside of their control.

I thought of the red-haired woman and her two men and shook my head in the dark. First of all, she was with them both. That in and of itself was pretty crazy. My guys had seemed casual about mentioning that, that she was with both of them. At first the prudish side of me scoffed at the idea, but the more I thought about it, and the more I related it to what I’d been going through with feelings for all three of my guys, the more it actually just made sense.

Everyone always said that love and feeling and all that were for two people to have together. And I’d used to believe that, before I met Foster, Gareth, and Zane.

I wasn’t so sure anymore.

I wasn’t sure what I thought anymore. I had feelings for them — all three of them. There was no denying it at that point anymore. I wasn’t sure what those feelings were or where they might lead, but they were there, deep in my heart.

My thoughts trailed again to the red-haired girl and her guys, and how horrible her situation must have been. To be torn away from the men you loved, and then for them to find you to help you, only for you to be ripped away from them again? It broke my heart, thinking about how Mitch had so casually sold her to some mysterious bastard behind a two-way mirror.

I shivered as I realized I might be in that room next.

But no. I shook my head, huddling under the blankets. I wouldn’t be. The plan was for tomorrow night. I didn’t know what they were planning, or how they thought we were all going to get out of there, but I could hold out for one more day.

One more day in this place, and I’d be free..

And then I could figure out what the feelings I was having for three men at the same time meant.

Except, you know what they say about the best laid plans…





Chapter 17





I waited the next day, just sitting in that cell. I was cold, and tired, and lonely.

And I missed them.

I missed Gareth’s gruffness, like a fierce protective bear. Zane’s humor and charm, his ability to make me smile. And I missed the cool, shoot-from-the-hip confidence of Foster.

I missed being with them. I knew by the end of the day, they’d be springing their plan and coming to take me away, but as the hours dragged on, I got more and more anxious.

I just wanted this all to be over.

Well, not all of it, I thought with a blush. I wanted being here, under lock and key to be over, but I didn’t want whatever I’d found with my guys to be over. That part I wanted to stay and stick when we left. I didn’t know how, or what it’d mean, or how we’d explain to people that, yes, there were four of us.

Hell, I didn’t even know if they were on the same page as me. I was pretty sure, at least. I mean, I wasn’t some silly girl who thought sex meant any more than just sex. But that’s not why I was feeling the way I was. Yes, the sex was mind-blowing, and incredible, and out-of-this-world amazing, but it was what happened between us all between all the hot sex.

It was lingering looks, or the way Foster’s hand brushed across the small of my back. It was Zane, coming to my cell late that first night here and sitting with me, telling me his story when he never had to. And it was Gareth, stepping between me and anything remotely resembling danger or a threat.

There was something there, and when we left this place, I need to make sure that left with us.



The hours ticked by, and still no word from them. Unfamiliar guards brought me food twice over the hours, but I barely picked at it as I sat there wiling the time away, waiting until I could be free of that place.

Finally, there was the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway. I stood quickly, feeling my heart jump up into my throat in anticipation. The footsteps stopped, the lock clicked. But suddenly, the door went slamming open, and there, standing in the doorway, was Mitch.

My heart dropped into my stomach at the furious sneer on his face.

“Hello there, princess,” he snarled, his face a mask of anger as he stormed into the room towards me. I screamed, jerking away from him, but it was too late. I gasped as I felt him grab me by the hair, yanking me to the floor. Stars danced in front of my eyes as my head connected with the floor, and the wind knocked out of me as he grabbed me by the arms and started to yank me out the door.

I screamed, twisting and kicking, but it was useless to his strength as he yanked me down the hallway of the building. He stopped in front of what looked like freight elevator doors, jabbing a button until they opened. He tossed me inside the metal box, looming over me with his teeth bared as I shivered on the floor.

“What do you—”

“Shut the fuck up,” he muttered, turning to punch one of the buttons. The doors closed, and we started to rise.

“Where are we going?”

“Up, bitch,” Mitch sneered.

“Why?”

He whirled back to me. “You know, this is your problem. You need to ask questions all the fucking time! You need to know things you shouldn’t.”

The doors opened, and I blinked at the blinding sunlight suddenly flooding the elevator.

“Your problem is, you to get close to people you really shouldn’t get close to.”

I swallowed thickly, a horrible sensation slowly burning inside of me. Mitch grabbed me again, yanking me out into the sunlight. I squinted, blinded after days indoors. We were on a rooftop of what looked like an abandoned factory of some kind. We were surrounded by old forest and scrublands, with the only other piece of civilization besides the crumbling building a small airfield cut into the trees.

Mitch yanked me by the arm, quickly striding right for the edge of the roof. I gasped as we got closer, his grip tight on my arm before he suddenly threw me down, right by the edge.

“Wait! Please! What—”

My words froze as I felt the sudden chill of a blade at my throat.

Mitch’s eyes narrowed as he leaned in close, his breath hot against my cheek and his terrifying gaze burning into me. “I should just slit you open right here,” he said, a chilling calmness in his voice.

“A pain in my ass is what you are.”

“Please—”

“But I can’t. Because you know what I want more than kicking your body over this edge?” His lips curled into a wicked smile.

“Money.”

I froze at the voice coming from behind Mitch. Slowly, like in a dream, my eyes moved past him and focused on the speaker, all the while telling myself this couldn’t be real.

Frank.

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