He cheated i chose two firefighters novel Chapter 190

Chapter 190 The Chat

Trigger Warning: Mention of SA, Emotional, Mental, and Physical Abuse

Dylan’s POV

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We finish eating the breakfast I cook. I make eggs, bacon, sausage patties, hash browns,

pancakes, and sourdough toast. I make sure Natalie gets a solid plate, but she only eats

about half of it, and it makes me frown.

“Why aren’t you finishing your breakfast?”

“I do eat. You just load my plate up. I’m seriously full.”

I consider that and give a nod. I just don’t want her thinking she needs to diet. Her letter

really shakes me.

“Now that we’re done, let’s talk,” she says.

I nod again and glance at my brothers. They look right back at me, silently reminding me

this is my idea, so I’m the one who needs to start.

“You run, and it hurts. At first I don’t understand what I do wrong. We have an amazing

night, and then you bolt. Then I wake up the next morning and you’re already gone. I think

you’re just out handling errands, but when Scar tells me you call her, I know I mess up

somewhere. When Logan tells me he can see why you run, I realize this is on me.”

“Not all of it is on you, brother,” Clayton says. “I play a part too. If I listen to Logan, we could

have talked about this weeks ago.”

“Let’s just admit that maybe every one of us plays a role in what’s happening here and in why I run. I have issues too,” Natalie says.

“I’m going to go back to the start. I should tell you all of this before we get so deeply

involved. We get adopted by people who are cruel. In the beginning, they were only

extremely strict. We did every chore in the house. But after Clayton was adopted,

something shifted. Maybe it was because social services wasn’t watching them anymore once they adopted us, or maybe we simply fell through the cracks. But they changed. Every tiny mistake earned us a beating. Sometimes they used a fist or a flat hand. Other times it

was switches, belts, hangers, and even electrical cords. When Logan turned six, everything

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<Chapter 190 The Chat

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changed again. I was eleven and Clayton was fourteen. Aria started sneaking into our room. We shared a bed, and she crawled right between me and Clayton. She forced us to do things to her, and she did things to us. She wouldn’t let Logan look away and made him watch. If he tried to turn his head, she made him touch us. That went on for two years. Then one night, after Clayton turned sixteen, she sneaked in again, and Clayton jumped on her and screamed at her. She hit him. He hit her back and yelled that she would never touch us again. After that, she stopped. But the beatings got worse. We protected Logan as much as we could, but sometimes he was alone, and they got to him. He still hasn’t told us what happened, but that’s his choice to make.”

Clayton left when he was twenty and enlisted in the Marines. We all took whatever jobs we could, and we stashed away most of the money. When I was eighteen, Aria went out for the night and Roy lay passed out, drunk. I tore through the house looking for anything worth taking, grabbed our important documents, and I bolted with Logan. After we left Maine and headed to Florida, we stayed in Jacksonville for a while until Clayton finished his time in the Marines. After that, we relocated to Hollywood.

We have shared girls before, mainly during the time Logan is in college. None of them ever feels like a long–term fit for us. We attempt it seriously once, but she doesn’t end up working out. She tries to turn us against each other. The truth is, she only wants Clayton. What she fails to understand is that Clayton doesn’t love her. We agree to try a group dynamic only if the girl truly wants to be with all of us. I don’t think she ever expects that we actually talk with each other about what is happening. She tells me one version of things, then she goes to the others and repeats the same complaint while switching around the names of who she claims is the problem. When we confront her, she tries to break down and cry to Clayton, but he doesn’t accept it. We cut her loose and send her on her way. That happens a little more than a year ago.

She sits there with her hand covering her mouth, tears shining in her eyes. She looks from one of us to the next. Then she lifts one finger to signal that she needs a minute, pushes up from her seat, and rushes into the bathroom.

I glance at my brothers, feeling a little uneasy.

“Do you think we dump too much on her all at once?” I ask.

“It has to be said,” Clayton murmurs.

Logan only stares straight ahead. His gaze goes distant and glassy.

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<Chapter 190 The Chat

“Logan?” I ask softly.

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“I think it’s time I tell you what happens to me when you guys can’t save me,” he says.

“You want to tell us now, while she’s in the bathroom?” I ask.

“No, I want her to hear it too.”

I nod. “No secrets?”

“This can’t work if we keep secrets,” he says. “I really like her–she’s not like anyone we

ever share before.”

Clayton and I nod because we feel the same. The bathroom door opens, and she steps out.

Her eyes look red and swollen.

“Baby, are you alright?” I ask her.

“I’m so sorry you all have to endure what you endure,” she says.

“There’s more,” Logan says.

She sits back down and turns fully toward him. He shakes his head and taps his lap. She rises again, climbs onto him, straddles him, and rests her head on his shoulder. He folds his

arms around her and holds her tight, his chin settling near her shoulder.

“I’m much younger than these two, and my school schedule doesn’t match theirs,” he says.

“There is an hour when I am alone before they get home from school, and Aria takes advantage of that time. She tells me that if I ever tell them, she will poison them, and then I will belong to her forever. Since I am six, she forces me to watch her do things to Roy when he sleeps or when he is out of it from drinking. When I think back on it as I get older, I believe she drugs him. If I look away, she slaps me, or she warns me she will make me do things to Roy, so I never turn my eyes. She does disgusting things to him. She even pushes needles into his penis. I can’t believe he never wakes up, and that’s why, once I am older, I become convinced she drugs him. Sometimes, as I grow, she makes me do things to her too. She forces me to touch her, lick her, and pinch her nipples. She makes me bend over her knees so she can spank me, and then she jerks me off. When that hour ends, she always reminds me that she will poison you guys if I say anything. She even shows me exactly what she plans to use to kill you. So I stay silent. You have no idea how much relief I

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< Chapter 190 The Chat

feel when we finally run away.”

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“Is that why you do the things you do to women?” she asks. “The whips and clamps? The

needles?”

“Ha, no,” he says. “The needles are acupuncture, and I use them to release blockage so a woman’s release feels better. I’m not using them to hurt anyone. The whips and clamps

and the other things I enjoy are about pleasure–for me and for my lover. You don’t get it because you don’t know anything about that lifestyle. You just assume I like hurting

women.”

I turn my face away, embarrassed, because he is right.

“I’m sorry, Logan,” I say. “I’m sorry I’m not there to protect you from Aria, and I’m sorry I

don’t understand what you enjoy and the lifestyle you choose.”

“Me too, brother,” Clayton says. “I’m so sorry–for all of it.”

Logan smiles and gives a small nod in our direction. I can feel our girl trembling.

“Little mama, are you okay?” I ask.

“I just hate that you all have such a terrible childhood,” she says. “It makes mine look like

sunshine and rainbows.”

“No, don’t do that,” I tell her. “Just because we go through something horrific doesn’t mean it cancels out the fact that you are abused too, in your own way.”

better,” she said with a smile.

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