Read Online Her Troika by Trent Evans - Free Book Online Page B

explained things to you better. But I thought just showing you would be better than explaining. Maybe I was wrong.”
    Derek leaned against the dark, sleek plane of one of the cars in the parking lot. “This is a lot. A LOT for me to think about.”
    “I know, especially considering … what you’ve been through.”
    How would he know?
    “What are you talking about, Kurt?”
    Kurt turned back to him, his eyes lit with starlight. “Cassandra. The bitch fucked you up, royally.”
    “I don’t want to talk about her, man.”
    “Don’t you think we should?” Kurt moved to the car, leaning against it too, his arms crossed over his chest. “Christ, it’s fucking cold out here.”
    “Should’ve picked a warmer spot for your little auction house.” He knew making light of this — any of this — was probably in extremely poor taste, but he wanted to steer the conversation in another direction. Talking about her wasn’t going to make any of this any better. Quite the contrary.
    “This isn’t the only place like this. Not by a long shot, Derek.”
    “Jesus, seriously?” He looked at Kurt, watched him peering up at the night sky once more, the starlight imbuing a ghostly illumination to the strong lines of his face.
    “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you, my friend.” Kurt jerked a thumb toward the barn. “Bringing you in there was supposed to at least give you a hint at it though. Probably not the best idea I’ve ever had.”
    Derek placed his palms against the freezing metal of the car, the cold making him shiver. “Just tell me one thing, Kurt. Is all of this … voluntary? This isn’t kidnapping, human trafficking shit is this?”
    Kurt was silent a moment longer than Derek liked.
    “Breanna wants this, if that’s what you’re wondering. I didn’t force this on her.” Kurt’s gaze lowered from the night sky, locking with Derek’s. “But if I wanted this for her, or anything else for that matter, she’d agree to it. Any of it.”
    “I’m not sure … I don’t know what to think about that. It doesn’t feel right.”
    Kurt’s head tilted. “Really? Now you tell me something. Why did Cassandra really leave you?”
    Derek wasn’t sure whether he wanted to flee or put his fist through Kurt’s face. This was exactly the shit he didn’t want to be talking about, reopening old wounds not quite scarred over.
    “I told you already. I don’t want to fucking talk about it.”
    “She freaked out didn’t she?”
    “No.” Derek shook his head. “Yes. Christ, why are you picking at me on this? Why does this matter?”
    “Because it does. Who you really are matters a great deal. It’s why I showed you all of this, asshole.”
    “She — I have no idea why I’m telling you this — she told me I was wrong for her.” Derek pushed himself away from the car, his ass numbed from the freezing metal. “She was right, really. Probably the best thing for her.”
    “Stop being a pussy and tell me what she said. Come on.”
    Derek turned on his friend. “You getting some kinda sick thrill from dredging this shit up again? Why? I tell you I don’t want to talk about it, and still you keep going!”
    “Tell me, Derek. You need to say it as much as I need to hear it.” Kurt’s jaw clenched, but his eyes were sympathetic.
    “Fine, you want to hear it? Fine.” Derek began pacing along the car, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “I told her what I really wanted. Told her I wanted to be in charge — of everything.”
    “That’s it?”
    “Shut-up, there’s more.” Derek shot a hard look at his friend. “You asked for it.”
    “So I did,” Kurt said, holding up a hand with a smile. “Sorry.”
    “At first she seemed maybe open to it. She wasn’t repulsed or anything. Then I told her about … ”
    “Sex.”
    Derek exhaled harshly, his breath almost a wheeze. “Yeah, that part. Fuck, to her it was like I told her I wanted to chop her up and store her in the freezer.”
    He still