Free Web NovelChapter 25: Chapter 25 To Be Used and Discarded
Jade’s POV freewēbnoveℓ.com
I stood there, my spine straight, my chest still aching beneath my hoodie, waiting for an answer that would finally end this nightmare.
For a heartbeat, no one spoke.
Then Ronan laughed.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t amused. It was loud, sharp, cruel, echoing off the walls as he threw his head back and clapped his hands together slowly, mockingly, like I’d just performed the best joke he’d heard all year
Ryder and Renzo both stiffened.
Ryder’s brows shot up in disbelief. Renzo’s eyes narrowed, his posture shifting subtly, like he was reassessing me.
Ronan stepped forward, still clapping.
“Well,” he said with a grin that made my stomach twist, “that was a good one, Jade. Truly.” His eyes dragged over me with open disdain. “You never really run out of schemes to make yourself the center of attention, do you?”
My brows knitted together. “I don’t understand,” I said honestly.
He scoffed. “Of course you don’t.”
Ronan stopped in front of me, towering, his presence heavy and suffocating. “Because I warned you yesterday,” he continued coldly, “to stay away from me. From my brothers. From Linda.” His eyes gleamed with something dark. “So you thought you’d be clever. You thought if you came here first and asked us to reject you, we’d see you as timid. Innocent. Poor little Jade, begging to be cast aside.”
My heart pounded.
“That if you played the victim hard enough,” he went on, “we wouldn’t have the heart to reject you anymore.”
“That’s not....”
“But you are very wrong,” Ronan cut in sharply. “Very wrong.” His lips curled. “Because I am more than ready to reject you. Right here. Right now.”
Something inside me snapped.
“I don’t give a fuck what you think my ‘scheme’ is, Ronan,” I said, my voice shaking but loud. “And I am done being the villain in a story I don’t even understand!”
They all froze.
“You three claim you despise me,” I continued, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “Then fucking reject me and stay the hell away from me!”
The words rang through the room.
Ryder moved before I could even blink.
One second he was across the room, the next, his hand was around my throat, his grip brutal as he slammed me backward until my spine hit the wall.
The air left my lungs in a sharp gasp.
“For someone whose life we saved just yesterday,” Ryder snarled, his face inches from mine, “you’ve really got some nerve.”
My fingers clawed weakly at his wrist, panic flaring hot and fast.
“You say you’re a villain in a story you don’t understand,” he went on furiously. “Oh, you understand perfectly well, Jade. You’re just pretending not to.”
My head spun.
“Unless,” he hissed, tightening his grip just enough to make my vision blur, “you are literally the biggest slut to ever exist, there is absolutely no way you wouldn’t remember fucking all the guys in the soccer team in one night.”
The words hit me harder than his hand ever could.
Fucking the guys on the soccer team?
“And now,” Ryder finished venomously, “you’re claiming you don’t remember? Enough of playing the victim card.”
He released me abruptly.
I collapsed against the wall, coughing, dragging in air like I’d nearly drowned.
“What?” I croaked.
My throat burned. My chest screamed.
“Fuvking everyone on the soccer team?” I repeated hoarsely. “What the hell are you talking about?”
I meant it. Every word cause I never did such a thing.
Ronan stepped forward again, his face hard, his patience clearly gone.
“Enough,” he snapped. “Enough of your acts. Enough of your drama.”
He stared at me like I was something rotten.
“We know what you did,” he said flatly. “And you know what you did. So slip off the mask of innocence already.”
My hands shook.
“I don’t know what you think I did,” I said, my voice cracking, “but you’re wrong.”
Ryder laughed bitterly and shook his head. “Your mere sight disgusts me, Jade.”
That one hurt more than I expected.
“You want a rejection?” he continued coldly. “I am more than happy to give you one. There’s no universe in which I’d ever accept you as my mate for life"
He turned toward Renzo sharply. “Let’s reject her brother. Right now.”
My heart stuttered.
Renzo, who had been leaning against the couch the entire time, silent, watching, finally straightened.
The room seemed to hold its breath.
He took one slow step toward me.
Then another.
His gaze locked onto mine, dark and unreadable. Unlike Ronan’s rage or Ryder’s fury, Renzo’s calm was terrifying.
“We are not rejecting you,” he said quietly.
My breath hitched despite myself.
Ryder spun toward him. “What?”
Ronan’s head snapped in Renzo’s direction. “Renzo.”
Renzo didn’t look at them. He kept his eyes on me, his voice steady, deliberate.
“Because,” he continued, “I am not willing to let you go just yet.”
My wolf stirred uneasily inside me.
“And if you are that desperate,” Renzo said, “for us to reject you...” His lips curved into something that wasn’t a smile. “Then let’s make a deal.”
Cold crept down my spine.
“For the next one week,” he said evenly, “you become our slutty whore, and we’ll use and discard you whenever we want.”
Ryder stiffened. Ronan’s eyes gleamed with interest.
“At the end of the week,” Renzo finished, “we reject you. Publicly. Completely. And you walk away free.”
