Page 17 of Silver

“You’re a siren, Daphne. A goddess. When you bite that lip, you bring men to their knees.”

Her face flushes. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. Stop doing it.”

“I’ll try, Sir.”

“You’ll learn. I’m going to pile a lot of rules on you. You’ll make mistakes. I’ll correct you. You’ll break every habit I order you to.”

“Yes, Sir.”

I point toward the floor. “I found those flip-flops in your car. You can wear them this morning. We won’t be out of the room for long.”

She slides her feet into them.

I rise and point toward the bathroom. “Go wash your juices from your fingers, Daphne.”

I love how her face flushes as she turns toward the bathroom.

I wait for her at the bedroom door. As soon as she joins me, I say, “You’re mine, Daphne. You obey me. No one else. I expect you to keep your gaze lowered while I take you through the house. If we encounter any of my brothers, you don’t look them in the eye. If we run into my sister, you don’t speak to her. We’re not leaving this room to socialize. We’re going for a short tour and to grab breakfast.”

“Yes, Sir.”

I unlock the door. Before I open it, I add, “When you’re home, you will spend nearly all of your time in these rooms. You don’t have permission to roam around the house freely and chat with my sister or my housemates. You come directly to this room when you’re not in class or at the library. No exceptions.”

“Yes, Sir.”

I open the door, take her hand, and lead her into the hallway. I like how hard she grips me. I’ve laid down so many rules that she’s afraid of breaking them. I’ve made her nervous. That’s a good thing. I lock the door and pocket the keys.

“There are three other suites on this floor. Each of my brothers has his own room with an attached bathroom. The last of my housemates lives in the basement. You have no reason to go down there.”

“Yes, Sir.”

I guide her to the front stairs—not the ones we came up last night. As we descend, I continue, “These stairs are the easiest for you to access when you come in the front door. You’ll go directly up them and to our room when you get home.”

“Yes, Sir.”

I guide her into the living room. We were in here last night, but she was probably too unnerved to pay attention. Next, I show her down the hallway. I point toward the end. “There’s a weight room with a treadmill and stair-stepper at the end of the hall. We’ll get you started on a workout routine soon. First, you need proper clothing and shoes.” I’ve noticed she owns neither.

When we enter the kitchen, I’m frustrated to find my sister and Rook inside. Briana is sitting at the island eating. Rook is standing over her like the bossy tyrant he is.

I shouldn’t judge him. I’m at least as overbearing as he is. The difference is, I won’t ever be fucking his sister. The fact that he chose Briana and made her his still gets under my skin, but I’m trying to ease up on my judgment. After all, at least I know where Briana is and that she’s safe. Ish.

I sigh. There’s no escaping some level of pleasantries. “Daphne, this is my sister, Briana, and one of my roommates, Rook. Bri, don’t even think about clouding Daphne’s head with any nonsense. Stay away. Mouth shut.”

Daphne’s breath hitches at my side, but she doesn’t lift her gaze. It wouldn’t even matter if she did because Briana doesn’t, either. Rook won’t allow her to meet my gaze, even though she’s my sister. Fucker.

Rook smirks. “She won’t have the opportunity to get up to any mischief this week. Don’t worry.” He steps closer to Bri. “Nice to meet you, Daphne. Silver, I’ll talk to you later.”

My hackles rise. “You better not be thinking of lecturing me.” I turn away from him and grab a box of cereal, two bowls, spoons, a carton of milk, and orange juice. I’d meant to cook a more substantial breakfast for Daphne this morning, but I don’t want to spend any more time than necessary with other people. So we’ll eat in my room. I’ll bring this stuff back down in a while.

I hand Daphne the cereal, spoons, and bowls. “Let’s go.”

Thank goodness my room is large. This entire house is big. It’s old. Apparently, that’s how they liked them a hundred years ago. In addition to my complex desk setup, I have a small round table and two chairs. I’ve never used it, but I suspect I will start now. I’m not interested in sharing Daphne with the rest of the guys on a regular basis. At least not in the near future. We’ll eat our meals upstairs for now.

As soon as we’re back in my room, we set everything we carried upstairs on the table, and I pull out a chair. “Sit.”

She quickly obeys me.