I Locked Two Rival Mob Heirs In, So Neither Lets Me Go novel · Chapter 9 of 24
Chapter 9: The Tack Room
Mari's POV
The tack room at the back of the Rapoza barn smelled of saddle soap, horse and old leather.
Rain beat on the tin roof.
Manny had lit one lamp and hung it from a nail.
It threw a yellow circle on the bare plank floor and on a stack of saddle blankets.
Bridles hung in racks along the wall, and a long coil of soft rope hung from a peg.
I stood in the middle of the circle in a borrowed work shirt that came to my knees.
Dean and Manny stood on either side of me, each with a fresh bruise on his face, and neither was looking at the other.
"So," Manny said.
"That was stupid."
"It was," Dean said.
"You hit like a girl, Higa," Manny said.
"You hit like a bull," Dean said.
"Thank you," Manny said.
"It was not a compliment."
I let them go on a minute longer.
It was the first time I had heard them speak to each other in anything like an ordinary voice.
Then I took the rope off its peg.
Both of them stopped talking.
I held up the end, a soft braided cotton lead line, and I looked at the beam that ran across the ceiling above us.
"Tie my wrists," I said.
Manny's mouth fell open.
Dean was very still.
"To that beam," I said.
"Stand me up so I can't touch either of you."
"Then do what you've both wanted to do since the linen room, until I say that's enough."
"Mari," Dean said, low.
"Do it."
He took the rope from my hand.
He doubled it around my wrists with a neat, quick knot, loose enough that I could feel my pulse in my fingers.
Then he passed it over the beam and drew it up.
My arms rose over my head.
I stood on my toes in the lamplight with my shirt riding up my thighs.
"Is that all right?" Dean said.
"Yes."
"Good."
He stood behind me.
Manny stood in front.
I was caught between two men, and I loved it.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of I Locked Two Rival Mob Heirs In, So Neither Lets Me Go are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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