The Cost of Freedom Is High

No Matter What, Her Spirit Will Never Change

"Honey, we're home." Danny called, walking into the house.

"Where's Bella?" Chris asked.

"Right here, passed out from bawling her eyes out. That was a new one for me." I told him, while bringing Bella into the house cradled in my arms.

Austin and Rian followed us in and made sure to lock everything up.

"Is everyone else asleep?" Rian asked.

"I know Michael and DJ are still up, but for everyone else they're sleeping." Chris replied.

"I think we should just figure everything out tomorrow, and just get her in a bed with someone." I stated.

"Who would she be okay with?" Danny wondered.

"The only person I can think of would be Tyler, but I mean who knows at this point." Austin said.

"Sounds good enough to me, we should probably have them in a different room though, even if she's fine with Tyler, I'm not sure she'll be a fan of waking up in the same room as TJ." I explained.

"If someone else can take her, I'll go get him up." I stated.

"I'll take her." Chris said.

I handed Bella over to him, and made my way upstairs to ETF's room.

I unlocked the door and made my way over to Tyler's bunk where he was passed out.

"Tyler." I said.

Nothing.

"Hey Tyler, we need you downstairs." I stated, this time a bit louder.

"What's going on?" He grumbled, waking up.

"We got Bella back, and we want to have her with someone tonight and you were the only one we thought she'd be somewhat okay with. She was beyond out of it." I explained.

"Yeah, I can do that. Is she sleeping already?" He wondered.

"She's passed out." I answered.

"Let's go." He stated and hopped out of bed.

Tyler followed me down the stairs and back to the foyer where Chris and the others were with Bella still in Chris' arms.

"You up for Bella duty?" Chris asked Tyler.

"Yep, do you want me to just go into the bedroom down the hall?" Tyler asked.

"That would be awesome. If she were to start acting up just try to get her to calm down and if that doesn't work, just call one of us down and we'll be there right away." Danny stated.

"Will do." Tyler stated.

Chris gently handed her off to Tyler, and he started off down towards the extra room we have, well one of the many, but the main one we have Bella crash in.

Hopefully Tyler would do the trick.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tyler Burgess' POV -

I slipped Bella into the bed. I've seen her tired and exhausted before, but this was not only physical exhaustion, she was mentally and emotionally exhausted as well.

Internally I was debating on waking her up and getting her to talk, or just letting her sleep. Weighing out all of my options I realized I should just let her sleep, we would talk in the morning.

I got into bed next to her after slipping the covers back, and wrapped my right arm around her body.

Listening to the sound of her heartbeat and soft breath I found myself drifting back off to sleep.


The Next Morning -

"No!" Bella screamed.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's me Bella. Relax." I whispered, shaking her a bit out of her worried state.

"I thought you were DJ." She sighed, rolling back onto her side and calming down.

"Even if I was DJ you shouldn't be like that sweetie. Okay? You really messed up by running but we're going to let that slip by. However, you've got to calm down and relax a bit." I told her.

"That's a lot easier said than done. Especially after being at Michael and DJ's. I just can't do and go through that for the rest of my life, let alone another week." She explained to me.

"Let's just go downstairs and talk, it's a lot easier." I told her.

"No, I don't want to try to talk about it when the others are around." She replied.

"Sweetie, it's 4:00 am, I can promise you everyone is still asleep." I promised her.

"Fine." She said.

"Awesome, down to the kitchen we go." I stated.

I got out of bed, and before Bella got out I picked her up and threw her over my back so she was basically getting a piggy back ride.

"Is it really 4 am?" She asked.

"Yes, it is." I replied, and brought her all the way down to the kitchen.

"Thanks." She muttered once I set her down.

It was silent for a few minutes, and I could see that Bella was nervous and looking for something to keep her hands and mind busy.

Before I knew it she was in the fridge and pulling things out.

"What are you doing?" I asked, folding my arms and leaning up against the counter.

"Baking and or cooking, not quite sure." She muttered.

"Ah, well you can't do that until you promise me that you'll talk as well." I told her.

I looked into her eyes, and was fascinated by watching many emotions go through her.

Finally she said "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"How about we start off by talking about your stay at Michael and DJ's." I suggested.

"It was horrible, in Michael and DJ's words, it was pleasure and pain training. So there was sex and my entire body got beat with whips, paddles, and bare hands. Not much else went on." She explained.

"You can't bullshit me sweetheart, you let me into your mind like no one else. Based on what I've been told and knowing first hand how you respond to certain things I know you didn't hate it all." I replied.

"What do you want me to say?" She growled, slamming her fist down onto the counter.

Woah, I hadn't seen that side of her ever.

"First off as a little warning, you better not ever raise your voice or slam your fist down at me or anyone else ever again." I warned her.

I could be nice and understanding to her, but one thing was certain she was still the submissive and she would show us respect no matter what. I was a bit more lenient to and with her. She should be thankful for that.

"Sorry." She whispered the apology.

"It's fine as long as you don't do it again. What I really want it for you to tell me what you hated so much about it." I replied.

"It's just the fact that they seemed to have such control over me, just based on sex. I came into this whole thing a virgin, and now some band members tell me to lay down on the bed, and while I start off terrified and not wanting it the second physical contact is made I melt and suddenly I'm overwhelmed with lust. It's just frustrating." She explained.

"I know this is going to sound so repetitive, but love that's what this entire thing is about. You just have to accept that you do like it deep down, and on the other hand for the pain. Well that's our pleasure, and don't you think we both deserve a little bit of that?" I questioned her with a smirk on my face.

Just as she was about to answer, she shut her mouth and concentrated back on whatever the hell she was putting together. I don't think either of us really know.

I went over to her and quickly shoved my two fingers on either side of her ribs.

"No, I don't think it's fair." She finally replied.

"Thanks for answering." I chuckled a bit, and went back into my position.

My mind started to wrack on ideas about how me along with the other guys could get her to fully give in, it would make ALL of our lives so much better.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked me.

"I've got a plan, and I'm willing to talk to the guys tomorrow and convince them to give you a break from both pleasure and pain for an entire week and just have a chill out, relaxing week. All I have to do is tell them that you and I made a deal and it's done." I told her.

"Can you make it two?" She wondered.

Oh no, she was not going to get greedy with this.

"Take everything off now." I demanded.

I looked into her eyes and I saw panic and fear.

"One week sounds awesome sir." She said.

That's what I thought.

"What the hell are you even making?" I asked, looking down into the pan.

She looked down and admitted "I don't even know."

"You just put a can of pineapple in about a pound of flour, what the fuck?" I chuckled.

"I don't know, to be honest the whole cooking thing was just a distraction from you, and it's four in the morning so that doesn't help." She told me.

"How about we just go back to bed." I suggested.

"That sounds great." She replied.

"Yeah, let's go." I stated.

She put everything down thankfully and we both walked back to the room we'd been in before.

Right as we got to the door Bella to my surprise basically ran into the room and laid down on the bed.

That made me suspicious.

I went to get into bed and Bella was trying to hid a smirk on her face but she was failing miserably.

Pulling the sheets back I found her legs stretched out over to my side of the bed, not letting me get in.

"What's your favorite color?" She asked.

Smirking, and trying not to laugh, I shoved her over to her side of the bed and got in myself.

Oh, Bella, sweet, sweet, Bella.

"Your ass when it's black and blue." I joked.

"Who's your favorite band member to sexually fantasize about?" She asked me.

"Real funny." I said, in a very sarcastic tone of voice.

"It's Kuza isn't it?" She stated.

"Go to bed Bella." I warned her.

"It's okay to be in denial." She told me.

"Go to bed." I growled.

She tucked herself in and made herself comfy. I turned out all of the lights and got ready to go back to sleep.

"Tyler and Kuza sitting in a tree." She whispered.

"Bella!" I growled.

"Night sir, love you." She replied.

She drove me fucking crazy.

I still loved her though, we all did.