Black Thorns (Thorns Duet, #2)
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Read between February 27 - February 28, 2025
2%
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My daddy, Nicholas Weaver, is my best friend. When I told him that I don’t have friends at school, he said he’d be my temporary best buddy until I find others. But he’ll always hold the number one spot.
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Mom puts on anime soundtracks and I sing along with them while I drink from my juice. Sometimes, Daddy sings with me and I giggle because his Japanese is so funny.
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“No one steals from them and gets away with it,” she whimpers. “They’ll hunt us down and hurt Sebastian… What if they take away our baby and…and…” “Hey…we’re here. No one will hurt him or us.” “But what if they do? I wish I’d never done it.” “It’s useless to think about things that can’t be changed, hon.”
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But you went ahead and fell for me, didn’t you? Even with my warnings, even with all the signs I sent your way, you had to defy logic and think of me as someone other than your faceless, nerdy pen pal from Japan. You realize that’s your mistake, right? And it might as well be your downfall.
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You will end, my ghostly Yuki-Onna. Until that day comes, try to live well. Believe me, you’ll need to savor every moment. Toxic love, Akira
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“Baby…” Sebastian’s frown deepens. “Are you hurt?” “No, you’re the one who was shot and nearly bled out. Why the hell are you worried about me?” “Why wouldn’t I be? You’re always the first thing I think about. Gotta protect what’s mine, baby.”
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Watching her cry is equivalent to digging a shard of glass into my chest. I don’t like seeing her hurt, especially if it’s because of me.
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“Then how do you think I figured out all those tidbits about you? Such as your love for metal music or your sarcastic tendencies?” “I figured Reina or one of the cheerleaders gave you pointers.” “They didn’t need to. I was already watching you.” “You were what?” I nearly choke on my own words. “I watched you, baby. For three years.”
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I want to ask her why she’s crying and why she’s smiling. I want to ask her how it’s possible to look like a fucking angel I don’t believe in while she’s both crying and smiling. Better yet, I want to be the reason why she has that expression on her face.
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I’ll make sure to keep an eye on her from now on. If only to see her cry-smile again. Or maybe just smile. Or just cry. As long as I see her.
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“I had an angsty teenage moment where I thought, ‘Hey, maybe the world would be better off without me.’ Then I looked up and asked for a sign to show me that I’m important somehow and that my existence matters. It could have been anything as long as I could feel it. That’s when the leaf fell on my nose, and for some reason, that made me so giddy inside.
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“But when I was walking back to my car, someone tapped my shoulder and pointed to the right without really looking at me. He was running in the middle of the pouring rain and he had earbuds in, so he didn’t hear me when I thanked him.
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“That someone was you. It was a random show of compassion, but for a newbie in town who knew no one and was clueless, it meant a lot more than you’d think.”
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You lack empathy, so you shouldn’t have stopped to help.” “I didn’t stop to help.” “You tapped my shoulder and helped.” “I probably saw something in you.” “Like what?” “I don’t know. Just like I don’t know why I stopped and stared at you that day. Maybe all of those things led to how we got together.” “You think?” “I’m sure. After all, you watched me as much as I watched you.
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“Sebastian…please, baby…please open your eyes, please…I can’t…I can’t live without you anymore. I don’t want to imagine it, so please…please stay with me…” A low grunt leaves his throat and I straighten, sniffling. “Sebastian..?” “You…called me…baby…” I smile at the amusement in his voice, allowing the salty tears inside my mouth. “I’ll call you anything you want. Just stay with me.” “Baby…” he grunts. “Yes?” “Marry…me.” “Huh?” “When…we get out…of here. Marry…me.”
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“Okay. I’ll marry you.” “You can’t change your…mind…once we survive.” “I won’t.” “Good…b-because…I won’t let you…”
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Ojou-sama. He called me princess in the most honorific term possible, and it’s not the first time. Someone called me that before, but who? And when? “Who are you?” I ask in Japanese. “The one who will make you worthy of joining our family. In order to do that, you have to suffer a great loss.”
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Not seeing Naomi is no different than living without the sun. I sound cheesy as fuck, even to myself, but I now recognize how much this girl means to me. She is the meaning.
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Naomi barged in like a wrecking ball. She didn’t care about my outside image and saw straight through it. She didn’t want me because of what I am. She wanted me because of who I am. The imperfect, flawed monster. The beast who woke up in the hospital after he lost everything when he was six.
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“So, now what?” “You’ll agree to our terms and adopt your real name. Naomi Hitori.”
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“I agree. But first, get Sebastian the help he needs. If anything happens to him, I’ll kill myself and deprive my father of the daughter he wants so much.”
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I’m just going through the motions so I can be there for Mom. She decided to spend her last days in Japan and I tagged along. This place has grown on me and I don’t think I’ll want to leave, even after Mom’s gone. Don’t try to find me, because the moment you do, I’ll run again. I can’t look at your face anymore without recalling what happened to me. I keep wondering if saving you was worth the sacrifice and if maybe you should’ve been the one who sacrificed instead.
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I do know that whatever I felt for you vanished the moment I took the blow for you. I can never be with you again without feeling pain, and, therefore, I’m ending whatever we had. Live well.
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“I’ll never be done with you, do you hear me? You can escape to the other side of the globe and I’ll follow and make you mine again. I’ll chase you over and over until you know you can’t escape me. I meant it when I said you’re mine and I don’t plan to let it end.”
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Naomi just used her safe word and completely erased me from her world as if I never fucking existed.
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SEVEN YEARS LATER
Desiree
Seven years later, are you fucking kidding me
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“Oh, you’re fucking on. Don’t go crying to your uncle when I invade the magazines’ front pages again as the ‘Dream Lawyer of Every Woman’.” I scoff. He runs his fingers through his brown hair. “Don’t be jealous of my looks and skills, Bastian. It shows.”
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They’re also Asher’s acquaintances through Aiden King, a mutual friend from England from when my childhood friend studied in Oxford. Daniel specializes in international law because it gets him on the cover of countless magazines around the globe. Knox has made criminal law his bitch because, as he said, he has ‘tendencies to satiate.’
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I lost a part of my soul seven years ago and I’ve never managed to get it back. Which is strange as fuck since I thought I didn’t have a soul in the first place.
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They’re now represented by one of our rival firms, Carson & Carson, which is owned by the father of my friend, Asher, who currently works for them. Although he specializes in international law, he’ll have my balls if he knows I’m gunning for their clients.
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It’s her. Naomi. The one who broke me. Broke us. Now, it’s time I do the same.
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At one point, Sebastian was my closest friend as well as the person who set my world ablaze. After him, everything is…ashes.
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He’s doing this on purpose, isn’t he? This whole thing is only an excuse so he can insert himself back into my life. And something tells me it’s not because he’s missed me.
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I want her to see that she made a mistake by coming back. That I’ll ruin her as much as she ruined me. Ruined us.
31%
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you’re sulking like an old cat lady who just heard that the judge won’t allow her cats to inherit her fortune, because her children are countersuing.” “Then go have fun with all the girls. Why are you stuck with an old cat lady?” “Hello? Obviously, because I love cats.”
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her dark eyes glint, but it’s only due to the lights, not the life that used to spark through her every movement. Maybe this whole thing wasn’t a coincidence, after all. Maybe I’m meant to yank that part of her to the surface again.
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Of course, my jerk husband didn’t tell me anything about his origins or fortune when we used to be pen pals back when I was eighteen and he was twenty-one. Because the sucker totally lied. He was in college when he first wrote to me, not in high school. He’s thirty-one now.
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Abe Hitori. Aka the leader of the New York City branch of the Yakuza and a man even more dangerous than Mom could have ever warned me about. The man who can blow the only thread keeping me alive to bloody pieces.
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“May I compliment the way you look, Mrs. Mori?” Kai’s calm attention is on me and I wish I could throw a glass at his face. That man is not only Dad’s second-in-command/trustee/strategist, but he’s also the one who metaphorically twisted my arm.
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After all, he married me off to Akira because it fits his business ventures. It was either that or not get the chance to say goodbye to my mom. That, among other things he shackled me with until I couldn’t move anymore. While I was having naive thoughts about reuniting with my father, he was plotting to sell me off to the highest bidder.
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“What did you just say, Naomi?” I lift my head and meet his gaze. “That you don’t deserve it.” His lips twist. “You’re being ungrateful.” “For what exactly? For making me into a mafia princess, forcing me to get married or else you would’ve sold off my half-sister when we’re your own fucking flesh and blood, or threatening me with never allowing me to see my mom on her deathbed? Or maybe it’s making me believe that you were a father worth waiting for all these years?”
44%
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Can I call you Onee-chan? She asked in a low voice while hiding behind Kai and that fucker Ren. Back then, she had her hair braided and wore a cute white and pink dress with matching flats. A blush covered her cheeks as she stared up at me for long moments.
47%
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Didn’t even talk to Lucy except on the rare occasion when we bumped into each other for the games we attend for Owen’s sake—who’s now a hotshot NFL player.
49%
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By the end of tonight, she’ll remember why the fuck she’s mine. She’s not Akira’s or anyone else’s. She’s fucking mine. Always has been and always will be.
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“Ahhh…oh, God…” “No one will save you, my slut. Not even him.”
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He bites down on the tight bud again and I swear he’s going to draw blood. “Jesus…” I whimper. “He won’t be doing any rescuing either.” He releases a nipple and the sound his wet mouth creates makes my toes curl. “Praying is the last thing you should be doing, my slut. Go ahead and fight me like you want to.”
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“That’s it, slut. Make my dick nice and wet so I will fuck your cunt so hard, you’ll be dripping with my cum.”
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“Hmm. Hear that? That’s the sound of you choking on my dick like the dirty slut you are.”
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This is my first tear of joy in seven years. And it’s all because of him. My heartbreakingly beautiful monster. My beast has made me feel wanted. Important. Alive.
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“You’ll go back to your husband with my cum dried in your cunt and between your legs so he knows you were fucked like he’ll never be able to fuck you.”
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