Insatiable (The Edge of Darkness, #1)

by Leigh Rivers

Kade stays in the ceiling while I keep going, working up a sweat by the time I get to my feet. I slowly walk around the pole, then pivot around it twice, one hand exploring myself as the other grips the cold metal.

My eyes lift to the mirrors, and I nearly stop moving. He’s no longer in the ceiling – Kade’s leaning his elbows on top of the ladder, watching me as I slide my back down the pole to squat, twirling my hips as I descend. I wrap my long po...

I roll my eyes and keep going, trying to focus on my routine. But I can’t. He’s staring at the way my body moves to the beat, the rhythm of how I sway into each word she sings. I abruptly stop and put my hands on ...

Both his brows raise as he points at his chest. “Me? You’re the fucking distraction here.” “I told you it was a slow song. If you don’t like it, then leave or pay attention to your work.” I ignore whatever he mutters under his breath, stopping the song and putting it back to the beginning before I get back into my sta...

The music takes hold of me, and this time he keeps himself busy while I do the entire routine, then a second time. On the third, I hear him huff and fold away his ladder. I don’t stop as he tidies up the corner, and I don’t look at him while I’m air walking on the po...

Rihanna stops, The Hills starts automatically, and I’m a panting mess on the floor, star-fishing while I attempt to cool down. Kade, in his navy-blue top and shorts, stops at my feet. His dark hair is messy, hanging over his forehead; a tattoo curls up from his collarbone, and his arms look stronger than before. Kade’s blue eyes are burning into me. “W...

“And?” Kade’s gaze drags up and down my body before his Adam’s apple works in his throat.

Hm, I’ve licked that throat.

“He wants to fuck you. Don’t bother.” God, I should not be smirking right now. I also shouldn’t feel a tightness in my chest. Not because Base wants me, but because it seems to annoy Kade. A guy who apparently hates my guts and thinks I’m dead to him. I tilt my head. “I wasn’t going to – not that it’s any of your business.” He scoffs. “Not old enough for you?” I sigh and get to my feet, still nowh...

“You want me to get it over with?” I nod. “Fine.”

He slowly eats up the distance between us, and my heart beats harder in my chest. My breathing becomes laboured, deeper, especially when he takes my hip and my throat, backing me up against the mirrored wall. “I have plenty to say to you, but all I can think of is how sick you make me.” I give him a teasing smile that touches my eyes. “That’s all?” “I hate you.” “Yeah?” I manage to respond, even as he closes the infinitesimal distance between us.

“Not as much as I hate you.” His thumb strokes the side of my neck, and he might as well have shoved his face between my legs and sucked on my clit with how wet it makes me. His jaw ticks. “Stay away from Base.” His grip tightens on my throat, and my eyes flutt...

My knees shake, but as he goes to release me, I stop him, pressing his hand to my throat. It’s not the same as when Chris does it, and it feels good – a replacement for usually being terrified. “You like that?” He...

All I manage is a nod, and his eyes flash with something dark and sinister. As he applies pressure to my throat, his thumb to my pulse, I remember what he said and decide to fuck with him. “I must admit, I’m tempted.” My voice is strained. “Base looks the wild type in bed.” Lie. He knows I’m lying too. One, Base wants my best frien...

The hand that was on my hip is travelling up my side, burning a trail in its wake. Every touch from him is scorching; every touch goes straight to the coiling sensation that begins at the base of my spine. Our chests rise and fall in rhythm as we wait for the other person to speak, to fill the silence. Our bod...

I must be insane, because although I want to slap Kade and call him every name I can think of, I also want him to lift me into his arms and fuck me senseless. I want all his anger pushing inside me. His rage. His harsh words against my ear as he makes me scream his name. “If you’re going to do something, then hurry up.” “I don’t want to go near you,” he replies, lowering his forehead to mine, his dilating eyes showing his lie. “I can’t stand you.” His fingers tighten around my throat, and my pussy clenches.

My hand drops between us, feeling the hard ridges of his cock through his shorts. He’s so big and thick, just like I remember. My heated body also remembers, and it tenses along with Kade’s, a hiss dropping from his mouth as I squeeze the length of him. I tilt my head, whispering in his ear, my lips grazing the shell, “If I disgust you so much, then why are you hard?” He uses his grip on my neck to push me harder against the glass. “It means nothing.” Kade’s face comes closer to mine, his breath hitting my lips as his thumb presses just underneath my breast. “It’s a lie.” He doesn’t stop me from rubbing my palm up and down the length of his cock through the material of his shorts.

Kade’s grip grows tighter on my throat; his other hand stops at the strap of my bodysuit, and he curls his fingers under it and drags the strap down my shoulder with haunting slowness. My breast bounces free as the material slips beneath it. Reaching under his waistband, I take his hard cock in my hand. He’s warm, smooth and the veins are as thick as ever. The same veins I’ve traced with my tongue once upon a time. “Does this make you sick, Kade? To have me touching you this way? Is this a lie too?”

He swallows, but the way he moves into my hand tells me he’s lying when he replies with gritted teeth, “Yes.” I continue stroking him, swiping away the bead of wetness from the tip and lifting my thumb between us, so he can see me lick the precum. His lips part gradually, his eyes heavy as he watches my tongue run up my thumb. I close my eyes to revel in the taste and lower my hand between us again, wrapping it around his thickness.

A moan slips from my lips as he pinches my nipple, my underwear drenched from the sting. Kade thrusts into my hand, breathing the same air as we both gasp. My other h...

Right now, as he nudges my nose with his, pushing himself into my fist with a deep groan, I think he might kiss me. His lips are close to mine. But even though I’m touching him, I will never let him kiss me ag...

He grabs my jaw and shoves his thumb into my mouth, pressing on my tongue, before lowering his head and taking my nipple between his teeth. He sucks so hard, I think I might explode. Kade sucks my breast into his mouth, his tongue circling my nipple as he fucks my hand. It’s enough to make me see st...

Before I can finish what I’m about to say, the main entrance of the studio opens, and the sound of my girls chatting echoes down the hallway. Kade stiffens and swears to himself, yanking away from me. He steps back to put distance between us as he stuffs his hard cock back into his shorts and grabs his phone from the floor. When he sees how tented he is, he tucks himself up into his waistband, shakes his head at me and huffs as he drags a tattooed hand ...

His eyes follow my fingers as I pull the strap of my bodysuit back onto my shoulder, concealing my breast. Everything within me is on fire, tingles reaching my toes. “Relax,” I say through deep breaths, like it hadn’t made me feel alive – as if I hadn’t been asleep for two years and only just a...

A text from Base pops up on my screen, asking if I could talk Luciella into a threesome, because it seems to be his last resort to getting what he wants. I kindly decline. Then I open Kade’s contact and try not to look at all our previous messages.

Me: You left your screwdriver here. I lift the tool and flip it in my hand as my students walk in. One giggles that Kade Mitchell looked at her, and her friend mentions how angry he was, which only made him appear hotter. Another girl fans her face like she’s close to passing out. My phone dings, informing me the message has bounced back, and I roll my eyes with a tut. Still blocked, it seems.

My hands are fucking shaking. As soon as I get into my car, I slam the door with more force than necessary and grip my steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. Then my fist slams into it. Once. Twice. Three times. None of my anger fades; none of the thoughts slow down, not the way they used to when I lashed out.

Not when it comes to her. I can’t see past my fingers clutching the leather of the wheel, can’t fill my lungs, can’t see past the blinding rage that surges through my veins from the sight of her. The sound of her voice, the feel of her soft skin. Every single thing about her pisses me off.

The erratic beats in my chest don’t calm down, even though she’s nowhere near me. She’s in that stupid building, dancing around unaffected like the venomous snake that she is. Fuck....

I’ve dodged her for the past two years. I kept my distance when I visited at the weekends. Yet here I am, sitting with a solid, raging hard-on, imagining fucking my si...

As soon as her students leave, I’m going back in. This is just an itch to scratch. That’s all. I’ll fuck her against the wall and tell her to stay out of my way until I have to leave town again. The fuck? No.

Stupid urges. Repress that shit. That’s all they are. Urges. Because am I fuck ever going back to that. Not that I could, even if I wanted to.

Stacey Rhodes is the devil in disguise. She’s hot as hell on the outside, has a personality that makes you fall for her, but is utterly ugly and fake on the inside. My traitorous cock clearly doesn’t know the difference between a snake and an angel and needs to stand the fuck down.

I shouldn’t have watched her dance. I shouldn’t have volunteered to fix the stupid ceiling. I should’ve known after seeing her at the party that I should be keeping my distance. Now my dick is twitching in my shorts and begging me not to drive away.

I nearly cracked his head open when they planned to partner up at the weekend. The girl on my lap was about to be thrown off me and a blade thrust through his skull. She’d warp his mind like she did to me, and no one wants a broken Base. But if he were to go there, I’d kill him. I’d regret it as soon as I did, but I would slaughter him in a heartbeat. Impulsive. I’m far too impulsive.

I watched her through CCTV going to sleep in the guest room and felt like I could relax. But then Tylar left her on her own. My obsessive tendencies – a trait pointed out by my old therapist – meant I kept checking on her. I couldn’t sit at peace without the need to make sure Base, or some other drunken wanker, hadn’t snuck into the bed against her will.

I was fully prepared to sleep against the door with my gun, just to make sure that didn’t happen. I’d quietly opened the door and ushered my dogs in with her, because I knew no one would try to slide into the room if they...

I watched her sleep through the cameras and drank until I could barely see while she cuddled into our— my dogs. But then she called, and I had to leave. I got dressed, made sure my gun was fully loaded, and filled...

When Luciella said that Dad had booked two extra tickets so I could also visit, I’d thought about asking Dez to come with me instead. Not out of favouritism, but I didn’t want to spend the entire time listening to Base talking about how he should approach my bitch of an ex. He doesn’t know about our past – she begged me to keep it between us until she was ready to tell Luciella, so my best friend now wanting to screw her is just fucking great. Maybe I’ll burn his passport before he can board? No. Impulsive, controlling prick.

She draws you in, feeds you lies and feelings and fake bullshit, only to drop it all on your head. To say that I’m a bitter cunt about it is an understatement. I hate her with a fucking unrelenting passion.

Bernadette: You were warned not to make a mess. You had a contract to eliminate the owner, so why were eight bodies found at the casino? Me: They shot at me first. What the fuck am I supposed to do? Bernadette: Watch your tone. Do something for me.

Me: What? Bernadette: Come see me tonight. I sigh, quickly firing back a response and hoping she leaves me alone. Me: Can’t. Busy. Bernadette: I wasn’t asking, Kade. “Fuck’s sake,” I mutter, flicking my cigarette out the window.

Me: I fly to America in the morning. Have your husband fuck you instead. As usual, her response is immediate. Bernadette: You have an hour to get here, or there will be no visitation rights for your father for the next year. I roll my eyes at her go-to threat, toss my phone on the passenger seat and head to her address while I play music. It’s loud enough to drown everything out.

Bernadette is nearly forty, married with a kid nearly the same age as me. She can literally do whatever and whoever she wants, and her repulsive husband allows it. She approached me when I was nineteen, told me a bunch of lies about being able to help with my dad’s case and I’ve been trapped with her ever since.

I wanted to get the fuck away from her the first night I woke up after being drugged, but after everything she’s made me do – all the people I’ve killed for money – it’s not something I can walk away from, especially with clean hands. When I buzz her gate, I try to form excuses that might keep her away from me, but I know there’s not a chance of that happening.

I quickly shoot a text to my assistant Barry, telling him that plans are still going ahead in America, to set up a meeting point and that I’ll be out of reach for the rest of the night. I hide the messenger app I created for me and my team in a secured file, so Bernie won’t find it if she decides to go through my phone.

It started when I tried to kill Barry in England, only to find out he was innocent. He was my age and had a ten-grand bounty on his head. I helped him fake his death, and he became loyal, offered to work with me to help others like him. Over time, we created our own group to try rescue people trapped in the firm grip of the underworld. All of them are free to leave my company, but none of them will. Not only do I pay them well, but they also get to travel, experience the adrenaline rush of fighting and saving, and they’re part of the family I somehow created. A group of ghosts – dead to the underworld but very much alive. And I’m their leader.

She pulls out a folder and slams it down on her desk between us. “Bryan Tiernan,” she says, flipping it open to an image of his broken face, “filed two charges against you this morning. Assault and arson. I had to pay him off and tell him not to speak a word of it again. Care to explain why you’re attacking random people in their homes then setting it alight?”

I should’ve killed him like I killed the last guy she slept with.

No one fucks Stacey and gets away with it. I can’t have her, b...