Buttons and Hate (Buttons, #2)

by Penelope Sky

Affection was hard for me to give and even harder for me to receive. It burned in my blood and turned me into a hateful person.

She was the most gorgeous woman in the room, no competition. In fact, she was the most beautiful woman in every room I walked into.

“Even so, my ability to trust is gone. It’ll never come back.” “All things come back—in time.” She shook her head. “When you’ve seen what I’ve seen, that’s not possible. I’ve seen how foul men really are. I’ve seen how their cocks control their every move. I’ve seen the real side to people—and men are all the same.”

I was the king who conquered this queen. I was the man she traded bits of freedom for.

“Tell me you’re mine.” She’d given her rejection countless times, but I knew her answer would be different. I could feel it in my bones as well as my soul.

I hadn’t seen this view in a long time, but I chose to look at her instead. I was reliving my first moment through her eyes. I experienced a million new things when I watched her reaction to everything. It made me appreciate what I had despite everything I lost. And it made me appreciate her.

Something about the joy on her face went straight into my chest. I loved hurting her, but I also loved making her happy. I loved giving her expensive clothes and jewels. I loved taking her to places she would never experience on her own. When she gave me something, I wanted to give back in return. Normally, I just took and took until there was nothing left.

“You would die before you let anything happen to me.” Conviction rang in her voice like the bell in the town square. Her unshakeable belief in me was both warming and heartbreaking. “And I would die before I let anything happen to you.”

If I weren’t there to protect her, she would be vulnerable and alone. Even if Bones’s men came with guns, I still wouldn’t move. I would cover her body with mine until I was pierced with bullet holes. I would protect her at all costs.

“You don’t understand. Maybe you don’t need me, but I need you. So please, just let me sit here.” His jaw was stern, and he gripped the armrest like he would topple over at any second.

The one thing I learned in life was never to let people know how much they hurt you. Keeping up a strong stance was essential to prevent people from hurting you further.

“Cute?” I asked the word in shock. “That word is in your vocabulary?” This brooding and mysterious man who had enemies that would give you nightmares knew that word?

“May I come?” His submission to me was the sexiest thing in the world. “No. You can come when I say so.” He groaned from behind me, loving the change in roles as much as I did.

She came to me as a prisoner, but I quickly realized I’d become the prisoner.

“You don’t have to be large to be strong. Strength comes from a place deep inside us. It’s the ability to deflect pain, to persevere when failure hits you in the face like cold rain. It’s refusal to break under someone else’s reign. It’s a lot of things. Size is irrelevant.”

“You always have me, Button. If something were to happen to you, I would never stop looking for you until I found you.”

“You’re never alone. I’m never alone. Because we have each other.”

I wanted to cry, but I refused to. Bones hurt me beyond repair, but I got over that. Jacob betrayed me, but I got over that. Cane beat me until I was black and blue, but I got over that. But I would never get over this.

Coming to this place has shown me what the real world is like. It’s taught me how to observe people, how to stiffen my spine, and how to survive. Now that I have those skills, I’m ready to return to my old world.”