White Out (24690 #2)

by A.A. Dark

I shook the guard, screaming the last into the camera. Wildness shot through me, and with it, the madness I clung to like a shield. Like my own personal protector.

“Payback tastes a lot sweeter than your tongue. Than your cum. I’ll take the coldness of a blade before I let you brand yourself completely onto my heart. You had no right to begin with. It was never yours.”

My finger pointed to Jarrett, who remained at my slave’s side. “You. You, I’m not mad at. You did your job.”

I walked on a tightrope of evil and hope. If I didn’t stay on track, I’d fall to a place I wouldn’t come back from—a place that would destroy not only me, but maybe everyone around me.

My protectiveness had me following her around like an obsessive puppy. Love me so I can love you. Love me. Love me. Bring me back.

“I should be dead,” I mumbled against her lips. “You were the only thing that kept me hanging on. If you think I’m going to let West win by taking away the only thing I felt was worth living for, then you are the fool, slave. Your love for me is in there somewhere. I don’t care what I have to do to set it free, I’m taking back what’s mine.”

Bram lunged so fast, I barely had time to react. I spun, racing in the only direction I could go—the hallway. And the stupid slave knew her part. She ran right into the bedroom. She knew what she wanted. She knew where she felt the safest. Stupid, weak, dependent bitch made it too easy. Bram would keep her safe. He’d hurt her, but he’d never kill her. She believed that. Me, I didn’t trust anyone anymore. Even if there was passion today, it would fade. When it did, his true colors would show.

“We were meant for each other, Everleigh. Don’t you see? I won’t let you fight this. You’ve cared for me more than anyone ever has. You have sacrificed so much for me, and I’m not going to let that be in vain because some bastard decided he wanted my life. You are my life. You once said you loved me. Tell me again. Feel it again so I can too.”

“You’re going to kill me. You’re going to destroy me, and we both know it.” Bram tugged the button of my pants free, pushing down the material, frantically. “If I’m ever suicidal, I may, but we both know I love myself too much to take away the one thing I can’t live without.”

To kill was to be free. To be a Master or Mistress was to evoke authority. I could have done it all. I could have turned into the most feared Mistress that stone fortress would have ever held. The slaves who went on auction would have been terrified of getting bought by me. And I could have done it at Bram’s side had I wanted to be honest with him about my secret desire to kill. But how long would it have been before he crossed the line?

Light broke over the sky and tears trailed down my cheeks. I looked between the beauty of the future before me and at the horrors of my past in the mirrors that gave a glimpse behind. I couldn’t remember if I’d ever seen a sunrise. If I had, it had been before Whitlock. Bright orange and pink painted the sky, and it took all my focus to stay on the road with how hard I was beginning to cry. I was so close. So fucking close.

“This isn’t about winning, Bram, this is about surviving. Why choose you, the board, or status, when I could choose myself?”