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“That’s it,” I rasp. “Fucking take it. I know you like this.”
“I still think it’s risky,” Vic says in his quiet, low voice, glancing between me and Ransom. “The Kings of Chaos have never fucked us over before, and I know they want this guy dead too. But if their intel is bad, we could be walking into a trap.”
“I’d carve her fucking name into your skin,” Malice growls. “But you’re not worthy to carry it.”
Usually, there’s nothing I want more at the end of a long, exhausting day, than to curl up in bed and drift off. Between work and school and worrying about money, I don’t get enough rest as it is.
“You wanna keep this hand?” he asks conversationally, squeezing it even tighter and making the guy contort to try to ease the pressure. “Then don’t put it on that girl. Ever. Got it?”
They have each other, and I don’t have anyone. No one to watch out for me. No one to have my back. No one to help me as my life spins out of control.
“If you’re going to pull a knife on me, Solnyshka, you’d better be prepared to use it,”
Getting off the bus to head to campus in new clothes feels… weird. Not in a bad way, just in the way that I haven’t bought new clothes for myself in a long time.
Sometimes the people you love turn your love against you, and it’s the most brutal weapon in the world.”
“Ty izdayesh’ samyye krasivyye zvuki, kogda konchayesh’.”
It’s just… so much. Intense and violent and raw. Clearly, Malice fucks the same way he does everything else, and now that I know that, I can never unknow it.
“Let’s just say I know what it’s like to have someone who should be on your side treat you like shit and manipulate you.”
A flush creeps up my cheeks. “No. It… it was my first time. Not just my first time getting paid, but my first time ever. Or it would’ve been if you all hadn’t come in and…” Ransom’s face darkens, his brows pulling together. “Well then, I’m even more glad we killed that son of a bitch. Your first time shouldn’t be with a man like that.”
“I’ve been staring at your lips all night. I have to know if they taste as sweet as they look.”
“If I’d known it was just a random guy, I wouldn’t have bothered you with it,” I whisper. “I’m sorry I barged into your place last night.”
“No one in this room knows that you’re about to come. No one but you and me. They don’t know how fucking slick you are, or how you’re grinding against my hand. They don’t know how fucking greedy you are.”
College students go to parties and hang out with their friends, and that’s what I’m going to do.
She shouldn’t be turning to me for comfort. That’s not the kind of shit I do.
“The guy who did this wasn’t someone who has anything to do with Nikolai, so it’s not your problem. It’s none of your business.” “It is my fucking business. Because you’re my business.”
“No, I’m not,” she says quietly. “I’m no one. I’m nobody’s business.” I can tell she means it. That she’s used to being used and overlooked. Used to not mattering.
“Someone hurts you? Someone touches you? That’s my fucking business.”
Maybe I’m not normal, not a person who’s attracted to normal guys. Instead, I crave monsters. Colin was a monster too, a voice in the back of my head whispers. He just tried to hide it. At least these three men are monsters who don’t bother disguising who they are.
“Because you’re our responsibility. And we don’t let people hurt what’s ours.”
“Sometimes it’s better to be alone,” I tell her. “When you’re alone, no one can hurt you.”
This is the first time one of X’s little tasks has hit so close to home. Usually, it’s shit we don’t know anything about and don’t want to know about. Random acts of arson, theft, and other dirty work like that. Now he’s asking for someone we know. Someone in our fucking home. Anger fills me, bitter and raw. I curl my fingers into fists, glaring at the screen until the image of Willow’s face blurs a bit. Everything in me is screaming no. No, we won’t do it. We can’t do it.
I can almost feel her gaze like a physical touch. I’m almost at the point of telling her to either say something or get the fuck out when she finally speaks up. “Who’s Diana?” she asks quietly. Of all the fucking questions.
Anger, bitterness, loss, grief… they’re all ugly emotions. They twist a person into something different, and most people don’t want to deal with that.
“Yesli ty uydesh', ya naydu tebya,” I breathe. “Ya vyslezhu tebya i vernu tuda, gde ty dolzhna byt’.”
“Does it still hurt?” I ask, curious. Malice glances at me and then away. “No. The pain doesn’t stick around. Just the ink.”
it occurs to me that this strange warehouse/garage/apartment feels more like a home than my mother’s house ever did. And what’s even more strange? I’m starting to feel at home here.
“Shut the fuck up, Ransom.” But of course, Ransom doesn’t shut the fuck up.
“I want to mark you,” he says, his voice low. “I want to put a tattoo on you.”
“I said, touch yourself,” he rumbles. “Make yourself come while your mouth is wrapped around my dick. While my brothers watch. While you’re on your fucking knees for me, sucking on my cock like it’s the best fucking thing you’ve ever tasted.”
I don’t even need the command. As soon as I can move freely again, I lunge for his dick
Although I don’t get the impression that Ransom has fucked as many women as Malice, I’m sure he’s been with plenty of them before. And yet, he talks about fucking me like it’s a revelation.
“You fucked the words out of her head,” he notes. “I knew she was a perfect little slut, deep down. All that good girl shit was just a ruse.” I shake my head, because it wasn’t, but Malice just smirks when I look at him. “It will be when we’re finished with you,” he promises.
