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“You’re right.” Malice nods once, his gaze never leaving my face. “There’s no reason for me or my brothers to be in your life anymore. We shouldn’t be in your life.” The simple honesty in his voice twists like a dagger in my gut, even though I just said the same thing. I cross my arms over my chest, goosebumps scattering over my skin as I hug myself tightly, clenching my jaw as if that could keep out the pain. “Then go,” I tell him, jerking my chin toward the door. But he doesn’t move. He stays right where he is, rooted to the spot and still staring at me. “There’s no reason for us to be in
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My heart aches to hear her say all of that. Despite everything she’s put me through over the years, there’s a part of me that still loves her. That will probably always love her. For the longest time, she was all I had. And even with how hard our lives were sometimes, it was better than having nothing.
“Everything about you is my business. It became my business when you begged for my cock. When you let me put my mark on you.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been looking into tattoo removal,” she mutters. That grates on me, making my chest ache as if someone has punched a hole through my ribs. I remember the almost savage pride I felt, looking down at her and seeing that mark above her left breast. The thought of her wanting to remove it makes me want to pin her down and mark her all over again—more permanently, this time, in some way she can never erase. I don’t just want to mark her body. I want to leave a brand on her soul.
Willow goes stiff against me, like she’s trying to keep herself from losing control. Good. That makes two of us. I can see her scanning the crowd, trying to make sure no one is watching us, but at this point, I don’t think I’d stop even if they were. Not when I’ve finally got a chance to binge on the only drug I’ve ever been addicted to. Her.
“Someone’s going to see you,” Willow mutters, the words choppy and disjointed as she sucks in a breath. “They won’t,” I counter, pressing my hand even more firmly against her. “Not if you keep quiet. Can you do that for me, Solnyshka? I’m gonna be honest, I hope you can’t.”
“Ya yeshche nikogo tak ne khotel, kak tebya,” I tell her, letting it slip off my tongue in Russian. I know she doesn’t understand the words, and maybe that’s for the best. I’m not sure I’m ready for her to know just how deep my feelings for her run.
“Damn. You’ve got the name brand kind and everything,” I tease. “Someone’s moving up in the world.” She huffs a little laugh. “Is that the signifier that things are going better in my life? Name brand cheese puffs?” “Oh definitely. The off brand stuff is fine, especially when you don’t have money, but there’s just something about the extra dollar you pay for the premium fake cheese that really screams privilege.” “Or maybe you’re just weird,”
“Unfortunately, a lot of assholes have money,” I say, shaking my head. “I hope you don’t think I’m like that. I can’t really help my tax bracket, but I try not to let it turn me into a raging dick.”
“You’re not a pawn,” he tells me, his voice lowered. “You never have been. You’re a fucking queen. You’re the only person in this whole goddamned world who could bring me to my knees. The only person who’s ever crawled inside my soul.”
“I need to be inside you,” he pants. “Right now. Or I might fucking die.”
“I’m gonna change the sheets on your bed,” he declares. “And then I’m gonna keep you there all night.” My heart flutters at the promise in his tone. I like the sound of that.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, looking from him to Vic. Ransom shrugs. “Well, since you and Malice made up, we figured we were done trying to pretend to leave you alone.” I roll my eyes at that but let him kiss me good morning. I’d go over and kiss Vic if he were anyone else, but instead, I just smile at him, giving him a little wave.
“What about Vic?” I ask, biting my lip. “You’re definitely good for him too. You seem to pull him out of his own head, which isn’t easy to do, believe me. You also don’t treat him like a freak or like someone who’s broken and needs to change.” That makes me frown. “Do people do that to him?” Ransom shrugs. “Other than me and Mal, yeah. They assume there’s no way he can be happy the way he is and harp on him about being better and more flexible. But it’s not like it’s easy for him to do that. If it was, he’d already be doing it. So it’s good that you meet him where he’s at and let him be
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“Are you ready yet?” he asks. “We need to—” He cuts himself off and steps halfway into the room, looking back and forth between the two of us. Then he snorts and shakes his head. “Jesus. Only the two of you would have this much sexual tension while standing several feet apart, fully clothed.”
“Can I ask you something?” “You can,” he replies. The but I might not answer part is silent and implied, and it makes me smile even more. That’s just how he is.
when he was dead, there was an absence there that I felt. I didn’t miss the man himself, but it was like I was mourning what never was. All the things father never was to me and what he never would be now. His death made it so I would never have a father who loved and took care of me, only one who abused me and broke me. One who turned me into a freak.”
“I never wanted a woman to be mine before,” he murmurs gruffly. “Never wanted a woman to be ours. Until I met you.”
