Vicious: A Dark Bully Reverse Harem Romance (Beautiful Tyrants Book 3)

by Vanessa Winters

  I shouldn’t have said the word dead; it still stung.

  “I’m not jealous of Julian,” he said. “I’m just curious.”

  “Curious about what?”

  “Curious about whether or not you and I would still be sitting here right now if Julian was alive,” he said.

  “We would still be sitting here,” I answered. “That I can promise you.”

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  For such a powerful and sometimes arrogant guy, Michael had a softer, more insecure and emotionally raw side than I had seen at first. I sat and thought for a minute about how best to answer that question. I wanted him to more than just “see” how much I loved him. I wanted him to feel it and know it, in a way that put all his unease to rest.

  “Do you remember the feeling that you had when you were holding me over the side of the roof?” I asked.

  Michael shook his head as if he was trying to forget it.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I remember it as if it was happening right now. I don’t think I’ll ever let myself forget that. It haunts me to this day.”

  “Describe it to me,” I said.

  He shook his head again. “That’s not something that I want to describe to you,” he said with a look of regret on his face. “That wasn’t one of my proudest moments.”

  “Perhaps, but it was an important one, nonetheless. Please,” I urged again.

  I could tell that Michael didn’t know why I would want to hear about the night that I thought he hated me and was afraid that he was going to throw me off a roof to my death.

  “I felt powerless,” he said as he stared off out of the greenhouse door and into the night. “I wanted you, but I was supposed to hate you. You were so stubborn and defiant, and you knew just how to get under my skin in a way that drove me so crazy that it made me want you even more. I looked at you, and I realized that I would never be able to have you. I knew that even if I could have you, that I would try not to because I shouldn’t have you.”

  “You shouldn’t?” I asked.

  I felt his hands tighten around my waist as if he didn’t even realize that he was doing it. “I knew that I was bad for you,” he said with a trace of sadness and remorse. “I knew what you had been through and what I had done, and I knew that if I let myself get involved with you it would probably make things a million times worse for the both of us.”

  “And that moment on the edge of the roof,” I said. “What happened in that moment?”

  I felt his chest heave beneath me, and I felt his body tremble around me. “That was the moment that I lost control because I knew that I could never let you go. I wasn’t thinking, all I could do was react to the intense and suffocating longing that swelled within me. I grabbed you because I needed to have you, and then I held you over the edge because I was tormented by the thought of you. I felt like I was both coming alive and dying at the same time. I knew, in that single moment, that I had to have you; not just have sex with you but have you as mine for eternity. And that if I couldn’t, then I would rather die. You tormented me so much just by your very presence. Your very breath, your stare, the way that you moved; everything about you made me want to die if I couldn’t be with you. You have no idea what you did to me, Lisette. That night changed my entire life. You have owned me since that very moment.”

  I turned around in his lap so that I was facing him and stared deeply into his eyes. I needed him to really understand what I was about to say to him.

  “Michael, do you want to know how I felt during that moment?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said as he diverted his eyes from mine. “Do I?”

  I reached up and held his jaw between my thumb and index finger to hold his face to mine. I needed him to look in my eyes when I told him this.

  “When you grabbed me, I was scared.”

  He tried to tilt his head away in shame, but I didn’t let him. I held him in place to look at me. I wasn’t going to let him run from this, not from me; not this time.

  “I wasn’t scared because I was afraid of falling from the roof,” I said slowly. “I was scared because I was falling for you.”

  “What?” he whispered in awe. “That’s impossible. You hated me.”

  “No,” I said with a shake of my head. “I didn’t hate you. I hated the way that I felt about you.”

  Michael looked as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His eyes widened as he stared at me, and his body trembled even more than it had been before.

  So, I continued. “I hated the fact that I didn’t want you to let me go, not from the rooftop but from your hands. I hated that there was some instant and urgent feeling that I couldn’t choke down, a feeling that made me want to jump from the rooftop myself, rather than think that I wouldn’t be with you. You think that I was scared of you and that I hated you. You felt like you were out of control, that you were some kind of monster that was scaring an innocent girl with darkness. But don’t you understand? I was the darkness, and you didn’t scare me; you saved me.”

  I paused to look at him and I saw a million thoughts and feelings flash across his eyes; disbelief, shock, joy…there were too many to name.

  “There never was any choice to make, Michael. There never was a choice between you and Julian, or Adam, or Rob. That choice was taken from me the moment that you let me go that night. The moment that your hand released from around me, that was the moment that I knew that it had to be you. And even throughout all the strife we’ve been through and the times when you lashed out and acted like an ass because you were hurt, or jealous, or out of control; there was never a single moment in which you didn’t already rule my heart. Every time that I saw you, every time that you were close enough to touch; I wanted you to make love to me. Every. Single. Time. You say that I owned you, but you ruled me from the moment you touched my skin and looked into my eyes.”

  I waited for him to say something, anything that let me know that he understood what I was saying because each word was the truth. I may have wrestled with accepting it at first, but the fact that I had loved Michael and that I felt we were fated to be together even when we were enemies; that was the truest thing that existed.

  Michael looked at me with darkened eyes that answered me without words. He rose up to his knees and pulled me closer to him as he moved. His arms wrapped around my back to press me against his torso as he put his mouth on mine and pushed his tongue between my lips. Every part of our bodies wrapped around each other; our tongues danced delightfully together, and our knees pressed together atop the silky furs beneath us. Michael held my face to his and I felt the same way that I felt that night on the roof; I couldn’t get enough of him. I could never get enough of him, no matter how close we got to each other, it would never be enough.

  “I love you, Lisette,” he said as his words slipped between my lips and fed my soul. “I love you more than you will ever know, and I will never be able to let you go.”

  “Then don’t,” I whispered.

  Michael lowered his hands from my face and held the bottom of my shirt between his fingers as he lifted it up over my head and tossed it to the side of the greenhouse. The cool air kissed my warm skin and sent a tingle across my skin that made me shiver. He pulled his own shirt off over his head and pressed his chest against mine to warm my skin with his body heat. The feeling of our skin rubbing together made my breath start to quicken. It wouldn’t matter how many times I made love to Michael; each time would be the closest that I would ever get to utopia. I reached down and undid the top of his pants and then ran my hand down the outside of his jeans to feel his desire for me pushing against the fabric. I tugged them down toward his hips and then impatiently shoved my mouth against his to taste his lips again and relay the sense of urgency that I felt.

  He felt it too, and in response, he slid his pants off and kicked them away.

  Then he pulled my own pants from my legs, and the yearning that I felt as I saw his swollen, hard cock made my
body quiver with a painful anticipation. I reached to grab both sides of his torso and fell backward onto the furs, bringing him with me and immediately pulling him into me with my thighs around his waist. There wasn’t any wasted hesitation. There was only the carnal, desperate need that made me feel like I would die if Michael wasn’t inside of me right now.

  And when he pushed into me, his desire was every bit as wild and unrelenting as mine.

  I could feel his pulsing, throbbing engorgement that tremored as he pressed against the inside of my body. Our bodies moved against each other in perfect synchronicity, and in this moment, just like Michael said; he owned me in every way possible.

  When our bodies were satiated, and our hearts were mended, we collapsed onto the furs and laid together in a gasping tangle on the floor as we tried to catch our breath. Michael pulled me onto his shoulder and swept the matted and sweat-infused strands of hair from my face, and I tilted my head toward his body and kissed his chest.

  The salty taste of his skin lingered on my lips and I thought about spending the whole night inside this greenhouse and making love until we had used every moment of moonlight and not slept for a second of it.

  “I’m sorry for all of the tension between all of us lately,” Michael said quietly. “I love you, and I need you, and I just couldn’t stand to see you with anyone else.”

  “You don’t need to apologize,” I said softly. “It’s my fault. I guess that it’s hard for me to let go of things because I’ve had so many things taken from me in the past. But no matter what happens between now and the time that it is just you and I alone together for the rest of the countless days in this world, you need to know that I am yours. Nothing will ever change that.”

  “Not even if I act like a complete asshole?” he teased.

  “Not even then,” I smiled.

  I pressed my face against his chest and wrapped my arm over his torso as he ran his fingers through my hair and kissed the top of my head.

  Then, I heard someone click their tongue. “See, now this is exactly why you need me.”

  Naomi’s voice cut through the quiet and startled me so greatly that it felt as if my heart bumped against the inside of my ribcage. Michael and I both sat up, bringing the furs with me in order to cover my naked body as Michael pulled me against his chest protectively.

  “Naomi!” I shouted in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  I saw Michael glance around, and I knew what he was looking for even before he spoke.

  “How did you get out of the house?” he asked. “Where are Adam and Rob?”

  Oh god, I thought to myself. What has she done? Where are the guys?

  I immediately tried to get on my feet as soon as I had the sinking feeling of confinement settling into my bones, but I wasn’t fast enough. Naomi swung the greenhouse door closed and turned the lock.

  We were trapped.

  “Naomi!” I screamed.

  Michael grabbed his phone from next to us and dialed Adam. Wherever the other guys were, they needed to get here now and get us out of here before Naomi did something awful. It was obvious that she wasn’t thinking clearly, and she had a sort of crazed look in her eyes. When I heard the ringing from outside the greenhouse, a sick feeling pitted itself in the bottom of my stomach. Naomi reached into her coat pocket and pulled out two cell phones; Adam’s and Rob’s. She held them up for a second, long enough for us to see that they were some sort of game trophies that she had won, and then she tossed them on the ground beside her.

  The phones hit the rooftop with a screen-shattering crash.

  I wanted to know what Naomi was doing and what she could possibly be thinking. I also knew that it didn’t matter. Whatever was happening now was the real Naomi coming back out to play. She had been good for weeks, subdued and pretending at being sane. The simple fact that she was here at the aquarium with us, and that she had the other guys’ phones, meant that this was not going to end well.

  It meant that she was out of control again, or that perhaps she had been so in control this entire time that the whole thing was just a ruse that she had been patiently waiting to execute.

  My uncle had been right, Naomi was more than just crazy and dangerous; she was calculating and cruel too, and she was smarter than we had given her credit for.

  Michael reached for our clothes, careful to keep a hand remaining on me at all times as if letting me go inside of this locked greenhouse was going to make any difference anyway. I was glad for it though. I didn’t want him to let me go. Whatever was going to happen here tonight on this roof, it would happen with the two of us together.

  He pulled his pants on and Naomi made a small noise while she watched him stuff his massive cock back into his pants.

  The noise sounded like the kind of sound someone would make just before they ate a deliciously tempting dessert, as they were eyeing it before putting it in their mouth. I pulled my pants and shirt on quickly, not bothering with the panties and bra, and not needing the jacket now that the door to the greenhouse was closed and locked and the glass building was getting warmer by the minute. I needed to appeal to my aunt, to the Naomi that sat in the doorway with me and talked about our childhoods.

  There had to still be some shred of that woman left in there and I needed to reach her and find out why she was doing this.

  “Did you follow us here?” I asked her.

  “Obviously,” she said as she rolled her eyes at me.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Where are Adam and Rob?” Michael interrupted.

  His tone was becoming more and more agitated. I turned and put my hand on his chest to try to calm him. I wanted to know where the guys were too, but if we angered Naomi further, she wasn’t going to tell us anything.

  “Why did you follow us here?” I asked her. “I thought that you liked The Sanctuary.”

  “It’s okay enough as far as institutions go, I suppose,” she said. “I’ve been in several, so I consider myself to be a good critic.”

  “Then why did you leave it?” I asked as calmly as I could while I tried to keep my voice steady.

  “How would you like to be in a cage?” she asked.

  “Is that why you left? You felt like you were caged?” I asked. “Is that why you locked us in here? So that we would feel caged too and understand?”

  “Oh no my dear,” Naomi said.

  Her mouth twisted into a smile that cut straight through to my bones. It wasn’t a good smile, it was the creepy, contorted kind of smile that you would expect to see on the face of a crazed clown in a horror movie. “I have an entirely different reason for why I’ve locked you in there.”

  And as I stared into her unrelenting eyes, clouded with hazy indifference, I knew I had to get out of there.

  Even if it meant killing my aunt in the process.

  12

  I thought that I had been able to get through to my aunt. I thought that Naomi had become better. I guess I was wrong.

  Michael was now standing so close to me that my back was pressed up against him and he had one arm wrapped tightly around my waist as he glared at Naomi.

  “Aunt Naomi,” I said. “Please tell us why you are doing this.”

  “I’m helping you, my dear. Your mother is gone now and I’m all that you have left. I understand what you want now, and I want to help you. You had the chance to kill me, or to cast me aside, and you didn’t. Instead, you chose to try and help me. At first, I was irritated beyond belief; I’m not going to lie about that. But then I realized that you are just like your mother, except you are all the best parts of her. So I decided that instead of trying to help you in the way that I thought you needed, I am going to help you in the way that you want.”

  “What way?” I asked. I was quickly reaching the end of my patience too, just like Michael.

  “You want love. And even though I disagree with that entirely and would prefer you to steer clear of men and their untrustworthy ways; if that is what you truly want, t
hen that is what I will help you with.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said to her. “I don’t need any help with love. I don’t understand what it is that you’re trying to do for me.”

  “I’m helping you to be happy.” Naomi waved her hand toward Michael who had protectively not moved from my side. “This is the boy you’ve chosen. Anyone with eyes and ears in that house can see it. You want to be with Michael after you’re done with all the rest. Isn’t that correct?”

  “Yes,” I said, trying to step carefully since I didn’t really know where her questions were leading me.

  “Those other boys are just extra distractions. One boy is bad enough, but three? Really now, Lisette, three?”

  “What are you saying?” Michael asked.

  “I’m saying that I am eliminating the two extra boys so that Lisette can be happy. That should make you happy too, I would assume, since you’re the chosen one.”

  “Eliminating?” I asked with a growing sense of panic and dread. “What do you mean you’re eliminating them? Where are Rob and Adam?”

  “Gone,” she said.

  The look on Naomi’s face seemed as if she was almost proud of herself and as if she expected me to be proud of her too. She stood there smiling and waited for me to give her some sort of thanks.

  But, as I became shell-shocked, Michael’s voice started growling. “When I get out of this greenhouse, I’m going to—”

  “Careful,” Naomi warned as she interrupted Michael’s threatening growl. “You’re on my good side for the moment, simply because my niece is in love with you. But that still doesn’t hold a lot of water with me, so don’t give me a reason to eliminate you too.”

  “But I love all three of them,” I pleaded with her. “Please let Adam and Rob go, or tell us where they are and let us out of here.”

  “No,” she said. “You’re just being ridiculous now. No one can love three men. It’s sick enough to love one. I’ll let you have one source of perversion, simply because none of us are perfect. This is your chance at everything that you’ve wanted, and I offer it to you as my gesture of goodwill and peace between the two of us, Lisette. You can have the man you love, and that sanctuary to fulfill your mother’s wish, and you and I can be friends. The rest of the extra stuff needs to be trimmed away. I don’t even want the money anymore. This is a chance for both of us to finally be happy.”