I smiled back as sweetly as I could manage. “You can shove your apology up your ass.”
His dark brows rose to his hairline and he chuckled.
“Well, I’m Luther, and it’s nice to officially meet you too.” He grinned and then moved out of the way so Romero could take his place.
I rubbed at my wrists where the shackles had been to get feeling back in my skin. Romero offered me his familiar inked hand, keeping his eyes on my face. It would have been stupid and petty to prolong the inevitable, I knew just as well as he did I was leaving with him, if I wanted to or not.
I placed my palm in his, and it was like linking two puzzle pieces back together.
“Can you walk?”
“Well, you sure as hell aren’t carrying me,” I snapped.
He smirked and pulled me up with a firm yet gentle tug, making sure I was steady on my feet before tucking me into his side. I didn’t bother trying to be discreet as I breathed him in.
“Come on.” His mouth tilted slightly up and he turned me in the direction of the house.
We walked in silence. Luther was on one side of me and Romero was on another.
I solely focused on placing one foot in front of the other. He was so clean and put together, while I was filthy. This seemed to be a common theme.
As we walked up a pathway passing the house, I looked to the driveway where four vehicles were parked. Three were large SUV’s with a texture that reminded me of a chalkboard.
His followers stood outside them. I couldn’t see their facial expressions due to the masks but I knew they were all looking at him.
Leaning against the rear passenger side door of Romero’s heavy duty jeep was a dark haired girl. I was positive she was the one who’d given me water.
When she saw us, she pushed off the jeep and lifted a hand to tuck a strand of her silky, coal black hair behind her ear. The bangle on her wrist shifted and revealed an inverted cross tattoo I was very familiar with. My mind buzzed with implications.
As we got closer, I saw one of her eyes was toffee brown and the other was pine green. Her hips had a bit of a curve to them and her tits were large and perky. She was pretty—more than pretty. I wouldn’t touch her, but by the way she smiled at the man beside me, I knew he had.
“You sure about this, Dhal?” he asked when we reached her.
“What’s she supposed to be sure about?” I dove right in the conversation, knowingly going into territorial bitch mode.
“She’s coming with us,” Romero answered.
“Why?”
She blinked at me, looking a little taken aback by my forwardness. From that alone and her shifty disposition, I knew she was the type who thought bad things about you but wouldn’t dare say them aloud. What a perfectly clichéd match they would have been: the good girl and the bad boy.
“Change of scenery,” she offered up with a small shrug, looking between me and Romero, who had yet to say anything.
“Right,” I quipped. “Can we go?” I asked Romero, already heading for the passenger side of his vehicle. I wasn’t up for being hospitable.
Pulling the door open, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Luther smiling so hard I was surprised his face didn’t break.
Romero was watching me with an inexpressive look on his face. He said something I couldn’t hear and then made his way to the driver side.
I climbed in and shut the door. It felt so good to have something soft against my back after spending all night outside on the ground.
Dhal waved to Luther and then got in behind me as Romero took over the driver’s seat.
“Tito was there somewhere,” I said a few minutes after we’d been on the road.
“I got him out.”
“K,” I hummed, not really caring either way. After thinking it over, it didn’t matter to me what happened to him. Sure, he’d saved my life once, but it wasn’t because he was a stand-up guy; he’d had an agenda of his own.
I was over worrying about him. He was a grown ass man who could fend for himself.
.
I kept my mouth shut the rest of the ride, even though I had a million questions and certain things needed to be said. I wasn’t going to open another can of worms when my mind was already crawling with parasites.
I needed a minute to think. I needed a minute to breathe. I hunkered down and shut my eyes. When Romero put his hand on my dirty knee, I felt a calm wash over me.
I was alive, free, and had a man who redefined what it meant to sin by my side. I was not going to waste time dwelling on what happened. My experience wasn’t even that traumatic. I’d been through so much worse.
If I wanted answers, I had to make him inclined to give them to me. With that, my eyes popped open and I took his hand in mine, forcing our fingers to intertwine.
“I was going to wallow in self pity,” I began. “But fuck that. I have a list of demands, and don’t interrupt me until I’m done, because I’m not allowed to interrupt you.”
“I won’t interrupt you. I’m not even going to let you start. You seem to have forgotten how our relationship works. I know what you want, and I know what you need.
“We’re going to talk about what happened on the bridge and all the other fun shit that correlates with it. But first, you’re going to get cleaned up. You’re going to eat, and I’m going to give you something to relieve some stress—and I’m not talking about my dick. I know how much you love him, but don’t worry, baby, you’ll have a reunion soon.
“It’s been two weeks and my balls are bluer than your eyes. I need to remind you what it feels like to be buried inside you. I’m going to fuck you so hard your tight little pussy will be left with a permanent imprint of me inside it. And then, you’re going to have to ride my face so my tongue doesn’t feel left out.
“Did I miss anything?”
I stared at him a full two minutes, the wetness between my thighs overriding all my other senses.
Dhal shifting in the backseat snapped me back to attention. He’d made me forget all about her while nailing every bullet on my list.
“Cocky fucking asshole,” I muttered, clenching my legs tighter and glaring at him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The sun was high in the sky by the time we finally arrived at our destination.
I peered through the windshield as Romero and Dhal got out. The building in front of us had once been a hotel—a nice one, if the architectural details were anything to go off.
People were lingering in the courtyard, some lining the walkway, guarding it. I spotted a few more up on the roof. If anything, Romero was always secure.
What I found a little surprising was that not all of them were donning their masks. Quite a few had their whole face exposed.
My door popped open and Romero reached in to help me down.
He took my hand and started leading me towards the entrance of what was once La Monte Suites, according to the weathered sign I could now see.
I faltered when I realized how easily I was going along with him into a strange place. I froze, leaving him with the option to either drag me or stop walking, too. “Is he in there?” I asked in reference to David, trying to pull my hand out of his.
He shared a look over my head with Dhal, some unspoken message passing between them. Before I had a chance to ask what the hell it was, he seized my upper forearm and swept my feet out from underneath me.
“What the fuck are you doing?” My sudden outburst snagged the attention of the few people nearby.
A fraction of a second before I hit the ground, he caught me. I was so close that if I puckered my lips I could kiss the ugly orange concrete.
He pulled me up to my feet, roughly, and forced me to continue forward. “Let me go,” I snarled at him, trying to twist away. The effort was wasted. There was zero strength left in my reservoir. I was like a kitten trying to take on a Doberman.
I had no idea what he was doing, intended to do, or why he felt the need to suddenly drag me. I attempted
to spin around mid-step and wound up being jerked so hard I bit my tongue, pissing me off even more.
“Don’t fight me, Cali, you won’t win,” he warned, turning me so I could see his face. There was an edge to his voice but his dark eyes were telling me something different.
My brows furrowed as I looked at him. What the hell was he was up to now? Knowing he wouldn’t—or couldn’t—outright tell me, I had no choice but to play along.
“Okay,” I harshly breathed out, before repeating myself a little quieter. “Okay, please don’t drag me anymore. I’ll be…good.” I almost gagged on the word.
“See, I knew you weren’t as stupid as you looked,” he whispered softly before glancing away, urging me forward albeit gently this time. It truly was déjà vu; the cocky fucker had said just as much the day he saved me from being a cannibal’s meatloaf.
Dhal opened one of the glass doors ahead of us without being asked. As we passed, her gaze clashed with Romero’s. I wanted to take her to the ground and crack her skull open. She hadn’t really done anything, which meant she’d done enough to make me want her heart to cease beating.
I didn’t bother trying to play therapist with myself and rationalize my crazy. I was out of my fucking head and perfectly fine with it.
The lobby of the hotel was open and airy. Bright light flooded in from the glass dome roof, and activity bustled all around.
Some people curiously stared. Most continued on with their business. They all wore the black robes I associated with the Savages.
“I’ll catch up with you in a few,” Romero directed to Dhal, steering me towards the elevators. She finger waved at him and walked off, giving me a small smile. It was not returned. Why the hell was she even here?
I stood beside him, not saying a word, not knowing where to start, and still playing my role until he told me otherwise. Even when we stepped inside the four walled box, I said nothing, and neither did he.
My ignoring him didn’t stop him from staring at me, breathing down my neck, and twisting my insides up even more.
Was it wrong that I wanted him to slam my face into the wall and fuck me from behind?
I wanted him whether I was dirty, clean, pissed off, or happy. In sickness and in health, I always wanted him. I should have hated him—but even then, I would want him. I wondered how good a hate-fuck would feel.
When the old metal doors loudly squeaked open, I stepped out into a long, empty hallway and felt like I could breathe again. That was the longest elevator ride of my life. Romero exited behind me. “Come on.”
I walked with him to one of the rooms. He opened the door without a key-card and moved aside so I could go in first. The room was bigger than I expected, with one magnificent single king sized bed, a sofa area, and a bathroom.
I moved farther in when I heard the door shut and a lock click. Taking a small breath, I turned around to face him, making sure there was space between us.
“What the hell was that?” I snapped, referring to the little incident in the lobby.
He laughed softly and closed the gap I’d made.
I frowned when my pulse quickened and crossed my arms. “You think this is funny?” I angled my body away from his, flattening my lips.
All traces of amusement fled his face as he tracked the subtle movement. “I just bought us a little more time.”
“Time for what? And what happened on that bridge?”
“I left you on the bridge so I could have a steak dinner with David and Arlen’s sister.”
I felt my muscles quiver, but I wasn’t aware I’d lunged at him until I was spun around and pushed against the wall.
He didn’t let me utter a single syllable, smothering his hand firmly over my mouth.
“We’re not doing this right now. You’ve had a whole two weeks to let everything build into irrational anger.
“You need to chill the fuck out and get yourself cleaned up before you go on a tirade.” His voice was pure ice.
I hated him right then for knowing me so well.
I shoved his hand away from my mouth and stared back at him with flinty eyes. “We don’t have to do anything. You’re the one with a fuck ton of explaining to do.”
“I don’t have to explain a motherfucking thing. Answers are a privilege, not a right. I just told you I knew what you needed. Now trust me to give it to you.”
“You can’t expect me to trust you after you left me behind.” There wasn’t any spite in my voice, just a dull resignation. He gave me a look I couldn’t decipher.
“I’d never leave you behind. Not when you have this.”
He moved in closer until our noses were practically touching, and placed his hand on my thigh, tracing over the inverted cross he’d branded on me without my consent.
“We made a deal. You belong to me until you take your last breath, even if it’s me who steals it from you.”
He ignited my blood with that one soft caress. My body was a traitorous bitch when it came to him.
“Stop it,” I hissed, knocking his hand away.
“Long two weeks?” he taunted, reaching out to finger a tangled strand of my hair. “Deal or no deal, you and I will never be through. You can’t walk away from me any more than I can walk away from you.”
“Funny, I recall you doing just that.”
He regarded me closely with an inexpressive look on his face.
“You know you’re important to me. And you know what happened on that bridge isn’t anything like what it looked like. Appearances can be deceiving.”
Of course, he was right about everything. I hated that I was lashing out at him when I rationally knew all that.
He stepped back and ran a hand over his mouth. “All the shit you need is in the bathroom.”
I didn’t bother objecting again. I desperately wanted to be clean; I could smell myself and it was a miracle he was able to breathe properly with the stench wafting between us. Besides, I still had an inkling of common sense and knew when to pick my battles.
I moved into the bathroom, closing the door and doing a quick sweep of the spacey area. It was just as nice as the room. There was a glass shower and a cast iron tub against the far wall.
On the vanity, I spotted a travel sized toothbrush and toothpaste of the same variety. I attacked it like a madwoman, physically cringing at my reflection.
I really did look like complete shit. Road-kill could have given me a run for my money. I was a few pounds away from being classed as emaciated. Dark circles formed half-moons beneath my eyes, and my hair was a knotted mess. I was grateful that the swelling in my face had gone down considerably.
I looked like something that lived in the bottom of a swamp. Brushing my teeth made me feel a little more human and effectively slayed my dragon breath.
I scooped up a washcloth and all the mini toiletries, carrying them to the shower. Once I had the water heated to near scalding, I stripped down, stepped in, and shut the door. I went to war straight away with my mess of locks, ripping long strands out in the process of untangling them.
The water washed away weeks of sweat, dirt, and all the hair I shaved off my body. I watched it all go down the drain in a chaotic swirl, taking a heavy weight off my shoulders with it.
This was exactly what I needed.
I was studying my flat stomach, thinking about how that conversation was going to go, when the shower door opened.
When he stepped inside in all his naked glory, I studied him like it was the first time I’d ever seen him naked. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever laid eyes on. The sinister dark aura that emanated from him only added to the allure.
He was so goddamn perfect it hurt. My resolve was crumbling to pieces and he hadn’t had to do a thing but stand in front of me.
I pressed my palm against him just so I could feel his heartbeat. He lightly gripped my hand and slid it down his slickened chest, making me feel every hidden scar and solid ab. My eyes followed the path he made, faltering at the sight of his thic
k dick.
I swallowed and bit down on my lower lip, unable to look away and pretend it wasn’t taking up a space between us.
His barbell had a compulsion of its own. I wanted to feel it on my tongue. I think my mouth watered.
Romero’s smug voice was what finally broke me out of my trance. “It’s a masterpiece, I know.”
I looked up at him and felt my face flame as I realized I’d just been ogling his dick like it was the Holy Grail.
“You’re so fucking arrogant.”
“Not arrogant, just confident enough to know that every time I fuck you, I turn your world upside down.” Shifting his grip to my wrist, he pushed me backward and used his knee to spread my legs apart, pinning my arms on either side of my head.
The hood of his piercing rubbed against my clit and a tiny gasp slipped through my lips.
I knew we needed to talk. He didn’t deserve to be inside me but that’s where I wanted him.
As if reading my mind, he let me go and gripped my jaw, dropping his lips to mine. I eagerly let his tongue through, sighing contentedly at the familiarity of it.
I wound my arms around the back of his neck. His hands grabbed my ass. He stole every breath I took as he devoured my mouth, nipping my lower lip and roughly kneading my globes. His hard cock pressed into my lower stomach, hotter than the water coming down on us. An overwhelming ache only he could elicit burned between my thighs.
“Fuck me,” I breathed. “Hard.”
He didn’t have to be told twice. He lifted me up locked my legs around his waist,
“Goddamn, Cali. My dick isn’t supposed to be anywhere near your pussy right now.
The shit you do to me,” he growled, pushing into me without a second’s hesitation.
I sucked in a sharp breath and held onto his shoulders. His rough intrusion stung, and I could feel the metal barbell against my walls as they stretched to accommodate his size. He didn’t wait for me to fully adjust.
He cursed beneath his breath and dug his fingers into my flesh, setting a brutal pace as he fucked me against the tiled wall. Wet skin met wet skin, mixing with the sound of running water and my unrestrained moans.
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