I pull away from my father and grip my cell in my hand. “It was bound to happen, son,” he says, handing me a whip. I hold the black leather in my hand and feel the weight. For years, I’ve played a part in hurting women. Even if I didn’t physically hurt them, I never tried to save them. But for once in my life, I want to hurt someone. The only woman I’ve ever loved. Who just fucking ruined me. While holding the whip in one hand, I dial her number one last time. But this time when it goes to voicemail, I don’t hang up. Instead, I leave her a message.
PRESLEIGH
I wake up on the couch. I slept down here all night. After I poured my heart out to Chloe, I couldn’t move. The weight of myself too heavy to even crawl. Sometime during the night, I remember opening my eyes to see Tristan pick Chloe up off the floor. Then I went back to sleep.
I roll over to face away from the couch and see Avery sitting on the opposite one, staring at me.
I sit up and push the messy hair from my face. He still wears the same bloody clothes from last night, and his eyes are red. His hair standing up every which way as if he’s been running his hands through it. He doesn’t look like he slept at all. And the stubble along his jaw tells me he hasn’t shaved in days.
“I don’t apologize,” he says roughly.
I nod and stand. “I never expected one from you, Avery,” I say and turn to walk away from him. Not wanting to be around him.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what happened to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry I didn’t track you down and demand an explanation.” I turn back around to face him. “But I don’t apologize for watching the tapes.”
“Avery—”
“I hated you, Bunny,” he interrupts me with a growl. “I hated you so fucking much it hurt. The thought of you with another man drove me off the deep end, and I buried myself in anything I could find.”
I swallow, knowing he means women and alcohol. I hate how jealous that makes me feel. And how mad it makes me. While I was mourning the loss of our child, he was out fucking random women.
“The thought that you didn’t want me or our baby … I wanted to hurt you,” he admits shamelessly. “I had thoughts of finding you and hurting you. I didn’t want any other man to find you attractive or to see your smile. And the fact that you had just … aborted our baby and erased any part of us …” He lets out a long breath. “And I never once hated myself for those evil thoughts. Until now. When I found out what my father did to you.”
I know what he means even if he doesn’t say the words. “You’re not like him.”
“I’m exactly like him,” he shouts, that anger coming so easy. “I took you. I forced you to …”
“No, you didn’t. I wanted you,” I admit with shame, hanging my head. “I wanted you to fuck me. Begged for it. Still want it—”
“Stop saying that,” he interrupts me. He sighs heavily and lifts his drink to his lips but thinks twice when he sees it’s water. His jaw tightens, and he lowers it. “Then when I saw the tapes. I tried, Bunny. I tried so fucking hard not to watch them, but I wasn’t strong enough. I had to see what he did to you. I wanted to hate myself. Needed to hate myself.” He lifts his hands out wide. “What I’ve done to you. The things I’ve said …”
“They were all true.” I know he’s talking about the way he called me a whore. How I begged him and other men to fuck me. I craved sexual attention even if I never liked it. I needed to know that men found me attractive. I needed to know that I was still wanted after Victor told me I would never be.
I’ll make sure no other man ever wants you again!
Victor took everything from me, but I was still alive. I wasn’t gonna let him control me until I died.
“Don’t.” He growls. “Don’t fucking let me off the hook! I was terrible to you. And now …”
“And now you know.”
He runs a hand through his hair. “If I could go back.”
“You can’t change the past, Avery,” I say softly. “I tried for so long.”
“You should have told me.”
“He would have killed me,” I argue.
“You’re dead anyway,” he snaps.
“What?” I whisper, a chill falling over me.
His dark blue eyes meet mine, and they hold so much anger that I take a step back. “You’ve been dead ever since he touched you. I just haven’t noticed it until now. But I’m gonna save you, Bunny. I’m gonna bring you back because I need you.”
My breath picks up at his confession.
He walks over to me, placing his hand on my face, and gently rubs my cheek with his thumb. “I’m gonna slaughter them, Bunny. For you. I’m gonna put you on a fucking throne and lay them at your feet for what they did to you.”
“Promise?” I ask.
The look in his red eyes is answer enough, but he speaks anyway. “I promise.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
AVERY
I NEVER MAKE PROMISES. Not since I thought she left me.
They’re too easily broken. And I’ve always prided myself on my word, but this is something I know I can keep. This woman has been through hell because of me, and I plan on returning the favor to any man who did or plans to do her wrong.
I haven’t slept in two days. Last night, I sat in my bed flooded with memories of our past and thought of what our future could have been if not for what my father did to her.
I fucking hated myself. For what he did to her. For what I did to her. I don’t deserve her, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want her. “I love you, Bunny,” I say softly.
She places her hands on my chest and whispers, “I love you too, Avery.”
I wrap my free arm around her back and pull her to me. Her breath hitches, and I know what she is thinking. She wants me. I want her too. I never not wanted her. Not even after what I saw. I wanna show this woman I can be what she needs. Deserves.
She looks up at me and licks her lips nervously while we stand in silence. I lean my head down and run the tip of my nose along her jawline. Her arms wrap around my back, sucking me into her.
I pause, my lips hovering over hers. I haven’t allowed myself to kiss her on the lips, not even once, because I knew I’d be done for if I did. I was trying to treat her like a slave. How fucking stupid of me. She has always been more than that for me.
She’s been my anger.
She’s been my love.
She had been my happiness.
And now she is gonna be my damnation. Because I am going to burn this world down for her. She deserves that much. And more. This woman has been through hell, and she’s gonna stand by my side as I bring hell to all of them. The devil will bow at the way I make them pay.
“Avery.” She whispers my name, bringing me back to her.
“Yes, baby?” I ask, rubbing my nose against hers. Our lips so close …
Her body trembles against mine. “I want you,” she admits, and I hate the way her soft voice makes me hard. I shouldn’t think about fucking her. But I do.
I still feel him on top of me. I still feel his breath on me.
I want to erase any memory of my father from her soul. I want her to know I still want her. That whatever he was trying to do didn’t work. She’s always been mine and still is. I own her!
“I want you too, Bunny,” I say and then press my lips to hers.
She moans, parting her soft lips for me, and just like that, I’m lost.
My hands slide into her hair, and I tilt her head back, deepening the kiss. Her tongue meets mine, and I growl deep within my chest.
I tilt her head to the side, and our kiss grows frantic. Her nails dig into my back, and my hands tighten in her hair. I need her. I want to feel her. I want to take her.
I release her hair and grip her ass. My hands slide into her underwear and lift her off her feet. She wraps her legs around my waist, and I walk us toward my study. I don’t want to take her on my couch in case someone walks into the living room, but I don’t have the patie
nce to make it to my bedroom.
We crash into the room, and I shut the door with my foot. I lay her on the couch and pull my lips away from hers just long enough to yank my shirt over her head.
She’s undoing my pants and shoving them down my legs while I remove my shirt. “Lie down,” I order roughly, and she does as I say on the couch. I grab the black lace material and yank them down her legs. Then I’m on top of her. My lips back on hers desperately. Her hands in my hair and pulling. I moan into her mouth. She whimpers into mine.
I reach between our bodies and run a finger over her pussy. She’s soaked.
She pulls away and sucks in a ragged breath. “Please,” she begs.
“I wanna taste you,” I say, my mouth watering just thinking about my head between her legs.
She shakes her head. “Please. Just fuck me.”
I can’t deny this woman anything. And I know I have the rest of our lives to spend between her legs, so I take my hard cock in my hand and push into her. She arches her back; her lips part, and she gasps as I stretch her.
She’s so fucking tight. I drop my face to the crook of her neck, and she runs her fingers down my back. The feel of them burning my skin makes me shiver. Then she’s digging them into my ass, her silent plea for me to move.
I pull my hips back and then thrust forward. “Avery,” she pants.
I reach back and grab her hands and pin them down to the couch above her head. She whimpers. “Is this what you want, Bunny?” I ask, roughly pulling out and then shoving my hips forward.
“Yes,” she cries out, arching her back. “God, yes.”
I release her hands and grab her breasts. I lean down and suck her hard nipple into my mouth, and she tangles her hands into my hair while she bucks her hips, meeting mine with each thrust. I lightly nibble on it, and she shudders underneath me.
I pull away and trail kisses across her chest to the other one and give it the same attention. Her back arches, her mouth open as she gasps, and her pussy is soaking wet. “Fuck, I’ve missed you so much,” I say, panting. A thin layer of sweat has formed on my head and chest.
She opens her heavy eyes and looks up at me. Her hands cup my face, and my hips slow at the look in her eyes. They’re so soft. They make her look so young. It’s as if we’ve gone back in time to eleven years ago.
“I’ve missed you, Avery,” she whispers softly, and I see tears start to glisten in her eyes.
And I fucking hate myself all over again for what I put her through. If I had just called her …
“Don’t ever leave me,” she says.
My chest tightens, but I force a smile. “Never, Bunny.” Then I lean down and capture her lips with mine while my hips go back to moving.
_______________
We lie on the couch in my study. I’m on my side with my back pressed into the cushion and she’s lying on her back in front of me. Our breathing finally evened out, and her body quit shaking from the two orgasms I gave her. Her hair is wet from sweat, and we’re both still naked.
She sits up. “Where are you going?” I ask even though I love the view of her ass—it no longer has marks from when I whipped her. And that thought makes me flinch. Just another thing I did to her that should have never happened.
She doesn’t answer as she walks over to my minibar and grabs the bottle of scotch. I arch a brow. “Isn’t it a little early to drink?”
“Since when does it have to be late for you to have some scotch?”
I laugh and sit up when she comes back over to me. She sits down beside me and hands me the bottle. “Trying to get me drunk?”
“Yes.”
“Why is that?”
She looks down at her hands in her lap. “I need answers, Avery. And I know you don’t want to give them.” Her eyes meet mine. “But I need to know.”
I understand her need to know. It was like when I told her that I needed to know what happened to her. I lean over, placing the scotch on the floor. “What do you want to know?”
The fact I’m willing to tell her anything doesn’t seem to relax her. She seems tenser than before. “What did my brother do?”
“He killed a man.” Her eyes widen. “The guy who is after you, Damon, he wants you for revenge.”
She swallows nervously as her big eyes search mine. “Does he own slaves?”
I nod. “And it doesn’t help that he and your father were enemies.”
She looks at the floor. “Why?”
I shrug, not really knowing that history. “Who knows? It could have been over anything.”
Her eyes meet mine again. “Why did you save me?” she asks, and I flinch at her choice of words. I didn’t save her. I put her in harm’s way. “Why not just let him take me? You didn’t owe me anything. I saw the look in your eyes in the bathroom at the club. You hated me.”
I run a hand through my hair. When I decided to get her, I never thought we’d be at this point where I had to confess why. “I never stopped thinking about you,” I admit roughly. “And then when I got the phone call that you were in danger, it wasn’t even a question of what I had to do. But don’t think I did it with good intentions.” My eyes meet hers. “’Cause I didn’t.”
She nods as if that’s enough. “Why did you bring me back here? When I found you in the bathroom, you asked about Preston. If you planned on taking me, why didn’t you do it then?”
“At first, I just wanted to see you. I followed you five days before I cornered you in the bathroom, and I was so mad at you. Damon had men on you who had been watching you for months. And that night, I watched him take a picture of you with his phone. Then you went into the bathroom, and I couldn’t help myself. I needed to see you. I needed to feel you. Smell you. And I stood there shaking, waiting for you to exit the stall and then there you were.” I cup her face. “I loved that look of fear in your eyes. I loved that I still had some effect on you. I thought when you left me, you never looked back. Then the other night, when I took that guy from your house? He was Damon’s guy. He was there to take you.” Her eyes widen. “I wasn’t gonna allow that to happen.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” she asks softly.
“Would you have come with me? Willingly?”
She shakes her head. “You know I wouldn’t have been able to do that. That’s why your dad took me in the first place. Because I’m here with you.”
I run a hand down my face. “You should have told me. I could have protected you.” She shakes her head. “You have that little faith in me?”
“What would it have changed?” she asks.
“Everything!”
She fists her hands, and her eyes narrow on mine. “Yes, it would have been so easy for me to just come out and tell you that your father raped me and killed our baby eleven years ago.” I open my mouth, but she continues. “You wouldn’t give me any information as to why I was here. Why would I have been forthcoming with something that happened to me?”
“Us.” I growl. “That was our child.” She looks away from me and picks up the bottle of scotch from the floor. I stand from the couch and grab her free hand. She looks up at me with a go to hell look. “You went through hell. But I lost someone too. Not only our child, but my best friend. The love of my life.”
“Yes, it must have been so hard for you.” She yanks her hand free of my hold. “Getting over me by fucking as many women as possible.”
“Bunny …” I growl.
“After what your dad did, I woke up in the hospital, and Lance told me I had been in a car accident. He told me that I had been in a coma for two weeks. I was going to survive, but I lost my baby.”
The car wreck? That had been in the report Kayn gathered. They lied to cover up what my father did to her.
“Your father was there. The moment I saw him, it all came crashing back to me, and he told me to never contact you again or he would kill me. His men took me to a hotel and dropped me off. It was under a fake name, and they had identification for me. They made sure
I was in my room and left. I picked up my phone to call you, but I listened to my voicemail first.” She shakes her head. “I was going to call you and tell you what happened, but after the voicemail, I knew it would be pointless. But I tried anyway.” She jabs her finger into my chest. “I at least tried. All you did was change your number.” I wouldn’t have answered my old one. That’s the pathetic part. I was that fucked up over her leaving me. “I knew it was over, and I had to move on.”
She spins around, and I grab her arm, yanking her back to face me. Lifting my hand, I cup her face. “I never moved on.”
She lets out a long breath. “I never did either. When I saw you in that bathroom, everything came back, and then when you came to my house. And we …” She swallows. “Even when you brought me here, I wanted to run. I tried.” She chuckles at her failed attempts. “But like I told you, you made me feel alive. Even though I knew my time was limited.”
I cup her face with both of my hands. “Bunny, no one is gonna touch you. Do you understand?”
“You can’t stop him …”
“I can.”
She shakes her head softly. “He let me go, Avery.” I frown, not knowing what she means. “He told me that he knew you were coming for me with guns raised and an army.” She looks down to the bandage around her upper thigh. “I was a message.”
My body tenses at those words. “That’s what he said?” I clarify.
She nods. “A message that you can fuck me all you want, but you’ll never own me.”
I begin to pace my study.
“I can’t live my life in fear, Avery,” she says, sitting back down on the couch.
I stop and crouch in front of her. “You’re not going to,” I assure her.
“Let me help you catch him.” I tilt my head to the side. “Set him up. Let him take me again.” Fuck, she sounds like Tristan when he wanted to use her as bait to catch Damon.
“Absolutely not!” I snap, jumping to my feet. She just keeps coming up with crazy ideas.
“I’m not afraid of him, Avery,” she says, standing and squaring her shoulders. “He can’t do to anything to me that he hasn’t already.”
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