Page 76 of Filthy Secret

Fucking. Hell.

My feet suddenly move. It’s as if they’ve been released from the floor. There are a couple of whores that pass by me. Maybe they try to get my attention, but I don’t notice. I don’t see them. Nobody else in this damn room exists but Ryan.

Just like always, this woman has my fucking everything.

As I move toward her, she slips into the room. I close the distance between us, slamming the door before I lock it. She isn’t supposed to be in here. We aren’t supposed to be in here.

This is a sacred place.

There are framed pictures on the walls, jackets of men who have died, and memorabilia from the men before us, from my father and King’s. But we can’t go to my room. That’s where Adam is sleeping. And we can’t go back to my office. I’m not sure I could walk that far.

“Are you trying to make me jealous with a prospect?” I ask, although I can hear my own words slurring.

She shrugs a shoulder, gripping the table as she leans her ass against it. Her legs are out in front of her, her eyes on mine, but she doesn’t answer right away. She watches me, tilting her head to the side, and then her brows snap together as if she is confused about something.

I wait.

“Jealous? No. I thought you wanted nothing to do with me.”

I snort, knowing she’s fucking playing with me. I have to admit, it’s kind of comical. Ryan has never been one to play games, not when she was eighteen and certainly not since I brought her back from the hospital in Arkansas.

But she has kept shit from me, so maybe that’s her version of games. I’m not quite sure. Either way, this is quite entertaining. I’m almost tempted to let her continue in whatever direction she is headed.

But I decide against it, mainly for my own sanity.

“What the fuck, Ryan?”

“I’m just repeating what you said. You can’t trust me, you hate me, you fucked me hard and walked away after coming on my stomach. I can take a hint.”

Leaning forward slightly, I look into her eyes, narrowing mine on them. “That doesn’t mean you go after any man in this club or any man ever.”

Her eyes widen, then she presses her lips together as her cheeks turn pink. “No, that doesn’t work for me. I’ve spent a lot of time being scared, being manipulated by Ellen, and raising a baby by myself. I’m ready for more out of life. I’m ready for love, and I’m not going to sit around alone any longer,” she growls.

Then she jerks her chin in the air and looks down her nose at me. “Besides,” she continues, “you don’t get to have a single say in what or how I do anything. You don’t want me.”

Moving toward her, I don’t even hesitate as I reach out and wrap my fingers around the front of her throat. I lean close, almost touching my mouth to hers, but stay just far enough away that I don’t.

“I get every fucking say,” I grind out. “Even when I don’t want you, you’re mine.”

“No,” she snaps on a wheeze as my fingers squeeze her throat a little tighter. “I refuse.”

I smirk. “Too fucking bad.”

Before she can say anything else, I slam my mouth against hers in a hard, owning kiss. Because I do, in fact, own her. Every single part of her. She is mine. And I will never let another man even look at her, let alone touch her. If he does, he dies.

RYAN

Grover is ridiculous. He’s like an overgrown child. Not only does he not want to share his toys, but he also wants to lock them away in a room, never to be seen or played with again. I feel like I’ve been locked in that room for years, and I’m over it.

“No, it’s not too fucking bad,” I grind out after he lifts his lips from mine, shifting backward slightly.

He shakes his head once. “Do I need to fuck you again and remind you of who you belong to?”

I lean forward. Our noses almost touch before I hiss my next words. “You don’t want me, Atomic. Let me go.”

“No,” he grinds out. “I want you. I can’t have you because I can’t fucking trust you.”

Lifting my hands, I place them against his chest to push him back. He doesn’t move. The man is a brick wall. “Let me go,” I grind out.

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