Page 62 of Forbidden Devotion

Oh, there it was, the quirky smile I fell for so fast. I cleared my throat. “Anything else?” I asked.

“Yes. I’m sorry if anything I said brought back your mom.”

My jaw dropped. “My—how did you know about my mother?” I asked. “Did you look into me?”

“No, Dad did,” Rich said. “He ran a report the day you moved into the house, and he didn’t tell any of us. I didn’t find out until the morning after our fight when he told me what scabs I might have picked at. I don’t know anything else that’s on there, and I haven’t seen it. I promise you.”

I reeled. I mean, I’d kind of figured Mr. Marino could access all that information and that bringing me into his house might have been a good way to prompt that, but for him to put together what that bitch had done to me when there hadn’t been a single report or complaint was… He looked a lot deeper than I’d thought.

“Do…” I asked haltingly. “What do you know?”

“Concretely, not much,” Rich admitted, taking a tentative step towards me. He stopped at just one, thankfully, because I was feeling a little cornered with this new knowledge. “I know you lost your parents very young, and some cunt adopted you out of the foster system. I know complaints were filed about her in a different state for abusing her previous foster son. I know what she did to him and how it lines up with some of the things I’ve seen you react to, but what actually happened is all guesswork. I do know she probably… probably said some of the same things I did that night.”

I swallowed thickly. He looked incredibly guilty, and that shouldn’t have warmed my heart, but that’s exactly what it did. I did my best to stand my ground. “She did,” I said simply. “Repeatedly.” Richard squeezed his eyes shut like I’d slapped him.

“I’m sorry,” he said roughly. “I’m sorry she said it, and I’m sorry I repeated it. I’m sorry I brought that back to you.” I swallowed thickly.

“Be honest,” I demanded. “How much of it did you mean?”

“None,” Richard swore, locking eyes with me. “Except that I thought you were giving up, and that’s because I wasn’t listening to the truth. Anything else—everything else I said, I said in the heat of the moment because I wanted to hurt you.”

“Why?” I asked, tired but desperate. “Why would you want to hurt me?” Richard grit his teeth in shame.

“…Because you were the only person I could hurt,” he admitted heavily. “I was—I know it’s cliché, the whole ‘bullies hurt other people because they’re hurting’ thing, but that’s what it was. I was hurt, and then I got home, and my family had some rather interesting choice of words for me for running off like that, and by the time I got up to your room, I was totally out of control.”

I let that sink in a second. I hadn’t known about the family fight just before he talked to me.

“So I felt awful, and then I heard you telling Jennifer not to keep looking at the video and I just—I snapped. There’s no excuse for it, and I know it’s something I need to fix, but I want to fix it with you. There’s this unexplainable thing between us. I think you feel it too, and I want to fight for it. Tell me what I have to do to earn the right to try again.”

God damn it, he was too earnest to turn away. More importantly, I didn’t want to. That ‘thing’ he’d mentioned was real and there, and I knew I’d never feel quite like this with anyone else. This sort of thing just didn’t happen twice.

And I missed him. Honestly, even with how emotional I was, looking at him in that fucking suit lit me up with desire. I couldn’t forgive him yet—but I wanted to.

“You’re going to give me everything I want,” I said sternly, heart stuttering as I watched Rich’s face lift in hope and awe as he realized he was going to get that second chance. “You’re going to give me time, attention, devotion, you’re going to fucking talk to me, even if it’s just to say you’re too angry to talk right now, you’re going to work with me. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Rich said, nodding so fast his head looked like it would fall off. “Yes, Lauren, I promise you. All of that and more.”

I wasn’t used to the immediate power rush of a man’s total obedience, and I let myself feel high on it for just a moment. It was a nice reminder that, despite my submissive dynamic, Richard knew and respected my power, too. I let my eyes sweep over him unsubtly, watching his breath hitch and eyes dilate as he saw the desire on my face. I’d missed him in more ways than one.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” I reminded. “You broke my trust, and you have to earn it back. But I know how you can start.” Richard’s eyes trained on me, his chin lowering, and a thrill went up my spine. When he spoke, his voice was low.

“And how would that be?” he asked.

“We’re going to get naked,” I declared, “and I’m going to run from you. My safeword is red. Catch me.”

The change was instant. Something sparked in the air, and that was all it took. I didn’t bother teasing him with a strip show, and he didn’t feel the need to give me one either—we just tossed our clothes off, tension building in the air, and I had the brief thought that I wished I was doing this in my own home instead of my best friend’s before my only thought was Run.

So I ran.

Chapter Thirty-Five

LAUREN

Ididn’t know how long I spent scrambling in circles around Jen’s apartment, rounding corners and jumping over furniture, feeling him in hot pursuit just behind me. I could feel my lungs burning, my muscles quivering, my cheeks numbing from the wide grin I couldn’t control. I felt so good.

It felt like a game, but a game where the winner was already decided. I wanted to lose—but I wanted to make him work for his trophy.

So I leaped and ducked, knocking things off of tables in my hurry and not giving a damn. Everything came down to one thing: run.

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