Page 7 of Fatal Vengeance

It’s a heavy burden riding me, but I can’t shake myself from feeling that way. Did I cause all of this? Did I make Prudence’s already hard life even more difficult? Undoubtedly. And after all I’ve done, it’s the very least I can do now to hold myself accountable.

Griffin frowns, shaking his head at me a little. “Don’t do that, Asher. It’s their fault. You just got lost in their pretty promises for a while, but we’re on the right track now. We’ll all figure it out and survive, because I refuse to allow anything else.”

I huff out an unamused laugh, closing my eyes against the comfort he offers. Before I can open my mouth and argue more, Griffin’s warm lips seal over mine. It startles me for a moment, still not used to the easy confidence he suddenly has about us, but I don’t let myself overthink it. Instead, I open my lips to him and let his gentle yet greedy tongue soothe away my worries for a short while at least.

Tomorrow I can get back to hating myself and drowning in guilt and wondering if there’s any way to make my misdeeds right.

6

Prudence

The next day, once I’ve hidden away in Creed’s room and soaked in his comfort until I felt whole again, we decide to tell the others our plan. Neither of us have seen Asher or Griffin since breakfast yesterday morning, and I both equally hope that they’ve been together and also hope that Asher has been alone in his own room to sit and sulk. It’s what he deserves, right? Except, even as I try to stick with that line of thought, I almost feel guilty about it.

Asher is a lot of things, and maybe we’ll never get along, but in a weird way… he’s grown on me. As much as I can rely on Creed for a vicious kind of protection and Griffin to be my teddy bear whenever I need him, I can also count on Asher pushing my buttons, riling me up, and fighting with me until our dying breaths. That’s somehow oddly comforting. It’s like months of back and forth, months of threats, and — god, help me — sexual tension, and now I need him in some sick, twisted way. Maybe it’s unhealthy as fuck, but I’m a bit too broken to really care. I’ve lost too much to give a shit about what’s normal or acceptable. Plus, is he really all to blame? I can’t say for sure anymore. I understand him a bit better now, having personally met his nightmare of a father and witnessing the abuse that happens there. And knowing all of that makes me second guess all of our interactions from the moment we met.

I think Asher was merely a puppet, moving at his master’s command. Does that mean he’s absolved for his actions against me? No, definitely not. But it does mean that maybe I can see things from another angle and I’m maybe willing to see who he really is now that we’re away from The Celestials. Doesn’t mean that we won’t still fight, because I have a feeling that even without his father’s influence, Asher can be a royal dick, but hey, I think I’ve shown him that I’ve got a backbone and don’t take his shit lying down.

So where does this leave us? Me and these hypnotizing, debilitating, and infuriating men? I have a bunch of questions about it tumbling around in my head, but never staying long enough for me to form any thoughts on them.

To say this is all getting messier is an understatement, but I’m too tired to worry about it. I’m going to roll with the punches, let things fall where they may, and I guess we’ll just see what happens between me and these three guys. And between Asher and Griffin. And if I have a place there, or if Asher is going to be a possessive ass. If he tries to keep me away, what would Griffin do? Actually, what would Creed do? Because I know he wouldn’t hesitate to jump in for my honor if he thinks his cousin has hurt me, yet again…

Ugh, I’m stressing myself out.

I close my eyes and sigh, still lounging in Creed’s hotel bed while he showers. He invited me to join him in there, and it was beyond tempting, but I still feel like my mind is lost in a fog of misery, grief, and fear, and I don’t think I’d be very much fun. Leaving him to a peaceful shower without me felt like the right thing to do. Heaven forbid he starts gently washing my hair or soaping up my body with tender hands and I do something embarrassing like break down in tears. Again. I’ve done a lot of crying the past few days, and even though it’s helped me come to terms with losing my mom, I still feel like I’m walking on a razor’s edge and liable to fall off at any moment.

Maybe I shouldn’t talk to Asher today. If anyone sets off my river of tears, it’ll be him. Either because he’ll agree to go with us all to Serene Acres and give me some peace, or because he’ll flat out deny the request and break my heart. Either way, there may be more tears to come today, and the sun has barely even risen over the horizon.

“What has that look on your face right now, baby?” Creed asks the second he steps out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist and his inky hair wet and dripping water down his chest.

Jesus Christ.

Did I really turn down shower sex just to mope on my own? Because now, there’s no fucking doubt in my mind that Creed would have happily and diligently distracted me with his talented fingers. And tongue. And dick. Fuck, I’m stupid. Never again will I pass up an invite into the shower.

It really says something about me that the lethal look in his eyes has me dripping. The fact that Creed will go hunting for whatever has me upset without a second thought possibly turns me on more than his gorgeous face and body. Or maybe it’s all equal, combined into an irresistible package that is my storm of a man.

“Nothing,” I answer casually, settling deeper into my pillow as I hold his stare. The unimpressed raise of his brows tells me he doesn’t believe my shit for a second. I smile softly, rolling my eyes at him. “Really, Creed. I’m fine. I was just lost in my head with my emotions again. You should be really proud that I didn’t have a breakdown while you were gone. Did you ever imagine you’d end up with a literal train wreck like me? I bet I’m fulfilling all your wildest dreams, huh?” I say that last part teasingly, but still, a small whisper in the back of my head is insistent that Creed would be better off with someone who wasn’t so messy. He has enough to deal with and cope with without my life exploding every other day.

Creed studies me carefully, his warm brown eyes tracking over every inch of my face. He hasn’t moved from his place in the doorway into the bathroom, he’s just standing there, wet and sexy as sin, like a dark god come to wreck me.

“Prudence,” he rasps. His tone is soft, but holds a note of warning in it, like I’m testing him beyond belief. With a few long strides, he’s at the edge of the bed, one hand clutching the towel to keep him covered while the other pulls the sheets back and exposes me to all the cold freaking air in this hotel room. How very rude of him. I groan and try to roll away, back into the safety and warmth of the comforter, but Creed isn’t in the mood for games, I guess. A thrill shoots through me at the stern look he gives me.

He grabs my thigh, his fingers digging into my pale skin to keep me from moving, and then he drops his fucking towel and climbs onto the bed. He doesn’t say a word until he’s lying over me, settled between my legs and pinning me in place. He holds my throat in one hand, his thumb stroking over my pulse point, as he murmurs, “If you’re a train wreck, then I’m the broken tracks that set you up for collision. Don’t you see that by now? We are one and the same, baby, perfectly imperfect in the way we complement each other. However broken you think you are, you fit into my jagged edges like you were always meant to be there.” He pauses to lean down, just close enough that our lips whisper against each other with the promise of the kiss we’re both suddenly craving. “I don’t want to see that doubt in your eyes ever again, Prudence. You’re mine, for now and forever. No regrets.”

I swallow, loving the barely there pressure from his hand. He’s not squeezing or pushing into my airway, it’s more of a possessive hold, like he’s making sure I stay right here with him, and I curse myself because of the way it makes me feel safe. It’s like my brain short-circuited long ago, and now I crave all the messed up ways Creed can love me. I don’t even know what the hell I’d do with boring and normal anymore.

“No regrets,” I echo back, my voice hardly audible in the tension between us. I arch into him a little, not even totally aware I’m doing it. “I don’t doubt us, I promise. I just think… your life might be simpler if—“

His hand locks around my throat with a silent command, and though I can still breathe, my words cut off immediately. “That’s enough. Keep speaking like that and I’ll make sure you can’t walk by the time I’m finished convincing you that you’re perfect for me.” He growls the words in a deep, rough tone that has my nipples pebbling with need.

I have to swallow twice before I manage to croak out, “I think I might need that lesson. Show me the depths of your devotion, and make me believe those pretty words.” I aim for a sultry purr, but with his hand cutting off my air flow, I definitely don’t succeed. Still, the heated and absolutely famished look he gives me in return is a promise of the pleasure he’s about to offer.

Creed finally closes the distance between our mouths and claims me with such a brutal, possessive kiss that I can hardly catch my breath. But I’d sooner die from the lack of oxygen than pull away from his lips. I whimper as I wrap my arms around his neck, keeping him close like he’s the only thing keeping me alive right now. Creed keeps one hand on my throat — I’m sure he knows I love it — and blindly reaches down with the other hand to shove my panties aside and plunge two fingers into me.

The groan this man releases as he feels how wet I already am is almost enough to have me coming.

Creed breaks our kiss as he pumps his fingers in and out of me, watching my every expression with a crazed kind of need in his gorgeous eyes. “I love this pretty pussy. Let me worship it the way it deserves. We can spend all fucking day in this bed and I won’t stop until you’ve screamed yourself hoarse,” he rasps as he adds him thumb to the mix, circling my clit with an expertise that threatens to tip me over the edge far too quick.

In the back of my mind, there’s a faint little reminder that we need to find Griffin and Asher and talk about going to Serene Acres, but with the high I’m riding, the orgasm approaching, and the promise of many more today, I can’t be fucked to stop this and actually have that heavy conversation. Instead, I nod, completely incapable of speech right now as I lift my hips to chase his fingers every time they pull out.

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