Page 33 of Flames of Ruin

Chapter fourteen

CiCi

Instead of my world crumbling down around me, all I feel is my heart cracking wide open for the man standing in front of me who has carried this pain and anger with him for thirteen years. The pained and crestfallen look on his face tells me he feels as though he is confessing his darkest sins to me.

I slip my hand from under his and gently caress his face.

“Drake, you tried to stop him.”

He shakes his head, frustrated, as if his efforts were for nothing. I try to imagine a much younger version of him, standing in front of his father and having to make a choice between saving souls you don’t know and killing your own blood.

“He was a monster, CiCi. I am cut from the same cloth as him.”

“If that were true, you wouldn’t have saved me…over and over again. You wouldn’t feel remorse for your father’s actions, Drake.”

I can feel the tension in his body as his frustration rises. “What ‘good man’ justifies killing everyone in his path to make up for the sins of their own blood?”

“Not everyone. You kill criminals, Drake.” I cup his face. “You’re a good man, regardless of how you seek justice.”

“How do you see the good in me when I don’t even see it in myself?” He asks breathlessly.

When he returns my gaze, I can see relief in his dark eyes. The wrinkle in his brow softens, as if I have granted him some sort of redemption from this prison he’s been torturing himself in.

“Because this world we live in is full of disgusting, horrible people. I’ve seen the death and destruction the people you go after have caused. You are not one of them.”

As though he finally heard the words he needed to hear, he gently pushes me up against the side of the bullet-ridden SUV. The skin of my back brushes up against the sharp edges of the metal surface.

With a feral groan rumbling deep in his chest, his lips come crashing down over mine. He grabs a fistful of my hair and tilts my head back, breaking our kiss abruptly. Chills erupt on my skin as he slowly glides his lips down my jawline to my earlobe. When he brushes the loose hair away from my neck, he kisses the nape, and I can feel his free hand sliding up the front of my dress, gently grabbing my throat.

Grinding his hips into mine, his husky voice sends chills down my spine. “I need you, CiCi.”

Swallowing hard, I try to nod my head, but the grip he has on my head is too tight. I can feel the heat already beginning to pool between my legs as the nervous butterflies from earlier turn into fireworks inside my stomach.

“Please.” I manage to choke out.

Drake leisurely kisses down my neck once more, his breath leaving a hot trail against my skin. His lips brush past my collarbone, down to the exposed skin just above the fabric of my dress. My breaths turn ragged when I feel him let go of my hair and he kneels down on the concrete before me.

He looks up at me, but this time, instead of sadness or relief, I see a fire burning behind his dark eyes.

Smirking up at me, he grins, “This is mine.”

His rough hand slides the fabric of my dress to the side, exposing me. Leaning forward, he nips the fabric of my silk panties, catching my clit in his teeth.

“Say it.”

My body floods with anticipation, and my breath quickens.

I whisper, “Yours.”

A low, satisfied growl rumbles through his chest as he lifts my leg over his shoulder and uses two of his fingers to slide my panties to the side. He softly grazes his thumb over the sensitive nerve endings as he smiles up at me. I want to beg him to keep going, to claim every part of me right here in the middle of this alley.

“Good girl.”

He brings his face closer to me, his eyes never leaving mine, and blows a cool stream of air against my hot skin. My knees feel weak and I am grateful that he is partly holding me up.

Before I can react to the sensation, he slaps my pussy. A broken moan escapes my lips and rings out into the night air as a wave of pleasure rolls through me.

“Just like you’re mine, I am yours,” he whispers through gritted teeth.

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