Page 134 of Slaughter

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.

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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.”

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