Page 93 of Wife Number One

We’d been newly married. It had only been me and him at that time, wives number two, three, and four not yet in the picture. He’d sat there across the table from me and let me go on and on about how she should have the right to choose what she does with her own body.

I’d been too stupid to see the darkening in his eyes. The growing fury that I dared to disagree with him.

He’d told me to go to my room and assume the position so he could remind me who was the man and who was the woman.

Who got to have opinions and who didn’t.

Hawk was powerful. He was the VP of this club, and he could so easily throw me back out on the streets.

Josiah existed beyond the gates. Hiding in the darkness. Just waiting for me to mess this up so he could bring me home and sell my daughter.

I couldn’t let that happen.

Slowly, I toed off my shoes.

Then with my eyes glued to Hawk’s, I reached beneath my skirt and lowered my panties.

Hawk hissed at the sight of the garment screwed up in my fingers. “What the hell are you doing?”

On shaky legs, I crossed the small cabin to the only bedroom. Beyond the open doorway, a king-sized bed sat on the other side, bare of sheets.

That gave me pause for a moment, but Josiah had always wanted me on the bed, and I didn’t know what else to do. I crawled across it, so I was kneeling on all fours, my knees and hands digging into the soft mattress.

“I said it once, and now I’m begging you to fucking answer,” Hawk growled from behind me. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Apologizing,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry I questioned you. I know that isn’t a woman’s place.” I lowered my head to the mattress, behind still raised in the air.

I buried my face in my arm, and with the other, reached back to lift my skirt for him.

Shame and humiliation burned my face, but Josiah hated when my skirts got in the way. He never wanted me fully naked though, because all the weight I’d put on repulsed him.

Hawk made a strangled noise from behind me. “What the actual fuck, Kara?”

I twisted to look at him.

At his horrified expression, I quickly turned around and covered myself up. I hunched in on myself, instantly realizing I’d done the wrong thing. Again.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, shameful tears pricking the backs of my eyes.

The mattress groaned as Hawk put one knee on the edge of it and grasped my chin. “Stop fucking saying that! I’m the one who needs to apologize to you! And not just for taking Hayley Jade. Queenie was right about that, it was stupid, and I shouldn’t have taken her without asking you.”

I shook my head quickly. “A man doesn’t need to ask a woman’s permission…”

The growl that came deep in his chest was so feral it stopped my words dead.

“Is that what all of this was about? You do something wrong, and I don’t even have to ask permission to…” The color drained out of his face at the realization before it morphed into a blind fury. “I’m going to kill that Josiah fucker. Rip him limb from limb.”

I shook my head. “It’s not my place to question a man.”

He let out an angry breath. “That’s what happened this morning in my bed, then? You didn’t say no because he made you think you weren’t allowed to?”

A flush of heat rushed through me at the memory of what we’d done in his bed. His fingers rubbing over my sensitive places. The moisture slicking between my legs. His erection hard and thick, nudging my entrance, seeking its place deep inside me.

I couldn’t lie. Lying would only bring punishment. If not from Hawk or Josiah, then from the Lord himself. “No,” I said in a tiny voice, barely able to force the word from between my traitorous lips.

I was a married woman and a daughter of the Lord. Hawk was not part of His flock. The demons on the gate proved that.

“Kara, I was a damn breath away from plunging my cock inside you. Why the hell didn’t you say no?” Hawk sounded like he was in physical pain.

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