Page 18 of Vicious King

Her question hit me like a brick. Why indeed? I’d spent so long trying to convince myself I despised this girl, but when it came down to it, I couldn’t see myself without her. If she actually went over that edge today, she would’ve taken a sizable chunk of my soul with her, leaving a hole inside me that could never be filled by anyone or anything else.

This whole time, I hadn’t truly wanted to destroy her, as much as I told myself otherwise. If anything, I was letting her destroy me.

I stepped closer and reached one hand out to her face, slowly tucking a thick wet strand of hair behind her ear. “I know I’m supposed to hate you,” I muttered huskily. “You killed Ben, and almost my father too. But… I can’t. I just fucking can’t. Guess it took almost losing you to make me realize that.”

Her eyes widened, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. Just fucking couldn’t.

I leaned down and crushed my mouth against hers, commanding her lips in a searing kiss. A potent jolt of energy shot straight into my bloodstream, and I pushed her back and pressed her up against the wall, unable to drag myself away from her.

This wasn’t the time or place for such actions, but I didn’t care. I had to have Tatum now, had to let these feelings and all this adrenaline pour out of me somehow. Everything about her was intoxicating, addictive, eliciting something deep inside me that I could neither control nor fight. She was like a damn siren, luring me to her side and keeping me under her spell with her seductive call.

I reached one hand down and around to her firm, round ass, the other still tangled in her hair, yanking her head back so I could pepper her neck with hot kisses. She gasped and arched her back against the wall, pressing her hard nipples into my chest. “Elias…”

I bit down on her left earlobe, making her yelp as I unzipped my pants. “I need you,” I murmured, my cock throbbing with the need for release. “I fucking need you, Tatum.”

She let out a deep, satisfied sigh, obviously liking the sound of her name on my lips. If that’s what she wanted, I’d say it every fucking day. Every hour.

I moved my lower hand around from her ass, pushing her legs apart and sliding up to massage her clit. She moaned loudly, and within seconds she was wet and throbbing and so fucking ready for me. “Oh, god, please...” She tilted her head to look at me, soulful blue eyes shimmering like deep pools of need.

I wrapped both arms around her and lifted her right off the ground, forcing her to wrap her legs around me, and then I nudged my cock against her pussy, sliding through her slick folds and watching her face as I filled her. Her lips parted in a soundless gasp as I thrust deeper into her slippery core, and when I dug my nails into her ass and bounced her faster on my cock, she began to moan and whimper.

“That’s it, baby,” I grunted. “Scream for me. Come for me.” My thoughts quickly turned to words, and I couldn’t stop them flowing out. “Oh, shit, you’re so fucking tight...”

At that, her pussy clenched down on me like a vise, milking me even harder. I groaned, thrusting my hips like a madman as she climaxed. She screamed, her voice reaching a spine-tingling pitch, and for the first time in weeks, I saw the old Tatum. She was finally back here with me, coming apart on my cock, wild and free and uninhibited. “Don’t ever fucking leave me again,” I commanded her.

“I won’t,” she whimpered breathlessly. “Just keep doing this to me.”

I didn’t know if she truly meant it or if it was just something she said in the heat of the moment, but I could figure that out later. Now wasn’t the time for conversation. We needed to satisfy the heady urges flooding our bodies, filling us with desperate heat and energy. The rolling waves in the storm outside had fucking nothing on us right now.

I kept hammering into Tatum’s mind-numbingly tight pussy, letting her hot juices drown my cock, and then I closed my eyes and let out a grunt, a flash flood of release spilling out of me and into her. “Oh, fuck...”

I stayed inside her for a moment afterwards, still holding her up against the wall. My arms were aching from all the effort I exerted earlier during the cliff rescue. It had only just started to hit me now that the adrenaline had worn off. I didn’t mind. I’d tear my fucking right arm off if it meant stopping Tatum from plunging over that edge.

“That was...” Tatum opened her mouth, then clamped it shut after two words.

I nodded. “Yeah. It was.”

We didn’t need to say it out loud. We both knew what the other meant; that what just happened was fucking incredible. Magical.

We used to hate each other so much, but neither of us could deny the magnetic pull that’d always drawn us together. Somewhere along the line, all because of that dark lure, our mutual hatred had twisted and spiraled into explosive passion and need, animosity falling somewhere along the wayside.

At least for now.

“You should get those clothes on,” I said softly. “We need to get the hell out of here.”

She did as I said, quickly wiping herself down before pulling on the dry sweatshirt, pants and socks I’d fished out of the cupboard for her. They were all several sizes too big, but at least she was warm and dry now.

I led her out into the hallway, marching toward the entryway. The guard who’d greeted me earlier was standing there, his face stark white. “Oh, thank fuck,” he said when he caught sight of us. “You found her. When you didn’t come back, I thought….” He shook his head. “There’s another chopper landing now. Last one. Everyone else is gone except us and one other guy outside.”

“Let’s go.”

I picked up Tatum and carried her outside, shielding as much of her body from the icy rain as I could. When she was safely inside the helicopter, I strapped myself in next to her and looked out the window, watching as the winds stirred the waves beyond the cliffs to even greater heights.

“Just in time,” the pilot remarked. “Storm’s about to hit for real. Give it an hour and this whole place will be flooded.”

The helicopter rose off the platform, struggling against the battering winds. I held Tatum’s hand tightly as we soared above the island. When I looked out again I saw a cypress tree ripped from its roots by the wind, crashing right into the far end of the mansion. Around the cliffs, the waves were growing taller, foam spraying right up to the second-floor windows as they smashed against the rocks.

Tatum let out a soft sigh and leaned her head against my shoulder, her eyes closing. I let her nestle into me, one hand gently stroking her hair as I stared down at her.

I wasn’t sure exactly when it started to happen—a slow, unwitting transformation must’ve begun deep inside me long before today—but this girl had seriously changed something in me. I’d been numb for so long that I’d forgotten what it was like to truly feel alive. Forgotten what it was like to feel something other than blind hatred and burning wrath. But not anymore. Not with her around.

It occurred to me that I didn’t recognize this person I was becoming. Maybe that was a good thing, maybe it was bad. I had no idea right now.

All I knew was that with Tatum here in my arms right now, I almost believed I wasn’t a monster.

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