Page 37 of Soul of a Psycho

“Cade?” My name is a whisper from her lips, so sweet and timid.

It takes me a second to find my voice. “Hm?” I choke out.

I’m barely holding it together. The weeks of staying away from her have left me wild, like an animal willing to kill for just a morsel, and here she is in my den, on a silver platter.

“Why have you been avoiding me?”

Her words stun me, an arrow to my gut. They’re bold, but laced with insecurity, and something inside me cracks. The last thing I’ve been doing is avoiding her. I’ve been with her every day, behind every corner, watching her every move. I couldn’t avoid her if she lived on the moon. I’d asphyxiate myself just to get to her.

But she doesn’t know that, and I don’t have an answer for her. To say I haven’t would be a lie, and to give her a reason would be mutiny.

“I guess it was just a kiss then.” She fills the silence.

Just a kiss?!

I’m unable to stop the growl that rumbles in my chest. What we did was not akiss. It was damnation. My flesh was stripped from my body and my soul was revealed. I was put on display to the heavens, burned with light, and pierced with divinity. That night was my judgment day, and I was found not worthy.

A kiss.I want to scoff.

I wrap her hair around my knuckles, remembering the taste of her lips, and tug her head back. A soft breath escapes her, but she doesn’t move. Her delicate neck is arched in a way that shows me her fluttering pulse, and I feel her eyes roaming over me as I take her in.

Thatkissripped at the seams of a three-year plan, poked holes in my determination. It showed me the monster I’ve become, and it scorched me as punishment.

Sky is torture with a tongue, but I’m just sadist enough to want more.

I press my lips to hers.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Sky

I’m weak in Cade’s grasp, pooling at the way he’s tugged me back. I may have just been chased within an inch of my life, but I would be lying if I didn’t say it felt like eons ago, now that his lips are on mine.

A satisfied hum sings in my chest as I let him slip his tongue into my mouth. God, he tastes good. If the heater hadn’t warmed me up, his kiss sure would. My body is molten as he drags my bottom lip between his teeth. It’s a sensation I commit to memory, scared I won’t ever feel it again.

“Sky,” he breathes into my mouth and pulls away. “You’re going to be the end of me.”

Rage bubbles up inside of me, either at the loss of his lips or the audacity of his words.I’mgoing to be the end ofhim?I want to tell him he’s the one who’s had no problem avoiding me while I’ve gone mad with withdrawals. That I’m the one plagued by sleepless nights when he doesn’t grace my dreams. That I think he’s a raging fire that might burn me alive if I get too close.

But when I twist in his grip, he slides his palm to my throat. It’s a move that holds me at length and locks me into submission. The words die on my tongue. His eyes are pained, filled with agony, like maybe I’m not the only one who’s been suffering.

“Cade—”

“Don’t,” he cuts me off and squeezes his eyes shut.

I’m losing him. Damn it. I can feel him pulling away, even with his hand around my throat. Panic creeps into my chest. I don’t want him to run again. I don’t want to go weeks without seeing him—without tasting him. I need him like the blood in my veins, and I think I’ll die if I have to go through that again.

I know he’s trouble. I know I shouldn’t want him. There’s something broken inside of him that threatens to shatter me, too, but I don’t care. Fuck the consequences and damn the risks.

“Iwantyou to be the end of me,” I tell him, and then break from his grip.

I latch onto him, scared he might try to get away, and shake the blanket from my shoulders, pushing into his lap. I wrap my legs around his waist and slide my fingers into his hair, clutching him to me.

It’s the boldest I’ve ever been with a guy, but my body knows no bounds when it comes to Cade. I want to bare myself at his altar, and let him punish me as he pleases. He can have all of me if he’ll justhaveme.

A growl escapes him, and I instantly become aware of the firm and pulsating length beneath my ass. My stomach swoops as my cheeks turn pink. Was he… already hard?

“Be careful what you wish for,” he says, and then throws me onto my back.

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