Page 58 of Violent Hearts

She's taken aback for a moment, and she obviously didn't expect me to apologize just like that. But she's not ready to let it go.

"Why did you do it then?" she probes. "What happened back there? If I didn't do anything wrong..."

She furrows her eyebrows again, pondering for a moment before adding, "Was it the other guy? Did he do something wrong? Did he break some kind of rule that I don't know about?"

I shake my head. "Don't waste another thought on it. Just rest assured that it won't happen again."

She scuffs with indignation. "I'm sorry, but... no!"

"No?"

"No, you can't brush it off just like that, as if it never happened," she elaborates. "I can't do this with someone who I can't trust."

Now I'm the one frowning at her. Out of all the things she could talk about, why is she talking about trust? And why wouldn't she trust me? After all, I'm the one who has to be careful in this whole endeavor. She's the one who's the threat in all of this, and not only because of her profession. She's no longer working as a journalist, just as I instructed her, and as far as I can tell, she doesn't snoop like most reporters are known to do.

But she's a witch. She has a way of getting to me without me seeing it coming. And - as today has shown - I may already be in deeper trouble than I feared.

The thought of another man laying his grubby hands on her, of her submitting to his wishes, serving his needs, looking at him the way she looks at me, the thought of someone else’s cock inside of her...

Fuck!

The images still drive me mad, and I'm afraid they'll haunt me for some time to come.

"You can fucking trust me," I hiss through gritted teeth. "I don't know why you'd say that."

"Can I?" she asks, but it's just a rhetorical question. "Because I sure as hell am having trouble with this if you keep having unpredictable outbursts like that. You were so mad, so aggressive. And it came out of nowhere!"

It wasn't fucking out of nowhere, little Button. It was building up the entire time, even before that clown stepped into our home.

My home. God damn it.

"You... scared me," she continues. "You fucking scared me. What if you lose your temper again? If I don't know what triggered it, how can I be sure that it won't happen again? What if you don't just yell the next time it happens?"

She pauses, most likely for emphasis, before she finds the courage to continue.

"What if you hurt me?" she asks. "What if you actually hurt me?"

Her question makes my heart shatter into a thousand pieces. That is what she's worried about? That I would hurt her? That I could actually hurt her?

I step away from her, my face turning into a grimace of pain as I shake my head. "How could you even think that...?”

She looks at me through watery eyes, her lower lip trembling as she tries to fight it. Her tears surprise me. I didn't see that coming at all.

"Let's just say you wouldn't be the first wayward brute to cross my path," she says, trying to keep her voice steady while the first two tears roll down her cheeks starting a steady stream. "I thought you were different. Calculating, maybe, but controlled and unwavering. That you wouldn't do anything to me that I'm not willing to take."

"I wouldn't!" I hurry to say. "You have to trust me, Button. I never would harm you. I never could..."

"I need to know that I have nothing to fear from you, Sir."

She's sobbing now, quickly bringing her hand up to her face as if she could stop the tears from pouring down her saddened face.

I don't think.

I do.

She's wrapped in my embrace within a moment, burying her face into my chest while I keep her close.

"Why then?" she sobs, her voice muffled. "What happened?"

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