Page 45 of The Broken Queen

The candles lit up the dark bathroom as the water rushed from the faucet down into the soaking tub. Heat filled the room, and fog covered the mirror. Julianna was asleep, and my bedroom door was locked.

Today had been a day. I’d lost my journal. I was going to write in it earlier and realized it was gone. That journal was my therapy and noticing it was gone made my anxiety soar through the fucking roof. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find it.Someone had taken it. But who? Zeke?I had to find it because it had every nasty secret I’d been keeping for years inside. Including what happened during my training. My stomach coiled at the thought.

I couldn’t even revel in the fact that Father and Zeke were gone for a couple of days, and I wanted to. I wanted to sprint through the halls in happiness that they were gone for a while. They were horrible human beings who preyed on the innocent.

My mind drifted to Slade and Elijah showing their faces on the estate grounds.Did this mean he was going to show up more? Come around more often now that Father wasn’t here for a few days?

Blowing out a breath, I relaxed my posture and prepared for my bath. I needed to relax, and this was my go to strategy for doing that. The silk robe slid down my shoulders, and a slight chill caressed my skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. As I lifted my leg and placed the tips of my toes into the water, a hiss escaped my lips when the heat scorched my skin. Afterthe small shock, I put my whole foot in, with my body following shortly after.

A moan tumbled out of me as the water cascaded around my body, making it release all the pressure from today’s nonsense. The water continued to flow from the faucet, filling the tub as high as it could go. I moved my foot to turn off the water and sunk down enough to where my chin met the bubbles.

I closed my eyes and listened to the silence and the ripples moving from my fingers. There was something so serene about taking a bath. It could turn the most high strung person into a pile of jelly.

Sometimes I wondered what life would’ve been like if Slade never left.If he had stayed, would we have been happy? Or would Father still control us? What if we had just run off?

I needed the man like my last breath. He consumed my thoughts, dreams, and nightmares. The thought of his strong hands caressing over my skin sent a wave of heat rushing through my body. My mind wandered to that dark place where it was just me and him. A place on most days I never wanted to return from. I lightly shook my head. That place would always be a long, lost dream. There was no chance Slade would ever want me again, not after everything that happened between us.

My eyes opened when a hand covered my mouth to keep me quiet, but a scream came out anyway. A harsh, deep abyss of silver penetrated through my walls, silencing me. His stare made the heat of the water disappear into an icy bath. I was frozen solid as he went to his knees beside the tub and watched me with a predatory look on his face. I didn’t know what to think. Why was he here? Was he here to torment me? Did he want to remind me there would never be an us again? My mind raced with so many thoughts and he must’ve seen it written all over my face because he leaned in and recklessly devoured my lips with his. His tongue pushed past the barrier and he deepened the kiss.

The lower half of my body tingled with pleasure. His lips were pure ecstasy against my skin, and I honestly couldn’t live without him doing this to me every single day. The water moved as I tried to get closer to him, but he gently pushed me so that my back was lying against the porcelain. He tore his lips away briefly and made sure that I watched him dip his fingers into the water.

My toes curled with excitement of where I knew his hand was headed, and once his fingers touched that super sensitive spot, I lost all control. He gently rubbed my clit and my head fell back. His calloused fingers continued to caress me as he made his next move. I sucked my lip between my teeth when his lips took my nipple into his mouth.

“Ahh,” slipped out of my mouth when he bit down. I reached for him once more, wanting to drag his body in the tub with me whether he was dressed or not. Again, he refused and restrained my hands so they couldn’t touch him. He moved away from my nipple and stood up. The sudden loss of his touch made my high deflate.

I wanted him; why couldn’t he just give in to me? I opened my mouth to yell my frustrations at him, but his gaze met mine as he moved his fingers to the bottom of his shirt. My breath hitched when he lifted it over his head and went to unbuckle his belt. I licked my lips and stood up.

His gaze roamed over my dripping wet body, and after what seemed like hours of torture, he finally spoke. “Turn around.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and did what he commanded. Nothing but the sounds of my labored breaths and his belt dropping to the floor filled the room. This man had me waiting on bated breath for him to make his next move. I didn’t want to be under his spell anymore, I wanted him to be under mine. Yet, here we were, me waiting for him to give the orders.

The water moved when his feet stepped into the tub. I wanted so badly to turn around and just let him ravish my body,but I waited. He was the King in my book after all, and while I was Queen, I needed to follow his orders.

“Put your hands on the wall, and spread your legs apart.” I did and waited. His hands landed on my waist, and without meaning too, a moan escaped. One of his hands slid down my waist until it made its way to my sweet spot. Within seconds, his fingers were pumping in and out of my pussy.

“Fuck...” I wanted to come all over his fingers but there was something I wanted even more than that. I wanted his cock inside of me, pushing in and out until we both came together. When I was with him, I never wanted him to stop. I wanted every single inch of his body pressed against mine.

“There are so many times I wanted to walk away, to ruin you. But you always keep me coming back. Goddamn it, Rav. You’re so fucking perfect.”

Just the sound of his voice made my body tingle with pleasure. I was willing to bend over backwards for this man if he asked.

“I want you,” I whispered. I sounded so fucking weak around him, but I couldn't be bothered enough to care.

“Then why do you give into your fiancé’s desires? Why not wait for me?”

I froze when those words poured a bucket of ice water on top of my body. He knew why.I had no choice in the matter, I was trying to do what was right for Julianna. Surely, he didn’t want anything to happen to our daughter. Why couldn’t he just understand that?

“You know why.”

He removed his hands and turned me to face him. His jaw ticked and I could practically hear his molars grinding together. "Are you trying to make this shit worse than it already is?”

Here we were, in the bathtub full of water, butt naked and discussing something I really didn’t want to talk about. Whycouldn’t he just understand that? Until he made his move, or it was time for me to make mine, I had to let Zeke continue to think I was the luckiest woman in the world to be marrying him. I refused to let him harm one hair on my daughter’s head, so to keep her safe, I had to act like a fucking ditz.

“How much of a choice do I really have? I can’t continue to wait on you to do whatever the fuck you’re gonna do.”

His gaze hardened. “You need to wait.”

I gritted my teeth. “This place is hell. You have no idea what I am going through in this crap shoot.” My eyes teared up and my heart raced so hard I thought my chest would explode. “You were never supposed to leave me. You were never supposed to leave us.” He didn’t have a choice in the matter, he was dragged away from us, but he also called it off right before they showed up. Hedidleave me. I turned away from him and wiped my eyes. I sat on the edge of the tub against the wall. My feet were submerged in the water, but it was now barely warm.

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