Page 184 of Diamond Kisses

And Ily gave up with a huff. With a twist of her lips and a wanton moan, she shattered around me. Milking me to my own lacklustre climax. Granting us a release all while that release didn’t satisfy.

We came together.

We finished at the same time and snuggled until we fell asleep, but the truth hung between us in the dark.

Whatever had happened on that island had changed both of us.

It’d freed the most monstrous parts, the most honest parts.

I’d warned her what might happen if we played Victor’s sadistic games.

It seemed now we were paying the price.

The price of love being forever wrapped up with inescapable bindings of pain.

Chapter Thirty-Five

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Ily

I WOKE AND STRETCHED IN THE sunlight.

Happiness beamed through my every cell. The indulgence of knowing I didn’t have to rush out of bed for a job or a Master…heaven.

Rolling onto my side, I hugged my pillow and looked at Henri.

He lay on his stomach, facing away from me with his arms above his head, and a sheet pooling around his waist.

My heart throbbed with love even while the tiniest whisper of annoyance formed. I’d loved having sex with him last night. I’d come, and it felt good, but…it hadn’t fulfilled thatache. That burn. That utter annihilation that I’d grown addicted to each time he fucked me.

Memories flashed through my head: him flogging me before mounting me. Him delivering pain as well as outrageous pleasure. My core clenched. I reached to run my fingers down his back—to wake him up and try to tease him into snapping only…

Sunlight cascaded over his skin.

I gasped in horror as I bolted upright.

His beautiful back.

The part of his body that I’d lusted after every time he’d marched around our room in Joyero after a shower. The long sleek lines of muscle. The powerful breadth of his shoulders.

All ruined.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I traced the thick savage grooves of scar tissue. Criss-crosses and lattice marks scarred him from top to bottom.

He stirred as I pulled the sheet off his hips.

I choked on more tears as I focused on the taut muscles of his ass and the sharp lines embedded there.

A lightning bolt of absolute hate shot through me.

Victor.

Fuck, I wanted to murder him all over again.

Rolling onto his side, Henri stiffened as he noticed my tears.

For a second, his grey gaze flared with hunger. I waited for him to drink those tears. To pounce on me like he always had. But then he pinched the bridge of his nose, grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and held it out to me. “If you’re crying because of the state of my back, don’t. It doesn’t hurt. I’m okay.”

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