Page 69 of Hunted Obsession

“Those boys were in an auction line. Ready to be sold off to the highest bidder,” he snaps.

I gasp, and my knees weaken at the words he’s said. He turns around, and his gaze finds mine. His expression is cold and dead, but the longer he stares at me, the more he shows me that he’s not cold or dead—he’s traumatized.

“Theron,” I exhale.

He shakes his head once, his expression returning to guarded. “I was one of those boys,” he murmurs. “An orphanwho nobody gave a single fuck about. Sold to the highest bidder, used and abused in ways that no human should ever have to endure, let alone a child.”

My stomach twists at the idea. Pinching my eyes closed, I breathe deeply through my nose, then let it out my mouth, once, twice, three times before I open my eyes and focus on his again.

“Theron, I don’t…” I attempt to begin.

“You don’t have to say a single word, but this,” he says, lifting his hand and twirling his index finger in a circle, “this is about revenge and protection. Nobody else should ever go through what we did as kids.”

The words he says paint a picture that makes my stomach turn. I open my mouth but then snap my lips closed because I don’t know what to say. I’m not sure there is anythingtosay.

“And Emmie?” I ask.

I suck in a breath and hold it for a moment as I wait for the answer. I’m not sure I want to know what it is at this point. Learning that Theron was abused that way makes my whole body hurt.

“I didn’t know Emmie was involved.”

“Until?” I ask.

He takes a step forward, but he doesn’t reach out to touch me. Instead, his gaze just searches mine before he speaks. “I found out about the time you did. Asher wanted us to install some more security cameras in his place and on his shipments.”

“On the boys?” I ask in a whisper, shivering.

Humming, he lifts his hand between us, and I watch as he scrubs it down his face. He glances down at his palm, wincing before he shifts his gaze to meet mine again. “I’m covered in blood.”

“You saved them, didn’t you?” I ask.

Theron stays quiet for a moment. Then he reaches out toward me again. This time, he doesn’t touch me but shows mehis hand instead. His palm faces upward. There is blood all over it. I want to guide him to the shower and wash him clean of all of this.

“Do you see this?” he asks. “This is the blood of those monsters. I have their blood on my hands.”

I wrap my fingers around the sides of his throat and look into his eyes. “But you don’t have the blood of those boys on your hands,” I whisper.

THERON

You don’t havethe blood of those boys on your hands.

Lucille is right, but she’s also fucking wrong. The blood of countless boys is on my hands. I wasn’t there to stop them earlier. And this isn’t even getting to the core of the issue. This shit, it’s low level compared to how deep it goes.

I turn my back to Lucille and walk away. Moving through the condo, I make my way toward the bathroom. I’m not sure if she follows me. Right now, I don’t care either. I need a moment with myself to think.

I lost control, and I fucked everything up.

Starting the shower, I let the steam fill the bathroom before I strip out of my blood-soaked clothes and step under the warm water. It washes over me. Tipping my head down, I watch as the blood moves from my body to the floor and down the drain.

When the water eventually runs clean, I lift my head and reach for the shampoo right as the shower door opens. Turning my head, I watch as a very naked Lucille slips into the space, closing the door behind her.

She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t need to. Instead, she lifts her hands, placing them on the center of my chest before she turns her head and rests her cheek against my skin. I wrap myarms around her and run my fingers through her hair for just a moment.

Without a word, Lucille releases me before she sinks to her knees. When I feel her mouth wrap around my cock, my eyes flutter closed. She moves expertly, gently, and far too fucking sweetly.

Reaching down, I grip the back of her hair, tugging her head backward and tilting it so she can look up into my eyes. “Open your mouth. Do not fucking move.”

She does as I demand. I need this right now more than anything else. I need that sense of control I lost. And this is the only way I can think to regain it. Slowly, I sink down her throat, watching as her eyes water almost instantly.

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