Page 76 of Embracing the Dark Side

“Adrik—”

From his ankle, Adrik pulled out a butterfly knife, flicking it open in one smooth action before he had it against her throat. Her eyes were wide, but she kept her teeth clenched and her body still. “I told you once that lies to me were like knife wounds. So where do you want them?” He slid the tip along her collarbone, down between her breasts. A red trail awakened on her skin. Though her breathing increased, she stayed still, not pushing away or running. “You trust that I won’t cut you. Like I trusted you wouldn’t cut me.”

She swallowed hard, her body shivering. “I’m sorry.”

He scoffed at the word.

“Do it,” Jolie said suddenly. She latched onto his hand with both of hers, and his eyes widened. “Do it. Get your revenge.”

“You think it’s that easy? I cut you, and I forgive you? No, Jolie. That’s not equal justice, is it?”

“Then, what is?” Disappointment made her tear up. She wanted it to be over. She wanted them to go back to the way they were before. “Whatever you want from me, just take it.”

Adrik glanced down. His blade between her breasts was a picture of perfection. Six weeks without enjoying her, and he was caught in a moment of lust he couldn’t fight against. “Whatever I want?” He dragged the edge of the knife to her nipple and bit his lip.

Jolie could feel the change in him, and she latched onto it. If sex was the only way to get to him, then she was going to use it. “Whatever you want,” she repeated, breathless.

Adrik dropped the knife and swept his arm around her waist, pulling her naked body against his as he kissed her. She gave into him instantly, her hands in his hair, her body curving into him. After the day he had, this was what he needed. The hit of cocaine he took before coming home was only now taking effect, but the amount of alcohol in his system made the world wobbly, and he braced one hand against the door while the other kept on her back, keeping her tight against him.

Adrik broke apart from her lips to bury his face against her breasts. He kissed and licked till he took her nipple between his teeth. Her breath hitched, and her body arched, nearly pushing him to his limit from such a little movement.

Adrik broke from her mouth and shifted her to the counter before he kneeled. She tried to hide herself, but as he kissed up her thighs, her hands drifted to the ledge, helping her balance. She leaned back, resting her legs over his shoulders. He pulled her pussy lips apart, exposing the nub of her clit. She had a beautiful cunt, newly shaved since their last encounter, leaving her pussy lips like a silk rose. He admired it, a finger tracing the line of her vagina. He teased the nub with his thumb before reaching out with the tip of his tongue, getting it wet. The hitch ofher breath encouraged him to flick his tongue back and forth before retreating. He wanted to play with it more. His finger danced across her nub, and every buck of her hips told him she was enjoying it, despite how hard she tried to be quiet. She’d warm up soon enough, and her moans would fill this room.

Adrik looked up, her breasts heaving with every breath, her mouth open, her eyes closed. Her look of enjoyment was picturesque; another moment he’d capture if she’d let him videotape her. But he was sure she wasn’t quite ready for that kind of foreplay.

Adrik’s attention went back to her pussy. He slipped a finger inside. It was perfectly wet, and his finger came out with a shine of her juices. He pushed it in again and again, like he was making love to her, gently, slowly, only increasing in speed as the seconds ticked, and then he was pounding her with his hand.

He pulled the finger out and sucked on it, groaning. She tasted like sweet sugar. Adrik attacked her pussy with his tongue, the tip at first flicking over her nub. Then he flattened his tongue and ran up between her lips, like he was licking an ice cream cone. A deep, heavily suppressed moan vibrated down into her core. Her hand slipped into his hair, pushing him closer, telling him what she couldn’t say. He hurried his pace, shaking his head at a violent speed, and she came against his face, clenching his head between her shuddering thighs. She slipped a hand between them, forcing him to stop licking at her delicious juices as her pussy became too sensitive to touch, but he gripped her wrist, holding her back so he could finish. She jerked and bucked, pleading for him to stop.

Adrik stepped back, detaching every limb, if only to admire her from a distance. Jolie curled intoherself, barely able to open her eyes to look at him as she panted. For months, he had dreamed of tasting her again. It relieved an ache in his chest that she was finally back in his hands. But there were differences he marked now from his memory. She was thinner than before, and her ribs and hip bones were more visible. Her breasts had also lost some fat to them.

Adrik hated the changes. He’d ensure she ate three times a day until she returned to her normal weight. He’d fix everything Vincent screwed up—even her sleeping with all the stupid lights on.

“Go lay down.”

He loved how she nodded and walked back to his room in a daze. She’d forget about her question and how she found him, and they could move on. Despite her efforts to get him to unload on her, he didn’t want to talk. There was no replacing his father, Alexei, and Gil, the three people he’d gone to with every problem. And he wasn’t about to try. Jolie would accept that he was only half of the man he was, and he’d accept that she could no longer be trusted.

It was a true mafia love story.

Chapter thirty-seven

Crazy

Wrapping the towel around his waist, Adrik entered the room, hoping to find her naked in bed, but instead, she sat on the edge, with her fluffy panda robe wrapped around her. It depressed him. If he knew he’d be stuck in conversation, he would have taken a bigger dose of coke. He wanted only to fuck and sleep, and yet, apparently, he could do neither.

Adrik sat on the bed, on his side, away from her, resting his elbows on his knees. Water dripped still from his hair and trickled down his temple. He played with the ring on his finger, having missed the small trinket. He hadn’t realized how much it meant to him until he didn’t have it anymore.

Now I have two.

His brother’s ring hung from his necklace, a weight just above his heart.

“Can you talk to me?”

A small flinch on his brow was his only reaction.No,he thought.I can’t.

“Is it bad out there? The news says there’s been a lot of violence lately.”

It was violence he was causing. “Not bad.”

---