Page 61 of Acid

His eyes darken as he looks away. “Those marks are my past, and that’s where they will stay. It was a dark time in my life. I got physical and emotional scars that run deep. So dark that I don’t want them touching you,” he answers honestly, and even though he hasn’t told me what happened, my heart still breaks at whatever it was that caused him those scars.

I decide to change the subject. “Another question. That night, and Scar leaving, and then this arrangement being made. What happened to get to this point?”

He doesn’t answer for a while, his fingers just lazily continuing to stroke through my hair until he breaks the silence. “Because I couldn’t share you like that, and because this was the only way I knew I could have you. Even if that meant having to share you,” he answers, his voice hoarse.

I lift my head and stare up at him with eyes wide. His usually vibrant blue eyes flash with vulnerability.

“I, I,” I stutter, not sure what to say.

He gives me a warm smile before tucking my hair back behind my ear. His hand lingers on my jaw. “I don’t expect anything from you. I’ve been fighting this from that night, ever since I tasted you on my tongue, ever since I watched you come apart by me. Something inside me changed. I tried to shut it down, and I tried to ignore it. Hell, even Spider and everyone else apparently saw it before I really did. I wasn’t going to say anything. I’m just going to continue this arrangement.

“What made you decide to tell me?” I ask, my voice soft.

“As soon as I saw you tonight, dressed like that, looking the way you did. Fuck Mama, you could bring me to my knees. I wanted to have tonight. I wanted to tell you how I feel.” He pauses. “But after tonight, I can’t go on. I can’t share you with Scar or with anyone else,” he confesses. “He came to the club after he saw you the other day. He didn’t say anything, but as he sat next to me at the bar, I smelled you on him. I smelled your perfume. It took everything in me not to hit him. I got up and left,” he confesses. “I want you and only you.”

Tears escape my eyes, and he reaches up and wipes them away with his thumb. “I don’t think I can give you what you want,” I answer, but as the words leave my mouth, they feel wrong. My heart hurts just saying it. Seeing the hurt and disappointment flash through his eyes, it feels like a knife to the chest. Fear still now prickles through me. Even though I trust him, even though this is different, the fear of being hurt, the fear of going through that again, of putting Oliver through that... I swallow, closing my eyes as more tears fall. He sits up and places a soft lingering kiss on my temple before he moves me off him and

gets up.

Sitting on the side of the bed, he hangs his head low. “It’s okay,” he sighs. “I’m going to go.” Standing, he walks out of the room. I hear him moving around in the apartment, putting his clothes back on. I sit up, clutching the blanket to my chest, feeling like I can’t breathe. Emotions swirl and build within me and the thought of losing him, of losing my best friend, the best friend I hadn’t realised I had fallen for, scares me.

I run my fingers through my hair. How could I have been so stupid, so blind to my own feelings? I hear the front door of the apartment shut behind him as he leaves. It’s like an electric shock, hearing him leave. I spring up from the bed in nothing but the blanket from the bed clutched to my chest. I swing open the front door and yell after him.

“Acid, wait!” I yell as I run down the stairs after him as fast as I can. I don’t hear the shop door open or close so I start to pour my heart out, hoping that he will hear me before he goes. “I’m sorry, I do want this. I want you. It’s just I was scared, terrified that—” My words die in my throat when I reach the bottom of the stairs and see Acid stood there with a gun held against his temple. I open my mouth, not sure if it’s to scream or yell for help.

“We wondered how long it would take for you to come and join us, although I did enjoy hearing your screams of pleasure. Maybe that’s something you can show me later,” the guy with the gun smiles. I grip the blanket tighter to my chest.

“You fucking touch her and I will—” Acid begins to threaten.

“Or you will what? I think you’re forgetting that I’m the one holding the fucking gun to your head,” he sneers. Acid’s jaw is set tight, his eyes on me, trying to reassure me. “Now that we are all here, maybe I should formally introduce myself. My name is Eugene.” Ice runs cold down my spine. “Now we are going on a little trip to my house, so follow me,” he says, gesturing to the door.

I look to my left and my right, looking for something, anything to use as a weapon.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” a deep voice growls from behind me. A hand roughly clasps the back of my neck and places a cold blade against my throat. My entire body freezes, and Acid’s eyes narrow and pure fury burns through them. “If the front looks as good as the back, you are in for one hell of a fun time,” the guy holding the blade to my neck says. He lets go of my neck and runs his hand over my bare ass cheek.

I flinch. “Get your hands off me,” I seethe.

Acid’s hands ball into fists at his side and Eugene’s eyes glint with excitement. “Behave yourself, Joel,” Eugene chastises. “Sorry for his lack of manners,” he apologises.

I don’t respond. With the blade still pressed against my neck, I don’t dare to move. They force us out of the tattoo studio and into a blacked out SUV. Two other guys suddenly appear to open the door for us, and we are both shoved into the same vehicle. I instantly reach for Acid, and he pulls me to him, his hands cupping my face, checking I’m not hurt.

“You do exactly what we are asked, no matter what you may see or hear. Do not try and fight for me, and do not try and get to me. You only worry about yourself and getting out for Oliver. The club will come, they will come, but until they do, you need to stay strong until then, understand?” he asks.

I nod as tears pool in my eyes. I lean forward and press my mouth to his, kissing him tenderly. Breaking the kiss, I lean my temple against his. “In case something happens, I need you to know I feel the same. That’s why I came running down the stairs after you. I didn’t say anything because I was afraid, because of before. I think I just shut down allowing myself to feel, but in that moment of hearing you leave, hearing that door close. I couldn’t let you go. I need you. I want you,” I say on a rushed breath. While Eugene and his men talk outside the car,Acid presses his mouth to mine, pouring all of his emotions and feeling for me in that kiss. He breaks the kiss and Acid’s gaze goes to outside, his eyes wide.

I turn and look as two men pour gas all over the front of the tattoo studio. Two more come out with empty canisters and then Eugene walks over and drops a single lit match. The fire roars to life, engulfing the entire building.

“No!” I scream. Acid grabs me, placing a hand over my mouth.

“You give them nothing. No emotion. You show them nothing,” he orders in my ear.

I nod as silent tears fall down my cheeks, watching as the first and only home we’ve ever loved is burnt to the ground.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

ACID

They took her from me,ripped her right out of my fucking arms. She screamed and tried to fight, tried to claw her way back to me. Every muscle of my body tensed and strained against the restraints. Eugene sighs from where he has sat next to me. “Love is such a raw emotion,” he sighs.

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