Page 67 of Cruel Devotion

“We know he’s evil.”

“And he’s also going to pay.”

She approached me, losing some of that shaken expression and getting firmer. “Eli. No. Don’t?—”

“I promise you, Haley, I will make him pay for this.” Looking her over again, I checked to make sure I hadn’t missed anything from what was readily visible on her skin. I noticed it all, the bruises and red, swollen spots where he must have grabbed her. “I will get revenge.”

“No. Don’t. Eli, not over me.”

I growled and ran my hands through my hair. “Not over you? How can you say that?”

“Because I don’t want you to get in any more trouble because of me.”

“Haley—”

She closed the distance between us. As soon as she reached up to grip the back of my head, she pulled me down to meet her in the middle.

Then she crushed her sweet lips to mine, distracting me from saying another word.

23

HALEY

Preston was wrong.

I didn’t “put out” for Eli.

I put my entire heart on the line where this troubled man was concerned.

I couldn’t stand the idea of this brave soul going after Preston. I wouldn’t let him.

Eli was already in such a tricky spot because of the West family. His future was threatened. If he were to go after Preston and beat him, maybe try to kill him, he would only be in more and more trouble.

He grunted against my lips, kissing me back immediately. Even though he didn’t seem done talking, he responded like always—with brutal brushes of his mouth over mine, his demanding tongue slipping into my mouth, and tight clutches of his hands on my sides.

I couldn’t let him get carried away with a goal of seeking revenge or avenging me. He had enough trouble in his life. He always had. His parents, the dyslexia, and feeling so unloved and unwanted that he’d tried to be popular and bully me. It was no excuse, and I still had a way to go with forgiving him.

I cared too much about him to want him to risk more trouble in his life. Not when he could look at me and see me, knowing I was all right now that he was here with me. Now that he was standing with me, the anchor I needed to lean on, I would move on from the panic and fright of Preston cornering me like he had.

“Haley,” he whispered against my lips after he broke the kiss. Keeping one hand wrapped around my back and clutching the back of my neck to keep me close, he sighed before kissing me again. “I know you’re trying to distract me.”

“Is it working?” I teased, reaching down for the hem of his shirt.

“In other circumstances, yeah. But I can’t just let him get away with touching you and?—”

“Then erase it,” I implored him with a needy look. “Erase every trace of what he did or tried to do. Makemeforget. Distractme, Eli.”

He growled, dipping in to press his mouth over mine as he reached for the hem of my shirt.

“Touch me, Eli,” I begged.

In reply, he tugged my shirt off. As he worked on removing my bra, I held him in to make out some more, sliding my tongue alongside his until I could suck on it and get him to grunt in pleasure.

I wasn’t the only one who liked it a little rough.

He bared me, spreading his fingers wide as he rubbed his hands up my back, crushing me to his chest.

Despite the horror from earlier, I was drowning in desire now. Before, Preston was the one who'd dared to try to corner me. Now, Eli was the only one I could focus on. The only one whose attention and touch I was consumed with.

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