Page 26 of Vengeful Rotten Casualties

My lips part, but for several long beats, my voice fails me.

Luc’s fingers tighten once more on the glass and he lifts it, slamming down the burning alcohol in one too-fast movement. Then, as if he can’t help himself, he throws the glass into the sink and it shatters upon impact. Thankfully, none of the shards fly up or out. He did it on purpose. Unlike his father, Luc’s never been interested in harming others. He’s never had the inclination to take and use someone until they become nothing more than an empty husk that once housed a human soul.

I don’t even flinch. He notices.

“Fuck, Micki.I love you. Doesn’t that mean anything?” Love. Present tense. My cold, dead heart clenches.

“Of course it does.” My words come out breathless.

I’m a bad girl. Bad for him. Bad in so many ways. Tainted and disgusting. Corroded on the inside, but still, I approach him. I don’t stop until I lay the flat of my palm on his spine and feel his body go rigid. His skin is warm even through the cotton of his shirt.

I move closer, pressing my chest against his back. I wrap my arms around his waist. I want to do more for him. I want to give him pleasure and let him take his anger, his betrayal, and his pain out on me. I fucking missed him. I used to lay awake in bed and think about what would have happened if he’d been my first, if we had been together.

Now, he’s here and so am I. He still loves me. So, why not?

As if he can sense the direction of my thoughts, Luc speaks. “No.” The word escapes through his gritted teeth. “No, I’m not going to fuck you, Micki. Not after … shit, you don’t think I get it? I know what you’ve been through. You haven’t said as much, but he must have…” His words trail off and if there was a way for me to love him more, those words manage to make it happen. I close my eyes and rest my forehead against his upper back.

“He did,” I whisper back. “He broke me and he bled me dry until there was nothing left.”

“Then why would you think I’d want to take you the same way?” he demands without turning to face me.

“It’s not the same,” I say roughly. “It’s what I want. It’s what I’ve wanted for a long time. Every time someone else spread my thighs open and took something from me I was forced to give, I thought of you. I’d close my eyes and I’d imagine you. I’d cry at first, but I got really good at pretending. You’d never hurt me, Luc. You and I both know that. I’ve never gotten the choice. If I had, you’d be the only one I’d choose.”

The second the words are out of my mouth, the static in the air changes. Luc turns and I take a step back. His eyes glitter in the dark room, illuminated only by the single light above the stove and the moon rays spilling in from the windows behind me.

He backs me against the island, his hands coming out and gripping the lip of the marbled counter so hard that when I glance down, I see the veins of his arms standing out on top of his skin. “It’s been a long time, Micki,” he says quietly,

My heart hammers in my chest. “Yes, it has,” I agree.

“Do you really think you can handle me now?” he demands. “After everything you’ve been through, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were to use me to hurt yourself. I can’t be that tool for you. Don’t fucking make me be.”

Something in my soul aches at his words. Of course he would think that, though. It only makes sense. Luc is no longer only my first love, but the son of the man who fucking destroyed me. Carefully, I lift my arms and twine them around his neck. His skin is hot—practically branding my own. His heated breath fans across my face.

I killed off most of myself to survive. This part, though. The part that craves him survived. It’s the only piece of me I still have left after vengeance and I’ll be damned if I don’t feed her with bits of him if only to claw away parts of happiness before my demise. The roses I’ll be buried with at the end will be made of him and this … this is my gift to myself.

“I don’t want to fuck you to hurt myself,” I tell him honestly. “I want to fuck you because I miss the old me and you make me remember a time when things weren’t so fucking complicated and bleak.”

“Shit.” Luc hisses the curse through his teeth. It’s the only warning I get. In the next second, his mouth is covering mine and his tongue is driving into my mouth. It’s a kiss that tastes like coming home.

Fire and earth. The burn of his taste erupts on my tongue and I gasp for breath, realizing just how long it’s been since I had something so damn filling. I lean into him, rubbing my breasts against his chest. My nipples are prickled and hard. I wish I hadn’t worn a damn bra so I could at least let him feel them. But to do that, now, I’d have to pull away from this kiss and I really don’t fucking want to.

I close my eyes and sink into him. Luc’s hands rove over my hips, jerking me against him even as his fingers find their way beneath my top and onto my bare skin. Flesh against flesh, the heat of his palm makes me gasp again and he bites down on my lower lip before swiping his tongue over the roughened skin there.

“There’s no turning back, pretty girl,” he whispers. “You realize that, right?”

Panting, wet, and full of need, I nod sharply. “I don’t care anymore, Luc,” I say. “I just want this. I want you.”

My words seem to crack whatever resistance he still had left inside of him. He grabs me by my hips and lifts me onto the island, turning and swiping the contents—including a glass salt and pepper shaker—onto the floor. The glass breaks, but I’m too consumed by him to care.

His hands go to my shirt and he rips it up and off my body, dropping it to the floor. The next second passes and my bra follows it—finally, my chest is free and I feel like I can breathe again. At least, I can until his head dips down and his mouth seals around one of my nipples.

I cry out in shock, my hands sliding up into the curling dirty blond hair at the top of his head. Luc doesn’t let my startled sounds distract him, though. He sucks one nipple into his mouth until my back bows and dots dance in front of my vision. When his teeth sink into the sensitive skin of my areola, a scream erupts from my throat, and that’s his sign to move on to the next. He performs the same treatment on my second nipple, leaving both wet and red before he pulls away and looks up at me.

“I hope you’re ready for me, Micki,” he says. “Because I’m not planning on stopping.”

Despite how hard it is to catch my breath, I still manage to arch a brow. “Is that supposed to scare me?”

Deft hands latch onto the button of my shorts and I reach out, gripping his shirt. As Luc bends down, I pull his shirt up and off at the same time that he forces me to lift my legs and ass so that he can strip me completely. Cool air-conditioned air slips over my naked body as he stands back to his full height, bare chested and completely focused on me.

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