Page 78 of Vicious Little Princess

“Let me reciprocate,” I said, sliding my hand up her thigh.

She snagged it, stopping me from getting to my target.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t need you to reciprocate.”

“You do know that I can now, yes? It’s been several days, the surgical incision is healed up, STI Panel all clear, and I’m getting stronger every day. I might not be able to bring my full power and stamina to the table, but there’s certainly still a lot that Icando.”

“You shouldn’t, though.”

“What?”

“This… the blowjob was a good start. But anything else—”

“I can handle it,” I snapped.

She jolted at my harshness.

I wasn’t surprised, people weren’t used to that from me.

It wasn’t who I was.

And yet.

Christ,it was him threatening to impact me again.

Clearly, the ways in which that was happening weren’t all obvious.

Being touch-averse for the first couple of days, that made instant sense.

But something like this… it wasn’t as… direct, I guess.

I scrubbed my hand over my face. “I can’t stand this, okay? This from you guys, tiptoeing around meandkeeping me out of everything. It makes me feel—”

“Like a victim?”

“Yeah. And like I’m so far from being myself. It’s making it harder for me to reach out and snatch that back.”

She nodded, her eyes shining with understanding. “I’ll talk to the boys.”

“You will? Just like that?”

“Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. It’s not working for you. It actually sounds like it might be hurting you too. None of us wants that. But it’s just… it’s not you, okay? The reason why I didn’t want you toreciprocate,as you so sweetly put it.”

“I don’t understand.” She’d most definitely been fired up after that incredible head. I was very good at gauging that to begin with, but I’d also learned her specific cues over the time that the four of us had been together.

She eased back and sat down on the couch, patting the cushion beside her.

I took a seat and laid my cane beside me.

“What’s wrong, darlin’?” I asked, my concern mounting at the unsettled and withdrawn demeanor coming off her. “Does it involve what that psychopath did toyou?Is that why you’re hesitant to tell me? Because I meant what I said about it not being necessary to treat me with kid gloves anymore, that I can’t stand it being this way either. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

I’ll make sure of it.

“We can talk about it, Cat. If you need to get it off your chest, I hope you know that you can do that with me, with all of us.”

“I’ve been quietly enraged this whole time since all of it started, a simmering rage, if you will. But the kidnapping brought that to a head. I unleashed all over those men that Angelo sent in to attack me. I lost control in a demented, animalistic way, a hugely destructive way. And that happened again the night we extracted you. And I can’t let go of that now. It’s like it’s burning through me, calling out to me, warning menotto let it go because of the power it holds, the power it gives me. And that’s coming out in other ways, not just violence.”

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