Page 103 of Ashes of Sin

I don’t know if I could handle it either.

I feel constantly dirty.

“This would.” I shake my head.

“Kyra.” He grips my chin. “I know what happened. If you don’t want to tell me that’s okay. But I know.”

I blink.

How does he know?

A memory flashes back from the church when Pierce was holding me in a grip.

It makes my cock hard. The same one Maddox sucked over and over and over when he was a little boy.

I had barely a second to process that information with everything that was happening and have been in a state of depression since he brought me home.

Home.

Is this my home?

“No. You don’t. If you did, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Listen to me,” he growls.

I grip his strong muscular arms, where the sleeves are rolled up, and look him directly in the eye. “I didn’t even stop him, Maddox. The man you hate the most. I didn’t stop him.”

Motherfucker. I hate him.

Maddox stills for a moment, draws in a slow deep breath.

“Neither did I.”

My hand flies to my mouth as tears roll down my face. His vulnerability is almost too much. My chest tightens and I fall against his chest.

“Shhh.” His hand runs over my hair.

“I hate him. I hate him. I hate him.” I sob, clutching his shirt.

“Me too, baby. Me too,” Maddox replies, way too calm and controlled for the moment.

I glance up, wiping my eyes.

He dips his head. “I have lived with what he did to me. But hurting the woman I love is too much.”

I blink.

Did he just say—

His hand threads through my hair. “I love you, Kyra.”

Oh god. I never dreamed that he would truly feel this way. I thought perhaps he felt responsible. That this was no more than lust.

I need Maddox to know I feel the same.

“I love you, too. Are we crazy?”

“Most definitely.” The corner of his lip lifts.

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