Page 30 of Make Me, Break Me

This is the least safe place for her.

The twins might have left, my deal with Beau expired, or so it seemed, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still on their crazy as fuck radar. My blood, still simmering, boiled afresh.

“You looked pretty impressive in there.”

The girl who never wore skirts except when she was out to make a statement tugged a candy red lollipop out of her mouth to top off the delectable fucking image she made, her eyes focused only on me as her lips made a perfect ‘o’ the shape to match my cock.

No sign of the trembling girl whispering her apologies like the last time I saw her at the Kingsman frat party was in sight. I hadn’t been able to see her since then in case I did something really stupid, like bend a knee and beg a lifetime of love and forgiveness from every inch of her bones.

Hell, I’d come close a dozen times or more in the last two weeks after she blocked me on her phone. Part of me thought I’d never talk to her again, never be able to drink in her stunning form again. She pushed me away plenty of times. After the frat party I finally got the message, loud and motherfucking clear.

And part of me thought I’d broken her. That I’d cowed her into who she was scared to be. Not who we were together. The ballsy, bratty girl who could take on the world when we were together.

Who took me on, at my worst. Who flipped off Falcon Gianio and lived. Who kissed a billionaire lord and walked away from him. The poor girl on campus who didn’t give a shit about what brand of credit cards lay in a man’s wallet. Hell, she was one of a kind, and I thought I’d ruined her.

I thought maybe I lost her forever, and I was all too ready to grovel so damn hard for the girl I hurt.

But now Zin was here, and she wasn’t cowed at all. I liked that, because now she stood before me, unbroken, or at least, as unbroken as me, and I could play out every dark fantasy I wanted in this filthy alley with the girl I wanted so bad I ached.

When she was like this, I wasn’t afraid to hurt her.

Her stretchy, black lace top had scalloped edges that caressed the gentle curve of her stomach and accentuated her cleavage, leaving a slim line of toned skin on display. Below the strip of bared flesh sat a tiny, sparkly skirt that brushed the top of her thighs and barely concealed her round ass. On her feet were her customary biker boots leaving her legs bare.

I raked my gaze over her, the fresh rush of adrenaline switching undiluted rage to instant desire. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

"Watching you.” She sent me a sassy as fuck little smile and sucked the lollipop back into her mouth. Her lips wrapped around the cherry candy colored treat in a popping sound that left me hard and groaning. "Isn't that what you wanted? To spend more time together?"

I looked away from her. "You're pissed about that night." She didn’t have to tell me, and I didn't have to look at her to see her eyes flash in defiance, or resentment maybe.

All the hurt in the last two weeks of absence between us.

All that bullshit about being apart making the heart grow fonder or believing thatplaying it mean keeps them keenwas just that—utter bullshit. All it did was fester the sort of obsession I wasn’t sure anyone could handle.

Except…maybe her.

Tonight, we’d both find out.

Dammit, I should have gone to her. I knew I should have. But I’d hidden in classes, inside the cage, and stayed away becausethat’s what I told myself that she wanted. Because I was as petty as her, and I wanted her to hurt, too.

Fuck, maybe I was human after all.

She wanted to see me in my natural state? Well, here I stood. Everything raw, exposed down to the bone. Filthy, and covered with the blood I'd drawn from other men. Hell, I didn’t even know how many.

"No, I wasn't angry at you. Not really. But…missing you hurt. Here.” She pressed her palm over her heart. “I didn't know how much it would burn."

“But youhate me, remember?” I snarled, stalking toward her. She didn’t back away or flinch when I braced both of my arms over her head against the fight club’s filthy exoskeleton, the roughened surface covered in graffiti and fuck knew what. "There are marriages that last less time than we've been together in this farce of a fuck buddy relationship. Couples who are public, who kiss and fuck less than we do. My world has been full of you for the better part of two years and then plus some. Only you. I can't do one night a week any more. I need more." I leaned into her space, stealing her breath by design. My design. “And no other man will ever touch you while you’re with me. I promise you.” I flicked my tongue across her bottom lip, tasting the sweetness of her treat.

“More?” She tried for cavalier and missed the mark by a fucking mile as she tugged the candy out of her mouth and stared up at me with wide eyes. “I couldn’t breathe when I was in your room, Dex. I was suffocating,” she whispered.

Her panic hovered right beneath the surface of her badass girl persona and I loved both sides of her. My arms ached to fold around her, but that wasn’t what either of us needed right now. She might think so, but we’d tried this and it didn’t end well.

Eyes full of need and fear and shadows I wanted to kiss away until she softened in my arms then fuck us both into any versionof oblivion where she was mine forever watched me. Zin was much more than an obsession.

I needed to wake up tomorrow still wrapped around her for the first time, and give her the world.

Such a fucking perfect temptation.

Closing the final breath between us, I slashed my tongue across her lips in full, licking the sweet taste from her sinful mouth. "So much fucking more."

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