Page 121 of Passion and Payback

“I might,” I said, hooking my finger into the band and pulling them down to show part of my ass before letting it ride back up to my waist. “Or maybe not.”

I turned and began walking off, listening carefully for any sound he made, a little game I’d made up whenever I wanted to practice what I was still being taught. Only when I heard the slight scuff on the floor did I burst into laughter and took off running. I wasn’t trying that hard, and he caught up before I could get to the bed. His arms wrapped around me and picked me up, throwing me onto the mattress before he pounced.

It would forever be a relief to have this firmly back in my life. He could manhandle me as much as he wanted and treat me roughly, and I wouldn’t feel the slightest trickle of fear. All I knew was the pleasure he gave me, that he always tried to give me, even when it burned as he entered me, claiming me all over again. I could feel his strength as he thrust into me and held me on the bed and not feel the faint panic that arose at the sign of danger.

Up until I felt him come inside me, leaving me to make a mess of myself as I cried out, I knew only pleasure and safety.

Minutes later, he gently shifted beside me on the bed and kissed my cheek. “I love you.”

“Someone’s feeling affectionate,” I said with a chuckle, turning into him to throw an arm over his waist and bury my face in his chest. “I love you too. Always have, always will.”

“Good,” he said, pressing his face into my hair. “You okay?”

We were looking down the barrel of the worst part of the training coming up, and then we’d have to start fulfilling our end of the bargain. A bargain that had come about because four men had decided to take something that wasn’t theirs and break my heart into a million pieces. But that was the funny thing about hearts, they could be mended, but sometimes the pieces didn’t go together all that well. Sometimes, the mending left the heart with jagged pieces that stuck out, cutting and shredding people.

And so that’s what I’d done. I’d shredded four men, cutting them from life and bloodying my hands in the process. It had cost Brooke her life and me the last of my innocence. Now, we were stuck in a deal, and I still didn’t know what path it would take us down. So much about me and my life had changed, and the future was uncertain, but there was one thing I still had that counted for so much.

“I have you,” I said, breathing in his smell. “That’s all I need.”

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