Page 41 of Ink Deep Devotion

A few students pass and watch with wide, hungry eyes. Dash’s anger is strong enough to seeps through the walls and grab attention. Curtains in the classrooms are pushed back to view us.

I didn’t think his insults could inflict more pain. They do.

Damian wastes no time turning to punch Dash right in the jaw. I scream and gasp, feet rushing forward, wanting to rush to his side. It’s as if I’m thrusted back to the night of the Cleansing and Dante was holding me back. I hear the memory of the students shouting burn my ears. Jared’s face clouds my mind, and then his final resting place where Dom buried him.

Dash spits, but Damian grabs him by the collar.“I don’t care how much you hate her; she’s going to be your wife, and you will respect her.” Titan steps away and threatens the crowd, which disperses.

Damian pushes Dash back,“Grow the fuck up. You made her think you were cheating on her because we all thought we’d diein that pit of hell.” Damian hits his chest,“We didn’t die. Own your mistakes and ask her to forgive you.”

Hateful eyes look at me with a promise of vengeance.“I don’t want forgiveness. I want her nothings.” Dash’s jaw grinds firmly, like coal under pressure, forming a black diamond.

Damian’s brow tugs up in underhanded confidence.“What did you want last night then, because sneaking into her bedroom is not nothing?”

Dash’s eyes slice toward me in a silent promise of revenge. He wanted to keep that nightly visit a secret.“So that’s your line in the sand.” Dash snaps at Damian.“You really are choosing her over me,” he spits.

“She is you!” Damian roars.“She’s your heart. When will you realize it?”

Dash’s pale complexion blooms red in shades of embarrassment, contempt, and, worst of all, truth. He still loves me, but it’s mixed with more loathing than it ever was before.“When will you realize that we don’t all need a heart to live!” He seethes, eyes avoiding mine as he storms off.

“Well, that went well.” Titan chimes in.

My knees tremble so badly Titan comes to my side and tucks me under his arm. I watch Damian, who keeps his back to us until he has regained control.

“It’s going to get worse,” he warns me,“but Damian and I will be here for you.”

Who will be there for Dash? Some other woman?

Chapter 15

Dash

I was…happy Mila wasn’t alone to suffer my wrath.

What did that make me?

When I spotted her flanked by Titan and Damian, a part of me relaxed, curled inside my grotesque body, and sighed. The dark seeds inside of me took root. Memories of the first time I looked at her came rushing back. She succumbed easily to me after a few nudges, stolen kisses, and sharp glares. She fell in love with me as smoothly as a jellyfish is forced to go with the current. They acknowledge their fate because they are incapable of challenging it.

And here I was, the shark schooling her, teaching her how to bend and flow from within the current that ambushed her.

That brought me joy, yet I also felt repulsed. I wanted to thicken her skin, make her tough enough to withstand my world.

She did it all again last night. Fell into my current with ease.

Craved me. Begged.

I wanted to give in. I spent the whole night with my hand wrapped around my throbbing cock only to be left wanting.

I wanted her rebuttal because without it, without her telling me to stop and to leave, I knew I could not resist her.

I’m fucked.

I close my eyes, feeling the throbbing in my head intensify.

Would she fall for my cousins like she did me? Would they see the dark truths she hid?

Knowing them, they would try to fix her like I did, only they would be kinder and not watch her shatter.

I can’t stop the hate that burns through my pores; it seeps out of me like a toxin that affects everyone around me.

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