Page 94 of Ink Deep Devotion

“Ugh, I hate phone sex. It’s just so much effort on my end.”

But it was worth it.

“Let me guess,” Nova spins around to face me,“You had phone sex, talked dirty, and did something dirtier, and now you feel guilty? Shed the angelic wings, Mila; they are so heavy. Being bad is much easier.”

I uncross then recross my legs.“I feel like I acted like a slut.”

“If you care about definitions, then you’ll never succeed. Definitions are limiting, and those who fear limits don’t rule the world. Stop caring about what others think.” She tosses her arms in the air.“Your kitty cat wanted to purr, and she did. Move on, and please pick someone other than Dash King.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

She rolls her eyes and grabs a lip gloss.“It’s as easy or as hard as you make it.” She coats her lips in the shimmering gloss only to lick it off. She does that a lot, like a naughty child eating something they shouldn’t to get attention.

“Who gives a shit? Are their opinions going to be etched on your grave?” Her brows tug up, aimed at me.“No! People always part this earth with a fake as fuck, but somewhat friendly message etched on their headstones. So, who cares? Be a man’s definition of a slut, or make your own definition. Did it feel good?”

“Yeah, but…what if it was wrong?”

“Sometimes a wrong makes a right.”

She closes the distance, tips my chin up, and then, like the sister I never had, she paints my lips in her lip gloss:“If you’re going to commit, then commit, baby. Nothing is worse than failing when you didn’t put your all into it. Die, knowing you did everything you could.”

“Is it always life or death?”

She nods.

Commitment. It’s not committing that scares me; I have already pledged my heart to Dash. It’s the free fall, not knowing if he will be there to catch me.

“Hey,” she gently taps my cheek,“You know what you need?”

“Another lecture?” I joke.

“Sassy, that’s good. But no. You need NF.”

“I don’t do drugs, Nova.”

“Oh god, you’re so pure and virginal. I don’t think Dash knows where to find your cherry to pop it. Are you sure he did?” I roll my eyes and try to hide my blush.“NF isn’t a drug. Although his words make me high like I took one.”

“What is it?”

“Who, baby girl, who is NF! Brace yourself because I’m about to change your life.” She grabs her phone and opens her music app.“You need some rap mixed with mental lapses and honesty. He’s the perfect inspiration for a wanna-be-badass.” She presses play and introduces me to one of her favorite music artists.

Chapter 32

Mila

The warmth of the sun heats my eyelids, finally tempting them to peel open. As I do, I roll to my side, I try to move my arms again, but they are trapped. Ugh, I hate when you get that loss of movement from sleeping with your arms above your head.

“Caught you,” Dash purrs.

I jerk in his bed, but I find my arms have been tied above my head, and a thick rope digs into my skin when I try to wiggle.

“Dash?” I gasp.

“You want to play games, little fox?” He grins as he remains sitting in a leather armchair in the corner of his room, one leg crossed over the other as he rubs his jaw. He’s shirtless, his scars on display. So many little marks that haven’t revealed their stories to me. What happened to him when he was taken away from me?

He’s careful not to show me those scars usually, so it scares me that he has them on display for me now.

My body pools with heat. One look at him, and I’m a puddle waiting for him to stomp on, to spread me out so thin I evaporate so he can turn me into something new.

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