Page 11 of Psycho

“Are you okay?” His concerned voice cut through the mental daydream I was having about his body hair, and I blinked it away and tried to get my sex crazed hormones to stop controlling my brain.

“Fine.”

He shut the door behind him, eyeing up the makeshift lock set to the side, and grinned as he came deeper into the space. “I see you’ve gotten the things I’ve left you.” He mused as he put his hand on the blanket laid over the back of the chair I was obsessed with while he held my stare.

“I did.” I replied and then remembered what the fuck I was holding and dropped the lotion like a hot potato back into thebasket. And then my brain finally caught up to the rest of the world around me and I remembered what I was wearing.

Or not wearing, I should say.

Booty shorts under an oversized shirt, and a pair of thick wool socks pulled up to my knees. Of course, I didn’t have a bra on, those were torturous lately, and I was far from being dressed for visitors.

I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to act tough as I faced him. “What do you want?”

The problem was, by crossing my arms, my tits bunched together and created even more for him to see through the thin white fabric, and his eyes flicked down with my movement, like they transfixed him.

I locked that tidbit of knowledge away for a later time as Maddox finally looked away from them and back to my face. He sat down on the arm of the couch and spread his feet wide, somehow seeming to take up even more room in the space now that he was shorter, and my brain went back to imagining his muscled thighs and what they’d look like naked and–.

“I think it’s time we talk.” Maddox cut through my daydream again, and I tried to focus, even as my face heated in a blush. Sometimes I hated being a redhead.

“I already told you; I’ll handle my mess.” I repeated for the umpteenth time since he, Peyton, and Dane had all tried to get information out of me about what I did with the Hell Eaters before they tried to kill me.

“Is that what you’re calling your unborn child?” He cut in and my heart seized in my chest. I had somehow forgotten his little clues to knowing while his muscles distracted me, but there was no denying it now that the words hung in the air between us. “A mess?”

I stared him down, unwilling to wilt under his intense stare as he dared to accuse me of that. “How did you know?”

“Does it matter?” He tilted his head to the side and then nodded to the couch behind him, “Sit down, and talk to me.”

“No.” I shook my head, blinking away even though I wanted to do exactly what he said. “I can’t.”

“Liv.” He replied and the gravel in his voice when he said it made my knees want to buckle under pressure from it. “I told you; I can’t protect you if you won’t let me in.”

“I didn’t ask you—”

“Enough.” He commanded in a loud voice, and I instantly shut my mouth and stared at him with wide eyes. Not once had he moved quickly or spoken loudly in our previously brief interactions. Truth be told, he frightened me with it. “Please,” He almost pleaded and held his hand out toward the couch again. “If you won’t talk to me, at least sit down and cover your body up before I lose my fucking mind.”

“My—” I stammered and once again his eyes fell to my tits that were essentially bare now that I had dropped my arms. “Oh.”

I moved over to the chair and grabbed the blanket he bought me off the back, covering my legs and holding it to my chest as he rubbed his hand over his face and turned to sit down on the couch, facing me. “Better.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Now, if you don’t want to talk, then listen.” I scowled at him, but he kept going on, “Tell me about the Velvet Cage.”

All the blood in my face dropped and my stomach clenched tight as my brain processed his words. “The—what?” He couldn’t know. No.

“The prostitution ring you ran with the Hell Eaters.”

Fuck, hedidknow.

Was it stupid that the disappointment in his eyes as he said those words hurt more than any physical blow I took over the last few months?

“I didn’t run it.”

“Then tell me what you did do.” He implored, waiting and staring at me as I tried to figure out what to say.

Telling him the truth would be a death sentence.

But it seemed I was already toeing the line as it was, given the bounty out on my head.

Either way, I was going to die for what I did.

I took a deep breath and said it out loud for the first time. “They blackmailed me into scamming the Johns out of more money than agreed upon.”

---