Page 59 of Red Obsession

“Tell me, Red. Tell me who they are,” I beg, the need to protect her from them nearly becoming overwhelming.

“You can’t go after him.”

“I can and I will. I won’t hesitate to end anyone's life that wants to hurt you. I’ll gladly bury them six feet in the ground for just looking at you. So, tell me, tell me who he is, who they are. I’ll end them,” I vow, not daring to look away from her. Izel is going to understand this. She is going to know that nothing is going to stand between us. I’ll bury them. Bathe in their blood and still wipe out the entire population just because they look at her wrong.Burn the fucking world down for her.

“That’s sweet, but truly you can’t.” She sighs, closing her eyes once more and turning her head towards the sky. “They didn’t hurt me as much as his men did Gabriel. That’s how I found him. Gabriel that is.”

Holding my breath, I wait.

“I got home from studying at the library and found two of them beating Gabriel while his pants were around his ankles. Gabriel was begging them to stop, but they laughed and laughed. I was frozen. I was literally stuck in the doorway, and it wasn’t until one of them began unzipping his pants that I finally moved. Zion,” she whispers my name. Turning my head, there is no doubt she’s crying. “I killed them. I murdered Dan’s best friends because they were hurting my brother, because they were about to rape him. I heard them say they were going to rape and then sell him. And I killed them.”

I don’t know if she expects me to think of her differently because she had blood on her hands. But I don’t. In an odd way it explains a lot between them.The need to protect him from everything, even me. It explains why she was in the basement.

“I love you,” I blurt out.

“W-wait, what?” Izel shoots up, eyes wide as she stares down at me.

“I love you.” I didn’t plan on telling her, not this soon anyway. But now that the words are out, I can’t take them back nor do I want to. She needs to know how I feel.

“No, no, you don’t love me. No.” Getting to her feet in a flash she begins shaking her head. “You don’t love me!” she yells before running off.

18

Zion

“YouthinkIdon’tfucking love you?”

Izel is fuming, but I am right there with her. “You don’t!” she screams, sounding like an angry little kitten.

“I let you touch me,” I confess.

“What?” I know I’m going to confuse her, but fuck.

“God damn it, Izel,” I growl. She’s going to make me say it and for the first time I think I might be okay with it. “I let you touch me, my face, I let you fucking see me. I told you my fucking name within an hour of meeting you. I told you who I was when NO ONE knew.” I take a deep breath, willing myself to shut up. But I am already here. “I couldn’t let you go,” I whisper. The confession spills from my mouth. “I couldn’t let you get onto that bus the first fucking time. For fucks sake, I drove across the country for you!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry for being such an inconvenience for you!” she screams, slamming her hand on the kitchen counter.

My last amount of patience snaps, and I grab her waist. Dragging her body against mine, I dig my fingers into her back.

“If you don’t shut your mouth and let me fucking talk for once, I’m going to bend you over this counter and fuck your sweet pussy until you’re screaming and begging to cum.”

“I’m not even tall enough to be bent over the counter.” She smirks as though she won something.

“Oh so help me, Izel.” I grin, grinding my cock against her warmness. “You think I just let anyone speak to me like this?”

“You know, you talk too much.” She laughs, pushing against my chest. “You never spoke before, and now you really won’t shut the fuck up!”

“Watch your mouth there, Red.”

“Or what?” Laughing once again, she shoves at my chest. Backing off, I’m fuming, moments from doing something I know I’ll regret when she charges at me once more, shoving my chest. “You won’t hurt me but that doesn’t mean you love me.”

“Shut up,” I growl. Grabbing her by the throat, I drag Izel up until she balances on her tippy toes. Her breath hitches, her pupils dilate, and I can see the need. I can feel her need, her legs tightening around my waist.

“I’m a killer, Red. Anyone else speaks to me like that, I’d put them ten feet in the ground, and no one would ever find the body.”

“You wouldn’t hurt me,” she says with convection because it’s true. I would never hurt her. I’d hurt myself, kill even before I ever laid a hand on her.

“Never,” I whisper. “Never, Red,” I tell her before crushing our lips together. I want to lick her entire body, to taste her skin on my tongue. I want to devour her, to have her cum so much she fully gives herself over to me.

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