Page 109 of Brutal Collateral

“You have?”

“Nothing,” she scoffs. “I have absolutely nothing. No money in my name. I don’t own anything. I have nothing to do. Nothing to look forward to.”

Her words gut me and I see all of this from her side. How unfair it is. Ideas come at me like lasers, but I’m in no shape or position to start brainstorming what she can do with her life if she and I stay married.

“Kai informed me months ago that your brother Ares wired money to me. For you.”

“Like a dowry?”

“Exactly.”

“A dowry,” she snorts. “He’s so primitive.That’sthe file he’s on.”

“I’ll tell Kai to give you the money. You can open your own account. Do whatever you want with it.”

“Really?” Her eyes go wide and a smile finally builds on her mouth.

A mouth I want to fuck again. “Yes, really. I never had any intention of keeping a wife prisoner and subservient.”

Except, with her guard, she is sort of under my control. She can’t use that money to purchase a plane ticket to get away from me.

“I need to leave here in fifteen minutes.”

“Work, work, work.” She waves one hand, sounding annoyed. “I’ll go pick out three different fonts for our fucking cocktail napkins.”

I hide my growly laughter because that does sound bleedin’ awful.

“I’m not working,” I counter. “Once a month my brothers and I meet up to play soccer.”

One of her bushy eyebrows raises. “You don’t call it football?”

Shrugging, I say, “Not anymore. Not here.”

With a long sigh, she whines, “Have fun. If you see blood on the carpet when you come back, it’s because I blew my head off.”

Speaking of blowing and head.

God, I have to stop.

“Do you want to come with me?” I don’t know why we’re making this so hard.

Her head falls back like she’s frustrated beyond belief. “Of course I do! Anything to get out of this house and not end up in a store or a bar. I’d love to go out and be free to kick around a ball.”

I laugh. “You’re not playing.”

“Why not?”

“It’s just us guys.”

“Do you hear yourself?”

“Do you hearyourself, siren?” I lean in and rub my hard cock against her again. “What is that? Is that your pussy meowing for some cream?”

“All right, Quinlan, let’s get serious.” She unties her robe and lets it slide off her shoulders until she’s completely naked. “I get marriages are sacrifices and compromises. You have a hard cock and you need to come. Let me suck you off, and then we’ll go have a nice afternoon in the park playing soccer.”

I hate how utterly simple and fantastic that sounds.

When I didn’t know Ava was Hadleigh, it was easy to pledge not to sleep with her. Everything is upside down now because I want nothing more than to bury myself inside her cunt every hour of every fucking day.

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