Page 50 of The Devil's Spawn

“It’s Master.”

“Fuck you!” I spat as he lifted me and tossed me over his shoulder. “A real Master wouldn’t hide an engagement. You lied to me!”

“I didn’t lie to you.” He set me on my feet in front of the spanking chair.

“What do you call it then?”

“I call it fucking history.” Settling into the seat, he pulled me over his knees.

“You said you fucked her for a few months. Ha! You’ve known her since high school. She was Liz’s best friend, for fuck’s sake.”

“It’s in the past, Kayla. It was history the instant I—”

“Had me in your sights as the ultimate plan for revenge?” I scowled at him. “I can see why you fucked her now—anything to further your quest against the bitch that betrayed you!”

He yanked up my skirt. “Have you told me every little detail about your past with my brother?” He ended the question with a smarting strike to my ass.

“No!” I anticipated the painful intrusion of his thumb, but a yelp still escaped.

“Honest to fuck, baby, I don’t want all the details. Do you think I want to know how he fucked you? I know you loved him, and that’s hard enough to swallow.” Another slap landed on my ass. “The details would drive me insane.”

“Get your thumb out of my ass.”

He fisted a hand in my hair. “Would you rather I give you my cock instead?”

“You can take your cock and your lies and shove them up your ass, Gage.”

“I’ll forgive your verbal rampage. I know how pregnancy hormones can make a woman crazy.”

“I’ll show you crazy!” I struggled atop his lap, kicking my feet and tipping precariously head-first toward the floor. He tugged me back into position by the hair, and it became clear that no matter what I did or said, he wouldn’t dislodge that thumb until he was ready. “Let me go.”

“No,” he said. “We’re going to sit here like this until you calm down and find a little rationality. I understand you’re angry, but you’re reacting like this because of hormones.”

“Stop pretending you know me better than I know myself! Katherine busted your lies wide open, Gage. You can’t just wash it away like it never happened. You didn’t fuck her for months—you fucked her for years! You put a goddamn ring on it.”

“We were engaged for a few months, and those months were a mistake.”

“Why were they a mistake?”

“Because I didn’t love her.”

“You used her.”

“I’m a bastard, so yes. I admit it.”

“Just like you used me.” The fight seeped from my tired bones, leaving me limp on his lap. “Am I just a conquest to you? Do you love me at all?”

He withdrew his thumb and pushed me to my feet. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just ask me that.”

I stumbled back, heeding the reminder of my sore ass as cause to keep my distance. “Don’t you think it’s time we stopped pretending? How can I trust you after you kept something so momentous from me? Did you put my ring on her finger?” I thrust my left hand toward him, displaying the large diamond that had once belonged to his mother.

He dropped his head and dragged both hands through his thick hair. “Of course not.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why ask her to marry you?”

“Fuck, Kayla. I don’t know, okay? I have no answers for you. You think I’m a mess now? You should have seen me back then. She was the closest thing I had to Liz.”

A sob caught in my throat. “She still is.” I whirled and headed for the door, but everything blurred through my tears. As I reached for the knob, he shot out a hand to stop me.

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