Page 14 of Marked By Blaze

“Take this.” She shakes her head but doesn't say a word when I step forward and drape the jacket over her shoulders. “It’s cold out, so don't take it off.” I don’t add that wearing a jacket with a Steel Rebel patch will also provide her a level of protection from anyone who sees it. I don’t want to scare her or risk her taking it off.

Without another word, she turns around and hurries off, disappearing down the stairs. I run a hand through my hair and force deep calming breaths in and out before going after her. I wait in the first-floor bar and watch through a window as her Uber arrives and she climbs in. Then I race to the garage and jump behind the wheel of the truck to slowly follow behind. I’d rather be on my bike, but I don’t want to risk her hearing it and knowing that I’m following her.

I drive behind the car, parking down the street when they pull up outside her apartment building. Ingrid climbs out and walks to the entrance where she stops, as if feeling my gaze on her. She looks around, but I'm well-hidden, and if she sees me, she doesn’t let on.

Everything in me wants to go after her, but I stay in the shadows even hours after she's turned off her light.

I am in love with Ingrid. I always imagined love to be pure, clean, and light.What I feel for Ingrid is anything but. It's dark and dangerous. Possessive. Feral. All consuming.

I would do anything to make her mine. To keep her.

Chapter Six

Ingrid

“Stop pressuring her, Dana. The girl says she doesn't want to wear contact lenses. They hurt her eyes!”

“Well then, we just have to keep trying until we find ones that don’t.”

“Stop, Dana! How do you think Ingrid feels every time you force the issue? All this attention on something she can’t help is hurting her.”

“Well, how do you think I feel, huh? Walking around with a child everyone looks at like she's a....”

“A what? Say it.”

“No!

“A freak. Is that what you were going to say? Everyone says it anyway, right? How do you think our daughter feels knowing her mother thinks she's a freak because of something so superficial? It’s a fucking birthmark on her face. It’s not grotesque. She is a healthy, sweet child. What more do you want?”

“I'm not the bad guy here, Mark. Don't you dare paint me as a horrible mother! I didn't give her that ugly mark on her face. It's not my fault!”

I close my eyes as the door clicks shut behind me and force in deep breaths. Of course the memory of one of my parents’vicious arguments would come up now and ruin everything Blaze did and said back at the cookout.

I'm okay. It's okay.

With another sigh, I drop my bag and shrug off the jacket. Next comes my heels and then dress. Only when I reach down to tug off my panties do I realize I don't have them on.

Oh right.He tore them off me.

Naked, I walk toward the bathroom and turn on the water, my body jolting in surprise when I feel the warm spray. I’d gotten used to bracing myself for the cold, and I guess it's going to take some getting used to the warmth.

My lips part on a sigh as the warm water sprays down my back. Gathering soap in my hand, I lather my body, stopping when I get to my stomach. I stroke over the skin slowly, recalling the memory of Blaze’s cum on my skin.

It's surreal.

I just had my first kiss. At twenty, I probably should have had my first kiss ages ago, but I always found myself around guys who were either freaked out by me or wanted to fetishize me.

My stomach turns at the thought of Blaze being one of the latter; he clearly isn’t freaked out by me.

“Every single person who ever told you that you were anything less than stunning. I want to find them all, and I'll bring them to their knees. I'll kill them all for you.”

I shake off the thought, lathering my stomach and washing away any remnants of the man's release. My sex is pulsing, and the memory of his tongue is still strong on my skin. The way he touched me—it was like I am the most precious person in his life.

“Let me show you just how beautiful you are.”

My nipples pebble and they ache when I wipe soap over them. I close my eyes and pinch one bud, tugging it between my fingers the way Blaze did earlier. I whimper at the feeling that spreads through my core, and I feel myself grow slick with arousal. It's those olive green eyes that I see as I lather my body with soap, touching sensitive parts of my body I've never dared explore until...him.

Did he unlock something in me? Maybe.

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