Page 81 of Lies Like Love

ThesecondIclosethe door to Jude’s room at the shop, he spins me around and slams my back against it.

There’s something about being pinned between him and anything. No mercy as his body presses firmly against mine. My legs shake, and his knee between my legs is all that holds me upright.

Jude exudes control without needing to demand it. He wields it in every action. Every glance.

For him, I’m frantic. And fantasies I should be ashamed of are at my grasp.

No matter how many threats Jude issues or how ruthless he fucks me, I trust him to know what I need more than I trust myself. His love is pain. Scalding to the touch. Burning a hole through me.

“Don’t tease me, Red.” He tips my chin up with his finger and thumb, tugging my bottom lip out from between my teeth.

For years it bothered me when he used that nickname because it walked the line between a tease and a threat. But every time he uses it lately, his eyes shimmer.

I swallow thickly as my tongue swells.

“I’m not teasing.” I reach for his wrist and pull his hand from my chin, dragging it down my throat and chest, until his fingers graze my nipple. “I want you to do it.”

A whisper. A dirty confession.

I’ve never considered getting anything pierced apart from my ears. But something about knowing Jude will be the one to do it—that hewantsto do it—makes me anxious to let him drive himself into me in every way possible.

He narrows his gaze, playing with his tongue piercing and clicking it against the back of his teeth as he thinks it over. He pauses long enough for me to wonder if he’s waiting for me to back out.

I won’t.

I’ll let him break me before I surrender. There’s only one person with the ability to push me past my survival instincts, and it’s Jude Carlisle.

I’m never coming up for air again.

“Well then, Red.” He steps back, likely realizing I’m not going to back down. “By all means… lose the top and sit on my throne.”

Blunt. Crude. His pupils are wide, but his eyes are narrowed in a dare.

I reach for the hem of my tank top and strip it off, appreciating how his gaze immediately drops to my breasts. His focus honed in as he watches me brush past him, to the chair in the center of the room.

Cool leather sticks to my back. The strong scent of bleach and cleaning products stings my nose.

“You have perfect tits already.” Jude circles me slowly, walking over to a cabinet in the corner and gathering what he needs. “But I’m going to enjoy marking them.”

I have no doubt he’s telling the truth. Jude wants to brand me—hurt me. He wants to do every dirty, wrong thing I’ll allow. The same way I want him to be the one to do it.

“I assume you’ve already picked out your jewelry?” He doesn’t look at me as he grabs something else from a drawer.

I dig a plastic baggie out of my pocket.

Two small, simple barbells, except one has a green gem on one of the ends.

When he reaches for them and I hand them over, the victorious smirk that climbs his cheeks might as well be a reward. I chose them specifically for him. Green is his color.

Green eyes.

Green jealousy that burned hot when it shouldn’t.

Envy for anyone who had him when he couldn’t be mine.

All things eating away at me slowly. So I surrounded myself in green like injecting the poison would make me immune eventually. Green curtains in my room, green opal necklace around my neck, green peacock feathers in the pages of my books. Green, I’d never escape, so I stopped trying.

Jude takes the barbells out of the package and drops them onto the tray.

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