Page 50 of Hiding Secrets

Fuck, I was playing with fire. I needed air.

But before I could move her off my lap, her full lips crashed onto mine. My brain scrambled to comprehend that she’s actually kissing me. I groan in approval, letting my hands gently grip her hips. With that, I am gifted a soft whimper from her lips and I devour them.

“Ahem–don’t mean to intrude.”

Fuck.

Elliott jumps off of me and scoots to the side of the couch she was sitting on earlier. Her cheeks are a deep shade of red and her gaze is locked on her knees.

“What is it, Marcus?”

“I need to talk with you.” I raise my brows at him, motioning with my hand to get on with it. “Alone.”

40

Elliott

Oh my god.

I did that.

Why did I do that?

I kissed Hunter. I kissed another man who isnotKameron.

And not just that, Marcus walked in and saw it.

Fuck.

How am I supposed to look Kameron in the eyes when he comes back?

“I’ll be right back.” Hunter says as he makes his way out of his study.

I can feel Marcus’s eyes linger on me before he exits the room at a leisurely pace. Only once the door clicks into place do I let out a long breath. My mind is buzzing with the adrenaline running through my veins. As much as I’m worried about what Kameron will say, I want to do it all over again. I couldn’t help myself atthat moment. He was opening up to me, telling me his scars, giving me pieces of him he didn’t have to give. The way his face contorted as he relived that pain, not only what he went through but how he treated Marcus and Kameron. His soul was bare to me in that moment and the pull I felt towards it was something I couldn’t…didn’t want to fight.

What did that say about me? Was Samuel right?

The words start to echo in my head.

‘Now don't be a whore and stop squeezing your thighs together like a bitch in heat from just a smile from a guy like that.’

‘Are you not sorry for your whore-like actions?’

A whore. Looking at a guy made me a whore. Thinking the thoughts I had made me a whore. What does wanting thr–two men make me? I can only imagine the way he would want me to repent for my sins.

It took everything in me to not go looking for something in this house to give a sacrifice with. I am counting the weeks until Kameron returns. The craving was strong, clawing inside my skin, screaming at me to give in. I know it's stupid and wrong, but theneeddoesn’t care about rationality when it comes towhy. All it wants is to be curbed. To feel the pain that releases the guilt.

I’ve lived my life by the guidelines and rules of the Divine. Being a part of the image means being a part of the Donovan family.

Even when I know it’s all wrong, how am I supposed to just drop all of that?

I stretch my neck again as the poisoned words swirl in my mind, I thought if I ignored the need and pushed down the desire, that it would just go away. I should have known better than that.

The room around me blurs as the books on the shelves fade and the pulse in my ears thumps louder with each beat.

Whore. Whore. Whore.

I squeeze my eyes shut, rubbing them fiercely with the palms of my hands, but it doesn’t ease the tightness in my chest or the way my breaths have suddenly become rapid.

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