Page 49 of Vulnerate

The stupid shithead is going to end up doing more damage to his leg if he fights when he’s not ready. He’s only just been labelled fit enough to walk and I make a point of looking at the scarring over his kneecap. Stopping at my side, he keeps his voice low as he says, “Don’t say anything, I’m dealing with it.”

Knowing my fucking luck, he’ll end up needing a cane and Dani will offer to be his nurse just to rub it in my face.He manages to stay standing as he walks down the hallway with Dima going after him to make sure he hasn’t done irreversible damage.

When Dani tries to follow I grab her arm and keep my eyes forward, watching the next fighter be called as Ana walks into the cage. I lean down, speaking against her ear so no one else can hear.

“Friends don’t act the way you two do.”

If she’s honest I’ll think about letting it go. Tali doesn’t have any feelings for her romantically but that doesn’t mean my artist is the same. Her soft cheek brushes against my stubble as she tilts her chin in the air and the voice that haunts me hardens as she asks, “How would you know?”

I have friends, I’ve never fucking spooned them all night. I haven’t even done that shit with anyone I’ve fucked. There’s a vague memory of me waking up hugging Vlad before we moved from our parents’ house, but I don’t think I’ve held anyone all night. Viktor wriggles too much and his foot is usually in my face in the morning.

The sweet girl who owned me in childhood is nowhere to be found as she pulls her arm free and continues, “All you’ve ever done is fuck someone then fuck them over, a decade later and you haven’t changed.”

I keep hold of her wrist as Dima comes back to watch the crowd, dragging her with me towards the empty changing rooms. Her mouth is testing me, spitting shit out like I’m the one who fucking left.

Pushing her into the door, the loud bang echoes into the hallway and nothing but anger is staring up at me. So fucking beautiful even in rage. Stoking the flames higher, I use my kid to make her act correctly.

“If you want to be in my son’s life, there are rules.” She opens her mouth to spit some more bullshit that neither of us will believe, so Icover her lips with my palm. “Do not touch anyone else. I’ve kept him away from your whore of a sister, I don’t need you bringing that shit around him.”

Hurt dulls her eyes and then they darken as she pushes my hand away.Disgust coats her features as she looks me up and down and it carries into her voice. “That’s rich coming from the biggest slut I’ve ever met.”

Fitting my thigh between hers, I hold her hips and hide my lust by resting my forehead on the door beside her head. It deepens my voice as Dani holds my wrists but she’s not pushing me away as I coo, “You weren’t calling me a slut when my dick was inside you.”

Applying more pressure on her beautiful cunt, I resist the urge to feel her pulse against my tongue. “Did you even say hello before you let me fuck you, dirty Dani?”

Her hand leaves my wrist and I groan into her as she cups my dick. She squeezes me and traces my shaft through the material as her husky voice touches my cheek. “This is all you’re good for, whore.”

Why the fuck is that making me harder? There’s no denying how much I want her, but she’s taken all of the innocent parts away, those were my little pockets of good that allowed me to escape.

I become the cruel fuck I am deep down and put no thought into my callous words as I push my knee up, grinding against her pussy, and grip her throat.

“Andthisisn’t even memorable. Just like your sister.”

I want to claw them back as soon as they’ve left my tongue. She turns cold, her hand leaving my dick and both arms falling limply at her sides, but it’s the hurt in her voice that guts me.

“You’re a real piece of shit.”

Clenching my jaw shut to stop from apologizing, she pushes me away and slips out the door.

There’s always been this need inside of me, some fucked up part of my brain that enjoys seeing the hurt on people’s faces. Achieving it with my hands is easy, using my tongue cuts deeper. I’ve never felt remorseful over that shit, it doesn’t even stick with me. Dani’s hurt does. It’s the way she shut off her anger, it isn’t loud, it’s detachment. I always knew she was the outlier, the one person I never wanted to feel pain, now she’s fucked with my head when she deserves it.

Following after her I stop like a creep watching her interact normally with everyone other than me. Even Ana who is a self-appointed fucking freak is given Dani’s attention as the mini psycho rages within the cage. I’d feel better if Dani screamed in my face or hit me, acting like I don’t exist has a pit opening up in my stomach. Fuck there being a single point in time where she can ignore me, if I have to live with her haunting me then we’re both never getting any peace.

Vitali’s ritualof celebrating his wins are back and I soak up my little artist’s presence as we take out seats in Players VIP area. She shuffles away like it can stop me as I widen my legs, making sure that I’m touching her. Everyone has seen her sit with us, so they know not to approach her, that doesn’t stop me looking at every fucker to enforce the rule. Our faces are closer together as I lean over her to get my drink, all it would take is for me to turn my head and I’d feel her soft lips on mine.

She’s cute as fuck, nipping my thigh when I don’t move back thinking that it could possibly hurt me. I’d take Dani’s nails digging into my skin by any means necessary. The low lights of the club and the music make it easier to fuck with her. She can lie and say she’s unaffected but her breathing shallows as I relax into the seat and trail the tip of my fingers over her knee. No one will see where my hand travels, but the nipping comes back. Every millimeter I move up her thigh the harder she does it.

Her hand softens, and she strokes up my thigh, moving closer to my dick. I copy her until my little finger brushes her the point where her thighs are clenched. I knew she wanted me; she has to work hard to deny us both. But she turns cold and pulls her hand away. Before I can ask what the fuck has crawled up her ass now, lips press into my cheek on the other side and a voice I recognize brushes my ear. “Don’t let me stop your fun.”

Lilah has a wicked smile on her face, happy with catching me out but I don’t move my hand off Dani as she slips into the booth to sit on my thigh.Lilah is a certifiable crazy person, a bunny boiler, there’s no other way to describe her when she has a reputation of inserting anyone whoshows her attention into the dream wedding she has planned. Holding her hip in warning not to let that shit out today, she rolls her eyes and extends her hand out with a smile towards my girl.

“Hi, I’m Khalilah,” she smiles, “you can call me Lilah though, I think we’ll be friends.”

Dani pauses, looks from my hand on her thigh to the other on Lilah’s hip before introducing herself with a caveat. “I don’t think we’ll be those type of friends.”

Her voice is low enough not to be heard over the music by the others on the table, but I wait for a reaction.

I’m totally fucked and laugh at Dani getting jealous. She can talk shit as much as she wants but she can’t even sit around me and forces Tali up with her. All her feigned ignorance disappears with Lilah sat on me. I’d usually brush her off, but I keep her in place, knowing Dani can’t stop staring as she stands in the middle of the crowd and turns so I’m not out of sight.

---