Page 63 of Vulnerate

I can’t play some dysfunctional happy family. We had our truce and it’s over. But when I open my mouth to say that the wrong words come out. “Let me change.”

Holding my waist, he pushes back and looks down at my body. It’s slow and the feeling of Val’s fingers on my ribs is too much. He makes lazy circles with his thumb and rakes his eyes back up and smirks.

“You’re perfect like this.”

He can’t say shit like that, it’s wrong. I don’t why it’s wrong, but it is.

I’m dressedlike a farm hand that has just finished renovating, there’s paint on my knee and I never even noticed until we got in the car. I attempt to discreetly pick it off once we’re hidden in the stables and Viktor drags my attention away.

“I’ve got a riding lesson now but are you coming to my birthday?”

I don’t even know when his birthday is and Val answers for me.

“She’ll be there, take your helmet.”

He’s so cute being a parent, all safety first and making sure he’s clipped in properly.Viktor runs off to meet the instructor and realization has me turning to the asshole who forced me here.

“Why am I here?”

We don’t have anything to talk about and he gets cuter, scrubbing a hand over his head and pointing to a stall. “Horses.”

Val finds his usual arrogance and stretches up, pulling a long thin piece of leather off one of the beams. Tall prick.If I keep adding prick to end of all the qualities I love about him I may be able to recondition my mind to fully hate him.

He doubles it over and grabs each end, his fists pulling it taut until the leather claps. I clench my thighs and he does it again, taking a step forward. The bastard smirks and pointedly looks at my crotch.

“Need to pee?” Another step. “Or is it a different type of liquid coating your thighs?”

I turn giving him my back, so I don’t have to answer his dumbass question, and go to the horses as I make a clicking noise to get it to walk over to me and abandon their feed.

The sound doesn’t get any attention as the horse swishes its tail, but Val follows it and the thin leather wraps around my waist. Holding each end at my sides, he pulls me into his body and turns equestrianism filthy with his lust filled voice as he asks, “You know what these are?”

My heart is beating too fast, it looks like a thin belt without any clasp.

“A belt?”

He tuts at my answer. “They’re reins, you use them to control the rhythm when you’re riding.”

He wraps the excess leather around his fists as he grinds into my ass and pulls me tighter.

My mind is dirty and forms and image of a different type of riding just like he wanted. Tracing the curve of my shoulder to my neck with his nose, he blows across my skin and whispers darkly, “Say the word and I’ll wrap you up in them, rodnaya.”

Rolling my head back on his shoulder, I look up and smile, full of innocence as I bat my lashes. “But I did such a good job without them.”

His hands go lax and he’s crazy to think I’d fuck him in a stable where anyone could walk in. Or at all.

I duck down, escaping his hold and free myself to create some much needed distance between us. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since we agreed to nothing more and it’s clear we can’t be alone. Footsteps sound against the path and I move away to the furthest stall picking up a piece of hay to get the horse to come to me. Tali comes around the corner not sensing our perverted thoughts and pulls sugar cubes out of his pocket. I focus on him to chase away my previous thoughts about his brother, so I ask, “Have you run out of snacks and you’re just eating ingredients now?”

He drops one cube into my hand and gestures to the stall as he holds my wrist, pushing it through the gap.

“They like them. Watch, it’ll eat from your hand.”

TWENTY-FIVE

Valentin

The reins are fully wrapped around my hands to stop me from choking Tali. I’ve become the third fucking wheel, again. I’m on borrowed time with Dani and the dumb cunt is monopolizing it as he shows her how to feed the horses.

Their conversation filters through as I turn, refusing to see him touch my girl and he pisses me off further as he says, “The other day in the club, which fucker were you using me to make jealous?”

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