Page 85 of Cryptic Curse

“You know Vinnie isn’t being faithful to you, right?”I say to her once more.“As much as I don’t like to think about it, I’m sure he and my sister are fucking like bunnies.”

“Yeah, I know.And I don’t care.This is something I need to do for me.Not because I want to.Because I have to.For now.Just until the marriage is dissolved.”

I reach out, not to pull her closer, just to brush my fingers against hers—light, careful.“I’m not going anywhere.”

She swallows.“You say that now,” she says, her voice cracking a little.

“And I’ll keep saying it tomorrow.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you.”

“I know,” I whisper.“That’s what makes this the hardest.”

She lets out a sigh.“I don’t know how to be with someone like you, anyway.”

I lift an eyebrow.“Someone like me?”

She frowns.“Someone who isn’t forcing me to do things.Or making me lie there while he does things.Or?—”

Her words pierce me like a knife.

“Stop.”I gesture.

I can’t stand the thought of her ever being in those situations.

Yet still I want her.

What the hell is wrong with me?

“Part of me needs a release,” she says.“Needs to feel close to someone in that way.In a way I never have before with physical intimacy.”

“You’re frightened.”

She shakes her head, crosses her arms.“Not exactly.I learned to accept my life for what it was.Yeah, it was against my will.And yeah, sometimes there was pain.But I knew no permanent damage would be done.At least not by those men.My father would have had them killed.”

“I don’t get it.”I shake my head.“He whored you out, but he drew the line at having you killed.His morals were totally fucked up.”

She scoffs.“You think?”

“He is—or was—an enigma, for sure,” I say.“And by enigma, I mean ruthless degenerate.”

She smiles a little.“I do want to be with you, Hawk.”

I sear my gaze into hers.“I want to be with you, too.Your age should frighten me.I mean, there are eleven years between us, and you’re barely an adult.”

“The age of consent in Colombia is fourteen,” she says.

I shake my head again.“That’s fucked up.”

“It’s what I know.Though I never actually consented to any of it.”

“Damn, Daniela.”

“But the thing is, Hawk.”She sighs.“I need…something.”

I smile at her, take her hand, and rub circles into her palm with my thumb.“What if I told you I could make you come without touching you?”

28

---