Page 128 of Tortured Soul
“You guys are the ‘friends’ Kai said I should fuck. Are you happy now?”
“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me for two days?” he asked. “Because I said Iwouldn’t?”
Maybe I should have said yes. Because I couldn’t tell him the real reason. Not until Dimitri was back and I found that damn tracker as I didn’t know if Marcus would be in trouble for telling me about it.
“I have plenty of reasons to be mad at the both of you,” I said instead. “You, for pulling me into that binding promise only to twist it constantly. For teasing me all the fucking time only to push me away the next second. It’s not because I don’t have a fucking soul that you can play with me and get away with it.”
I turned sharply to Carter, jabbing at him with my finger.
“And you? Well, I think it’s pretty obvious. You don’t get to treat me like shit all the damn time and offer me coffee in the morning like we’re friends. You don’t get to insult me then kiss me and push me away.”
I paused, my eyes drifting between the both of them.
“And then you wonder why Dimitri is and always will be the one I’ll trust above everyone else,” I seethed, looking at Arc. “That’s why. For over fifteen hundred years, he’s never treated me like you did even once. He’s never played around with my feelings. He never manipulated or consciously insulted me. You don’t trust me? Fine. I don’t trust you either.”
Arc took a step in my direction and I lifted my hand to stop him. He didn’t, pushing against my palm now on his chest.
“I’m sorry, I—”
“Save it,” I interrupted him. Carter was quiet behind me, probably cursing me under his breath again. “I’m going to skip dinner,” I said. “I’ll see you—”
“No, please.”
Arc’s hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me to him, sliding my arm behind his neck.
“Don’t touch me,” I choked out, struggling to talk through my clogged throat. “The binding promisesaid—”
“Fuck the binding promise,” he breathed, sliding both his arms behind my back to pull me to him. “I take it back. I’m sorry. I—”
“Youcan’t—” I sobbed, unsuccessfully fighting the tears pressing behind my eyes. “You have to stop confusing me, it’s notfair, I’m—”
“I will, I’m sorry,” Arc repeated, voice barely over a whisper, tightening his arms around my waist. My breath hitched when his forehead connected with mine, our nose touching. “I’m so sorry. I trust you, it’s just—I’mjust…I’m a mess, and there’s so much going on, and I’m fucking terrified that I’ll lose you before I even get to know you because of all this.”
I wanted to push him away. My head was screaming at me not to let him get to me with pretty words and apologies. To remember how he didn’t hesitate to lie and bend the truth to his will.
But my heart and the empty space where my soul used to be were drinking it up like his words were the last drop of water on earth and I’d been parched for decades.
I walked backward in a last attempt to discourage him—to try and find the resolve that was slowly shattering—but he didn’t let go of me, following my steps until my back met Carter’s front.
“I’m so sorry.”
He sounded like a broken record, whispering his apologies over and over, whispering them between brushes of his lips on mine.
Was he playing with me again? Would he push me away like he did before?
Carter’s hands landed on my hips, pulling me closer as Arc still pushed me against him. The Divine released a sharp breath against the shell of my ear, his jaw resting on the side of my head.
“Ours,” that ancient voice echoed in my mind. Where was her fighting spirit when I needed it? When I needed someone to hold my ground for me, to defend me and push away the threats?
Arc finally captured my lips, panting softly, a growl rumbling in his chest as his hands found my ass and lifted me up to wrap my legs around his waist.
The room swirled around me as my fingers combed through his hair, pulling at the strands.
Carter took a few steps back, pulling us with him until his own back met the wall for support and he groaned, his hands lifting slowly from my hips to my rib cage, stopping just below my breasts.
They clasped around the fabric of my black dress, like preventing himself from going further up. “Fuck,” he cursed, throwing his head back, hitting the hard surface behind us.
Arc rocked me against his front, his length rubbing my core through his jeans and my underwear. A moan managed to slip past my lips straight to his mouth as he devoured me, kissing me with ravenous hunger. My grip on his hair tightened and I pulled his head back right as Carter ripped open the top of my dress, freeing one of my breasts and instantly covering it with his large hand. Arc’s cock pressed harder between my thighs and the sound that escaped me again seemed to only encourage them further.
