Page 18 of Hayes
This is her choice. She wants this. She had other choices.
My stomach turns as Daniel parts her lips with his tongue. I remember how it felt when I did the same thing. How hot and inviting her mouth was. How she felt like home but also my greatest adventure, all tied together in one kiss. I have to find a way to stop this. I can’t endure this every night, and she deserves better.
Suddenly, Daniel draws back—just a millimeter away from her lips. He doesn’t make a sound, but I can see the way her eyes dilate in a wicked gleam. His tongue quickly sweeps over his bottom lip, catching a tiny drop of blood.
I grin.
Good, he deserves to know who’s in control. It’s her, not us.
Daniel presses his lips against hers harder, forcing more of his lips and tongue into her than before. He’s trying to pretend that he owns her, but she’s too great for any of us.
I hold my breath. Don’t let this break you, Lilith. Please. I’ll find a way to help you, I promise.
When I open my eyes, I see her green eyes cut in my direction. She can’t see me in the shadows, but for a moment, I think she can. And I think she’s trying to send me a message.
I cock my head to the side, confused as to what she’s trying to say, before her eyes go back to watching Daniel kiss her.
I scan her head to toe, trying to make sense of what she was saying. What am I missing?
And then I see it.
I grin, biting back a chuckle as I see where her arm has broken free of the bindings. It’s not obvious. And I’m not sure if she’s going to do anything or not, but it’s the fact that she did break free easily. Lilith’s much more than she seems. And I vow to learn every one of her darkest secrets.
Chapter 10
Lilith
Something depraved awakens in me when Daniel’s lips press against mine. I know why I’m here, why I agreed to this contract. Why I agreed to this absurd bet where I supposedly lose more and more of myself, where I let them take every piece of me bit by bit.
None of them realize how false that is. Despite this game where they bet and take and take and take, they won’t be taking anything from me. I’ll be the one doing all the taking. I knew what I was doing from the moment my pen signed my name, and yet, this darkness swirling deep in the cavity of my chest, encircling my heart, twisting it into a dark and wicked beast was not in the plans. I never meant to awaken the sleeping animal within me. My monster was buried so deep within me after what happened, I didn’t think it would ever return again.
One kiss did that.
One stupid, not even good, kiss.
I’ve had very little practice with kisses up until this point, but Daniel kisses like a puppy dog. Wet and slimy and with too much tongue, there is nothing to be enjoyed.
Hayes—my mind immediately goes to his kiss. There was nothing wrong with the way that man kissed. Then again, he’s a playboy, so kissing skills are to be expected. But he didn’t have to kiss me as if trying to make me orgasm with just his tongue on my lips. I shake the thought from my head. I can’t allow myself to get turned on by thoughts of Hayes while kissing Daniel.
But in not thinking about Hayes, I grow bored. The ominous darkness swirls in intensity in my chest, brewing like a poisonous elixir I’m about to unleash on the world.
I wasn’t sure how far I’d go before this moment. Now I know—nothing is far enough. No pain goes too far. No retribution is enough.
“Time is up,” Peter says.
Daniel backs away immediately with a smug expression across his pretty boy face. I bat my eyelashes at him and wink, pretending he just gave me the best damn kiss of my life.
He reaches out, letting his thumb brush against my bottom lip. His cheeky grin begs me to engrain the memory of that kiss in my brain.
Don’t worry, I won’t be forgetting that kiss anytime soon. Or you, Daniel Collier.
My dark gaze bares into his back as he walks out of the room.
I don’t move a muscle as I listen to the other men slowly file out of the room. Only once the door closes on a silent and empty room do I move my hands free of the bindings. Then I bend down and undo the ropes on my ankles.
The door creaks open again, as I sit in the chair unbound. Peter stares at me, unfazed by me getting out of the bindings.
“You have one hour,” he says before leaving the room again.
