Page 87 of Hymns of the Broken
I swallow, caught off-guard by how much I want to give him an honest answer. “I don’t know what I want,” I whisper, but it’s a lie. I know exactly what I want—him, this, the feeling of being wanted for me and not just as something to fight over.
Riot’s eyes soften just a little, that reckless edge still there, but something more vulnerable underneath. “Then let me show you,” he says, his thumb tracing up my wrist to my jaw, tilting my face up to his. “Just for tonight, Sawyer, let me have you all to myself. You deserve to feel what it’s like when somebody puts you first.”
My breathcatches—he’s close enough that all I have to do is lean in. For once, I don’t look back at Jasper. I don’t need permission.
I let Riot close the space, his mouth brushing mine in a slow kiss, nothing like the wild energy he’s known for. He kisses me like I’m glass, and for a moment, it’s just us—no one else.
Riot’s fingers stroke the inside of my wrist, feather-light, sending little sparks racing up my arm. “You know I could be gentle with you, right?” he murmurs, lips ghosting over my jaw. “Not everything has to be rough. I can take my time with you, Sawyer. Make you feel good…make you feel wanted.”
His voice is lower, more intimate than I’ve ever heard it, heat simmering just beneath the softness. “I could lay you back right here, hands all over you, take you apart slow. Make you cum for me so sweet, so soft, you’ll forget anyone else is even here.” His breath fans over my ear, making me shiver. “You’d let me, wouldn’t you? Let me hear those pretty sounds, just for me?”
I can’t help it—I press in closer, the world blurring around us. “Riot…”
He smiles against my cheek. “That’s it, Angel. Let me spoil you a little. Let me break you down slowly. I want to taste every sigh, every moan. I want to feel you shake for me—just me. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
His hands slide down my sides, lingering at my waist. “You want soft tonight? I’ll give you soft. You want rough, I’ll ruin you for anyone else. Just say the word.”
My breath stutters out, every inch of me turned inside out by how gentle Riot’s voice is—by the promise simmering underneath. For once, I don’t want to hide it. I look up at him, my voice quiet but wrecked. “I want both. I want you to take your time with me…make it last. But I want you to ruin me, too.”
He grins, brushing his thumb across my bottom lip. “Yeah? That’s what you want, Hellcat?” His voice is barely a whisper, but I feel it everywhere. “You want to feel my mouth on you like I’ve got all night to worship you…but you want me to take it rough when you start begging. You want my fingers inside you while I whisper in your ear exactly how you taste. You want me to make you scream for me—and then cover your mouth so no one else gets to hear you.”
I shiver, lost in theheat of him, the softness and the hunger twining together until I can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. “Yes,” I whisper, shameless, letting him see every broken, desperate part of me. “God, yes. Please.”
Riot’s gaze darkens, thumb tracing my jaw, his touch gentle even as his words turn filthy. “You’re perfect, Sawyer. Let me show you how good it can be. Let me take my time making you fall apart, slow and sweet, until you can’t stand it—and then I’ll fuck you like you’ve been begging for it all night. Make you cum so hard you forget your own name. That’s what you want, right?”
All I can do is nod, heart thundering, breath coming fast. Riot just smiles, a wicked promise in his eyes. “Good girl. You keep saying please, and I’ll give you both—every fucking time.”
My knees might actually give out if he keeps looking at me like that. Like I’m the only thing in his world. Like he’d burn the rest of it down to keep this moment going.
But he doesn’t kiss me.
He watches while his fingers ghost over my cheek, then trail slowly down, like he’s memorizing the shape of me. “Don’t worry, Hellcat,” Riot murmurs, voice thick and low, “I’ll make sure he hears you.”
My stomach flips. My breath catches again—I know Jasper’s probably close. Watching. Waiting. Deciding if he’s going to let Riot finish what he started.
“I want you to,” I whisper. “I want both of you to know what you’ve done to me.”
Riot groans softly, leaning forward until his lips brush the shell of my ear. “You keep saying shit like that, and I won’t make it any longer before I bend you over something.”
I shiver, heat flooding every inch of me, and I swear I can feel his restraint fraying.
“You wanted time,” Riot growls, low and ragged. "You’ve got it.”
We’re barely out of sight before his hand clamps my hip, spinning me hard, and his mouth crashes onto mine. There’s nothing soft about it—not a hint of patience, just raw hunger and the edge of a man who’s been waiting too damn long. Tongueand teeth and filthy curses spill between our lips, like he’s branding me with every rough drag of his mouth.
“You have no fucking idea what you’re doing to me, Sawyer,” he mutters between kisses. “But I’ll show you. You wantbothof us? You’d better know what that means. Because I really don’t want to share you.”
I kiss him harder.
“Just show me.”
His growl vibrates through my chest, making my knees weak. He pulls back just enough to stare into my eyes—those hard grey eyes gone wild and dangerous. “Come with me. Right now.”
“Riot—”
“No more waiting,” he says, low. “Not tonight. Just a minute. Just… you and me. I need to be alone with you.”
I glance back toward the others, the thud of bass from the venue still echoing in my ears, but I’m already nodding.
