Page 36 of Reign

“Nothing is ever too late.” Moving his finger down my face, I tremble from his touch. “I want to look after you, including not putting you in danger.”

“What about your grandfather? Didn’t he care about you?”

His demeanor shifts at the mention of him. “My grandfather was a brute who only cared about himself. He may have clothed and fed me—took me in—but he made sure I paid for it every day. Anaya’s abuse wasn’t the only time I’ve suffered pain.”

Leaning up on my toes, I give him a small kiss. All he’s had in his life is pain, and I hate that. “Thank you.”

He picks me up again with a tormented half-smile, and I can’t help but snuggle into his chest, breathing in his scent. I must doze off because he’s putting me into bed when I open my eyes. After stripping and putting me in one of his T-shirts, he makes me sit up to take pills. “I’ll consider your offer.”

I blink up at him. “You will?”

“Yes. Take your pills.”

After swallowing the tablets down, I lay on the soft pillow and drift off to sleep again. When my eyes open the second time, he’s tugging me against his chest. Just as I feel a ghost of a kiss grazing the back of my head, I’m gone again.

* * *

Shooting awake,I let out a scream. There’s a shadow standing at the foot of the bed. It’s Blake. He’s here with a wicked grin. In his hand is a gun, aiming it right at Milton. Screaming again, I reach out in the dark, trying to find the light. “Milton! He’s—He’s here!”

A light comes on, and hands take my shoulders. “Heidi.”

Milton sits beside me, wrapping his arms around me as I gasp for air. Blinking, I look back over to where Blake was. All to clarify what my mind already knows. That he’s not here.

“Blake was…” I let out a sob, my heart beating so wild I feel faint. The space where he was standing is now empty. “He was standing right there.”

“Shh. It was a nightmare.” I bury my face into Milton’s neck, his scent the only thing calming me. “He can’t get in here.”

Swallowing down the ball in my throat, I know he’s right, but my fear lingers. Lifting my hand, I wipe the sweat from my hairline. I haven’t had a nightmare this bad since I was in Stonehill. Not since before I had Milton’s dogs in the bed with me. “Where are Bea and Blue?”

“I sent them back to the manor with Cole,” he says, rubbing my back soothingly. “You’re safe. He won’t ever get to you, I promise.”

Am I safe? Can he keep that promise? All this talk about finding him, and he’s nowhere to be found.

Anger and concern are prominent fixtures on Milton’s face, and it’s enough for me to lean forward and seal my lips against his. He kisses me back, and I climb onto his lap, a sudden sense of urgency to rid my mind of the evil taking hold of me.

Milton wraps his arms around me as I straddle his waist and kiss his lips, cheeks, jaw, and neck. He breathes out heavily as I lick and bite and roll my hips against his swelling cock. “Hei—”

“Make me forget,” I rasp against his throat, pleading, begging. “Make me forget him.”

Gripping my hair, he pulls my head back, exposing my neck. When the heat of his breath brushes my skin, I shudder, my sex aching for him again. What the hell has he done to me?

“Okay.” Lifting me out of bed, I grip him tightly, our noses touching. “We’re going to the room I’ve wanted you in since I first brought you here.”

“What kind of room?”

Leaning forward, his teeth capture my bottom lip, clamping down hard enough to send spasms through my core. He then sucks to counteract the nip, and I’m melting. “You’ll have to wait and see, won’t you?”

I’m already shivering as he carries me into the tunnels. The red light is gone, and it’s now dark, which means it must be early morning hours, and the club is closed to clients. Stopping outside a door, Milton reaches for the handle and opens it. I swallow deeply as he carries me inside pitch blackness.

“Milton…” I’m no longer able to see his face or what’s in front of me. He suddenly drops me, and I shriek, falling onto something firm and cold.

Staying still, I listen to him move around the room. There’s a scratch of a matchstick and then a flicker of light as he lights a candle. His dark form moves around the room, lighting more candles and brightening the space around me. Enough for me to see that I’m in the center of a large room. There’s a scent of leather and incense in the air. I’m on a bed of sorts—one obviously not for sleeping. The mattress is smooth, black leather, and has no cushions or covers.

Something else steals my attention. A sizeable wooden X dominates the lefthand side as more light filters through the darkness. On the oak beams are cuffs at the top and bottom. Anticipation runs through me like liquid fire.

“My safe word is demon.” Milton’s facing me now, and he’s a sight to behold in the glow of candlelight. Dark eyes, dark soul. “Whenever we’re down here, you have to do everything I say. Fail, and there will be consequences—one you’re already wearing.” The spatula welts on my ass sting as a reminder. “Pick your own safe word. Something to be only used when you’ve reached your limit—”

“Princess.”

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