Page 129 of Born in Depravity

I could feel bile trying to force its way up my throat.

I shook away the memory quickly. I couldn’t think about that now.

My father had always been a terrible human being, but this was something else. This wasn’t something I could try to understand.

I let my eyes move down his body, distracting myself.

I didn’t want to think about Father anymore, and it worked when Damien stood up to his full height and I caught sight of his backside.

He had a tattoo of a realistic black and white tiger baring its teeth. It was good. I didn’t know tattoos very well, but I could tell whoever did this was good. It seemed to have been painstakingly etched on.

He was so perfect.

Not many people would agree with me, considering all the scars that riddled his body, especially the ones he didn’t cover up with tattoos. They scattered all over his back, but I thought he was beautiful.

Just … beautiful.

He turned around suddenly, and I couldn’t move my gaze away quickly enough. The look in his eyes told me he knew I had been checking him out.

Damien slowly walked toward me.

I resisted the urge to run and hide.

As if there was anywhere for me to go.

He took in my face before moving his gaze down to my legs and pausing there. He seemed bewildered.

I looked down too.

My legs were swinging back and forth.

I stopped the movement and looked back up at him.

We didn’t say anything for a moment before he pulled the towel away from me and lifted me back up in his arms.

He walked over to the bathtub and slowly sank down to the warm water. I stared ahead at the wall in front of me, unsure of what I was supposed to do. Especially with my hands.

They felt weird, just hanging at my sides like this.

Damien wrapped his arms around my middle, placing his hand on my belly, his thumb in the middle between my breasts.

He guided me back until my back was pressed against his front, his lips moving down to my cheek.

“Relax,” he said softly, gliding his lips back and forth.

I took in a deep breath of air. I was sure he could feel it.

I tried to relax.

Damien moved his hands up to my shoulders, washing my sore limbs. I leaned my head back on his strong chest.

He skated his hands across the water line, before moving them toward me.

I focused on the movements, my eyes growing tired. I was relaxing.

Being in the bath with Damien felt different than it did with Mikhail.

Perhaps because I spent more time with Mikhail than I did with the other two, but I’d felt comfortable with him first.

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