Page 47 of Judgment Day

I laughed. “Animals see things people don’t. They see the inside.” My expression grew serious. “I know what you think you are, Grey. But the truth is you’re not a bad person.”

“I’m not a good man, Lyric. If you could read my thoughts right now you’d know that.” He leaned back in his chair, face unreadable.

“What are your thoughts right now?” We were in too deep to stop now. Even if I could have, I didn’t want to.

“That I know you belong to him, but I can’t stop fucking thinking about you.”

My gut dropped. Butterflies swarmed. My cheeks heated. I knew his next words would wreck me, but I was too far gone. Too addicted. I wanted more.

“I found you in Winston’s study by mistake. You weren’t supposed to be there. But when I saw you, the way you looked…” He took in a breath. “Fuck.” He licked his lips, and I was trapped in the motion, in the way his tongue snaked out and his lips plumped after it slid over them. “The way you take pleasure is captivating. You own it. The way you open up, the way your eyes darken, the sounds you make.” A sound like a groan or a low growl rumbled deep in his throat. It was dark and sexy and dangerous. I ached to hear it again, against my neck, in my ear.Jesus, Lyric, tame your bits.

“Your body is so fucking responsive. I couldn’t look away.” The cords in his neck flexed, tight with whatever emotion he was fighting to keep at bay. “Of course, I was jealous. I wanted it to be me. But in that moment—watching you, hearing you,thatwas all that mattered. That’s why I stood in the doorway.”

“And now? Why are you here now?” My entire body hummed with energy.

“Because I want to see it again.” He was so confident, not a single crack in his smooth voice. “I think you want it, too.” The air charged between us. My humming collided with his power. “You liked me watching.” I stopped breathing. “Him worshipping.” His cock swelled, straining against the fabric of his pants like this intimidating, powerful thing. “But next time, sweet girl, I’m going to do more than just watch.” His voice lowered. “I want to worship, too.”

I remembered all the times I’d wished for his touch, all the times I’d sat naked in front of him while I bathed and he read, and the time he’d told me he would never love me and some part of my soul knew it was a lie.

“Why now? You had four years alone with me, and you never touched me.” My thoughts trailed off. “Was it her? Because you were fucking her.” It sounded like jealousy. I didn’t mean for it to. I had no right to be jealous. But I wanted to know. A part of me needed to know.

His eyes softened. “No. I wasn’t fucking Sadie. I never touched you because I didn’t want to turn you into another product of the Brotherhood, forced into a life you didn’t choose, being with a man you didn’t love while waiting for the man you did.” His voice turned cold at the last part. “I didn’t want you bitter and resentful and hopeless.” A pause. “I didn’t want to turn you intoher.”

Bullshit.

“Don’t you see, Grey? I was a product of the Brotherhood the minute Malcolm Huntington declared me his enemy. I didn’t choose this.” I gestured at the house and woods around us. “I didn’t choose for my identity to be erased or to give up graduating with my friends or going to college.” Emotions boiled and bubbled inside my chest. “I get why you stayed away from me. I respect it. You thought you were being noble. You thought you were protecting me.” I fixed my eyes on his. “Protecting her.” It had always been about her.Sadie the sadist.That was my new nickname for her. “But all you did was take another choice away from me.” There, I said it. Relief washed over me, filling my lungs with air when it had felt like I’d been drowning.

“What choice was that, Lyric? What choice did I take?” The coolness in his tone was almost eerie.

Lincoln went all in with everything he did. His emotions were a visceral, palpable thing. You felt them in every word he spoke.

Grey was an enigma. He gave nothing away.

Two men, so very different, and yet both so perfect.

“When you were with me, Lincoln wasn’t an option.” He was right, and the truth stung. “He was a memory.”

“And now he’s my husband,” I said.

“So am I.”

So was he.And I was the fucked-up mess of a girl who wanted them both.

“So, what now?”

He stared at me with a look so intense it sent goosebumps scattering on my skin. He wasn’t even touching me, but I felt him all over me.

“I know that part of you belongs to him. But there’s a part of you that belongs to me, too—a part of you that he will never understand.” He was so right it hurt. “I know you’re torn.” Right again. “Watching people fuck is part of what we do—what wedid. It’s mechanical, another motion to go through. It’s never affected me until that night on the beach when I watched you through the window.”The night he almost killed Linc.“I couldn’t see your face then. Just like I couldn’t see it on our wedding night.” He’d made me turn away so that I wouldn’t have to seethemwatching us. “But I’ve seen it now, and I want to see it again. Ineedto see it again. I need to hear you again.”

“You want to watch me—” I took a breath, not believing what I was even saying. Conversations like this weren’t normal. Then again, nothing in our world was normal anymore. “—with Linc?”

“If that’s what it takes, yes. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Finding pleasure in your pleasure.”

“And if I don’t want you to watch?” I swallowed. “I mean, if I don’t want you tojustwatch?” My heart was racing. My body was thrumming. I did it. I said it, and there was no taking it back.

“Then, I’ll fuck you until you beg me to stop. I’ll take everything you have to give until you’re a quivering, crying mess. And then, I’ll take some more.”

My phone vibrated in my hands, nearly giving me a heart attack—or an orgasm. I was close to either one.

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