Page 69 of Vicious Hearts

Because game, as they say, recognizes game.

I’ve spent my entire life wearing masks, ever since my uncle Lorcan saw—trulysaw—the devil in me that had my parents unable to meet my eyes. Lorcan was the one who first taught me to channel that darkness—to find steam vents to release the pressure, so that I could at least hide within normal society.

So when Una tries to put her own mask on, it’s a lost cause when it comes to me. Her emotions and her secrets might as well be as naked as she is right now.

My hand slides up her thigh. She stiffens, and goes to shut them. But when my bare palm smacks the tender flesh of her inner thigh, she yelps and ceases the movement. She also turns bright red. I watch with amusement as she so desperately tries to hide the hunger on her face, the way the pink of her cheeks floods down her neck to her chest, the way her nipples harden when I smack her thigh again.

“The band you wore that night at the club really wasn’t just a disguise to go with the wig, was it?”

I already know the answer. But I want to hear her say it. I also wouldn’t mind if she lied and forced me to spank the truth out of her.

“I…I don’t know.”

Another smack to her thigh. “I’ve seen the videos you watch online.”

Her eyes bulge, her mouth falling open before she snaps it shut and swallows.

“Not to mention, just in case you’ve forgotten, I’ve had first-hand experience feeling how fuckingwetyou get when pain comes into, shall we say, play.”

Her bottom lip catches between her teeth as she stiffens, and her eyes dart to me before stabbing straight ahead again.

“I don’t… I mean, I’m not like…”

“Like what?” I growl thinly into her ear. “Like me?”

She swallows but doesn’t speak.

“What am I, Una?”

When she still doesn’t answer, I force a sound to her lips—a gasping moan as I reach around her and pinch one of her nipples again. That gets her to whip her gaze to me, eyes wild.

“Well? What am I?”

I see the flash of defiance and fight in her eyes. I know she wants to use this opportunity to call me a psychopath, or an asshole, or a tyrant, or any number of a string of names.

I’m surprised when she just says the one.

“A sadist,” she breathes quietly.

“At times, yes. And you know what that means?”

Of course, Iknowshe knows what that means. But I want to open her up. I want to lay her bare. I want to make her say it out loud, for both of us.

“Yes,” she whispers. “It means you want to hurt people.”

I shake my head. “Not exactly. I want to hurt people who attempt to hurt me or my family, anyone would. But in the context of me and you, it’s not that I want to hurt you, Una.”

Her eyes go wide and her lips quiver as my hand slides all the way up her thigh to cup her pussy.

Warm.Wet.

I fight back the urge to pin her to the table right here and now and fuck her until she can’t walk straight. Instead, I settle for twisting her nipple with one hand while the hand between her legs drags a thick finger up her lips.

Una shudders, swallowing a moan.

“It means I want to find the dark, black, parts of you andrip them out,” I rasp. “It means I want to expose those needs you have that you’re so ashamed of that you keep them hidden away, and inflict them upon you until you’remine.”

“So, you do want to hurt me.”

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