Page 53 of We Three Kings

I rise and amble toward the cowering idiot. Surprisingly after seven days, he still has some fight to him. He squints up at me.

“What do you want, man?”

Interesting. WhatdoI want?

I want to marry my angel.

I want her to carry my babies.

I want her to know she’ll always have everything she ever needs.

Oh, and I want to physically and emotionally break you until you die. “Tell me about Seraphina.”

Exhausted, his arm flops down to his lap, and he slumps back against the wall. “Who?”

His pinched face proves his confusion. He’s not playing with me. “Your foster daughter.”

Recognition from my description smooths his face, and I swear hope springs into his expression.

“You know her? You tell her I’m here and she’ll want me out. She’ll vouch for me. She likes me. I took good care of her. Real good care of her and her brother.”

Unaware of the fact I despise liars, he rambles on about the Christmas kid and the football kid. Minimizing them to just those two traits pisses me off.

I grab him by his tee shirt. His wide eyes flick from my fist twisted in the dingy fabric to my face. “You know what, Craig. The Christmas kid doesn’t like you. And no you didn’t takereal good careof her and her brother. You were a piece of shit who abused children so now the same thing is going to happen to you.”

He struggles but is too weak to do anything about my grip on him. Peace floods me from his fear. “You thought sitting in the dark freezing was bad but by this time next week you’ll be thinking this is paradise.”

His head twists side to side. “No man you got it all wrong. I didn’t do anything to those kids. It wasn’t me. It was her.”

He motions toward his catatonic wife. “She’s the one who hit them and did shit to them. It’s all her.”

The hole he digs just gets deeper and deeper. “Is she the one who put Gabriel in the hospital with a ruptured spleen?”

Realization that I know the truth and he’s fully and completely fucked, stiffens his body. I release the material tangled in my fingers and pat his icy head. I’m chilly now too.

Time to go and warm up with my girl. I kill the lights in here too and head upstairs. I’ll grab her a chocolate treat on my way out although the candy won’t ever taste as sweet as my angel.

Balthazar

Seraphina clenches her rich cocoa eyes closed, shutting me out. With my fingers tangled in her long hair, I tug the strands, easily returning her to submission. “What’s wrong, angel?”

As she gazes up at me, I tip closer and block out everything else but her caged against the wall. All I see is her plump swollen lips, feel her warm breath, smell her sugary scent almost as sweet as she is.

“I don’t want you to think I’m a pervert.”

My cock pulses in my jeans from her admission. She’s so far from anything resembling a pervert but damn if I want to do filthy things to her to show her how much of oneIcan be. “I won’t. Just say it.”

She swallows hard. “I came home early from study group one time and accidentally heard Alex and Bree in their bedroom…”

The flush on her face radiates heat potent enough I can feel the warmth on mine. I nod, encouraging her to continue.

“The sounds he made. I want you to make those sounds.”

“You do?”

“I want to be the one to make you make those sounds.”

Even better. “I want that too.”

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