Page 37 of Possession

“But—“

Desperation bubbles under my skin when he interrupts. Boz scoots down the sofa closer to me, bleeding intensity. “Don’t do that, Landyn. You’re in this now, and if you try to go back, they’ll come for you. It will not be pretty if that happens. Instead of begging me to let you go, you should be dropping to your knees grateful that you’re my wife and no one else’s. You might be living and breathing luxury in this house, but you’re not free. You’re nothing more than a possession.”

Possession.

Holy shit.

“And now you’re mine,” he adds.

“I don’t want to be anyone’s,” I utter in a broken voice.

“But you are. The sooner you deal with your reality, the better. And trust me, chica, being mine is like winning the fucking lottery.”

My spine immediately straightens as I jut up in my seat to lean forward. “My father sold me to save his soul. My wedding was a bloodbath. I’m married to a stranger. I hardly feel like a winner, Boz. And for you to demand for me to act like I’m into you on top of all this,” I throw my hand out motioning to my new environment which is nothing more than hell on earth when what I really want to do is slap him across the face, “is absurd.”

Boz pinches the bridge of his nose before leveling his eyes back on me and delivers his words with a punch. “Are you going to cooperate or not? Because if the answer is no, I need to know what I’m dealing with. And if you feel like a prisoner now, then your reality is about to take a turn to a darker side than you’re already living. The last thing I need is to worry about you running away. Alamandos’ men will deal with you, and they won’t sit you down over breakfast to explain that shit. They’ll leave you with a lifetime of emotional scars and probably some physical ones too.”

I pull in a breath. I need to get my shit together. “It feels like you’re only giving me half the truth.”

He gapes at me. “What more do you need to know that saving your ass would depend on?”

I take a chance and close the distance between us. We’ve been like this a few times since I was thrown into this tailspin of a life, but it’s always him who’s instigated it. And every single time, we always have an audience in one way or another.

Never when we’ve been alone.

My heart skips a beat when I look into his stormy eyes. There’s so much swirling in their depths, I wonder what’s going on in his mind.

His aftershave is fresh and crisp, masculine with an after-scent dripping in power and money. There’s nothing basic about my new husband.

But there’s something else about him…

He talks about this world. He fits in it while he’s nothing like it.

“What do you need to know, chica?” he presses.

I shift in my seat and lower my voice. “If I have to fall head over heels for you out there, what am I expected to do in here?”

He glares at me.

“You’ve laid it all out,hubbalicious.” His eyes narrow at my smartass, so I reach out and tap his knee twice with the tip of my index finger. “You announced that we were going to shower together this morning, that I could drink wine with you in our bed, and you’ve gone above and beyond defending my honor to the point of threatening to put a bullet through someone’s head. I need to know what your expectations are everywhere, not just out there.”

Boz finishes what I started and leans in closer. So close, I think this is going to be it.

That I pushed the line too far, and my marriage is about to be consummated.

He lowers his tone. “You want to know when I’m going to fuck you?”

I freeze in my spot. I hold steady, but it’s hard when he talks about fucking me.

The silence must be enough of an answer, because his warm hand engulfs my bare leg and slides up where he grips me. He gives me a yank, and his breath tickles my skin when his lips hover over my ear. “I don’t care how much you might want it, Landyn. The last thing I’m going to do is fuck you. Get used to a life of celibacy, because unless we’re putting on a show for the world, no one is going to touch you. Especially not me.”

My breath catches in surprise.

This is not what I expected.

“A life of celibacy?” I ask.

He leans back far enough to gaze into my shocked eyes, but I don’t get an answer. “Do you have any other questions?”

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