Page 18 of Vicious Hearts

My hands aren't interested in my nobler intentions. My arm steals around her waist, pulling her ass into my lap as my hand holds her neck gently. My cock is hard in an instant as I feel her gorgeous body against me.

Someone hit Roxy and hurt her badly enough to leave a permanent scar. No one should have had the opportunity to mark her butme.

I can't let her go, not now. I'm feral with rage and horny as all fuck, because my brain is wired wrong, and I'm capable of feeling both simultaneously.

I keep my eyes closed, trying to justfeel. All I want is to lose myself in her.

"So you'll help me?"

I open my eyes to see hers, wide and pleading. I could get used to that look.

I push my thumb between her lips, feeling her tongue against it. My cock lurches in response, and I'm struck by the urge to pin her down and fuck her innocent face. That'd stop her talking.

"Yes. You're talking about a copycat, but it doesn't matter. You're in danger, and I'm not gonna stand by and—"

Roxy leaps to her feet and wheels around to face me. I notice her flushed cheeks, her peaky nipples reaching me through her shirt.

"You don't believe me?" she asks, throwing her hands in the air. "Is it impossible for you to be wrong? Because last time I checked, you nearly murdered my best friend and yours, shooting me in the process because you had the wrong information!"

She can't know that her fury is fuelling my lust for her, but it is. I stand, towering over her, and close the space between us. She steps back but doesn't realize how close she is to the wall until she bumps into it.

"Don't mess with me, Rox." She reaches out with both hands to shove me in the chest, but I snatch her wrists, pinning them to her sides. "Look at me when I'm fucking talking to you."

Roxy tilts her head up, jutting her chin at me defiantly, but I see the fear on her face. She's scared enough without me frightening her, but God help me—my cock twitches at the sight.

"You are staying with me," I say, looking into her eyes.

"No." She holds my gaze. "I'm gonna swing by work, and then I'm going home."

I raise an eyebrow. "It's not a question. We're not discussing it. I will find who hurt you and make them beg you for mercy."

"Okay, I’ll stay. Now let me go."

I release her wrists and step away, turning quickly and heading into the bathroom. I splash my face with cold water.

I don't know what I'd have done if she had argued with me. My anger was already getting me fired up, but she was simultaneously enraged and terrified, and it was almost too much for my libido. A few seconds longer, a word or two of sass from her lips, and I can't be sure I wouldn't have fucked her ragged there and then.

The irregular sound of the running faucet takes me out of my head for a minute. Focusing on the changes grounds me, and I feel more in control.

I can't tell Roxy I'm obsessed with her. She has enough psychos in her life already, and I have nothing to bring to the table but my own madness and dysfunction.

When I come out of the bathroom, Roxy is nowhere to be seen. My steak is on the floor, lying in a small blood splatter.

Oh great. So she wants to play?I have many games to share with her, but she might not like them.

6

Roxy

It's dark, and I shouldn't be out alone. Insane as it may be, the danger out here seems preferable to whatever just happened.

Ben and I both know I'll go back to him. I need his protection and his help. He's already involved in this shitshow, and without him at my side, I'll probably disappear. But I don’t know what scared me more— his possessive rage or my reaction to it. When he grabbed my wrists, something inside me wanted desperately to yield to him. Right then, I’d have done anything he asked me to do.

We were friends once. Then something shifted in him, and I didn't understand it.

I’m approaching Always Home’s offices when I see Oliver walking out of the front door. "Hey," I say, opening the gate as he turns around.

Oliver's glasses are too big for his face, and behind them, his eyes seem wider and more owl-like than ever. "Roxy! Moira said you were out of the hospital. I didn't expect to see you today. How are you feeling?"

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