Page 35 of Beautiful Beasts

I will give her what only I can give her.

I will be everything she needs at this moment, just like she is everything I will ever need for the rest of my life.

24

Harley

“Prisoner” by Raphael Lake, Aaron Levy, & Daniel Ryan Murphy

I step out of the shower and grab the towel that is hanging up. I am trying to wash all the blood from my body. The physical evidence is long gone, but it still covers me mentally. I guess that is my punishment for what I do. The killing part is easy; it’s hard to live with the aftermath of it. I live with the feeling that I am covered in their blood, even though I know it is fucking gone.

I wrap the towel around my waist, pushing the hair out of my face as I exit the bathroom. The shower was the one place I was hoping would silence the voices, but it didn’t. The only thing that has been able to make me feel normal is Bella. Since the moment I saw her at the club, everything changed.

I know it sounds crazy to become obsessed with her when I had no idea who she was, but that is how it happened. She didn’t even know I was watching her or who I was; in that moment, I had become hers without a second thought.

Over the years, I learned to hang onto things that bring me peace, and I hadn’t felt peace in a very long time. Now that I have, I will do anything to keep it. I will do anything to keep her. I am a selfish prick, and I have a feeling it will only get worse with her. The jealous, possessive, and dominant need doesn’t even begin to describe how I will be with her. When she is ready, I will show her the real me, and I will allow myself to lose control.

I walked out of the bathroom and stopped when I saw Bella closing the door. My heart is already racing, and she hasn’t even fucking looked at me yet. That is how much power she has over me.

She doesn’t stop and look at me as she makes her way over to my bed and crawls on top, only wearing Dante’s shirt. I could hear them together. She needed him, and even though he wouldn’t say it out loud, I knew he needed her too.

I closed my eyes as I listened to them give into the other, and the thoughts, the images of having her underneath me, my cock filling her pussy, my hand holding tightly onto her throat, and my lips smashing against hers consumed my brain. My cock was so fucking hard and weeping. I spit in my rough hand and gripped it tightly, slowly stroking myself to the images in my head and the sounds she was making. I imagined it was my cock she was riding and my name she called out as she came undone. When she cried out her release, I came with her. I waited for the shame to hit me, but it never came. If that is the only way I can have her right now, then I’ll take what I can get.

I watch Bella closely as she crawls onto my bed, getting underneath the covers on the side of the bed she claimed as hers.

I am getting used to having her in my bed. I have something she needs now: my gentleness. That word will never have the same meaning again. But if I am being honest, it is me who needs her more. The burning desire of needing her, of wanting her, courses through me like a virus, like a burning flame that only seems to burn brighter and hotter each day.

I didn’t see it, not how Dante did, and now that it’s been brought to my attention, I can’t get the word out of my head. Usually, I am the one who points things out to him and helps him understand what he is feeling and doing, but this time, our roles were reversed.

Gentleness. What a simple word with a much more significant meaning now. I have been called many things in my life, but gentle has never been one of them. Now, I am cautious and aware and want to be that for her. I want to be the one who holds her when she is scared, the one she can fully let go of and trust that she is safe.

I want all the things that I don’t have the right to ask for, but it won’t stop me from asking. Just seeing her in my bed, not even fucking doing anything, is making me lose my ever-loving fucking mind.

Bella rests against the headboard, and her eyes lock with mine.

Fuck. Is it possible for a heart to fucking burst from just a look? Because if it is, I am in deep fucking trouble.

I study her for a moment. Her eyes slowly fill with desire, making blood rush to my cock. If she continues to look at me like that, I won’t be able to fucking hold myself back. “Don’t look at me like that, Bella,” I warn darkly.

“Like what?” She asks. The side of her mouth tipped up in a partial smirk. She knows exactly what the fuck I am talking about. Even after all she has been through, she is so fucking strong and is not afraid to say what is on her mind. I respect that about her; there’s no guessing.

Fuck me. Her eyes, her tone, everything about her right now has my cock hardening, my pulse increasing, and my thoughts darkening.

“You know what you are doing, Brat,” I say through gritted teeth.

She tilts her head as her eyes explore my body, but when she sees my hard cock pulsing behind the towel, she inhales deeply. Her tongue peeks out and wets her bottom lip before she bites it. She slowly moves her gaze back up my body until our eyes connect, and I swear she can see into my soul.

She lifts an eyebrow at me and calmly says. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

I am so fucked. “Careful, Bella. Neither of us is ready for what your voice, body, and eyes are making me want,” I confess. It’s true; we’re not there yet.

She has given herself to Dante. I heard the physical connection between them, but what I want from her is so much more than that. I don’t want to just fuck her; I want to love her. I want to feel her. We will get there soon enough, and when that moment finally arrives, nothing will hold me back when I claim her and make her mine.

She lowers her eyes, leaving an empty feeling in my chest. I smile as I watch her get settled with the book she grabbed from the nightstand.

She places the book in her lap and looks at me. “I will be good, I promise,” she says softly as she pats the spot beside her.

Fuck.

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