“Fucking dickhead,
” I choke out, and yes, I see the hypocrisy, but fuck him anyway.
He scarcely gives me a moment to breathe, then he’s threatening to rob me of air once more. His grip isn’t as tight, leaving a kernel of space in my windpipe that allows me to inhale.
“Come on, little mouse, you know I only answer to two names,” he taunts. “Let me hear you say my name. It sounds so much sweeter when you can’t breathe.”
“Zade,” I growl, but he shakes his head.
“Uh-uh,” he tsks, voice dipped in sweet venom. “I want you to call me by my other name, Adeline.”
Tears of frustration pool in my eyes, one breaking free and slipping past my lashes. He tracks the droplet, a savage grin ghosting across his lips before the tip of his tongue darts out and licks the salty water from my face.
I clench my teeth, pride rising, fueled by anger for this insufferable man. When Zade and I are happy, it’s easy to forget how much he enjoys seeing me suffer. And I wonder if this is why I lash out thoughtlessly. Maybe a part of me likes the way he makes me suffer, too.
He drifts the tip of his tongue over the side of my cheek and to my ear, leaving a wet trail in his wake before dark whispers warm my skin instead.
“If you make me tell you again, I will strap you to this tree until the birds are ready to eat.”
“God,” I bite out, my voice hoarse from the strain. “Are you happy now?”
He bares his teeth, and I realize that the fear he instills in me will likely eat me alive before the birds ever could.
“Not even fucking close,” he hisses. “I think I quite like the idea of tying you to this tree-the birds feasting on the helpless little mouse.”
Terror glides down my constricted throat and low into my stomach, morphing into an inebriating feeling that burns and burns until my eyes droop into a half-lidded state.
“Punish me then. I deserve it,” I hiss.
I want him to.
As long as he’s here, touching me, hurting me-it’s better than him being another ghost haunting Parsons Manor.
“Or is the kitty cat too scared of the mouse?”
He tips his head back, a laugh working its way from his throat and sending chills down my spine. Evil. It was an evil laugh, and my excitement ramps up.
He suddenly drops me, and steps away, barely giving me time to catch myself. Just as I straighten, he tips up his chin.
“Have you come here to ask for forgiveness?”
“Yes,” I whisper. “I’m-“
“Undress,” he orders, cutting off my apology.
Biting back a retort, I listen, and tear the articles of clothing from my body until I’m naked. It’s hot outside, yet I shiver beneath his blazing eyes.
My nipples harden beneath his wandering gaze, causing his nostrils to flare. Suppressing the urge to cover myself, I lean back against the tree, another shiver racking my body from the rough bark.
Licking his lips, he gazes at me like a hawk would a mouse. Predatory and full of intention. Slowly, his long fingers undo the buckle on his belt, before jerking it out from the loops of his black jeans.
A rock forms in my throat, but I don’t bother swallowing it down because I know it’ll come right back up. Especially as he strides towards me, and then behind the tree. The trunk isn’t large by any means, so just as I go to turn my head, his hand comes up from behind me and grips my jaw, forcing it straight.
“Face forward, Adeline,” he orders, his deep voice full of warning.
His hand retreats, and my heart pounds erratically, causing my breathing to hiccup. The weight of anticipation is suffocating, and when I finally see his belt come into view, I can’t help but flinch away.
It loops across my throat and around the trunk before it tightens, the leather groaning from the force. My eyes bulge, my precious air supply cutting off for the third time as he refastens the buckle. The fucker used his belt to pin me to the tree.
He comes out from behind me and faces me once more, his devilish gaze taking in his masterpiece.
“You’re fucked in the head,” I tell him, and then cough as the leather digs into my skin.
He hums at me. “You use pretty words as sharp knives, and I think you’ve become attached to seeing me scarred. Do they make your pussy wet, baby?”
I raise my chin, deciding to take a different route and go with the truth for once.
“Yes,” I admit, as firmly as I can manage.
He stares at me, his mismatched pools as intense as the cold wind ravaging my body. The pale scar cutting through his white eye stands out proudly amongst the otherwise smooth flesh.
It hurts to look at him.
His gaze thins, and he approaches me until I can feel the blissful heat radiating from his body.
“I didn’t mean what I said,” I whisper before he can say whatever words are resting on his tongue. “I’m sorry.”
He pauses, and my discomfort grows as his gaze intensifies.
“I’ve given you nothing but honesty, and you continue to give me lies. Is this another attempt to bring me back in just to kick me out again?”
I swallow, my throat drier than the bark digging into my back.
“No,” I rasp, and my lip trembles from the shame burning the backs of my eyes. “You’re right. I… There’s no excuse for what I said. I don’t want you to leave. And I do love you.”
“So you’ve said,” he murmurs. He cocks his head and muses aloud, “Yet you tried to take it back. You gave me something precious and then tried to rip it away.”
I shake my head, desperation clogging my throat.
“I won’t do that ever again,” I swear, another tear burning a trail down my cold cheek. It snags his attention, and I watch his eyes zero in on it, tracking it until it drips from my chin.
When he looks at me once more, it hits me that this isn’t just a punishment. This will be a test to prove my love. To prove that I mean it when I say it.
“You cut me because you know I’ll gladly bleed for you. So now I want to see you bleed for me.”
I open my mouth, prepared to tell him that I already have, but before I can, he bends and grabs a long, gnarled twig off the ground, fisting it in his hand. Whatever I was going to say somersaults right back down my throat, and my heart stalls in my chest.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.