Chapter 18
CONALL
“Pet?”
His voice should’ve brought comfort and warmth, but I was so angry at Sloan, I couldn’t bring myself to feel either.
He didn’t understand what he’d done wrong, and I wasn’t sure if I could begin to explain it to him.
A part of me was destroyed with that greenhouse, and nothing he did could make up for it.
Lying in bed with my back to the door while my stomach curdled with nausea was the only place I wanted to be right now. And I didn’t have my dogs to hug away my pain, either. Sloan told me on the way home that they were under the protection—his words, not mine—of Vail until I got home.
“I know you can hear me.”
I snorted angrily. “Great insight, Einstein.” My left hand curled into a fist under my pillow while I clenched the sheets beneath me with my right.
The bed dipped, but he wasn’t stupid enough to touch me. “You have to understand, that place hurt you.”
“You hurt me, too. Can I destroy you?” I snapped without thinking. The words hung in the air heavily, and as angry as I was, I regretted them. I’d never hurt Sloan.
He sighed. “You already do, Pet. Daily. Before you came along, I was a fortress. You were only supposed to be a plaything like all the others, but you broke me down until I loved you in a way I’ve never loved anyone. The walls I’d built all my life, you shattered them completely.”
Despite the fury that burned within me, a softer heat spread through my chest, one I attributed to Sloan. Damn him. I wanted to be mad without him managing to bury himself deeper behind my ribs with weaving words that coiled around my heart. He was too damned charming.
He touched my hip, but I slapped his hand away.
“No.” I hardened my jaw. “I’m not forgiving you.”
I slipped out of the bed, ignoring the twinge in my neck and spine, and spun around to point at him.
“You did wrong, Sloan. I loved that place and you demolished it. You took it away from me. Me. Your pet, the person you said you loved. You don’t deserve my forgiveness.
You didn’t even ask me. We’re supposed to be partners.
If you were worried, there could have been a thousand ways to tackle this. ”
He sat up, and I took in his sweaty chest. His shirt was halfway open and it left my gaze to feast on his bare pecs covered in a dusting of light brown hair. I fucking loved his chest hair. He was pulling out all the tricks, but it wouldn’t work.
Not this time.
“Pet—”
“No.”
I shot toward the en suite, not willing to fall for those sea blue eyes that could make me cave in seconds or the pretty words that always had me folding. I went to slam the door closed, but he was there, his hand stopping my dramatic exit.
I glared. “Sloan, move.”
“No, Pet.” A storm cloud of irritation slipped onto his face, and if I wasn’t so angry, I’d think it was hot as hell. But, no. I was furious with him. I wouldn’t let his good looks seduce me into forgiving him, either. “I won’t apologize for taking care of you.”
I laughed and pointed at him. “Then, you can sleep in another room because I am not sharing a bed with you. Now move.” I went to slam the door again, but he forced it open, pushing his way into the bathroom. I growled out in frustration. “Stop it!”
“I am not going anywhere, Pet. You are mine.” He grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me backward until my lower back hit the bathroom counter, then stroked his fingers down my neck, tracing the curve of the collar around it. “You love me, and you’ll appreciate what I did for you.”
I smiled, baring my teeth. “Go to hell, Boss.” My gaze dropped to his lips when his tongue came out to swipe the bottom one, hunger blazing in his eyes. Was it wrong to be so angry at him but also want him to devour me in a kiss? It certainly felt like it, but I also really wanted it, too.
He dipped his finger under my collar and gave it a small tug. “This says you belong to me. If I want to destroy a greenhouse to keep you safe, then I will.”
I tipped my chin up toward him. “Fuck. You.”
The storm extended to his eyes, which flashed angrily. His grip fell to my neck while he used his free arm to lock around my thighs, lifting me up onto the counter. I threw my head back, hissing when it met the mirror, but it wasn’t hard enough to break the glass.
“No, Pet, you know how this goes. Your hole is mine.”
“Right, because god forbid I fuck you,” I muttered angrily, and he stilled.
I swallowed. I hadn’t meant to say that.
I loved bottoming for him and having sex with him, and while I’d once been solely a top, I enjoyed this dynamic.
We were great together when we fucked. I guess I’d meant for the words to hurt him some more.
Maybe I was taking this too far, but now that I’d started, I couldn’t stop. He’d destroyed something special to me.
Sloan stared for a moment, his fingers loosening around my neck, before he tightened his hold again and slammed his mouth against mine.
The kiss was rough and his lips scraped over mine with possessiveness that would’ve been a big red flag to most people but wasn’t for me.
I loved it when he ate me like he owned me.
Because I was his, even in moments like this.
His tongue shoved between my lips, and I groaned, spreading my legs to give him more room to work.
He pressed his clothed dick against mine, and I shuddered as pleasure swept down my spine and settled at the base.
My dick ached, hardening in the tight jeans I’d stupidly decided to wear at the hospital.
Worst mistake of my life. I barely had room to get a hard-on.
I bit down on his bottom lip hard enough to tear the skin and make him bleed, and he hissed. I grinned, aware of his warm blood spread on my lips, too. “You’re not forgiven.”
“Pet,” he growled out, tone sharp. “I’m going to break you with my cock.”
I snapped my teeth at him. “I’d like to see you try.”
He wiped his mouth, smearing the blood over his chin, and smirked. Fuck, I was in trouble. “You shouldn’t challenge me.”
Angry or not, I craved his touch. Thirsted for him. He was more than a drug, he was my life force, and I needed him to breathe. My lungs didn’t know how to work without him at my side. He gave me the will to fight, to fuck, and to face each day with vicious passion.
I tilted my chin toward him, sneering. “You don’t have the balls to do a damned thing.”
It was a lie and we both knew it. No one had bigger balls than Sloan.
He grinned, mouth twisting in a sinister fashion that had a shiver skating down my spine.
When he crushed his mouth against mine this time, it was hungrier than before.
His blood smeared between our lips, and his tongue flicked against mine, the coppery tang flooding my senses.
There was no surrender in his kiss—he meant business and was taking charge—but I wasn’t going to submit, either.
If he wanted to fuck me, then he’d have to fight me for the right.
He gripped my face in his hands, blunt nails digging into my jaw in a way that wasn’t supposed to hurt me, but rather remind me of his dominance and how easily he could give me the pain and pleasure I desired.
I tipped my head back, trying to escape him, but he held me tighter.
“You can’t run from me. We’ll always be tied together now, until death.” He nipped my chin, teeth scraping over my skin, eliciting a sizzle of heat skittering through me.
“Oh, I’m not running, Boss, but I’m not giving in, either.
You destroyed something important to me, and I’m not forgiving you.
” I resisted the urge to headbutt him because as angry as I was at him, I’d never actually hurt him intentionally.
The rage was a pounding intensity in my chest, though, and it was hard to breathe around the throbbing of my heart.
“It was mine. I had a connection to that greenhouse, and you took it away from me. You wounded me.”
“I’ll rebuild it, Pet. Better than before.” His tone softened.
I laughed scornfully. “It won’t be the same. You don’t get it. That was your mom’s greenhouse. I felt a bond with her, to a woman I didn’t know.”
He frowned. “Why do you want one?”
“Because of you.” I slammed the heel of my palm hard against his chest. “Because you loved her and I love you and I wanted to know the woman who gave birth to you and raised you and loved you as much as I do.” I firmed up my jaw and jabbed my finger into his right pec.
“You destroyed something important to me and I’m fucking mad. ”
I’d never thought there’d come a time in my life where I’d grieve for a building, but I was right now. I’d never had a home. Not even the Virtue—it was a place I stayed as a kid. Sloan’s house became mine and the greenhouse was my sanctuary. Now it was gone, taking a piece of me with it.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, brushing his knuckle down my cheek. “But it made you sick and I promised I’d keep you safe.”
“You don’t know that.” My nostrils flared as I exhaled loudly through them, too angry to accept any kind of apology from him.
“You have no fucking idea where I got the meningitis. You’re only assuming because it could have come from fungus in there.
It’s an infection. Who the fuck knows where it came from? ”
He pressed his forehead against mine, and I breathed him in because he always smelled delicious and I couldn’t resist getting a whiff off him. “I told you, I’d burn down the world to protect you. I’m sorry, Pet, but that greenhouse had to go.”
“Then, you can go fuck yourself.” Rage bubbled in my stomach, but it joined the strong need for him. No matter how angry he made me, I always wanted him, and that only irritated me further.
He smashed his mouth against mine, and I growled into the hungry kiss, nipping at the spot I’d already marked on his bottom lip, the skin splitting under the attack. More blood seeped between us, joining in on the passionate battle of our tongues.