Chapter 18
Hook
Tink seeks me out in her sleep. It might amuse me that she’s a cuddler under different circumstances, but with the mountains currently left to scale, the taste of what we could have is almost painful.
It doesn’t stop me from holding her close and breathing in the unique scent of her shampoo.
It’s something floral I can’t place, a note of sweetness against the spikes she so carefully hones to keep the world at bay.
I don’t blame her for that. I also won’t allow her to maintain them against me.
I could spend hours going over where the scene took a turn, but in the end, no matter what she says, the truth is I pushed her too hard.
Not in kink, exactly. Having her blindfolded and filled with cocks while I direct the action is a whole hell of a lot more intense than a few ropes and bound arms. Or it would be if I’m only looking at the surface.
Things shifted for us last night. It started when she crawled to me.
I should have fucked her then and there instead of demanding more.
But, fuck it, I want more.
I want everything.
My phone buzzes where I left it on the nightstand, and I have to stretch to reach it without disturbing Tink. Unknown Number. Only one person would be calling me at four in the morning from an unknown number. I take a slow breath and lock everything down. “Yeah?”
“Wide awake and up to no good.”
Peter.
Even anticipating that it would be him on the other end of the line, I go cold.
“One could say the same for you. Normal business hours are between eight and five. Try calling back then.” I hang up.
A calculated risk, just like everything I’ve done for the last month since Peter started making moves.
I can’t root him out. I have to force him to come to me, to meet me on my home turf, so to speak.
Otherwise, it’s guerrilla warfare in my own territory; a conflict that can stretch on for years with my people paying the ultimate price. No fucking way.
The phone buzzes again. I count slowly to five and then answer. “Yeah?”
“Hang up on me again, and I’ll slit your whore throat.”
There you are. His public persona has never been quite as good as mine, but he’s adept at charm when he puts his mind to it.
I don’t want him that controlled. I want him in a fucking freefall.
“You’re interrupting my night, Peter. It’s rude.
” I let amusement filter into my tone, knowing it will drive him up the fucking wall. “I’m entertaining.”
“Entertaining.” He sounds like he wants to crawl through the line and strangle me. Good. But when he speaks again, he sounds almost calm. “I knew you were a fucking rat, but I didn’t expect you to be so content with sloppy seconds. My territory. My men. Even my woman. It’s beneath you.”
“She was earlier, yes.”
Dangerous silence for a beat. Three. Five. “I hear you married her.”
“You heard right.” Now to drive it home.
“She wasn’t even free a day before she had my ring on her finger.
Practically begged me for it. Said she wanted a real man in her life instead of a pissant bully who can’t get it up.
” Tink’s gone tense against me, awake and listening, but I can’t retract a single damn statement.
Too much is at stake. “You say sloppy seconds, Peter. Tink and the rest of the fucking territory call me an upgrade.”
“Whatever you have to tell yourself, Hook. She might be fucking you right now, but she never stopped being mine.” He says it idly, and a thrill of true fear goes through me. Peter’s the most dangerous when he’s calm. “But it seems my darling Tatiana needs a firmer hand to correct her.”
This is what I wanted, but fuck if I can stand hearing him threaten her. I open my mouth, but Tink’s hand lands on my chest. I glance down, and she’s staring at me, her green eyes a little too wide. She shakes her head and mouths, Keep going.
I hold her gaze, trying to tell her that it will be okay.
I’ll kill this fucker before I let him touch her again.
I force mirth into my tone. “You can call her yours all you want, Peter. But it’s my name she’s screaming when she’s coming on my cock.
See you around.” I hang up and turn the vibrate function off the phone before I toss it aside.
It immediately lights up as he tries to call back, but I have eyes for only her. “I’m sorry.”
“Why? This is what we both wanted.”
I shake my head slowly. “This is what’s required. Want has nothing to do with it.”
She looks like she wants to argue with me, and I welcome it.
Anything to chase the shaken look off her face.
I’ve consoled myself over the years that I do what’s necessary, but I don’t hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it.
I can’t make that claim any more. Not with this woman in my bed, trying not to shake.
Not knowing what’s coming.
She must see something on my face, because she sits up. “I’m fine.”
“It’s okay if you’re not.”
“Even if I’m not, it isn’t your job to clean up the mess. I have it handled.” She starts to move away.
I touch her wrist, stopping her. “We’re married.”
“It’s hardly worth the paper they printed the certificate on. We both know what this is.” She still won’t look at me. “It’ll last as long as we need it to, and then it’s over.”
No.
I have to concentrate to keep my body relaxed, my expression even. Bundling her up and telling her that I’ll never let her go is the surest way to get her to bolt. “What if it’s never over?”
Finally, finally, she turns back to me. She’s stopped shaking, but her eyes are still too wide. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Come now, you have to know. All I needed for this plan was you as my wife. The rest isn’t required.” I smile a little at the way her jaw drops.
“You mean the rest like me screaming your name while I come on your cock?” She arches her brows, though something vulnerable still lingers on her face. “Pretty sure you just told Peter that.”
I snort. “Beautiful girl, it’s only a bonus that it’s true. I’m not so pure that I am incapable of lying when it suits my purposes.” I can actually see her shutting down and rush on. “Not to you.”
“Please.” She yanks her wrist out from under my hand. “Don’t act like I’m someone special. I used to be his, and now I’m your willing pussy. That’s all.”
I sit up straight. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
“Don’t I dare what?” She shoves off the edge of the bed and spins to face me. “Don’t speak the truth? You just got done telling me how you lie to suit your purposes. But apparently not with me?” She laughs bitterly. “You already fucked me, Hook. You don’t have to play the sweet card now.”
I drag my hands through my hair and strive for calm. It’s a lost cause. It’s always a lost cause where this woman is concerned. “How about this for some truth? I love you, you infuriating, amazing woman.”
She freezes. “That’s not funny.”
“Who’s laughing?”
“You can’t just …” She’s blinking too rapidly. “You just said… What the fuck, Jameson?”
It hasn’t slipped my notice that she only uses my first name when she’s completely undone. I’m not sure that it’s a good sign she’s using it now, but at least she’s listening. I move to the edge of the bed but don’t try to touch her. “I love you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Tink.” I wait for her to meet my gaze. “You are mighty and fierce enough to get your way at anything you set your mind to, but even you can’t change the way I feel just by telling me not to feel that way.”
She points a shaking finger at me. “I don’t know what game you’re playing—”
“Yes, you do. You’ve known it from the start.” It takes effort to hold still, to maintain my position instead of launching to my feet and pacing like I want to. “I want you. I’ve always wanted you.”
She looks like she wants to strangle me. “You don’t even like me.”
“Wrong again.”
“What kind of sick fuck gets off on fighting all the damn time?”
I give her the look that statement deserves. “There are two of them in this room right now.”
She makes an angry teakettle noise. “I don’t love you.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t.”
“That’s fine.”
She practically vibrates with rage. “Stop being so calm.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say, beautiful girl.
” I’m provoking her, and I don’t care. She’s not thinking about Peter right now.
She’s right here in this room with me. Nothing I’ve said is anything but the truth.
I don’t particularly like this truth any more than she does, but I’m not one who will shy away from it.
She’s mine. I love her. I don’t know what the future can even look like with the two of us, but we’ll figure it out. One way or another.
Tink takes a menacing step forward. “You … You …”
I smirk. “I’m right here. No reason to mince words.
Tell me what you really think.” I love it when she’s like this.
A warrior woman who will take down anyone in her path with a few choice words.
I must have a bit of a masochistic streak when it comes to Tink, because the meaner she is, the more I love it. The more I love her.
I am so fucked.
She marches up to me and presses her hands against my bare chest. “I cannot believe your cock is hard right now. What the hell is wrong with you, Jameson?”
I cover her hands with my own, careful not to press down so she doesn’t feel like I’m trapping her. “You’re the only one who makes me like this.”
“Lies,” she hisses. Tink places one knee on the bed next to my hip. “You’ve been lying to me from the very beginning. You didn’t need to fuck me. You just needed to marry me.”
“Yes.”
She straddles me, using her hands on my chest to push me back onto the bed. I allow it, though all I want in this moment is to touch her. To trace the pink flush of anger across her skin with my mouth. To hear her whispered threats as I plunge into her. I truly am twisted for this woman.