Chapter Four #3
With a pained growl, Henri unwound his arm from around my waist but didn’t let go of my wrist. He glowered at Sam as if he’d happily murder him for interrupting.
Sam swallowed as suspicions flared in his eyes.
His face hardened as he repeated his question.
“What were you two whispering about? She didn’t say anything bad about me, did she?
Whatever she said, it’s a lie. She’s always been a liar.
A nobody. She was only somebody because she was with me, and now—”
“Oh...Sam.” I shook my head sadly.
In that terrible moment, I saw him.
Truly saw all the pieces I’d been so stupidly blind to: the immaturity, the selfishness, the ego.
He was more afraid of me badmouthing him to a total stranger than he was at condemning his soul for ever entertaining accepting cash for me.
All my puff and bluster evaporated like a punctured balloon. “Oh, you idiotic, self-centred fool, Sam.” Tears stung my eyes, and the man holding me shot me a quizzical look.
His nostrils flared at the first glimmer of my tears.
A full-body shudder worked through Henri as a single droplet trickled down my cheek.
He froze as wetness caught in the corner of my mouth.
He growled low and deep.
He stood transfixed as if my tears were the worst aphrodisiac of his life.
And then, as if he couldn’t stop himself, he yanked me into him, grabbed my jaw with one giant, powerful hand, and smashed his mouth to mine.
I didn’t even have time to breathe.
He kissed me.
Savagely.
Inhumanly.
He kissed me as if he could stop my heart with a single lick.
His tongue pierced my slack, shocked lips like a sword intent on puncturing my very soul.
He hunted me and choked me. And then, he jerked away as if he hadn’t meant to kiss me after all.
As if he hadn’t meant to swipe his tongue inside the corner of my mouth, gathering up the saltiness of my sadness, swallowing it down with a desperate, tortured groan.
I swayed on the spot.
My mouth was bruised.
My insides tangled.
What the—
“What the fuck?” Sam snapped. “What sort of prick kisses another man’s woman?”
I flinched and licked my stinging lips.
“The one who just gave you a wad of cash for the privilege,” Henri said.
Sam glanced down, fisting the money as if he’d forgotten it in his sea of unrighteous jealousy.
Henri smiled. Like a shark. Like the devil. “Do we have a deal?” He gave Sam an icy look beneath hooded brows. “You seem pretty fond of that cash. Is the trade done or not?”
Words tumbled from me. “There won’t be any trade—”
“You know what? Ily’s right.” Sam choked, holding out the thick envelope. “I’ve changed my mind. Take your money and let her go.”
I sagged with relief.
Oh, thank goodness.
Sam might be a twat, but at least he wasn’t a—
“Keep the money,” Henri purred. “You know you want to.”
“Nah.” Sam shook his head. “I’m—”
“You were right, you know. She was whispering about you.”
Sam froze. “She was? I knew it!”
“I can tell you what she said, if you want?” Henri ran his tongue over his glistening lips, his entire body primed to deliver perfect cruelty. “Do you want to know what she truly thinks of you?”
Sam narrowed his eyes on me. “I always knew she spoke about me behind my back. Go on then. What did she say?”
“I have never spoken badly about you to anyone, Sam. Don’t take the bait. I said nothing—”
Sucking in a deep breath as if fortifying himself, Henri smirked.
“She said you’ve had to pop Viagra every time she asked you for sex.
That your cock doesn’t work, and she’s never had an orgasm because you have no idea how to pleasure her.
You’ve never touched her right. Never kissed her right. Never fucked her right.”
Wait...no—
I scrambled to speak. “No, I—”
“She said she’s only put up with you because you had money. Money that she gave to her adoptive brother for touching her the way you never could.” He chuckled as his tone turned blacker than midnight. “She said at least he made her come—”
“No!” I shouted. “I didn’t—”
“What?!” Sam roared. “She said that?” His face turned ugly as all his hate arrowed into revenge.
“You really are a piece of fucking work, Ily. I knew it. I knew you were fucking him. The amount of times you were in his bed when I’d call.
The number of times he picked up the phone and refused to put me onto you.
He thinks you’re his and now I know why!
Fuck, I knew I never should’ve wasted my time on you.
You’re nothing. Nothing, do you hear me? ”
My ears rang.
I floundered. “Sam, I never—”
“She also said she fantasises about your father.” Henri kept going. “He’s the one with the real power, not you. It’s him she wanted to spread her legs for and—”
“Shut up!” I yelled. “Lies. It’s all—”
“Fuck it!” Sam fisted the money and backed away. “Take her. Fuck her. Hurt her for all I care. I’m done.”
“Sam. Wait...I didn’t. I never—”
But it was too late.
Without another word, Sam turned on his heel, threw aside the velvet rope barricading us from the rest of the nightclub, and vanished into the pulsing, body-writhing dark.