Chapter Ten Jade
Chapter Ten
JADE
Go back to my family.
Lose my freedom, all I fought for. And knowing Aiden, this was my only shot, no do-overs, game over.
Or let Ezra whisk me away from here and get some insight into his family.
I could do something good. I could use whatever information I get from being with him to help them end this war. I could show Aiden I’m not the glass doll he thinks I am. I could show him that I can take care of myself and be an asset to the family while keeping my independence.
I’m so sick and tired of this fucking war.
Ezra eyes me as a body drops beside us, blood pouring over the ground. “You’re running out of time to make a choice, love. I think I’m being nice by giving you an option.”
“If I go back with them, what happens?”
He chuckles, hand wrapping around my throat, pulling me closer until his lips brush against mine. “Then I hunt you down all over again and make sure you know that you’re never going to escape me.”
A chill runs down my spine.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he could kill me if he really wanted to.
“Take me away from here,” I whisper against his lips.
For the first time in my life, I want to do something for me. I want to be the one calling the shots and deciding the steps I take. I want to gain power in my family so I can keep the freedom I conquered, and this is the way to do it.
He takes my hand with a smile that sends an uncomfortable feeling through me.
I don’t know if it’s the attraction I have for him mingling with the fear, but I don’t care.
I’m running from one cage by locking myself into another.
I look around as we step off the elevator, blood staining our clothes. “Where are we?”
He takes a set of keys from his pocket. “My apartment. Thought you might like a little bit of freedom, and my roommate isn’t going to be home tonight.”
“You work for the Rinaldos, but you have a roommate?”
Ezra looks at me over his shoulder as he unlocks the door. “Your family killed his wife and his child was caught in the crossfire. I don’t need the roommate, but he needs someone to make sure that he doesn’t go off the deep end again.”
I fight past the lump in my throat and follow him inside. “I’m sorry. My family wouldn’t have killed a woman or a child on purpose. Aiden views it as wasteful. Always has.”
“Is that supposed to be comforting?” His tone is hollow.
After he tosses the keys onto a console table in the hallway, he kicks off his shoes and waits for me to do the same to mine.
We head down the long hallway and into the open concept living room and kitchen.
There are wide windows that overlook the city at night, the lights shining down below.
I take a deep breath and follow him deeper into the apartment, taking in the dark leather couches and black walls.
The kitchen cabinets are black, the butcher block countertops a honey-tone beneath the warm lights.
Perching on the edge of the couch, I glance over at Ezra. “Why do you think I deserve freedom? You don’t trust me yet, and I sure as hell don’t trust you. I don’t know if I’m ever going to trust you.”
Ezra unbuttons his shirt, leaving it hanging open over his muscled torso.
I clench my thighs together, the vibrator shifting around inside me.
He smirks as his gaze drops to my lap. “Do I have to trust you to think you’re going to do what I want?”
“I don’t know. Depends what you want, I guess.”
I lean back on the couch, but it’s only a moment before he grabs my thighs and flips me onto my back.
As much as I want to, I can’t stop my hands from pressing against his torso as he hovers over me.
My fingers press into his stomach, tracing up his chest and to his neck.
There’s not enough strength in my body to strangle him before he gets me off him, but it would be fun to try.
He arches an eyebrow. “What do you think you’re going to do?”
“I could kill you right now. You brought me to your apartment. You made yourself vulnerable.” I slip my leg out of the slit in my dress, hooking it over his hip.
Just keep playing the game for as long as possible. Manipulate him and maybe get an orgasm at the same time.
It’s not going to be a moment I’m proud of, but the image of his cock in his hand is still burned into my brain. I’d be lying if I said that I don’t think he’d be able to stretch me out in the best ways possible.
Ezra grabs my wrists in one of his hands, forcing my hands high above my head. With the other, he reaches down between my legs, grabbing the toy and pulling it out.
And then his head is between my legs, his grip on my wrists gone.
His lips trace up and down my inner thighs, barely whispers of touches.
When he blows out a cool breath on my clit, I let out a moan, hips rising off the couch to meet him.
He chuckles before his tongue flattens against me. It moves at a torturously slow pace over my clit, flicking and circling.
I always knew he’d be better than the sexts.
He used to tell me all the things he was going to do to me. I spent too much time between writing one paper and the next getting off to what he said. To the videos he would send me in return.
Teeth graze the sensitive bud before he pushes a finger into me, pressing against my inner walls, teasing me before sliding another in.
I rock against his fingers. “Yes. Please.”
“Already begging?” He bites my inner thigh hard enough that I’m sure there’s going to be a mark in the morning.
And that only turns me on more.
My fingers sink into the short strands of his hair, though there’s not much to hold onto. Still, I grip the back of his head, grinding into him as his fingers work faster, thrusting deeper.
Then he sucks hard on my clit, sending me over the edge of the orgasm I’ve been waiting for since he told me to put on the dress.
His tongue circles my clit in time with his fingers as he draws out the orgasm for as long as possible.
“Fuck, you’re already so wet for me, and we’ve barely started.” He gets up and lets his shirt drop, turning for a moment to toss it over a chair.
It’s then that I catch a glimpse of the crying angel on his back, the four horsemen charging into war beneath it.
“Let me see your tattoo,” I say softly, sitting up and making room for him to sit on the couch in front of me.
He does as I say, and for a moment, I feel more powerful than I have in days.
Ezra has always made me feel powerful when talking to him, though. It’s as if I have him in the palm of my hand, but just for those moments when he allows it.
There’s something addictive about the subtle power struggle. The changing of dynamic that he allows.
“You aren’t what I thought you would be.” I trace my fingers over the lines of his tattoo. I kneel behind him, mouth tracing over his hammering pulse. “I didn’t think I was going to want you like this. I didn’t think you were the dominant kind either.”
He chuckles, tilting his head to the side and giving me better access. “You didn’t think I was going to allow you to dominate me, did you?”
“Only a little.”
In the blink of an eye, he’s on his feet and hauling me up with him. Our clothing heads to the floor as his nimble hands roam over my body.
And then he spins me around, shoving me to bend over the arm of a chair, my ass in the air.
He slams into me without a moment of hesitation, burying himself to the hilt as my pussy clamps down around him.
I meet his every thrust, needing more of him. Wanting to give myself over to the version of Ezra I know. Pretending for just one night that I can separate one man from the other.
His fingers dig into my hips. “You’ve always been such a good little whore for me, love. You were always putting that pretty pink pussy on display. I could spend forever staring at it.”
“Just fuck it,” I pant, breathless, as one of his hands snakes around to my clit.
All it takes is him rolling my clit between his fingers, his cock throbbing inside me as he goes deeper than my own fingers have ever done.
He sends me over the edge, his own groan and release following.
He keeps pumping, though the strokes slow.
Ezra takes his time getting his fill of me before pulling out.
With a steady hand, he pulls me back up straight, spinning me around to face him. “I want you to remember that the next time you even think for a second that I’d allow you to dominate me.”
I smirk, nails raking down his chest. “You already have.”
Something sparks in his eyes before he grabs his slacks from the floor and pulls out his phone. “I’m going to order burgers. You should go get cleaned up. My room is down the hall, open door. Find yourself something to wear.”
I pad down the hall and to his room, taking it in.
The scent of his cologne clings to the sheets, filling the room with a light hint of musk.
I step into the attached bathroom, cleaning up before going back into his bedroom and opening the dresser.
On top of everything else is a selection of my clothing.
He broke into my home and stole my clothing.
I should be more upset about it than I am, but after days of living in only a t-shirt, I’m excited for a little pair of silk sleep shorts and a matching camisole.
I should snoop through his things and see if there’s anything here I can use against him, but there’s not enough time for that. There’s a loud knock on the door that sends me hurrying from the room before he can come looking for me.
I perch on the edge of the couch, and he comes back into the room, carrying a bag from my favorite burger place.
He sets the bag on the coffee table, taking off long enough to pull on a pair of gray shorts before coming back and joining me.
He sits down beside me, opening the bag and pulling out his burger. “We’re going to stay here tonight, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with you in the morning.”
“Does that have to do with the obsession or with who your family is?” I take my own burger, my stomach turning.
“Both.”
“Why are you obsessed with me? Why go to all this effort to get me? Why offer to let me go back to my family after going through all the effort of kidnapping me?”
None of it makes sense. Not that I think he’s going to explain, but he might let something slip. Just enough to give me a hint of where his mind is at, since it’s impossible to read him.
He smirks and shakes his head, eyes shining. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I would.”
“And I’d like you to go to an event with me in two nights.” He takes a large bite of his burger, eyeing me before focusing on his food. “You’re my good luck charm, and I’m going to need it.”
I bite into the burger, savoring the taste of the apricot jam with the deep-fried goat cheese patty. Even if my stomach is turning, there’s no refusing the best burger in New York.
“Do I have a choice?” I already know what the answer is going to be.
“No.”
“Great. Just what I wanted.” I allow the sarcasm to drip from my tone before taking another big bite of the burger. I lean back on the couch, crossing my legs. “I thought coming here was supposed to be about me getting more freedom?”
“You don’t have a shackle around your ankle. I’d call that freedom.”
“I can’t do what I want.”
“No.” He finishes his burger and moves onto his onion ring. “But you’ve never really been able to do that, have you?”
The question is a mocking rhetorical. He knows that I haven’t, and he’s reminding me that I’m still powerless. That at the end of the day, I’m his to do with as he pleases.
I can’t wait until the day I get to sink a blade into his neck.
Maybe I’ll do it the next time he’s screwing me.