CHAPTER 16 #2
But I suddenly knew in my bones, in my soul that if I let this continue, I’d surrender, fully and completely. I’d get lost in him, in the pleasure he awakened in me, and I couldn’t allow that—no matter how much I craved to know what he tasted like.
There was too much at stake. Too much to lose.
So when his lips descended on mine again, I forced out, “We can’t.”
The words were barely a wisp of air. Not convincing in the least. But at least I’d said them before I was too doped up on pleasure again to care what happened.
Thorne didn’t let go of me, his half-naked body still dangerously close to mine. But he’d paused at my words, paused and rumbled back, “Why not?”
“Because it’s . . . it’s wrong.” More convincing this time.
His fingers slid into the hair at my nape, eliciting a full-body shiver from me. “Doesn’t feel wrong.”
Dear ancestors, save me.
“It should,” I persisted. “We hate each other.”
“I hear that hate sex is extremely gratifying.”
My eyes flew up to find him already watching me. Searching. Challenging.
“That’s twisted,” I hissed, but it came out weak.
His fingers continued to explore my scalp, making me want to melt into his touch. “You weren’t complaining a minute ago.”
He got me there.
“Well, I should have. It was a mistake and won’t happen again.”
His fingers stopped. Good. Ending this before he could change my mind, I firmly pulled away. He immediately let me go, and I convinced myself that was a good thing.
But when I exited the shower and reached for the nearest towel, I heard him clearly say, “We’re not finished here, Snowflake.”
I stiffened again, then wrapped the towel around me and tossed back, “Yes, we are. I’m not going to become your sex buddy just because you saved me. I don’t owe that to you.”
“Winter . . .”
I ignored him, snagging another towel on my way out to dry my hair.
“Winter, stop.”
Something about the command made me pause.
The tone of his voice sounded alarmed. Desperate.
Before I could turn around, he left the shower and erased the distance between us.
He grabbed my hair, and I went poker straight, certain he was about to punish me for rejecting him, maybe even force himself on me.
The darkness within me immediately rose up, prepared to cut him in half if he dared cross that line.
But instead of using my hair to subdue me, he swept it over my shoulder and exposed my upper back. I froze, realizing too late why he’d come after me.
“Why do you have this?”
I didn’t need to see his eyes to know what they were looking at. I tried to swallow and failed, my throat sealing shut.
“Answer me,” he said, with enough bite that I flinched.
Struggling to breathe, to speak, I whispered, “You know why.”
“I want to hear you say it.” I hesitated too long. “Say it!”
“For her,” the words tore out of me. “I wanted the butterfly . . . to remember her by.”
He didn’t speak for a long moment, and I started to tremble again, my stomach twisting into knots.
Then, he said in a deathly quiet whisper, “You had no right.”
Hurt lanced through me, his words like a slap to the face. Ignoring his anger, I whirled around and cried, “I had no right?”
“No. Not after what you did to her.”
My lip quivered, but that cold anger didn’t leave his eyes.
Knowing it was pointless but needing to get the words out anyway, I haltingly said, “I-I tried to explain what happened that day. You knew we both wanted to attend Heartstone and had started to prepare. We were just practicing, I swear. It was an accident, Thorne. I don’t even remember how it happened. ”
“Do you think that makes it better?”
“No! But I never would have hurt her intentionally. Jewel was my best friend. My only friend.”
He ground his teeth together, then gritted out, “She was my baby sister.”
“She was my sister, too.”
His eyes flashed in warning, and I swore I heard thunder rumble in the distance. “No, she wasn’t.”
“She was,” I pressed despite the precarious line I was crossing. “Juliana and I were soul sisters. We had a connection, an empathic bond I can’t fully explain. She meant more to me than you could possibly know.”
“She was my responsibility,” Thorne snapped. “It was my job to protect her, but I foolishly allowed you to continue seeing each other after the fallout. I trusted you.”
“I know, and I’m sorry! I have to forever live with the guilt of what I did, so even though our pactum won’t allow you to kill me right now, at least you know I’m already in hell!”
The door whipped open, and Thorne reacted at the speed of lightning. One second, I was in front of him, and the next behind, his body crowding me against the counter as he faced the intruder.
“Whoa! Chill out, bro,” a familiar voice that was forever mocking said. “We heard the yelling match and just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
“Everything’s fine, Tanaka,” Thorne bit out. “Now leave.”
Riku scoffed, not the least bit intimidated. “You need to jerk off or take a cold one, Hudson. Bambi’s in no condition to deal with your hostility right now.”
As Riku stepped inside, Thorne bristled, reaching back to grab my arm. “You’re not taking her.”
“We are going to dress and feed her while you cool off. Come out when you no longer look like a homicidal maniac.”
Thorne’s fingers tightened on my arm, a rumble that sounded way too much like a growl vibrating his chest.
“Trust us, Thorne,” another voice said, this time Oz’s. “We’ve got her.”
His calm, reassuring tone had the desired effect.
Thorne’s grip on me slowly loosened, then fell away.
As he stepped aside, allowing me to see his two friends, I made sure the towel around me was extra secure.
Riku slid his gaze over me with an amused smirk, then barked a laugh when Thorne headed for the shower again.
“Jerking off, it is.”
Confused by Riku’s words, I made the worst mistake of my life and glanced over my shoulder, right in time to see Thorne toss aside his boxer briefs.
With all of my might, I tried to look away, but my eyes betrayed me and zeroed in on his naked body.
On the appendage between his legs. My mouth went bone dry as I took in how erect it was, how hard.
The tip was engorged, and I couldn’t help but wonder how something that big could fit inside a vagina.
Mortified by my train of thought, I made another huge mistake.
Instead of turning around, I looked up at his face.
When I found his gaze already on me, I could have died from humiliation.
I wanted to die as he stared at me with that stone-cold anger and deliberately reached down to fist his thick shaft.
I gaped at him a moment longer, unable to look away. His eyes hooded, a spiteful gleam entering them right before he slowly stroked the length. The head swelled even more, pulling the slit open and allowing a little precum to leak out.
All the blood drained from my face.
“Okay, time to leave before you pass out,” Riku said, amusement heavy in his tone as he slid a hand to the small of my back and nudged me toward the door.
Thorne’s lusty groan followed us out, and I hurried from the bathroom like the hounds of hell were at my heels.