CHAPTER 55
Karma is tricky in that the venom you spew will one day come back on you, and the good you do will too.
The sharp clatter of the closet door rattles through the dingy hotel room as Veno thrashes inside.
His muffled curses and cries of pain, which are hindered by a large strip of duct tape, fill me with wicked satisfaction.
Every kick, every futile attempt to break free, is power I’m taking back bit by bit from the man who stole so much of it from me.
I slide the closet door open a couple of inches, enough to see his face peeking out of the body bag we’ve tied him up inside. We made a perfect hole in it for his face to peek out and sealed the sides, so we can watch his agony unfold, with the insects inside getting out.
When the light from the room illuminates his face, he screams and twists, which no doubt delivers another round of vicious stings; any movement is bound to do so. His pupils are blown wide. The look on his face—pure, helpless fury—pulls a grin from me.
He screeches behind the tape and his back bows. Seconds later, his eyes roll back in his head, and he blacks out.
“How much longer you wanna play with him, Lil’ Bird?” Finn’s voice comes from behind me, tinged with amusement. He’s lounging on the bed, his back resting casually against the headboard, legs crossed, remote in hand as he channel-surfs.
After closing the door, I go to him and kneel on the bed. The plastic covering crinkles under my weight, a nasty reminder of the nightmare I lived through in this very room. I shoot a glance at the blanket in disgust. The degree of filth committed here still lingers.
The time will soon come when I burn it to the ground, but not yet. Not today.
“Another hour, at least,” I say, grinning as Veno slams his shoulder into the door again, letting me know he’s resumed consciousness. The violent rattling and pain-filled screams carry on.
Finn chuckles low, half focused on the TV but splitting his attention long enough to give me a half-smile. “You’re call. I’m just here in case you need me, you know, to do anything… anything at all.”
I crawl closer, straddle his lap, and snake my arms around his neck.
He smells like leather and sandalwood today.
His new soap smells amazing, and it’s something that’s distinctly Finn.
I grind down on him, making him moan under his breath, his half-grin disappears as desire fills his features.
He sits up as hands find my waist, and his fingers dig roughly into my flesh.
“Thought you might be upset about the lack of disguises,” I tease.
His eyebrows twitch as if I’ve hit a nerve. Lips pursed, he leans back, barely restraining a frown now.
I arch an eyebrow at him and shift my weight. Knowing just how to tempt him back into a good mood, I fist his shirt and brush my lips over his neck. I place playful bites there and suck deeply on his skin.
He moans my name and his cock jerks beneath me, hardening further.
In one quick movement, Finn flips me onto my back, pinning my wrists above my head. The bed creaks under us, the dirty mattress sinking with our combined weight. Heat radiating from him.
I shriek and wiggle to break free, because ew … this bed is disgusting, but Finn doesn’t budge.
“Woman.” His voice is a low growl, eyes blazing with hunger.
“Yes.” I smile sweetly at him. He pries my legs open with his knee and forces them apart to make room for himself. I undulate against his cock, causing him to curse under his breath.
“There is a man locked in the closet.”
“I know,” I whisper. “I put him there.”
He studies my face and says, “Something about this makes you horny, doesn’t it?”
I open my mouth to protest, but he cuts me off. “Don’t lie.”
I sigh, deflating against the mattress. “Okay, fine. Yes, it’s… I don’t know. I love the power of it. Making him pay for what he did—to me, to the other girls—it’s… freeing. Like I’m conquering something.”
Finn’s lips part, his breath coming a little faster. His eyes flicker with something primal, and his hips thrust a few times against my pussy. “Well, when you put it that way…” He trails off, his grip tightening.
“See.”
He freezes. His grip tightens on my wrists. “Wait… did this happen with the landlord too?”
“Oh my god, Finn!” I struggle, and he lets me up. I slap both hands on his solid chest. “Are you seriously jealous right now?”
“I’m just asking because of the way you’re reacting. I’m wondering if this happened when you and Bodie were having your little medieval villain moment.”
“No, okay. That was different. That guy, I don’t know. It was different because I was with Bodie. He’s, like, friend material, not you.”
“Well, you can’t blame a guy for askin’. I just wanted to make sure.”
I shake my head incredulously. I grip both sides of his face. “Yes, I can. I can’t believe you were jealous. You don’t ever have to worry about that. I thought you knew that.”
He stares down at me, “For the most part, I do.”
“You don’t ever have to worry,” I whisper, my voice serious now. “It’s you, Finn. It. This feeling. It’s only something I feel when I’m with you. It always has been.”
“I’m older than you, Lil’. What about when I’m so old I need to use a cane because I have bad hips or some shit.
” He’s playing now and being sarcastic, but I know the age difference has always been an issue.
It was the reason it took him so long when we first met to even kiss me.
So yeah, I catch on to the underlying concern he probably doesn’t even realize is there behind his words.
“Especially then,” I say, my lips brushing his. “I’ve got a thing for older men, remember? A big thing for one in particular.”
“That right?”
I peck his lips and latch on to the bottom one with my teeth before letting it go.
A loud thud echoes from the closet. We both look over and listen. For a few seconds, I revel in the sounds Veno’s making.
“You seemed pretty disappointed when it turned out Veno was such an easy grab. Admit it—you wanted to see me in that old lady costume.”
Finn’s laugh sends warmth flooding into my chest. He catches my jaw in his hand, tilting my head so his teeth can graze the sensitive spot just under my ear.
“Nope,” he murmurs. “Definitely not that. Now, if you were to put on the pink skirt, corset, and those ridiculous shoes with the ribbons… I’d be…
well, let’s just say, a man could be motivated to do a great many things if you were wearing those. ”
“What kind of things?”
He pulls my legs up and forces them around his waist. “Bend you over the edge of the bed, for one. Spank this ass, another.” Without warning, he does just that. Swats said ass.
I wiggle to get free, but he holds me down. Pumps his hips repeatedly into me. It lights me up.
“I’d also remove the ribbons with my teeth and taste you from head to toe.”
“Is that right?”
He pinches my chin and takes my mouth. “And take your ass again, because I know how much you secretly love it when I do.”
I trail a fingernail down the side of his face. Grip his hair with my other hand, and use it to tilt his head down. I kiss him like my life depends on it. It’s a greedy, obsession-for-each-other-fueled kind of kiss.
When we come up for air, I ask, “What, pray tell, gave me away?”
He chuckles. “How about the way not one intelligible word could be spoken from these lips.” He rubs his thumb over my mouth. “It was all, uh-oh-ah-shhhh or some muffled cry into the pillow. Even the curse words you tried to say weren’t actual words you could finish.”
“You made sure of that by fucking them out of me.”
He smiles full on now. “Damn right I did. Nothing is better than watching you clutch that pillow for dear life, bury your face inside it, lose yourself to the point you forget all the pretty little words inside your head.”
“Or un-pretty words in this case.”
“Oh, they were pretty. There was also the way you reached around and sank your nails into my ass, and left marks for a week.”
Fuck. Okay, he has a point.
It’s like this now between us. He can read me so easily, or maybe it’s just that I’m no longer trying to hide myself away from him.
He’s pulling out a side of me I didn’t even know existed.
And there’s freedom to be found in it, because I don’t feel I have to act a certain way for him.
I can feel any way I want to, say anything I want to, and do, for the most part, anything I want.
He lets me run wild and lets the pieces fall where they may.
I pull back to meet his eyes. “Tell you what. As soon as we bury him, you can lay me out over the hood of your car, anyway you like. Think of it as how we’ll celebrate this chapter in our life finally coming to an end.”
His blue irises brighten. Surprise and enthusiasm fill them. “Close the book on it with a bang. I like that.” He chuckles, and I grin wickedly back at him.
Yes, it’s romantic, even with the piece of shit crying out and banging against the closet door. I’m twisted enough to get off on imagining how much pain Veno’s experiencing and what his pleas for mercy sound like underneath the duct tape, while I’m over here attempting to sex up my man.
Grinning like fiends, we get off the bed and check on our captive. We stare down at Veno, and sick satisfaction bubbles inside of me to see that there’s foam running out of the sides of his mouth.
“I just wish he’d put up more of a fight, you know? It was too easy,” Finn says.
“It’s called preparation, baby.” I pat Finn’s chest. At his scowl, I go on. “It’s okay, I’ll teach you.” He simply shakes his head.
I crouch down and reach in to shake the body bag, which has Veno thrashing again. His face is red, his breathing is labored, and there’s snot running out of his nose.
Finn sighs, “Can we please get this over with. He’s giving me a headache.”
I laugh softly, nodding. “Yeah, let’s get him out to the car.”