Chapter 40
MADISON
Isat up so quickly a wave of sudsy water sloshed over the edge of the tub. “How did you get in here? I locked the door.”
He stood there, silent, staring at me.
My towel was out of reach, and I had no washcloth.
I sank low in the water and scooped an armful of bubbles up to my chest. “What do you want?”
A flash of lightning illuminated the room as Pierce stepped forward. The Tudor grid pattern on the windows shadowed his face in slash marks.
A bandage covered the gash on his forehead. He’d changed into a dark blue robe.
My eyes flickered to the mirror as he passed. My fevered imagination half expected him not to have a reflection. If ever I was to believe in vampires, now would be the moment.
My heart beat so fast my head spun.
I drew my knees up to my chest. “I want you to leave.”
He stalked closer to the tub.
His arm stretched out.
Mesmerized, I watched his long fingers dangle over the water’s edge before dipping just below. His touch sent ripples along the surface, as if the very water was trembling from the contact.
My breath caught in my throat when his fingers swept over my knee then trailed along the water, to hover just above the bubbles covering my breasts.
He stared down at me with those sharp, sterling silver eyes of his that gave away nothing.
Using the tip of his finger, he popped one bubble, then another. And another.
The lit candles cast shifting shadows on the wall. The only sound in the room was the patter of rain against the windowpanes.
He caressed the top curve of my breast through the soap bubbles. “I can’t get the image of your breasts out of my mind. The way they looked in your lace bra, bared to the wind and rain on that cliff’s edge. So beautiful.”
He reached for the belt of his robe and slowly pulled on the knot. It slipped open.
He met my gaze. “Do you have any idea how much you fascinate me, Madison?”
I stared at his muscled chest as he shrugged out of his robe and let it fall to the floor. He was still wearing his suit trousers from earlier. Drips of dried blood trailed from his head wound.
I remained silent.
He raised one eyebrow as he reached for the fastening of his trousers. “Do you?”
I licked my lips. “No.”
He flicked open the top button. He smiled, but it was without mirth. “No. Of course not. Innocent creatures like you never know your effect on evil, jaded men like me.”
His trousers slipped low. He was all hard muscle and tanned skin.
He gripped the opposite sides of the tub with both hands and leaned in close until his face was only inches from mine. “Tell me. How many times did you fuck my brother?”
Goosebumps rose along my arms.
The blood pounded in my ears.
“It’s none of your business.” I held my chin up and tightened my core to stop the shaking in my hands.
“You are my business.”
“I don’t think….”
His response was whip sharp. “Answer me.”
“Never,” I blurted out.
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
I slipped lower in the tub until I was submerged almost to my chin. “I never had sex with your brother.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“How’s that possible?”
“We’d only dated a few weeks when the accident happened.”
He grabbed me by the jaw and tilted my head back. “What about your mouth?”
I whimpered, not sure what he was asking.
He ground out, “Did you suck his cock?”
I shook my head as I kicked my legs. Water splashed over the edge, soaking his trousers.
He seemed not to notice. His stare searched my face. “Why not?”
I grabbed his wrist. “Please, I don’t want to talk about this.”
“I need to know, Madison.”
I broke. “He tried. He couldn’t get it up. He got angry and hit me, which is why I was breaking up with him. We argued that night and then he crashed. Okay? Are you happy now?”
He let go of my jaw and reared back. Standing to his full height, he turned away, thrusting a hand in his hair and clenching it.
There was a long, tense silence.
His back stiffened as he lowered his arm to his side. Finally, he spoke. “My brother hit you?”
I didn’t want to answer. Didn’t want to relive it.
I just stared at his flexing back muscles.
Stared at his hand, slowly curling into a fist. How strange, to know that when Jameson did that it was to strike against me and for reasons that defied understanding, I knew that Pierce was doing it for me.
The tops of my shoulders cooled as I struggled to form a response but failed.
Pierce turned and faced me. “Tell me.”
“Please don’t make me.”
“It’s important.”
“Why? Why could it possibly matter? He’s dead.”
His brow furrowed and he opened his mouth as if to say something then closed his lips. He moved closer to the tub and reached out to trace the side of my face with his fingertips.
His throat worked as he swallowed. “Answer me...please.”
I blinked. “You said please.”
“I did.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what.”
“Yes, he hit me.”
“More than once?”
“Yes.”
He inhaled through his nose as his lip curled. “I’ll kill him.”
I frowned and leaned forward, the water shifting around me. Placing my hand over his where it rested on the edge of the tub, I said softly, “He’s already dead, Pierce.”
He flipped his hand and captured mine. “You of all people should know that nothing gets in the way of something or someone I want…not even death.”
A chill ran over my skin despite the warmth of the water. I pulled my hand back, surprised when he let it go. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He lowered his chin and pinned me with an intense look. “You know damn well what that means.”
Just then an ungodly crack of thunder, so loud the very foundations of the house shook, startled me so badly I screamed.
At that moment, Pierce leapt into the tub with me.
I screamed again as he grabbed my shoulders, pulling me up to meet his face.
“You beautiful, innocent creature, do you have any idea what this means?”
His eyes were wide and wild, lit with an unholy fire.
Before I could respond, his mouth fell on mine. His tongue thrust inside and he clasped my wet body to his chest, wrapping his arm around my back and fisting my hair at the nape of my neck.
He kissed me until there was no breath left in me.
When he pulled back, my lips were bruised and swollen. “You’re not just mine now. You’ve always been…just mine.”
He laughed. The sound slightly unhinged and maniacal.
“I’m not yours. I never was.”
He laughed harder. “You were always mine.”
The tub was so large he could flip us around until I was straddling him.
I tried to climb out, but he held firm. “You’re insane.”
He pulled me down until my breasts were pressed against his chest. With his free hand, he reached between us and freed his cock. He positioned himself at my entrance.
There was nothing I could do to stop him. I didn’t want to.
He wrapped his hand around my neck.
As he slowly pushed inside me, he rasped against my ear, “Don’t worry, babygirl. I was going to let him live…but now…I’m going to personally kill the bastard…just for you.”
“Who?” I asked with a gasp. He was so big, and this position made him almost impossible to take. Impossible to think beyond the feeling of him stretching me, filling me.
“Jameson. I know where he’s hiding and I promise, babygirl, I’m gonna kill him for ever daring to lay his fucking hands on you.”
He thrust in deep.
Wait…Jameson was alive?