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“How long, Mia?” he growls, the thickness in his voice taking me off guard.
I drag my bottom lip between my teeth and nibble at the skin there as I consider my answer. I could lie to him, but he’d figure it out. I never bothered to delete the call log, so his answers are sitting on my phone downstairs anyway. “Since we first came here,” I whisper.
His head drops back as he stares at the ceiling, blowing out a frustrated breath, but he’s not turning his anger on me. He’s not like the other men I’ve known, even if there is a streak of darkness he always tries to hide from me.
I knew it was there, lurking just beneath the surface, but he held it at bay for my sake, even when all I ever wanted was for him to unleash it.
“Why didn’t you tell me the second the first call came?” he asks without looking back down at me, and I know it’s because he’s trusting me to tell him the truth.
“I don’t know,” I whisper. “I couldn’t ever confirm it was Kyle because he never spoke. He would call every day and just sit on the line, waiting for me to speak.”
“Bullshit.” He turns his green eyes on me, and I see the hurt swirling around in them, the need to protect me, the possessiveness he feels for me. “Once again, it’s because you didn’t think you’d be around long enough to deal with it.” It’s not a question, so I don’t bother confirming his suspicions. I don’t want to lie to him anymore than I already have, so it’s better I keep my mouth shut.
He paces back and forth at the base of the bed, his hands running through his hair in rough swipes. I wish there was something I could do to comfort him. I wish I could tell him that I was never planning on leaving, but I don’t want to give him false placations.
“Fuck!” Ace growls as he slams his fist into the pristine wall, the drywall giving way beneath the force.
I should be scared. I can acknowledge that. But I find myself rubbing my thighs together as he tugs his hand back, ignoring the blood across his knuckles.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, not trusting my voice not to break. The guilt is threatening to eat me alive.
He turns to me, and his eyes are wild. So fucking wild that it takes my breath away. Because the look he’s giving me is full of pure, unadulterated lust, and I’m breathless.
He prowls toward me, each step he takes is full of purpose, and although it occurs to me to run, I’m frozen in place.
His knee hits the mattress as he closes the distance between us. “I feel like I keep saying this, sugar, and yet it seems to go in one ear and straight out the other. Don’t mistake my need to care for you as weakness, Mia, because I will not fucking hesitate to tie you to this bed to make sure there’s no way you can run from me. I will escort you to the goddamn bathroom if I have to and spend the rest of my days watching every goddamn move you make if it means you’re safe.”
My breath catches in my throat as he hovers above me, his weight pressing me further into the bed—a feeling that would have had me spiraling into a panic a few weeks ago but feels so fucking right with Ace.
“You are not going back to that life, Mia. I don’t care who I have to kill, where I have to hide you, or if you fucking hate me for it. I will do whatever it takes. Always.” His breathing is choppy, brushing over my cheeks, and it’s clear he’s struggling to keep his voice even for my benefit.
He plants one elbow on the bed beside me, leaning most of his weight on it as he brings the other to cup my cheek. “Now I’m going to show you how fucking serious I am, and if you need me to stop at any time, I want you to say ‘red.’ Understood?”
My own breath catches in my throat as I stare up at him. Fear bites at the edge of my consciousness, but my need for the man above me is so much stronger, and I want him to give me everything.
I nod. “Show me your darkness,” I whisper into the space between us, and I don’t miss the way his green eyes flare with the challenge I’ve set him.
I have no idea what to expect from the version of the man I love that he hides away, but I have a feeling I’m in for a wild fucking ride.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
ACE
Anger thrums through my veins, making it almost impossible to be as gentle as I should be with her.
Mia’s words repeat themselves over and over in my mind until I can barely fight through the fog of lust to make sense of them.
“Show me your darkness.”
Four little words. On their own, they’re completely inconsequential. But together? Together, they’re like a fucking siren’s call. The need to unleash all the desires I’ve been forcing down on her is so fucking tempting, I don’t know how I’m going to stop myself. But I have to, right? I can’t show her the darkest parts of my soul because she’ll never look at me the same. She’ll never forgive me.
“Don’t think,” she whispers between us, her breath whispering against my cheeks as she leans up until her lips are so close I can taste their sweetness. “Just do.”
I’m gone the moment the words leave her mouth. I crash my lips to hers, devouring her mouth with rough swipes of my tongue and bites of her lips. I’m desperate for her. Every single part of her is mine, and if I have to fuck her so hard she can’t walk, can’t run, from me, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Because Mia is mine.
She’s been mine since the moment she walked into our foster home with innocent blue eyes and holding a bear so tight the poor thing looked like it was going to explode under the pressure. The same bear I sewed up every time he grew a new hole, even when I had no fucking clue what I was doing.
