The rested look on his face doesn’t last long. His body tenses. His expression morphs into something deadly. Harder. I sit up groggily, and the twinge in my groin makes me groan. I curl my legs under me, and a gush of liquid comes out. I can’t believe I’ve been letting him come inside me almost every night. I’m on birth control, but it’s still a risk. I should clean up, wash away his sperm, but I’m too curious to get off the bed. Who was on the phone? I pull the blanket over my lap, studying him. He curses, dropping his phone back on the bed, and shoves his cock in his pants.
I gasp when he walks out into my living room. My door opens. My mouth also opens in shock. He just left? What the fuck?
He returns and walks into the room carrying a black handgun. The end has a long black barrel. I knew he had it. I saw it briefly, holstered to his chest, after we left the forest weeks ago, but now it’s in his palm and he looks ready to use it. Jesus Christ. I suck in a breath as he checks the gun, removing the bottom. I spot golden bullets. It’s loaded. My throat goes dry. Oh my god.
A booming crash of broken glass makes me freak, and I scream, dropping to the bed. The blare of the building alarm is next. The ringing is loud and horrifying, piercing my ears. Stone curses again.
Horror fills me when I process what it means. I know that sound. It’s my alarm. “My gallery!” I tumble off the bed, frantically searching for something to cover my body. The closest thing I can find is his T-shirt. I yank it on. Stone’s phone keeps ringing, but he ignores it, heading for the door, moving quickly, gun pointed outward. I follow behind him, ready toinvestigate. Stone opens the door and holds out his hand, preventing me from leaving, “Stay here.”
“What!? No! That’s the alarm for my gallery! I’m coming with you!” He doesn’t budge, and I push at his arm, shouting over the blare of the alarms. “Move!”
He moves me back inside against the wall, slamming the door. He grips my bicep painfully, while his gun hangs by his side. “Stay. Here. Camryn. I mean it.”
I tear at the manacle of his fingers, digging into my skin. “You don’t own me, Stone!”
He smiles cruelly and slides the gun up over my thigh and between my legs. I suck in a breath. My pussy is still wet, saturated in him, me, and our sweat. The long barrel settles in the seam of my pussy. The smooth texture of the metal slides back and forth. It’s warmer than I expected. He shifts slightly, and the tip of the barrel slips inside me. The threat is there. In his eyes. In his hold. In the position of the gun. He stares down into my face, rubbing the barrel along my clit. Despite the blaring horns, despite the thread of fear, I’m getting turned on. “I own everything about you. My cum is dripping down your legs as we speak.” He steps back, and I stare down at the gun. My moisture glistens on the long cylinder. “Now stay the fuck here.”
He opens the door and steps out, slamming it behind him. I wait a few minutes, pacing. The alarm is now off. “Fuck it.” I wrench open my apartment door and fly down the stairs. The back door to his shop is ajar, and I step through. I curse when I walk in to find the front windows of the shop smashed, glass covering the floor. Spray paint mars the walls. Bright red paint that drips down the wall and to the floor. I read the letters MZS. The amazing framed photos that once lined the walls now litter the ground, their glass fronts shattered. Turning, I notice more destruction. Almost everything is a wreck.
“Cam.”
I turn back around when I see him, bare-chested, staring at me. “What is this? What happened?” It’s Stone’s eyes that clue me in. The look that I’ve seen before. It’s the look he gets when he shuts down. I back up and spin around, running.
“Camryn!”
His shout follows me, but I ignore it and rush down the small hall to the back door of my shop, jerking it open. The second I’m inside, I feel faint. It’s destroyed. The brand-new, custom-made, pretty, beveled-edged glass windows I had installed are smashed. Webbing of glass still hangs from the frame. Riggs and Onyx are there, crouching, in the middle of the gallery, looking down at something between them.
“What the fuck?!” I take more inventory of the damage. Spray paint mars the painted walls and the reception desk. Those words MZS are sprayed on my walls, just like the tattoo shop. I could cry. Every wall I painstakingly painted is covered in graffiti. Normally, I could appreciate it as art, but not when it covers the walls I was prepping for Jacinda’s art. “What does MZS stand for? Is it a gang or some shit?” I knew the neighborhood wasn’t the greatest. My father’s words sting me.“Rundown neighborhood.”But I love it here. The people are honest and raw. I feel completely safe, well, mostly safe, notwithstanding those moments over the last month when I felt like someone was watching me. When Stone was watching me, I correct myself. I can no longer get annoyed by it, as I have bigger issues to deal with right now. I look around more and want to scream when I notice that the wall lights are also smashed. Dammit.
Jacinda’s show is in a few days, and I’m fucked. I don’t know how I’m going to get everything repaired in time.
I feel his presence the moment Stone steps up behind me. Riggs and Onyx both stand and look over my shoulder.
Neither of them seems surprised to see me. Riggs’s eyes drop to my shirt before rising back up to my face. He raises both brows. In my haste to get here, I pulled on Stone’s discarded shirt and nothing else.
He crosses his arms and looks to my right, where I know Stone is standing, shirtless, pants undone. My hair is also a mess. I’m sure we both smell like sex, since that’s what we were doing before Stone got the call. I swear, Riggs smiles. Onyx doesn’t react at all. Just waits patiently.
I tiptoe toward them even as Stone tries to grab my arm. I evade his attempt, needing to see everything up close and personal.
His angry voice doesn’t dissuade me from moving closer to the destruction.
“I thought I told you to stay upstairs.”
I kneel, picking up a huge shard of glass. “What happened?” Riggs looks over my shoulder, and it pisses me off. “No, Riggs! Don’t look at him! Look at me! It’s my gallery! What happened!?”
Stone marches over to me, hooking his arm under mine, dragging me up to his face. “Go upstairs, Camryn!”
His growl only makes me angrier. “Yeah, that isn’t going to happen!” I wrench away from him and lift the broken piece to his face, shaking it. “This is my business, Stone! Mine!” Spinning back, I head to the door and immediately yelp in pain, lifting my foot. “Fucking hell!” I bend, spotting the shards of glass stuck in my food. Blood leaks out, covering the cut, and I lose sight of the splinter.
Suddenly, I’m airborne, and I hold onto Stone’s back and waist. “What are you doing!? Put me down! My ass is out!” I hiss, slapping at his back while trying to pull his shirt down to cover my bare pussy and ass.
Stone ignores me and swings to the side. I lift my head and find Riggs and Onyx watching us.
“Look the fuck somewhere else!” Stone barks.
Onyx immediately turns away, while Riggs grins and slowly covers his eyes. I fume as Stone easily climbs the stairs with me in his arms. My foot throbs, but I’m too worried about my gallery. “I don’t need you carrying me.” I slap at him again. “Stone, it’s just a piece of glass! Put me down!” The slap on my ass leaves me dumbfounded. The burn spreads, and I shriek, “Cut it out!”
He walks into his apartment right toward my bedroom and tosses me down on my bed. The same bed he just fucked me on half an hour ago. I bounce on my side.
