By the time they were finished, he was no longer recognizable as a human being. He was missing chunks of blonde hair. His skin was black, blue, and bloody. His body looked unnatural and clearly broken. They’d finished him off by carving a large leviathan cross down his stomach.
Both men were breathing heavily, covered in blood and sweat. Unsure what to do, I slowly stood up with the intention to give them a minute alone. They’d clearly needed this one kill much more than I did.
Romero’s eyes flashed to mine and cemented me to the floor.
“Get the torques ready. We need a minute.” He spoke to Grimm but continued to stare at me. Looking between us, Grimm nodded, grabbed Jonah’s large, broken body, and left the room.
“You were going to come in here alone with him.”
Okay. That wasn’t the first thing I’d expected him to say, but I understood why he’d be pissed. I had never seen Romero lose control of himself, but there was a first time for everything.
He wasn’t a get-angry-in-your-face kind of psycho. He was a silent killer. He raged inside and only showed it through his actions. He’d just brutalized a man and barely spoken a word the entire time. His eyes told a different story.
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t,” I admitted. The steel in his voice had part of me ready to hide under the desk, but I refused to cower, and I honestly hadn’t been thinking. All I knew was that he couldn’t get away. Now that it came back to me, I saw how reckless it was.
“I shouldn’t have done that. I won’t do it again.”
“I know you won’t, because I’m taking you home,” he replied, cool as ice.
“You’re going to keep me at your warehouse while you––”
“That’s not our home.” He cut me off. “This isn’t a debatable topic. I don’t give a shit what you do once you’re there, but it’s the best place for you. There’s a fucking tiny army of Savages that will die for you there. There’s a doc on standby. I need you to do this without fighting me. It makes me fucking crazier than I already am every time you go off on your own.
“I’d tear this whole motherfucking world apart if something happened to either one of you. I can’t lose you.”
I swallowed, opened my mouth and then shut it again. He hadn’t said a damn thing wrong. He’d said everything right. The rawness in his voice tore at my heartstrings.
“I will bring David to you alive. We can still end this together,” he added in a quieter voice.
“Okay. I’ll go.”
“Okay?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, okay. It’s the best thing for Baby S, and you just said you’d bring David to me. You took all my ammunition away before I could even load it.”
I wouldn’t play at his emotional state. This was rare form for him, and that would be wrong on so many levels, so I eased back into his comfort zone with wit. I was becoming quite good at that.
“Cali.” He gave me a whole different kind of look and I knew exactly what it meant.
“Rome,” I retorted, pretending to be oblivious and failing.
He was covered in blood and had just destroyed a man in front of me; he’d never looked fucking better. I don’t think I’d ever wanted him more.
“Get up and turn around. I want you bent over that fucking desk.”
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
It was painfully intense.
I was completely naked.
He was behind me on his knees with his tongue inside my pussy and the handle of his knife easing in and out of my ass.
I’d already come once. He pulled away and sunk his teeth into my right cheek. I bit my lip to stifle a moan. The knife disappeared and something wet replaced it.
I glanced over my shoulder to see him holding his freshly cut fist over my ass, letting blood drip down the crevice. I could have come again from that visual alone.
