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CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
*Lace*
Other than my shuddery sobs, the room is so quiet that the verr verr of a phone vibrating can be heard. Kal clears his throat and answers with a defeated, “Yeah?”
The person on the other end begins speaking, but the only word I can make out is a name — Jess.
My sore, aching eyes lift just in time to catch Kal droop his shoulders and flick a brief, sorrowful glance in my direction. Saying nothing more to the caller, he simply hangs up and storms out of the room.
I try to stand up, to chase after him, but Coty refuses to let me. He even keeps a hold on me when their phones all chime in unison.
Every man in the room, except for Coty, checks their phone, exchanging glances with each other before looking down at Coty and me. Kio gives him a tight, jerky nod of his head, relaying some sort of aggressive silent message. Then, they all just walk out.
“No!” I scream. “Take me with you!” I writhe against my cage. “Coyote. Please. Please take me to her. Please, Coyote,” I desperately plead.
“You know I can’t do that,” Coty sighs, his chest rising and falling tight against my back and breath pushing through my knotted hair.
Weak and useless on the floor in the corner of the Tit for Tat office, my tears come again, these ones slow and stinging. Coty gently rubs his thumbs along my forearms. For the first time, his touch burns instead of providing comfort or longing.
“How about we go back to the condo, get you cleaned up and dressed, then we can reassess? Give Kal and Kio time to get more information then go from there?”
With no more fight left in me and no other options, I nod. Coty slowly lets my arms loose, testing me, making sure I’m not going to attempt darting again or anything. When I stay curled in a ball, he moves in front of me and helps me stand.
Everything around us is hazy as he protectively blocks my body from onlookers while leading me through the saloon and out the front door to his bike. Even the ride to the condo goes by as a blur, my damp cheek plastered to the back of his leather. The trek from his bike into the condo and beyond to the bathroom is no better.
Coty throws open the shower curtain, turns on the water, then slowly removes my shirt, his eyes scanning my entire body in the process. Not with hunger, but weary with concern. His scanning comes to a dead halt about mid thigh. He tosses the shirt to the side, drops into a squat in front of me, and drags his fingers over all the angry bruises and welts on my body.
He pulls his hand back, fingers curling tightly into his palm. That iconic possessiveness darkens his silver eyes as he stands and narrows me with a glare. “Why are you covered in bruises?”
“The pole,” I answer absently.
“You’ve been dancing for a lot of years, I have never seen you with bruises like that.”
“I had some stuff to get out.” I lift my chin and set my jaw. “Ask Zane. He saw it all,” I state, looking through him with dead eyes.
Coty nods and gives it up far easier than usual and starts stripping. Once both of us are completely naked, he pulls me into the stall with him, using his broad shoulders to block the water from hitting me so he can test the temperature first.
He reaches behind him and turns up the hot more, knowing that I like it pretty much scalding. While waiting for the temperature to adjust, he cups my face, brushing his thumbs over my cheeks again and again, his silver eyes flitting over my features.
My eyes fall shut, and lingering tears press out of them to mix with the warm shower spray adhering to my skin.
“Jess would never betray me or any of you without good reason. Her hand was forced, Coyote, I just know it. Please promise me she won’t get in trouble. Tell Kal I’ll do anything. I-I will move to Georgia if I have to. J-just don’t punish her.”
The mist from the waterfall behind him clings to his salt and pepper hair as he leans forward and presses his lips against my forehead. “I know, little siren. We all do. This has the Stoners’ signature all over it. Stoney knew getting too close too soon to you would be a major fuck up, so he targeted us the next best way — by breaking you down instead and taking advantage of Jess. We will get revenge, Lace. I promise. Stoney will get what is coming to him. If not by Kal’s hand, then by mine. I will never give up, either,” he whispers against my damp skin. “If Stoney runs or hides, I will fucking find him.”
Cracking into millions of sharp shards from the inside out, I slide my hand between us, desperate for contact, to float away somewhere else for several minutes. My fingers wrap around his cock, but his hand thrusts down to stop me before the first stroke.
“Not this time, little siren. Not like this, okay?”
Nostrils flaring, my eyes spring open wide and defiant to bore into his. “Do not do this, Coyote. You might be obligated to keep me from fleeing again, but you are not obligated to deny me. I need you.” Hot, misty water mixes with the fresh, unwanted tears trying to well in my eyes as I choke out a whispery plea. “Please. I need to feel something other than pain and heartache.”
Water drops off of his long lashes as he closes his eyes slowly and takes a deep breath. When those full-moon orbs open again, I press harder. “Make me sing for you, Coyote.”
His strong jaw ticks over clenched teeth, and his hands slip around my ass and down to hook around the underside of my thighs to lift me up. I lock my fingers behind his neck and hook my ankles around him as he turns to the side and wedges my body between him and the tiled wall. Scalding water rushes out of the showerhead, falling between us.
After making sure I am fully supported, Coty moves one of his hands from under my thigh to line up his cock with my entrance. I lift just enough to help. When his hand returns to under my thigh, we join nice and slow, the tension in both our bodies combines dramatically, leaving us and swirling down the drain.
We stay perfectly still like this, cheeks pressed together, chests heaving against each other, bodies feeding off of nothing more than the simple connection that we both often crave.
