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I didn’t believe in violence.
???
Once we closed the door to Axel’s room behind us, Ryker gave me a manic grin and turned to stride toward the master bedroom. I had a feeling the soundproofing there hadn’t just been for sex, because he had to know that wasn’t on the table.
Ever.
He’d be lucky if I let him keep his meatballs.
The door was open when I stalked in behind him, and he reached behind his head to tug his shirt off his shoulders and toss it to the closet. Standing in the center of the room, he crossed his arms over that chest that made my mouth water. Even as I hated that the conversation needed to happen in such close proximity to a bed, I pushed the door closed behind me as I entered. I couldn’t stand the thought that when all was said and done, I’d be sleeping in the same bed as him.
Ryker did not seem the type to tolerate being kicked to the couch, and I knew he wouldn’t let me sleep there either. After a year of sleeping alone, I’d never thought I might miss the ability to sleep alone. But given the filthy feeling the thought of him having touched another woman left me with, I wanted that space.
“Well, Tesoro? I’m fairly certain that you have something to say?” Ryker asked, his lips tipping up into a smirk I wanted to beat off his face.
“You came home with some other woman’s lipstick all over your dick, and you touched my daughter with that all over you,” I hissed through gritted teeth. I hadn’t wanted to voice that, hadn’t wanted to hint at it being anything other than blood. But the anger that tore through my insides felt toxic, like if I didn’t shove it at him, I’d explode.
Because how fucking dare he?
I shoved him back with two hands on his chest, wincing when he didn’t fucking move. It felt like shoving a building, but his hands came up to trap mine against him. He stared down at me, as if daring me to try it again, and his eyes blazed with a mixture of heat and fury. “You think I let another woman touch my cock?”
“I don’t know what I think!” I snarled, jerking my arms back from him and trying to get free, but he held me steady. His grip only tightened with every second I struggled, pulling me tight until his face was directly over mine and not a spare inch remained between us. “It was blood or lipstick, and all that matters to me is that you let my daughter hug you after you were out doing fuck knows what! I can’t stop you from doing anything. That’s obvious. But the least you could do is shower and change before you come home instead of exposing my kids to whatever fucking diseases—”
“Enough!” he growled, and my nails dug into his chest with my answering rage. “I was not with another woman.”
I swallowed, because even if I felt relief that he hadn’t been out getting laid, that meant he’d made someone bleed. I pushed away, trying to put some space between us as I processed that information. Ryker had always been honest that he wasn’t a good man, but somehow it felt completely different to be confronted with direct evidence of it.
My face went cold as I looked up at him, and his eyes softened momentarily, until I tried to pull away. “You hurt someone,” I whispered, the sound seeming too loud in the room that had gone silent but for the quiet feedback from the audio monitor.
“No, Sunshine. I killed him.”
Twenty
Calla
The words echoed in my head repeatedly like one of my dad’s old, scratched records.
Killed.
He’d killed someone.
I staggered back a step when he released my hands, staring at him as my chest heaved. “What is wrong with you? Why?”
“Because I’m good at it. Because I enjoy it. Because sometimes the scum of the Earth need to be put down like the filthy dogs they are,” he growled, prowling closer to me as I backed away.
“You killed someone,” I whispered, “and you enjoyed it?”
His hand touched my cheek, his thumb dragging over the skin there like he so often did. As he stared at the contact, his face filled with awe. “He was far from the first, and he won’t be the last, Sunshine. Not everything can be black and white. Sometimes, people deserve to die.”
My chest rattled with a sob as his breath ruffled my hair and he pulled me against his chest and tugged me tight. “I can’t do this.” My voice was a broken rasp, trembling with the shivers that consumed me.
“You will. I only kill men who deserve it. Never women or children. I know that probably doesn’t matter to you right now, but I promise you that once you understand, it will.”
“Please, Ryker,” I begged. “Just let us go. Don’t make me part of this. I can’t be a part of this.” I shook my head, trying to push off his chest and free myself desperately from his grip.
My kids lived in the same house as a serial killer.
“You have no choice,” he said, that deep voice going stern once more as his patience wore out. I had no illusions that he would tolerate my disobedience continuously. No matter his words, it was almost certain that if I became a bigger liability than I was worth, he’d get rid of me.
