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Chapter thirty-six
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
We were supposed to talk about whatever cord was tethering us together. I was supposed to go back to Ayelswick and tell Prince Alexander the truth. There was no way I could marry him. And then we would let fate settle the rest. There was a natural progression of how this was supposed to play out.
I pressed my eyes closed, keeping the tears from falling over my cheeks. I shuddered at the memory of the promise eighteen-year-old me had made to my father.
That promise was shattered the moment he chose to use you as a pawn.
If I was being honest, I knew the first time I saw Chandler Carmichael that fate was playing some sort of sick joke on us. I felt the shift in the universe. I knew my life would never be the same. I just never expected it to turn out like this, with me bent over an altar in some sort of ritualistic-orgy. Everything I’d spent my whole life standing for—purity, grace, poise—felt irrelevant now. One touch from him and my heart pounded. My nipples hardened, and dark need like nothing I’d ever felt before rolled through me, drowning out any other feeling.
My lungs were burning, my legs were weak, and my core throbbed from his size. He hadn’t just gone deep physically. He buried his roots in my marrow. He fucked me all the way to my soul. It was harsh, merciless, and meant to punish, but even now as I lie here breathless and spent, my body craved more.
Chandler’s chest pressed heavily against my back. His breath was staggered while I gasped for air. He let out a deep groan as he slid out of me like it pained him to do so.
I own you now.
I looked up at him, allowing the brutal truth to stare him in the eye.Yes. You do.
“Get her out of here,” I faintly heard Grey’s voice say over the sound of my heartbeat. “She’s bleeding.”
Another man grabbed my wrist and yanked me off the altar.
“Let go of me.” I tried yanking my arm back, but it only made him tighten his grip. “Chandler,” I yelled as the man dragged me toward one of the doors.
Chandler said those other women were here willingly. I’d made it clear that I was not.
Fear took hold of me.Where was he taking me?
“Chandler!”
One of the men sitting on a raised platform rose to his feet. He wore the same black robe Grey had on. The man next to him held a hand to his chest, halting him from coming down the steps.
“I said get her out of here,” Grey repeated.
Chandler shoved the man holding me by the arm. “Back the fuck off. I’ve got her.”
The Latin chants coming from somewhere above our heads kept filling the room. No one else stopped what they were doing as Chandler opened the door and pulled me outside. The cool night air hit my skin like a thousand pin pricks. The pavement was rough against my bare feet. Blood from the open wound still trickled down my chest. Chandler wore only a black robe and his underwear.
Thank goodness it was dark and quiet. I could only imagine what we looked like to the outside world.
Without a word or a glance in my direction, he flung the robe onto the sidewalk when we reached his car, then opened the passenger side door. “Get in.”As if I had any other choice.
He took his phone from the center console and shined the flashlight on the ground around his car. He moved by the front tires and underneath, then climbed inside.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping us alive,” he said as his foot tapped the brake, as if checking its resistance to pressure, when he started the car. Then he let out a long breath, apparently satisfied we weren’t dying yet, then pulled away from the curb.
He messed with the dials and some buttons on his dash, and within moments my entire body felt the warmth of his heated seats. I couldn’t help but stare at the muscles on his forearms and the veins in his large hand. He pressed a button on his phone, and two words flashed on the dashboard screen—Walking STD—followed by the sound of a phone ringing.
“Tell me you got the fuck out of there,” a man’s voice sounded over the car speakers. Loud music thumped in the background.
Chandler blew out a sigh. “I’m good. You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m at the club, letting—” He paused, “What’s your name, sweetheart?” he asked someone who was obviously close by, then his voice got louder. “—Amanda, give me a thorough inspection to make sure.”
Chandler chuckled. “I’m sure you are. Make sure the back entrance is open. I’m on my way.”
