My belly clenches.
And that’s when the bad thought slips in. It’s dark, intrusive, and impossible to burn away.
Mark again. It’salwaysMark.
Because the contrast is too strong to ignore.
Mark was good to everyonebutme. I was the only person he was bad to. And it was always behind closed doors, where no one could see. It’s like he was saving every rotten part of himself just to spill it onto me in the end.
These men? They kill others.
They are objectively, publicly, irredeemably wrong.
Ask a cop. Ask a judge. Ask a true crime podcast. Every system in the world would put them in cages or body bags.
And yet—
They’re good tome.
Good in a way no one has ever been.
Maybe it’s twisted, but after everything... I don’t think I want goodness that comes gift-wrapped for the public. I think I just want the kind that will choose me over everything else, no matter the cost.
I think I don’t mind their crimes at all.
“I’m fine with that,” I say, confessing it. “Be good to me.”
And that’s all it takes.
Something in Nathaniel clicks, like all he ever wanted was for me to accept every wrong thing about him. And all I ever wanted was to know I’d be the exception to their rules—the one untouchable girl who could only be worshipped, never punished.
We both get what we want, together.
And so, the boys move in tandem.
Nathaniel tilts my chin toward him and kisses me slow and deep, while Talon slides down, dragging his mouth over my ribs, my belly, until he’s nudging at the waistband of my polka-dot panties. Nathaniel helps. He hooks his fingers into the thin elastic and peels them down. Talon takes over, tugging them the rest of the way and tossing them aside without looking.
I’m bare between them. Nothing but skin and nerves.
Nathaniel shifts behind me, one long arm cradling my head, the other slipping down to palm my breast.
“Spread for me, Little Grim,” Talon murmurs.
My leg’s already hooked over Nathaniel’s thigh, so I just let my knee fall open, and Talon groans like it’s a gift. His cock presses against me, thick, hard, ready, and my body clenches in anticipation.
“Mm. That’s right,” he purrs.
He lines himself up and pushes in. And gods—
You’d think it wouldn’t surprise me how good it feels anymore, not after last night. But it does. The shock hits me all over again, like we’re doing this for the first time. My body gives, stretches, takes him, and the ache blooms into something so sharp it borders on bliss.
“Oh, I missed you, baby,” Talon whispers.
I missed him too. I missed this. Somehow, I managed to long for it in the short hours I had to sleep.
Theyaregentle with me. Or at least, trying really, really hard to be. For a minute or two. Then Nathaniel nudges my neck withhis nose, breathes me in, and moves closer, so he can feel every rock of Talon’s hips through me.
“Think you could fit one more in?” he asks.
