She laughs again, and I’m once more enamoured. The sound fractures the fevered momentum I’d been building, scattering the burning heat of my desire instantly.
But her laughter flutters away when she sees I’m still waiting. “Just give me two secs, you can wait in here,” she says, tilting her head over her shoulder.
I shake my head and she frowns.
“I cannot enter Kacey’s apartment. None of us can,” I explain. She studies the space behind her, then between us, seeing nothing. “Ezekial has a barrier in place. He constructedit the moment Kacey brought you here. We cannot enter—only Kacey and you.”
She swallows, her cheeks becoming rosy again. “Like Sai’s?”
I nod.
I instantly know what she’s referring to. She doesn’t need to provide any more context. I was in the Pit during that time.
After we made her ingest truth serum, and she’d caused my dark beast to surface, I asked to be locked in the Pit. When Sai visited, he told me he’d created a barrier around her level of the club. We’d had many discussions with regards to that family of hers, but the thought of leaving her alone—with them—only made me spiral deeper. He said the barrier was to keep her safe from them, but also, to keep me out.
He always had my best intentions at heart.
And now hers.
Always.
“That was very…” Her gaze wanders away as she speaks. “Considerate of him.”
She stares hard at the threshold again, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to see something, before she looks at me.
“Stay there,” she orders. My darkness promptly stands to attention. “I won’t be long.”
She turns her back on me, leaving the door wide open.
Which, I believe, is a purposeful and tactful decision. Because now, like a predator trapped in a snare, I’m left to kneel and stare. Tormented by the view of her fleeing form, the back of her smooth thighs, the briefest glimpse of her underwear as Kane’s clothing rides up…
The urge to chase her, catch her…
I begin to stand—
“And stay on your knees!” she calls, never looking back.
I laugh as my dire need to chase is eradicated by her simple command. Because a new urge—pleasing her—surmounts all others.
And like the obedient beast I have become, I stay.
***
I made too much food for one person. I know I did. But she doesn’t say a thing as she climbs onto a stool, reaching instantly for the pot of coffee.
But I am faster, already pouring. I nudge the filled mug towards her.
“Thanks,” she says, trying to hide her laugh as she takes a sip of the pure black liquid, adding nothing.
My brows knit together. “Sai said you liked sweet things?”
She nods once, the corners of her mouth lifting as she takes another sip.
“I do, but I also like bitter things.” She sets the mug down. “Is that weird?”
I smile softly. “No.”
“I’m just not… picky.”
