“Did you apologize to her for your bullshit in here the other day?” My voice sounds barely human even to me.
He gurgles something incomprehensible, blood bubbling from his lips.
I glance over my shoulder at Sophie. She’s pressed back against the counter, one hand over her mouth, eyes wide. “Did he apologize to you?”
She shakes her head slowly.
I turn back to Rocco, tightening my grip. “That’s what I thought.” I drag him across the kitchen, his feet scrambling, and throw him bodily out the back door. He hits the pavement hard, groaning.
“If I see you near her again,” I say, standing in the doorway, “I’ll put you in the fucking ground, you fucking understand me?”
He doesn’t answer, just crawls away into the darkness, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
When I turn back, Sophie is still frozen by the counter. Her chest rises and falls rapidly, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she says, her voice trembling slightly. “He’s a terrible person. But thank you, that was just—”
“What about you?” I interrupt, stalking toward her.
She blinks. “What about me what?”
“Are you a terrible person?” My question pierces her. It was meant to. I’m reading every single flicker across her face.
She bristles, her spine straightening. “I guess that depends on your definition. I gave him a job, slept with him a few times, and never put any demands on him, not for dating, not even at work, even though he has no work ethic. Does that sound like a terrible person?”
“I guess I’d need to hear his side of it.”
“You’re welcome to it.” She turns away from me, reaching for a towel, but I catch her wrist.
“Or maybe you planned this whole thing.”
She whirls back, confusion written across her face. “Planned what?”
“Planned on me walking in on that.”
“I didn’t know you were coming here, Vin,” she snaps, offended. “I thought I would see you at home at 8, remember?”
Home at 8.The sweet domesticity of that statement cuts through me like a knife. I shove it down, bury it under the rage. “Maybe. Or maybe you were hoping I’d walk in and join so that piece of shit could fuck your face while I fuck your pussy.”
Her eyes widen. “It hadn’t crossed my mind.” She reaches out, placing her hand on my arm. “Look out—”
I grab her by the throat hard. “Why are you touching me?”
She grabs my wrist with both hands, her pulse jumping beneath my palm. “You’re about to step in the food he knocked on the floor.”
I blink. My gaze drops to the scattered ingredients. When I meet her eyes again, I see something sparking there that I can’t read. “You liked that, didn’t you? You like being choked, hurt, spanked?”
“What’s wrong with you, Vincenzo?”
“Don’t question me, Sophia.” I tighten my grip slightly. “You said you bought the blindfold and the handcuffs and floggers to surprise him, but he wasn’t into that shit. But he was hurting you when I walked in and you weren’t fighting him, so maybe you liked it.”
Her eyes widen. “I didn’t buy those for him. I bought different things over the years and never really used any of them with anyone. And Iwasfighting him! I don’t want that from him!”
I force her to turn around, bending her over the counter. “Do you want it from me?”
“Vin.” She starts to push herself up, but I slam her back down, my palm flat between her shoulder blades.
“I don’t like being fucked with, Sophie.” I yank her pants down roughly, my gaze dropping to that incredible ass, round and full. I grab a wooden spoon from the counter and bring it down across her flesh with a sharp crack.
