Freak.
Mama’s boy—although I didn’t mind that one as much because, despite her spectacularly shitty decisions, I loved her.
I can still hear his voice. I can still feel his whiskey-laced breath on my face. I remember being twelve, standing between him and Mom with shaking hands and a split lip, knowing I was about to lose but doing it anyway because someone had to. Then his boot connected with my ribs, followed by the crack of bone, and he just laughed when I cried.
You don’t forget that shit or move on from it.You just grow into whatever it makes you.
I’ve been wondering for years whether he’d just put a bullet in his own skull and save me the trouble. But no, the coward won’t touch a hair on his own head.
Shannen’s soft footsteps reach my ears before I feel her warmth. Arms slide around my waist from behind, and her forehead presses into my back, right between the wings inked over my shoulder blades. I lift my head, catching our reflection in the mirror. Her petite frame is wrapped around mine, and her hands are splayed flat against my stomach, nails lightly grazing my skin.
“I woke up, and you were gone. I didn’t like it.”
“Sorry, baby.” I turn and lean back against the counter, my hands slipping to her waist. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Yeah, I’m going to take a shower… I need to get to the office a little earlier this morning.”
Inhale.
Exhale.
My eyes stay locked on hers.
“You knew James had a meeting scheduled this morning.”
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
She presses gentle kisses across my chest, her lips warm against my skin as she tries to settle the beast she knows lives beneath it.
“You don’t leave with him this time, and not because I’m telling you, but because you’re smarter than that.”
“If you say he’s a problem, then he’s a problem.”
I roll my eyes at how she copies my phrasing word for word—my own fucking words thrown back at me.
“I won’t be far. The whole time he’s there, I’m watching. Okay?”
“You have cameras in there, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
“Phoenix…”
“Baby,” I whisper, my mouth trailing along her jaw toward her throat. “It’s for your safety.”
“And your out-of-control need to watch me.”
“Which we both know turns you on.” I drop my lips to her neck and drag my teeth across her skin. “Now strip and get your ass in the shower because the second you’re out, I’m fucking you so full you’ll have to cross your legs to keep my cum from running down them every second you’re in that meeting.”
Chapter 21
Shannen
Wandering around the office,I scan the room, trying to spot Phoenix’s pervert cameras, but I can’t find them.
Same as I still don’t know where they are in my apartment—not that he’s needed to use those either, considering he hasn’t actually been back to his place for the past week. He’s practically moved in without asking.
I walk to the corner of the room, which seems like the most logical place for hidden surveillance, and flip it off. Two middle fingers raised high, flipping off absolutely nothing because I have no idea where the cameras actually are.
