As much as I ached to bury myself inside her tight heat, I don’t want to spook her by taking things too fast. I never anticipated her being a virgin, I assumed it wasn’t the case with her having a boyfriend, but after what she told me about her piece of shit ex, I’m glad. I’m glad he didn’t take that part of her. Rape is bad enough without it being your first sexual experience and I wouldn’t want that for her, foranyone. I won’t lie by saying the idea of being her first doesn’t make my dick swell with excitement because it does, but I want it to be on her terms.
I might be an asshole, but notthatbig of an asshole.
Her phone buzzes on the bedside table, her father’s name lighting up on the screen and I lean over for a closer look.
The first message is from Sofia, sent about half an hour ago.
I smile at that. My eyes move down, and it’s the message underneath Sofia’s that has my blood heating and the smile slipping from my face.
Is this prick for real?
Her ex boyfriend assaulted her andI’mthe animal?
Un—fucking—believable.
Kaia makes a noise beside me, it’s barely audible but it draws my attention back to her. Her eyes are still shut tight, her chest rising and falling steadily. She shifts in her sleep, the sheet covering her body slipping down a fraction, giving me the perfect view of her left breast peeking out.
It still amazes me that she shares the same blood as her asshole father. She’s his complete opposite, and it’sthatfact that makes what I have to do so much harder—harder on my conscience that is, much hard than I ever anticipated.
I reach for her, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, careful not to wake her. I take in her features, ignoring the white-hot rage that bubbles in my blood when I see the faint purple-blue tinge of a bruise deepening on her cheek from where that bastard hit her earlier tonight.
My eyes dip to those full pink lips and I wonder…
No!
What the fuck am I doing?
I can’t go there. I can’t get attached. I’ve allowed myself to get carried away for too long. I’ve gotten swept up in thisneed, this silly infatuation I have with her and I’ve lost sight of what needs to be done, the text from her fucking father solidifying that fact.
I pull out my phone and open the camera app, finding a good angle with decent lighting so there will be no doubt who it is in the photo.
I smile, imagining Watson’s face when he finds out I’ve had my dirty hands all over his daughter.
It excites me.
But there’s a voice in my head. A tiny voice that’s telling me that this is wrong, that this will only end badly for herandfor me, and while that may be true, I ignore it, reminding myself of what’s at stake if I don’t. Watson will never stop coming after the club, he won’t quit until he ends us, until we’re all behind bars or six feet under and I won’t let that happen. I won’t let him hurt my friends, myfamily.
I snap the photo, taking one more at a slightly different angle so I know I have exactly what I need. I study the photos, then add them to the album on my phone where the picture she sent me the night of our phone call already resides.
A few more photos should be sufficient enough to send to her father and all this shit will be over once and for all.
I’m hit out of nowhere by a sudden wave of nausea, a sickly feeling that crawls up the sides of my throat as bile fills my mouth.
I rush out of the room and make it to the toilet just in time to throw up the contents of my stomach. My body convulses, the stench of vomit stinging my nose only making me gag more.
I take deep breaths, trying to stave off another wave of nausea, trying to come up with a reasonfor why it feels like I’ve brought up all of my internal organs. Maybe it was something I ate? No, that can’t be it because Kaia is perfectly fine.
I stare down at my phone lying beside the toilet on the floor, the photo of Kaia sound asleep filling the screen and realisation slaps me across the face.
I know exactly what’s made me sick.
It’sme.
But, this is what I wanted, right? To get Kaia to trust me enough to give me her body, taking me one step closer to taking down her father? She shared her body with me, in one of the most intimate way a woman can and she trusted me with it.
So, why does it feel like this? Why do I have a constant churning sensation in my gut?
Because with those photos, I’ve cheapened what we shared tonight. I’ve betrayed her trust. Deceived her. Just as I’ve been deceiving her since we met.
