Page 880 of Coal Hearts

My heart throbbed with love even while the tiniest whisper of annoyance formed. I’d loved having sex with him last night. I’d come, and it felt good, but...it hadn’t fulfilled that ache. That burn. That utter annihilation that I’d grown addicted to each time he fucked me.

Memories flashed through my head: him flogging me before mounting me. Him delivering pain as well as outrageous pleasure. My core clenched. I reached to run my fingers down his back—to wake him up and try to tease him into snapping only...

Sunlight cascaded over his skin.

I gasped in horror as I bolted upright.

His beautiful back.

The part of his body that I’d lusted after every time he’d marched around our room in Joyero after a shower. The long sleek lines of muscle. The powerful breadth of his shoulders.

All ruined.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I traced the thick savage grooves of scar tissue. Criss-crosses and lattice marks scarred him from top to bottom.

He stirred as I pulled the sheet off his hips.

I choked on more tears as I focused on the taut muscles of his ass and the sharp lines embedded there.

A lightning bolt of absolute hate shot through me.

Victor.

Fuck, I wanted to murder him all over again.

Rolling onto his side, Henri stiffened as he noticed my tears.

For a second, his grey gaze flared with hunger. I waited for him to drink those tears. To pounce on me like he always had. But then he pinched the bridge of his nose, grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and held it out to me. “If you’re crying because of the state of my back, don’t. It doesn’t hurt. I’m okay.”

Taking the tissue, I blew my nose and forced a smile. “I didn’t realise how deep the scar tissue went. You always wear a t-shirt to bed.”

“To prevent you from seeing it.” Shuffling upright, he rested against the pillows. “I didn’t want it to turn you off.”

“Turn me off?” My mouth hung open. “Henri...how could you think—”

Someone’s fist pounded on the door, cutting me off.

He scowled and dropped his stare to my nakedness. “Just a sec!”

Launching out of bed, he shrugged into a t-shirt and black pyjama bottoms, then threw me a spare grey shirt from the freshly laundered pile. “Here.”

Slipping out of bed, I yanked it on just as he went to open the door.

Q stood on the threshold. Freshly showered, his dark suit immaculately tailored. He smiled at Henri, then stiffened as his gaze fell on my bare thigh.

His eyes narrowed. His nostrils flared.

I looked down at my leg then slapped a hand over the blue H scribed into my skin. Henri followed his brother’s stare, wincing at the memories of that day. The sapphire dust he’d rubbed into a fresh cut. Blue mingling with red.

A visceral punch of hot desire cut right through my middle.

I’d been out of my mind with lust.

I’d come so hard I’d—

I blushed.

Q sniffed and backed away. “I won’t ask. None of my business.”