Page 193 of Toxic Kiss

Haven’s shoulders round forward, and she covers her eyes as she cries. My heart breaks for her. She has always held her father up on a pedestal, thinks he is the greatest and most honorable man. She even believed it after he married my mother and turned our house into a fucked version of Cinderella.

I’ve crossed many lines torturing Haven, but I just haven’t been able to shatter the illusion she has of her father.

Pushing myself up, I approach her cautiously. When she doesn’t flinch away, I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. Haven’s body trembles while she sobs.

“I should’ve known,” she says and then cries harder. “It was only like two months from the time my mother passed away to him marrying Anita. I should’ve known that the story of meeting her on a trip was bullshit.”

I turn Haven so she is facing me, and even with her eyes red and swollen, she is stunning. Running my finger up her cheek, I gather her tears before licking them off.

“Look at me,” I say, forcing her gaze up. “Don’t cry over them. What they did doesn’t touch you. Not one fucking piece of you.”

“But—”

“No. You were a child grieving your mother, and you loved your father. You saw what you needed to see. What they did was shameful, but it’s not your burden to bear.”

“But you knew,” she says.

“I only knew because I suspected she was cheating before she told my father. I stole her phone and searched it. Don’t blame yourself for loving a man who pretended to protect his family and betrayed it instead.”

Dropping my lips to hers, I kiss away the saltiness of her grief and hold her tighter.

“Your tears are mine now, Butterfly,” I whisper, my voice raspy with the dark desires thrumming through my body.

Her eyes are a torrent of emotion as she stifles a bitter little sound.

“I think they always were.”

chapter

forty-nine

“There’s something feral in the way I want you…like you’re a craving carved into places I can’t reach.” – Cyrus

CYRUS

I’m fucked. I’m sick and twisted.

Haven’s words would make another man pause and think about how screwed up that is, but not me. Instead, all I want is to be inside her. I’ll fuck her while she cries and claim that part as well.

My lips crash against hers painfully. I grip Haven’s hair, holding her in place to kiss her deeper. She fists my hoodie, just as desperate for me as I am for her. Grabbing the bottom of her shirt, I yank it up and over her head, tossing it away while assaulting her mouth.

Haven whimpers, and I growl against her lips.

“Get on your knees,” I demand.

Haven’s eyes tighten at the corners.

“You hate me, right? That’s what you want to say. I can see it in your eyes. It’s the same decadent look you’ve always given me when I push just…the right…buttons. The look that makes me want to fuck you so hard that you can’t walk straight as you scream my name.”

My tongue runs across her lower lip, my perfect addiction.

“Twelve years is a really long time to hate someone, Butterfly.”

“You make it easy,” she fires back, but doesn’t move away.

I lean close to her ear and test my control.

“Then prove it. Walk away. Leave me here. Go ahead…I’ll wait.”