Page 90 of Locke 2

So, while he may have ruined me on that bed, fucking me like the savage man he was, he still held together that cherished part of me, and I sensed he had no desire to ever let it go.

“Fill me up,” I demanded. “Like you wanted…fill me up, Max…I want it all…”

Now his thrusts were violent, his grunts loud in my ears as he fucked me, punishing me, warning me never to do what I did to another man again.

I smiled into the sheets as he came growling my name.

???

“I’m sorry,” I said later, as I lay sprawled over his naked body, tracing the raven on his chest. “I don’t want to see you like that.”

“I think you liked it,” he returned, though his voice was full of amusement.

“I liked what we did,” I grinned, but then it fell just as quickly. “I don’t like the ugly emotions it made you feel, though.”

He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “It worked out in the end. I’m pounding on Ambrose’s door.”

I paused. “Are you sure about that?”

“Kali…”

“I know.” I went quiet. Then, “When are you going to do it?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I want to be there.”

He didn’t answer that. Instead, he said, “If Ambrose is pulling the strings, he’s more dangerous than you think.”

I thought of that jolly old man again, but I didn’t argue. I just sighed and slung my leg over his hip. He gripped my thigh, running his thumb along my skin in lazy circles.

“Kali,” he said, quietly.

And that was all he said.

Kali.

The familiar worship in the dark. I said it back. “Max.”

His grip tightened around me. We lay in silence for a while. And then he rolled me back over until I was on my back, and he was over me in that perfect position that did things to me. He stared down at me, studying every feature.

“If I knew someone like you was coming into my life, I don’t think I’d have been so bent on revenge,” he whispered. “Because being here, with you, none of it seems to matter anymore.”

I raised my finger over his lips, tracing them. “I think it matters that you find peace.”

“The same goes for you, Kali.” He frowned. “I don’t regret wanting you, but I regret the cruel way I went about it. Istripped you bare, and that wasn’t right. I shouldn’t have had you running. It caused us both pain.”

“You said we can’t go back.” I brushed my lips against his. “You said we have to accept what happened in order to let go. When you sent me running, you made me confront parts of myself I hid.” I swallowed thickly, my eyes aching. “It’s why I see Aurora.”

“I’m sorry—”

I covered his mouth now. “No, it wasn’t a bad thing, Locke. Because running sent me here, in this town, and to Lenny, and it brought you back to me.”

He kissed my hand, and I dropped it. He whispered, “What would you truly happy, Kali?”

“You make me happy,” I said. “You’re intense, and you’re scary, but you bring out parts of me I didn’t think I could feel.”

“And this town?”

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