Page 21 of Queen of Madness

My eyes drop of their own will to her toned stomach, noting the faint scars barely visible above her navel.

Onyx turns, grabbing a black silk robe from the bed, giving me a full view of her back, andholy fuck. Her bottom half is far thicker than her dark wardrobe gives her credit for, and my mouth waters as it follows the round globes of her ass to the small divots just above.

The perfect spot for my thumbs to rest as I bury everything inside her.

“Are you just going to watch me?”

Her sultry tone has returned, beckoning me to enter like a siren out at sea. And just as the sailor drives his crew to their death, I too move into the room.

She threads an arm through the robe, covering just enough to allow me a second to fend off the drunken haze clouding my logic.

I’m not here for this. Give her the food and le—

When she turns, I see she’s kept the front open, and while it covers her pebbled nipples, it leaves a small patch open that my eyes flicker to.

I’ve had my fair share of women, enough to satisfy even the hungriest of men, but fuck if Onyx doesn’t call to something so much deeper. To something even I haven’t fed in fear I’ll never be able to satiate its appetite.

Every muscle tightens as she nears me, erasing the space between us until only the plate’s few inches separates us. Without heels, she’s about a foot shorter, but even having to peer up at me takes nothing away from her powerful aura. No, she’s in control here.

Naked but not vulnerable.

Small but not powerless.

I wonder if any of her demeanor changes when she’s overcome with lust and on the brink of exploding. If she ever finds herself so lost in the euphoria, she sheds her armor for a brief moment to merelyfeel.

“Are you going to hand me my food or shall we let it get cold?”

“I’m standing here with your plate in front of me. Why won’t you take it?”

Her head tilts back, a bored look leveling her features. “Because I want you to hand it to me.”

“And I want you to take it,” I challenge. I’m not sure why I’m playing on the dangerously thin line with a woman I don’t know, but what better way to find out more about her?

Though she doesn’t seem amused, she no longer looks bored. Her blinks slow, and her heavy-lidded gaze falls to my mouth, then to my neck. She runs her pink tongue along the seam of her lips, making my cock twitch.

“Give me what I asked for.” Not a request, a command.

A test.

Something I need to desperately pass if anything I’m doing here is going to work out in my favor. But Onyx has stirred something I can no longer ignore. I lower my head, and it doesn’t surprise me when she doesn’t flinch away.

“If you want it, take it.” My breath coasts across her earlobe as I whisper, “Boss.”

A sharp pinch in my side forces me to slowly back up, rising to my full height. My eyes follow the source of pain to see the point of a small blade pressing into my shirt right above my kidney. A smirk ghosts across her lips before she holds out her free hand.

“Why take it when I know you will give it to me willingly?”

My now fully hardened dick presses uncomfortably into the zipper of my jeans, but I manage to return her grin and press the plate into her hand. Her gaze drifts to my dimples as she takes both the blade and breakfast from me. “Good boy.”

This gets a chuckle from me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, ma’am.”

But instead of waiting for a response, or lack thereof, I turn and return to my room, where I wait out the remainder of my shift. Only now, all my worries have been replaced with long black hair and even darker eyes.

* * *

I hate this house. Have since I was thirteen.

Staring at the weathered porch, barely held up by the wood posts and concrete, anxiety wraps around my throat, as memories I work every day to suppress surface. The day that changed everything.

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