Page 23 of Injustice and Absolution

“Oh, I don’t know…” I can’t stop my petulance, but in my mind it’s completely warranted. “Why don’t we talk about the fact that you called me a mistake.”

I thought I was going to catch him off-guard. Throw him off. Make him sweat.

I was wrong. He was ready for this fight.

“Don’t twist my fucking words, Delilah.” He turns toward me, rooting himself to the rock below. “I said ourkisswas a mistake.”

“But it wasn’t—” I protest before he cuts me off.

“It was.You’re a child. Christ, you're Maggie’s best friend. I never should have allowed myself to lose control the way I did with you. I’m no degenerate, but that’s pushing the envelope, especially after all you’ve been through.”

I turn my body so it mirrors his. Our faces, both pained with emotion, alarmingly close to each other’s. A simmering heat begins to boil as fury like I’ve never felt before rolls through my body.

“I’mnota child, Royce.I haven’t been since I was seven years old. Since the first time my father touched me the wayadultstouch one another.”

Angry tears wet my eyes. I swipe away at them immediately, cursing the weakness their shine casts on me.

“And that’s something that never should have happened. You’ll never know how fucking sorry I am that it did, but I’m even sorrier I didn’t give that motherfucker the death he deserved.”

His words paralyze me. I don’t care that my father is dead, but I don’t think I can stand to listen to the details surrounding it or what Royce would rather have done had he gotten the chance.

He leans his body farther into mine with each hate filled breath he takes, and his magnetism pulls me toward him. “It was too swift, Delilah. Too merciful. If I had the chance to do it all over, I would…”

His eyes relax as I watch the aggression fade from his features. Still breathing heavily, he places his hands on the boulder and pushes himself backward, away from me.

“He deserved more,” he adds, finally tearing his attention away and freeing me from his transfixing hold. “Youdeserved more.”

Hearing him admit that sends my emotions and hormones raging like the thirsty, validation-seeking girl I’ve become.

How I’ve longed for someone to make me feel like I’m worthy.

“I want you, Royce,” I suddenly blurt out .

I can’t keep it in any longer. Iaman adult, and I’ll prove it to him by going after what I want instead of beating around the bush or waiting for it to fall into my lap. I lean back into him, allowing my words to hypnotize him in the same way his lured me in a moment ago.

“And I know I don’t know shit about you, but Idoknow you want me, too. I’ve seen your need swimming in your eyes. The way your Adam’s apple bobs up and down every time we’re in the same room together because you have to swallow the lust that swirls inside of you before anyone else notices it. The way your fists ball with unshed desire as you force yourself from my presence.

“Make love to me, Royce. Right here. Right now. You can’t change the way you killed my father, but you can have something even better.Me.His girl.The only difference is, I’m offering myself to you, freely, which is a gift I never gave him.”

Silence shrouds us for what feels like an eternity before he leans into me, chest heaving with unshed lust. Taking my cheeks gently between his palms, his lips crush into mine.

Blasts of light twinkle beneath my closed lids. As though the stars I was admiring earlier have come alive, reflecting off the night sky and cascading over us.

A light show. A celebratory dance just for us. A prize for our self-control this past year.

Pulling my dangling legs up onto the boulder, I push myself backward, still lip-locked, so we don’t lose control and fall over the side.

Royce follows me, laying his body over mine in the center of the rock. His weight blankets me, grounding me and providing the only sense of security I’ve ever felt in my entire life.

A muffled moan sounds deep in his throat as he licks and sucks a path across my lips. Following over my chin, he stops when he gets to the column of my neck. Raking his teeth gently over my delicate skin, he summons a burning force straight to my core.

My clit pulsates at the sensation, and moisture pools between my thighs.

“Delilah...” His breathless pants are followed by a heated stare as he aligns his needy gaze with mine again.

I whimper, answering the unspoken question within his eyes to keep going. That Idowant this. That Ineedthis.

When he lifts his body off of me, I think he’s changed his mind. Reaching out for him, I fist his worn, black T-shirt in a death grip.

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