Page 74 of Ruined

“She’s ruined,” I blurt out. Jace frowns, dropping his fork onto his plate.

“That’s not what—actually it is, it is what I mean. But I like a girl who’s ruined. I like Blake ruined. She understands each of us in a different light. She’sokay with your protectiveness, she wants your soft nature, your gentle touch. And with me…” I sigh.

“She understands you’re damaged like her; she accepts you for who you are. She likes that she craves the torture, the pain, and you can give that to her. You might cut her, whip her, and do some questionable things to her body, but you make her feel safe. You ruin her more in a safe space.”

I can’t look at Jace. I don’t want to deal with the emotions coursing in my heart. That Blake stabbed me in the thigh and now I crave for her to stab me again. I want her to cut me like whoever cut her. I want her pain; I want all of it.

“She changed this whole protection thing,” Jace mutters.

“Fuck yeah, she did.” Shaking my head, I pick my fork back up. Jace looks at me, nodding his head towards me. Quickly turning around, Blake stands there in nothing but my t-shirt, rubbing her eyes. Pushing my chair back I pat my leg. “Come here.”

Blake continues to rub her eyes but makes her way towards me. She stops next to me but doesn’t sit like I wanted her to.

“Pet,” I warn.

Blake presses her lips together, crosses her arms before sitting down on my lap. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I scoot her back, so her legs dangle off the ground.

“How’d you sleep?” I mumble.

Good,she signs.

Before Jace can open his mouth, I’m already telling him what it means. “She said good.”

Jace nods, getting up from the table. Blake looks back at me, flexing her fingers as if she was getting ready to ask me about him. But Jace reappears with a plate of food for her.

“Here, Sunshine.” He smiles, setting it down in front of her, next to my plate.

Blake signs,Thank you.Jace smiles at her. I’m guessing the dude is slowly picking up on ASL. Blake picks her fork up, taking a small bite.

The three of us eat in silence, and it oddly feels good. Feels like home. But I’m not sure what that means for us, what it means for those hunting her, and most importantly, her.

“Blake, we uh, need to ask you a few questions,” Jace announces. And from the way Blake stills on my lap, swallowing her food whole, I know asking her anything is going to be like pulling teeth.

28

Ryker is a different man. Within twenty-four hours Blake was able to not only break down his walls and have Ryker shed some light on his past, but was also able to make the man smile and laugh more than the frightening chuckle he has when some shit is about to hit the fan.

But as much as I love and enjoy the new relationship between the three of us, Ryker and I knew we needed to know more about her.

And I could see from the way Blake stills against Ryker, eyes glaring at me, hand tightening around the fork. She has no intention to tell either of us what happened and why she needed protection, not fully.

“Just hear me—us out,” I try to reason with her. Blake, the stubborn girl that she is, is thinking about stabbing both of us. Maybe she would take Ryker out first so I could get away.

“Blake, I know it’s hard to talk about, but we’re here. Both of us, and we need to know why Dimitri would need to send you away to be protected.”

She shakes her head, glaring down at her plate. Ryker sighs, looking up at me, and it’s a warning. I know what he’s going to do and as much as I hate resorting to this, we need to know sooner rather than later.

I give him the smallest nod, hating myself. In an instant, Ryker is shoving the food off the table, slamming the top half of her body onto the table.

“Sorry, pet, but you either give us the answers we need willingly,orwe can make you.” I hate when Ryker gets like this. He has a way of getting into people’s minds, how to play games. And I don’t want him to do it to her, but I also need to know what we’re getting into.

“We can start off easy.” Ryker holds her neck on the table. “Why did your dad hire us to protect you?”

That’s Ryker starting off easy? I roll my eyes, blowing out silent raspberries. She’s going to hate not only him but me by the time this is finished.

Blake stays silent, her hand tightening on the side of the tables, her eyes closed. I hate this.

“Come on, that was an easy question, little pet.” Ryker reaches under the table, and I can only imagine what he’s doing to her. Fuck, tilting my head up, I count down from ten, trying not to get a hard-on from the idea of Ryker touching her.

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