Page 5 of The Demons We Hide

“You drive me insane, baby,” I whisper, hovering my mouth over hers.

“Do I, big man?” she snarks back, more than a little breathiness in her tone. Just when I think, maybe I’ve gone too far, though, her lips twitch and she smiles up at me. “Show me.”

That smile of hers does funny things to my insides, but it’s also a warning. It doesn’t reach her eyes. It’s all seduction and no affection. The startling rage simmering in the depths of her gaze hasn’t been erased by the effect of lust. If anything, I have to wonder if she isn’t using her body against me to gain what she hopes is a foothold into the place her words hadn’t.

She wants to be between the guys and me? I’m happy to put her there, but not as a way to drive us apart. If anything, fucking Juliet should bring us all together.

Hooking my free hand around one of her thighs, I drag it upward, wrapping her leg around my side before spanning the width of my palm over her belly. Underneath my hand around her throat, her pulse jumps wildly. She swallows but otherwise shows no wariness, no fear.

How brave my baby is. How fucking… beautiful she is.

“You want to push me to take you, baby?” I whisper into the quiet of my bedroom. “You want me to fuck you until you can’t remember why you’re angry anymore? I can do that.”

Her eyes narrow on my face. “I’m not here for a therapy session, Lex,” she snaps, venom and rage hidden in those words. “If you want to fuck me before you make your decision, fine. But don’t act like you’re using me for anything more than a good, hard ride.”

I blink. Well, I can’t say I’d expected that. Tilting my head to the side, I slowly scan her features for any sign that’ll betray the reasoning of her words. Nope. She means them. At least, she thinks she does.

“You really think that, don’t you?” I ask.

Her upper lip curls away from her teeth, and I’m already shaking my head. “You know what, no,” I say before she can reply. “You’re angry right now. I don’t know why, but I don’t want you to spit bile my way when I know you’ll regret it later.”

“No, I won’t,” she argues. Her leg slides off my side. She plants both of her feet on the mattress and arches upward, bucking against me. “Get off me, prick. I’m done. If you’re not going to fuck me or help me, then I’ll go to one of the others.”

“Why?” I ask. “So you can try and manipulate him the same way you’re trying with me?” Letting my voice drop an octave, I frown at her. “No. Now, no more cussing at me. Be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you. Be mean and… well…” I tighten my grip on her throat, letting her know the truth with my actions versus my words as I squeeze against the sides of her neck to compress the blood flow the tiniest bit.

The moment she realizes that it’s not air she’s cut off from, but her blood, is a blessing. Her eyes widen a fraction and her lips part, but there’s no way to keep her blood flowing up to her head unless I release her. Dark lashes flutter and her chest pumps up and down. Once. Twice. By the third jolting action, I relax my hold.

Her lips flower open and close. She breathes against me, the hot fan of her breath hitting me in the cheek as I lean closer. Her body shudders as the fluttering, floaty sensation I know she had to have been on the verge of begins to disperse. The snarl returns. Oh yeah, she’s going to love the sensation of me choking her until she almost passes out. She’ll grow higher and higher, and when all the blood rushes back, she’ll squeeze my cock so tight as she comes.

“Fuck you, Lex.”

“Oh baby, I intend for you to.” With those words on the tip of my tongue, I release her throat and flip her over.

One thing about not having a lot of money over the years, I’ve had to build a lot of my furniture by hand. Aunt Gemma’s husband had taught me before he passed some years back. The success of my efforts is a reward to me now as I yank down one of the ties I’d secretly hidden in the headboard.

I settle my weight atop her once more as I grab her hands, pulling first one up and then the second. When I release her again, it’s to the bindings pressing her wrists together.

“What the fuck!” The curse shoots out of her mouth, and I have every intention of making her pay for it as well as for the ones before.

I reach around her waist, quickly undoing the button and zipper of her jeans. It takes effort to peel the semi-damp fabric down her thighs and legs, but oh God… her ass is a sight to behold. Plump and round, Juliet’s ass is the kind that women in Hollywood pay thousands of dollars for. No amount of squats or injections could make this natural phenomenon anything but a masterpiece.

Sending a thank you out to the universe for such a perfect ass, I reach the bottom of her legs where her shoes prevent me from finishing the job. Unlacing the sneakers and pulling them as well as her socks from her feet, I toss them onto the floorboards and send her pants following an instant later.

The tiniest black thong I’ve ever seen sits between the cheeks of her ass and rises up to arch over either one around her waist. Leaning down, I press Juliet’s kicking feet beneath me, pinning them with my knee to the back of hers. I kiss first one cheek and then the next. Cupping and squeezing the ass that’s more a thing of beauty than it is a body part, I part my lips and sink my teeth into her flesh.

Juliet jerks at the sensation, a soft and oh-so-feminine gasp escaping her. A grin grazes my lips. At least that got her to stop kicking. I press a kiss to the bite mark before trailing more up to the small of her back, then to her spine and higher, lifting her shirt as I go. Dragging my hand up the length of her, I gather her still damp hair and move it all to the side. Blue flutters down over one shoulder as I bend and kiss the side of her throat.

“Lex…” My name is a warning on her lips. I wonder how long it’ll be before I hear her call me Alex again. No one else ever called me that. My parents had used my full name. The guys call me Lex. Only she had ever dubbed me “Alex.”

“I can give you what you need,” I whisper against her flesh. My jaw aches to take her between my teeth. Like a hungry lion sitting before a buffet of bloodied meat, I find myself salivating at the need to mark her, brand her in a way that everyone else will notice.

Unable to stop myself, I set my teeth back to her skin and bite down. Her back arches, her ass bumping up against my groin as she groans. She might not want to, might try to resist it, but my sweet baby likes the pain.

“You think I need your dick?” I’m sure she means the question to come out harshly, taunting. I’m pleased to hear the note of breathy anticipation in her tone instead.

“I think you need an escape from reality,” I tell her honestly. “And I’m happy to provide it.”

“I don’t—” Letting her talk has gotten us nowhere, so without waiting for her to finish, I reach down and slip out the pocket knife I keep on me at all times. Flipping it open, I smile when her voice cuts off at the sound as she tries to look back at me. “What are you…” Her eyes widen a fraction when I hold up the blade for her to see.

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