Page 13 of Deviant

“That’s where you’re wrong.” He brought his body flush with mine and tangled his fingers in my hair. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re already mine. You’ve been mine since the day I took you. I don’t need a fucking piece of paper for that to be true.”

“You’ve already told me this a hundred—”

“Butyoudo,” he interrupted. “Need it, I mean. If getting married will prove to you that I’m here to stay, then I’ll do it.”

“No,” I said, wresting free of his embrace. “I want you to marry me because you want it, too. Not because you’re placating me.”

He gripped me by the shoulders and forced me over the end of the mattress. “Stop jerking away from me,” he said with a low growl, inching his fingers up the backs of my thighs. A shiver went through me as he dragged up my skirt. He exposed my bare ass, and his palm came down hard, sending a satisfyingsmackroaring through my ears.

“I’m not placating you, Alex. It’s true I’ve got hangups about marriage. My mom walked, regardless of that fucking ring on her finger. But if making it official will make you happy, I’m in.”

I closed my eyes as shallow breaths puffed onto the comforter, backside tingling from his tease of a spanking. And God…I needed more. “You won’t resent me for it?”

“Fuck no, baby. As long as the important stuff doesn’t change. But if you let marriage change shit between us, I have a piece of ginger with your name on it.”

I flexed the muscles in my ass at the thought. “The only thing that will change is my last name.”

His breath hitched. A second later, I heard the unmistakable sound of his belt buckle, followed by his zipper. “There’s no way I can hold off fucking you now.” He thrust into me, filling me in a single plunge, and I muffled a groan into the bedding.

“Give me your hands.”

We both knew he could take them. But he craved my submission as much as I needed to give it. I brought my hands to my back, and his large fist clamped around my wrists, holding them in place at the bottom of my spine.

“Rafe,” I said with a gasp, angling my hips to bring him deeper. “Can I come?”

“No.”

“Please!”

“I said no.” A smack to my ass punctuated his final answer. The rhythm of his thrusts increased, and as night chased away the last of daylight, he came before I could find the release I so desperately needed.

With a groan, I sank deeper into the mattress, fighting tears of frustration and anger. “Why are you torturing me like this?”

Tugging on my hair, he yanked my head up, and his immovable hand wrapped around my throat. He didn’t even give me time to beg for air. One minute, I was a boneless mass of want and need on the bed, and the next I found myself emerging from blackness.

Then he was gone from where I lay, the door quietly shutting upon his exit, and there was no mistaking the cold metal that shackled my ankle.

6. Bad News - Rafe

Something crashed on the other side of the wall, followed by a full minute of pounding on the door. I dragged a hand through my hair as Alex screamed for me from the bedroom. This was beyond cruel, but my gut told me she needed to face the pain haunting us in that room.

Then she needed to accept that I wasn’t going anywhere.

But fuck, she was going to tear me to shreds after it was all said and done. Unable to take any more, I dashed out the front door, screen slamming the outside wall in my haste, and headed for the Jeep to begin unloading.

If her hysterics were any indication, we were going to be here a while, so we might as well settle in. After hefting two duffle bags onto my shoulder, I headed inside and prepared myself for the verbal barrage coming at me through the walls. If I didn’t know better, I’d think a stampede of bulls were going at it in the bedroom.

“Rafe!” she screamed as I set our bags on the floor. “Let me go, you fucking ass!”

I couldn’t help but smile a little. Christ, she was pissed. I glanced down the hallway, and part of me longed to go to her and gather her in my arms. Put her fears to rest.

Fucking hell, I wanted to give in.

Don’t do it, man.

The voice in my head was right. Alex didn’t need to be coddled. She needed to be challenged, and I didn’t have the fucking patience to let her play thepoor mecard. I’d made mistakes, but so had she. It was time to stare the consequences dead in the eye and come out on top anyway. Her inner strength would carry her through if she took the initiative to find it.

I returned outside to grab another load, and halfway to the Jeep, my back pocket shrilled. I pulled out my cell and swiped my thumb to the right.

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