Page 22 of Beautifully Deranged

I pull back from the kiss after almost devouring her whole. She’s too dazed to notice the rage simmering inside me. Pupils wide, breath uneven, she’s wrecked. Just how I like her. But my blood still boils. I want to put a hole in the nearest wall.

Her father walked in like the world owed him something and everyone else was beneath him. He’s the kind of bastard who doesn’t see people, just assets, status, money. The moment he realized who I was, he practically foamed at the mouth, all but kissing my ass.Fucking disgusting. But that’s not even what pisses me off the most.

The second Lola stepped out of the room, he couldn’t wait to tear her down. Painted his own daughter like some rabid beast, a threat to everyone around her. Maybe she doesn’t do things the conventional way, but who gives a damn? No one deserves to be spoken about like that.

The Lola I know smiles at our concierge like he’s royalty and brings him baked goods every time she passes by. If he weren’t nearly a hundred years old, I’d be jealous. She quietly slips bills into the hands of the homeless, never making a show of it. Weeks ago, in an elevator with a little girl who complimented her bracelet, she took it off without hesitation and slipped it onto the child’s wrist. That’s Lola. That’s who she is. Not whatever garbage her father tried to pass off as truth. Her obsessive streak? It only shows with me.

Or does it?

A vein in my neck throbs. The thought burns through me like gasoline catching fire. Jealousy claws its way up my throat. “Lola,” I say, my voice rough.

“Yeah?” she breathes. Her back hits the wall. I plant a hand beside her head, caging her in. My body casts a shadow over hers. Her father’s words echo in my skull.I hope he’s a boyfriend this time.I drag my fingers down her jaw, slowly. “What did he mean by that, Lola? Why the hell would he say he hopes I’m a boyfriend this time?”

She bites her lip. I’m not in the mood for teasing.

“Talk,” I growl.

“You’re not one of those men who think women should be pure and virginal, right?”

My body tenses. She smiles, like she’s enjoying the way I’m barely keeping myself from breaking something. “I had needs,” she confesses, utterly unbothered by the heat rolling off me. “And I fulfilled them.” She gives a slow shrug. “But none of them ever meant anything. None of them ever made me want to commit—until you.”

“Needs.”

“Fulfilled them.”

I’m going to fucking incinerate. I press my forehead to hers, breath coming hard. “How many?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

I would. And it makes me want to rip the answer from her throat, to make her say it with my fingers wrapped around her neck. To make her understand that the thought of another man touching her makes me fucking sick.

"Did you obsess over them?" I bark, my nose brushing hers.

Her nails trace the collar of my shirt. "I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you."

"Good," I rasp, my fingers sliding to the back of her neck, holding her there. "Because if you had..." I drag my mouth to her ear and bite down. "I’d fucking destroy him."

When I pull back, her eyes are lidded and dark. "Would you?" she whispers. "Destroy them all?"

I let my lips curl. "Try me."

"You understand that I feel the same about other women, right?" she murmurs.

"Lola," I warn.

"What?" She’s testing me, pushing me. "It’s only fair."

My grip tightens around her wrist. "Careful."

She laughs softly. "You don’t like the idea of another man in my past, but you expect me to be fine if some pretty little thing throws herself at you?"

The thought alone makes something dark unfurl inside me. "You think I’d let that happen?" I hiss. Her body stills against mine. But I see the flicker of doubt in her eyes. Not doubt in me. Not in us. Just in whatever’s holding me back. She doesn’t understand it, not fully, but she senses it. The hesitation buried deep in my chest. The reason I haven’t given her a title. She doesn’t press. Doesn’t demand something I can’t give her. Instead, her lips brush mine, and she whispers, “Exclusive?"

That, I can do. That, I can give her.

"Exclusive," I agree.

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