Page 76 of Cost of Courting

“Tell me, or this won’t stop.”

I hiss and get really, really close to coming when she backs off and watches me with shadowed eyes.

She’s determined. She’s not going to stop.

“I could push you off me.”

She nods. “You could. We both know the only reason you are letting me do this is because you actually want it. Just like the only reason I’m actually doing it is because I've been dreaming of doing this forever, but it doesn’t change facts. If you’re going to be shady, I will use whatever I have to to get it out of you.”

“Selene, please, honestly, I can’t tell you.”

“You can.” She protests and scowls down at me. The mood in the room charges with her sour pain. “I don’t want to do it like this,” she says and backs off me.

I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed.

I sit up and watch her back to the window. She wraps her arms around herself and bites her bottom lip.

The door opens, and Edric glares at us. “For fuck’s sake! I’ll tell you everything. Get dressed and come out here.”

She follows him immediately while I tuck myself away with a groan and trail after them.

Edric passes me a glass with clear liquid. It’s not water. I drink it down, frustrated at his interruption. If she’d have kept going, I would have given it to her, anything she wanted.

Edric guides Selene to the couch and then sits opposite her.

“You remember Octavia and how it was?”

She glowers. “She came in and stole my scent, convinced you three idiots she was yours, and off you all went.”

Edric grimaces. “It’s a little bit more complicated than that, but, yes, that’s essentially right. However, it’s there that the story gets ugly.”

Any desire for sex vanishes as I recall those awful days.

The betrayal. The pain.

The fear, guilt, and shame.

It all comes back, and I want to stop him from telling her because I don’t want her to look at us differently.

But instead, I keep my mouth shut as Edric leans forwards and takes her hands in his, holding them lightly as he struggles to find the words to tell the sordid tale.

She might hate us.

I don’t think I’d blame her if she did, but at least she’d know the truth.

At least she’d know why we didn’t come back.

Chapter nineteen

Selene

I have a bond.I seethe, the rage pounding at my head, throbbing in my veins, but I want to hear this story. But every time I glance his way, I want to kill him all over again.

And also fuck him.

I want to fuck him so badly my pussy is literally throbbing with need. I have never been this turned on in my life.

Instead, I focus on Edric and the way his fingers are gently stroking my hand. He blows air out of his mouth, disturbing that painfully white hair. I want so badly to reach out and brush it back from his face.

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