Page 18 of Silent Truths

“You’re avoiding my question,” Salem bluntly stated.

I just shrugged. He knew it; I knew it. No point in denying it.

Salem sighed, his breath fanning over my neck. Goosebumps erupted over my flesh, and a shiver wracked down my spine. Memories of the way his hot breath felt against my skin as he fisted my cock assaulted me, and I had to swallow down a moan. I just hoped he couldn’t tell that my cock was hardening in my sweats.

“I know I hurt you. I just didn’t realize it was so…” His voice trailed off.

“Raw? Painful? Cutting? Agonizing?” I asked, coldness seeping into my tone before I could stop it. It had been the worst months of my life.

Salem pressed a kiss to my throat. “Don’t give me the cold shoulder, baby, or I’ll fuck you right here for our friends to find, you hear me?”

I deflated, sagging back against him, even as my cock went so hard, it made me a little dizzy. “You drive me fucking crazy.”

Salem hummed low in his throat but didn’t say anything in response. Wasn’t like he could if he wanted anyway since Jesse chose that moment to step outside, nodding once at us in greeting, only a hint of surprise in his voice as he said, “Delia’s on the phone. She wants everyone present in the living room.”

Salem grabbed my blunt from me and pinched the red tip between his thumb and forefinger, putting it out for me before reaching into the pockets of my sweats and pulling out my slim, clear container, slipping the blunt into it before shoving it back in. I arched a brow at him as he stood to his feet. “Just go digging in my pockets whenever you want now?”

He only arched a brow at me as he grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet, eyeing my cock before laying his gaze back on mine. “I’ll do whatever the fuck I want when it comes to you.”

Fuck, why was that so goddamn hot? It shouldn’t have been. It should have been fucking alarming. But not when it came to Salem. When it came to Salem, I wanted it all—the possessiveness, the ownership, the jealousy, the fights, the sex, the love.

I just wanted him. All of him. In any way that I could have him.

“We’re all here,” Kalin told Delia as me, Salem, and Jesse walked into the living room. Dalton’s phone was on the center of the coffee table, the speaker-phone icon lit on the call screen. When I moved to sit next to Salem, he grunted in disapproval and grasped my hips, yanking me onto his lap.

I sank into his embrace as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me back into his chest.

Dalton simply arched a brow at us but didn’t say a word. A smirk tilted Spike’s lips. Kalin just looked bored and slightly annoyed, but not with us. Probably more with Delia. If there was one thing I loved about our friends, it was that I knew they wouldn’t make this weird. They wouldn’t make a big deal out of me and Salem sorting our shit out.

I was extremely grateful for it.

“Richard wants me to go over this with you all, even though I went through the trouble of making a packet to make all of our lives easier. As I mentioned a few days ago, Nightwork Records is sponsoring an event in Spring Harbor,” Delia said, diving right in. “And Richard wants you all to be the face of the company. You’ll perform at the festival—it’s a three-day event. And the day before and the day after the event, you’ll do community work. Clear?”

“We’re supposed to be off and taking a break so we can focus on our next album,” Jesse griped, slumping back against the couch cushions, annoyance clear in his voice.

She sighed as if we were pestering bugs she wanted to squash with her shoe. Salem squeezed his arms around me, no doubt using me to keep from snapping at her. I was perfectly okay with being his grounding force.

It made me feel all warm inside to know I had that power.

“This is out of my hands. You got a problem with it? You take it up with Richard,” she snapped. “Which brings me to a real fucking problem. Salem, Tor, what the absolute fuck?!” she exploded.

I frowned. “Huh?” I questioned.

“Don’t huh me,” she snarled. “You?—”

“Watch your fucking tone with him,” Salem warned her.

The silence that rang throughout the room was deafening. Delia cleared her throat. “Excuse me?” she finally asked.

“You fucking heard me,” Salem told her, his voice eerily calm. “Watch how the fuck you talk to Tor. There are plenty of other record labels who would be more than happy to snatch us from Nightwork Records. Don’t ever think we’re stuck with only one option.”

Spike coughed to cover his laugh, but his grin was unmistakable. I grabbed Salem’s hands and squeezed them gently all while my insides turned to puddles of goo at his overprotectiveness of me.

I couldn’t get enough of it.

She chose to ignore him. Everyone knew fighting with Salem was a task. He didn’t back down, and he didn’t stop until he got the last word… and usually not until he got his way. So far, I believed I was the only exception to that.

As fucked up as it was, it made me a little giddy inside.

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