Page 29 of Brutal Union
“If it’s you…” Sho moans through clenched teeth, his voice broken and breathless. The pain softens into a hungry coil of want. My nipples strain against the thin cotton of my white shirt, and I don’t even bother pretending I’m not wet.
On the screen, Sho throws his head back, jaw tight and glistening with sweat. “Come on,Hime.I know you.”
In the footage, I click my tongue at him, playful and cruel. The freshly cleaned knife gleams in my hand like a lover’s promise. “Give me a body part, baby.”
Before the next cut lands, my phone vibrates beside me. I reach for it blindly, unwilling to take my eyes off the screen—off the smug smile slowly spreading across his face. The look he gives me, like I’m his oxygen, sinks deep into my chest and coils there.
I press answer and tuck the phone between my shoulder and ear.
“??????,” I say softly, eyes still locked on his bleeding mouth.
“How long did it take you to get back to New York?” Sho’s voice drawls through the phone in a low murmur, and instinctively I am sitting straight up, and on edge.
“Do you want me back in Japan already,Shadow?” I purr, a smirk tugging at my lips as the blade in the video glides slowly down the sculpted ridge of his right abs. The steel kisses his skin, just enough to open a thin crimson line.
He moans on-screen, and I sigh—soft, and satisfied.
“Are you watching one of our videos, Hime?” He chuckles.
The heavy pant of his groans rolls over the speakers, and I jump to turn down the sound on my laptop. My eyes dart around the ground level of my townhouse. You never know with an assassin, he could already be in here.
My smile deepens as I recline back into the velvet cushions, eyes drifting toward the window, blinds drawn. “Are you stalking me now, Shadow?” I purr. “Peeking through the blinds like some pervert?”
“Close,” he murmurs, and I can hear the smirk behind it. “I am always slightly closer than you think. Now, answer my question, are you watching one of our videos?”
My thighs press together, involuntarily. Instant. Sho is a contradiction. I like him beneath me, writhing, broken open under my blade—just like I like most men. But Sho is different, beneath every moan, every surrender is a choice. He could flip the script at any moment. That the leash I have on him is only taut because heletsit be.
And it’sthat—the danger coiled behind his submission—that makes my body betray me every time.
I exhale through my nose, slow and controlled, though my pulse says otherwise. My voice drops into something low and syrupy.
“Maybe I missed the sound of your screams,” I say, lifting the remote and pressing play. His groan echoes again through the speakers—raw and sweet.
“Or maybe,” I continue, “I just needed a reminder of how easy it is to make you beg.”
A low chuckle vibrates through the phone, and I picture him lounging somewhere damp and illegal, shirtless, blood still drying on his skin. “Begging is a strong word,Hime.I remember giving you what you wanted.”
“You gave me what Itook,” I snap, just sharp enough to make him inhale.
He hums, lazy and deep. “Then take more.”
The line goes quiet for a beat. My breath catches in that silence. I can feel him grinning, canfeelthe heat of him through the phone.
“Go ahead,” he murmurs, voice rough velvet. “Tell me what you’re wearing.”
I roll my eyes, but the shiver that moves down my spine betrays me. His voice always does this—sliding beneath my skin like a blade wrapped in silk.
“Do you really think you deserve that,” I purr, “after you left me tied up and naked in Tokyo?”
“You want me to beg?” Sho’s voice is low, a dark rumble that sends a shiver down my spine. I can almost feel it, the way his words wrap around me like a vice, tightening with every syllable.
I bite my lip, my fingers trailing over my thigh in slow, deliberate circles. “I like when you beg,” I whisper, my voice barely audible over the sound of my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
There’s a pause on the other end of the line, and I can almost see the smirk playing on his lips. “I think,” he says, his voice thickening with desire, “you like it more when my cock is inside of you.”
My breath catches in my throat, heat flooding my body as his words sink in. “Sho—” I start, but he cuts me off with a growl.
“Now,” he commands, the edge in his voice sending a jolt of electricity straight to my core. “Tell me what you’re wearing.”
