Page 68 of Pretty Lethal
When he looks over his shoulder and spots me watching him, I push off the doorway and move closer. “Can you teach me how to do that?” I ask, gesturing toward the punching bag.
His eyes drop to take in the comfy sweats and tank top I changed into, before he nods, a small smile gracing his lips before he wipes it away. “Of course. Come here.”
Moving over to stand in front of the punching bag, he cages me in from behind, his heat enveloping my back and his breath tickling my ear. “Lift your arms,” he orders in a low voice that sends goosebumps cascading down my spine. “You want to form a fist.”
I do as he says, but before my fingers can curl into my fist, he’s wrapping his hand around mine and prying it open again. “Keep your thumb out. If you hit someone like that, you’ll only end up injuring yourself.” He folds my fingers into my palm before positioning my thumb over my knuckles.
Once he’s satisfied, he moves on to adjust my stance. “The power behind a punch comes from your legs,” he explains, positioning my feet correctly, before placing his hands on my hips. “As you drive your fist forward, you’ll turn your hips and chest toward your target, which will pivot your back foot.” With a firm grip on my hips, he guides me through the motion, ensuring I’m following before he moves on. “Give it a go,” he says, gesturing to the punching bag.
He remains pressed against my back as I lift my arm and slowly go through the motion until my knuckles hit the bag. “Good. Put more oomph into it this time.”
I do as he says, my fist landing with a satisfying thud that pulls a grin from my lips.
“Good. Again.”
I repeat the action, Hawk making minor adjustments each time, until my arm feels like lead and my breathing is labored, but between that and the progress I made at the shooting range, I feel better than I have in days—more capable, more confident. I’m still nowhere close to feeling like I could take on one single attacker, nevermind eleven of them, but it’s progress.
Turning around, I drape my arms around Hawk’s neck and sag against him as I stare into his gray eyes. Despite the sweet gesture they all did for me today, there’s no peace in his gaze. Storm clouds rage, giving away the simmering fury he contains so well.
His arms band around my waist, squeezing me tightly. “If you want to learn how to defend yourself, I’ll teach you. I’d do anything to keep you safe.” His voice cracks, and he swallows thickly around the ball of emotion in his throat. “I’ll do anything to not see you like that again—that nightorthe last few days.” He lifts a hand to brush his fingers across my cheek. “I hated seeing you so lifeless. Seeing you smile is the highlight of my whole day. I don’t want to have to go without seeing it again.”
Pressing onto my toes, I capture his lips with mine and drink in every ounce of pain and guilt, and relief he’s feeling. In return, I allow him to see the fear I felt that night in the forest, the fear that still clings to me. I had no idea what was going on, but I thought I would die in those woods, or end up wishing I had. I have never been so scared for my life, not even with Mel. Not even when she was towering above me with a knife aimed directly at my heart, because I’d known that I wasn’t alone. That Hawk was there with me. However, in the forest, I was all alone, surrounded by men who wanted to do vile things to my body. I was terrified that their revolting faces would be the last thing I saw, their foul words the last thing I heard.
“You don’t have anything to worry about. Even when my smile falters, you always know how to bring it back.” I smile up at him. “Love my new room, by the way.”
Just like that, the pain recedes from the creases lining his face, and he smirks. “Oh yeah?”
“MmHmm.”
Taking a step back, he wraps his hand around mine and pulls me across the room. “Perhaps you should show me how much.”
He falls back on his ass when he reaches a stack of mats, bringing me down on top of him. I wriggle against him until I’m perched on my knees on the floor between his thighs. Looking up at him through my eyelashes, I hook my fingers in the waistband of his shorts and tug them down his thighs until they pool around his ankles.
His girthy-as-fuck erection bounces in my face, precum already gathered at the tip, and I lick my lips as I take in the angry-looking head and the red, pulsing vein running along the underside.
“Fuck, Em. I can see why Wilder calls you an angel. You look like you were sent straight from Heaven, sitting there on your knees, staring at my dick like it’s the holy fucking grail.”
I smirk up at him before wrapping my fingers around the silky skin of his shaft and maintaining eye contact, I slowly slide my lips along his length.
He hisses, his wide eyes latched on mine as his hands repeatedly clench and unfurl. “That’s it, Little Sparrow,” he says in a gruff voice. “Take all of me.”
My lips stretch, my mouth opening as wide as it can go as I force him deeper. “Fuck, that’s it. You’re doing so good, baby. You look hot as sin with your mouth wrapped around me.”
I reach my free hand between his thighs, cupping his balls and rolling them in my palm.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Hawk chants as his hips buck forward and his warm seed explodes across my tongue and down my throat. I swallow all of it, licking along his shaft before swirling my tongue around his head, gathering every drop before he yanks me off the floor and into his lap. “Remind me to do nice things for you more often.”
Chapter22
EMILIA
Ican smell the putrid stench of someone’s breath against the back of my neck. My own breaths come in heaving pants as I race over the uneven forest floor. Sticks, twigs, and stones embed themselves in the soles of my feet, but I don’t feel a thing as I run for my life.
I can feel them at my back, chasing me like a pack of wild dogs hungry for their next meal. Teeth snapping. Spittle flying. Growls howling in my ear.
A desperate whimper slips past my lips. Fear floods my body, driving every movement as I push forward, frantic to escape the hounds clipping at my heels.
Ice-cold fingers slide over my skin, wrapping around my arm, and I scream loud enough to send birds swarming into the sky above me.
