Page 57 of Depraved
My hands drop from her face to her hips, and I push my fingertips underneath the sweater she’s wearing. “I’m here, Billy.”
Her eyes stay trained on mine, never giving anything away as a tear escapes and runs down her cheek. My lips kiss her cheek, soaking up the evidence as I slowly run my palms up the sides of her body and lift the cashmere off her skin.
“Let go. I’ll be here to bring you back, Billy.”
Her jagged breath releases in a whoosh, and I pick her up, pulling a leg around my waist as her arms wrap around my neck. The other leg follows, and I stand, holding her as close as I can get her as her face buries in the crook of my neck.
I feel her tears against my skin, and I tighten my arms around her. “I’m sorry. Let it all go. Let me take it all from you. I’ve got it.” Her body shudders as she does what she’s told. And for the first time, I’ve never been so grateful she’s listening.
I kiss her hair as we stand, clutched to each other, like two pieces of metal being welded together. Intertwined and indestructible.
Her face pulls from my neck, and she looks at me. She’s never been so beautiful. Our lips find each other, gentle at first, parting slowly until my tongue pushes into her mouth, deepening the kiss. I pull away and rub my nose over hers as I turn us around, not ready to put her down, and walk to the bed to sit, keeping her straddling me.
Her hands pat my shoulders as she takes a deep breath.
“My brother called me. That’s why I freaked. You have to understand, my family is an unimportant band of thieves, con artists, and petty criminals. They’re the kind of people who are willing to make a secret deal to sell an eighteen-year-old girl to a low-level member of the Irish mob for the equivalent of a thousand dollars’ worth of heroin to sell on the streets.”
She can’t even look at me, opting to look at her thumb that’s brushing back and forth on my shoulder. It’s as if she feels ashamed.
That one motion.
The way she looks down.
That’s why they’ll die. Nobody makes her feel small.
I reach my finger under her chin and tip it up to look at me and give a small shake of my head. “You don’t ever look down unless it’s at them. You don’t have anything to be ashamed of, Sarah.”
She closes her eyes, taking a breath, and shifts her gaze back to me with the fire I’ve become accustomed to from her. “But the joke was on them—I shoot to kill, remember? Something Declan, my unwanted groom, found out on our wedding night. If you can call attempted rape and torture a honeymoon night.”
My hands find their way under her arms and tug her forward. I need her against me. Even an inch is too much space between us. I wrap around her back, letting her tuck back into the crook of my neck.
“Now you know everything,” she mumbles into my skin.
“What family did the dead guy work for, Sarah?” I ask, knowing it’s not what I want to hear.
She pulls back again to look at me. “The O’Bannions.”
“As in the head of the Irish mob, O’Bannions?” I wish I was surprised, but my gut never lies. I knew that prick from Boston was working for someone bigger.
“One and the same. Christopher implied they would help him. I killed one of their own. They’ll want my head once they know. Now you know why I haven’t been forthcoming. I knew if you knew, it would complicate everything. Dante, I don’t want to bring this mess to your house. I don’t want this for any of you.”
She’s been trying to protect me. This whole time…her only job has been protecting me.
“I’ll never let them near you. Do you hear me? They’re dead men.”
Her hands crawl around my shoulders, and I feel her squeeze me tight, and I swear my body relaxes. She needs our connection as much as I do.
“I forgive you.” She takes a deep breath before continuing, “I don’t just want you—I need you, in a way I don’t understand. But I’m done fighting it and overthinking it. I want this…for however long we have. I mean, you beat a guy for me…I would’ve taken flowers though.”
A small laugh pulls from my lips, and I grin, pushing a kiss into her cheek roughly.
“I’m gonna kiss you. Taste you. Eat you. Then fuck you…in that order, Billy.”
SHIVERS RUN OVER MY BODY, making me wiggle from where I’m lying on my stomach. I’m sated and thoroughly worked over. He did every single thing in the order he promised, and it was fucking divine and exhausting.
Finding my way back into Dante’s bed is the best/worst decision I’ve ever made. Best because I can’t deny I’m falling for him, and worst because of the same reason.
My lips quirk into a smile as Dante lets out a quiet laugh when I shiver again. His fingers glide slowly and seductively over my back, making swirls and designs across my skin, trading places with his lips every so often.
