Page 44 of Pretty Pink Poison
He managed not to sway then, his whole body going rigid and quiet before he closed his eyes and breathed in deep. “You thought after all the time I’ve known you, after what you know of me that I would let someone in here torapeyou?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time a man in this organization has taken advantage of a woman—” The sentence died because his palm closed around my throat and then he pulled me onto the bed to lay me down next to him.
It didn’t feel like an attack though. It felt like my Bane.
He leaned over me, grip firm—not choking, just insisting—and I hated the small, traitorous sound my body made. He heard it. Of course he did. He heard everything.
“And me? You think I’d do that to you? Have I ever taken advantage of you in a way youdidn’twant, Pink?” he murmured.
The nickname was a bruise he kept pressing as I kept my mouth shut.
“Answer me,” he commanded.
“Never… I’ve always wanted it. But… tonight, well, every night here… things are different.” I stumbled over my words as I tipped my chin higher. Even if he was cornering me, I wouldn’t cower. “And I wanted to be ready in case I was going to be taken advantage of.”
My words jarred him. I felt the subtle flinch and saw how his eyes darkened. “Taken advantage of by me?”
He wanted a clear answer. And maybe I should have thought twice, but I retorted, “Yes, you.”
He narrowed his eyes and then moved between my knees and dragged me down the mattress by the throat. It was a filthy demonstration of his power and of his strength over me. Heat and hard length pressed against me. I was naked under my robeand the feeling of him there had my thighs clenching against him.
“Bianca,” he whispered my name. “We both know your pussy is wet right now.The truth is Icanhave you… I just don’twantyou anymore.” He looked me over like a jeweler evaluating a counterfeit, then clicked his tongue, almost pitying. “It’s why I stopped what we were doing at dinner, why I didn’t fuck you into oblivion, do you understand? Let’s be clear, if Ididwant what’s rightfully minefor now,I could fuck you raw and your little blade wouldn’t stop me. Nothing would.”
“But you just don’t want to then?” I whispered like I needed him to say it again because maybe deep down I wanted him to want me. Maybe deep down, I wanted the guy who wanted me before.
We locked eyes and I swear he read my mind, swear he considered it, swear he wanted to tell me he still wanted me the way he always used to, but he stayed silent.
“I don’t.” Blood dripped slowly from his arm to his wrist, beading at his knuckles. He glanced over at it, as if charmed by the physics, and then he brought those blood-wet fingers slowly to my mouth. “If I wanted something to do with you, I wouldn’t keep you up here away from me, right?”
He smeared his blood against my mouth, and I licked it immediately, wanting to taste any part of him. He watched as if mesmerized. “Sure that’s why you keep me locked away? Or is it because—”
He didn’t want me to finish that question. He pushed his bloodied fingers into my mouth, cutting me off. I tasted copper and him. He shoved deeper until I gagged enough that my throat convulsed, causing me to jerk in his hold.
He was making a point. Like he knew I was more to blame for the desire between us than he was. And I hated that I let him. Yet, I couldn’t control myself. I made a noise I’d neveradmit to and moved against him, my body defying me as my hips rolled into his length. He pulled his fingers back and then thrust them down my throat again. A sickening rhythm ensued that I encouraged, rocking into him every single time. “Such a pretty fucking mess. It’s obscene and filthy the way you want me, pink poison. And so fucking perfect.”
I spread my legs further, hoping he’d keep going but that movement had him yank his hands back and then his weight shifted off me as he rolled over to the side of me. “Fuck.” He dragged the word out long and slow.
I turned to see him wiping away the desire from his face and I knew right then, he was feeling my concoction. His movements were much too sloppy for his usually tightly wound self.
“I’m leaving,” he grumbled and started to sit up.
“Leaving? After gagging me?” I lifted a brow and shoved him back and he plopped back on the bed too easily. The tension in his shoulders went slack in a way I’d never seen them. Bane was never relaxed or malleable.
And the edges of that piercing gaze softened.
“I should be doing more than just gagging you. I should be taking your life. You realize mixing drugs and sticking me with a needle is attempted murder.”
“Oh, give me a break.” He breathed out slowly and then back in, like he was calmer than he’d ever been. “You might need to thank me considering you seem so relaxed. Maybe you need something to wind down.”
His gaze stayed locked on me, like he was willing himself to get through it. “Can’t wind down when you’re around ever, Pink,” he said. And when I didn’t apologize for my presence, he chuckled, actually chuckled as if he found the whole thing funny. “Can’t believe you had fucking poison ready and stabbed me with it.”
“Right? I’m sort of proud… Are you?” I tried not to laugh along with him. We should have been taking the situation more seriously.
He hummed and then nodded. “Probablytooproud.”
I saw the heat in his eyes and then glanced down at his trousers. “Seems you’re very proud. Or maybe you do want me even if you said you don’t.”
“I don’t,” he mumbled, closing his eyes, and the declaration sliced through me again.
