Page 79 of Cruel Master
But another, much newer voice speaks over the top of it, and I make myself listen.
She was right. You were rushing it. If you’d pushed ahead when you wanted to, it would have been incredibly dangerous.
Thoughts I tried to ignore for a long time, but given Candice’s recent actions, I can’t anymore. Even with Brotherhood resources, all the protections known to man, and years more work, Candice still broke her programming and lashed out, hurting me. What harm could a much less nuanced creation,one with base-level sentience and access to the whole internet, have done?
Catastrophic damage, that’s what. Juliet saw it when I was too wrapped in my obsession.
She’s still waiting for a response, and I can finally give her one. “I was angry for a long time…and hurt. But what you did…I understand now. And even through all of it, I never stopped wanting you. I never stopped loving you.”
A sigh leaves her lips, as though she’d been holding a breath for years. She stares at the frozen picture on the screen; then her brows crease as she turns back to me. “I thought you wanted revenge. I thought…”
She trails off as the goalposts shift for what must feel like the hundredth time today. Her beautiful green eyes meet mine as she asks again, “Why am I here? Really?”
I rest a hand on her thigh, under her dress, and she jumps at the contact. Her silky-smooth skin is heaven beneath my fingers, and I pinch it just to hear her yelp. Because I can. Because she’s mine.
“You’re here because I want you here. No one else will do. It’s always been you, Juliet.”
She draws in a breath at my use of her real name. I shouldn’t have used it, but it felt right.
“I would have taken you regardless, but when I learned how deeply you want to be owned, everything fell into place.”
I slide my hand further up her skirt, and she watches me with glassy eyes. Thank God I didn’t give her panties. She’ll never wear them again. When I reach the apex of her thighs, I push them open. She squeaks, looking over at the glass door. It’s one-way glass, so we have complete privacy, but she doesn’t need to know that.
I push her skirt all the way up to her waist, exposing all her smooth, pale skin.
“You’re here because you were born to be my slave. It just took me until now to understand it. You’re mine, I own you, and I’ll die before I’ll ever let you go.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Juliet
Thosewordsshouldn’tsoundas good as they do, especially combined with the firm pressure of his fingers on my thighs. My exposed thighs. I glance over at the floor-to-ceiling glass doors. Can people see inside? I was too in my own head to notice when we arrived.
Hadrian grips my thighs with ink-covered hands and tugs me to the edge of the seat before spreading my legs even wider. The calm, possessive way he handles me has my stomach turning over. I stare at his hands on my skin. The same but different. Like everything about him.
He looks up, and our eyes meet. The weird, creepy lab fades away, and my skin heats. There’s something so intimate about the way he’s holding me. It’s just us. No restraints, toys, or masks between us. The tips of his fingers dig into my skin.
“Do you hear me, Juliet? You’re mine.”
My name again. It reverberates right down to my soul. I don’t answer, lost in the expression on his face. The stern mask isgone, and beneath it is something else. Raw need, as though he’s showing himself to me for the very first time. As though he needs me to understand.
“Yes,” I say, though I’m not sure what I’m saying yes to. “I understand. I do.”
His gaze burns into me until he drops his attention down once more. He slides his hands up, spreads me open, and drops his head until his lips are only a hair’s breadth from my clit. I squirm as his breath fans my skin.
In my cell, orgasms were handed out sparingly. Hadrian’s teasing and denial have kept me in a constant state of desperation for weeks, and my pussy floods instantly at even the hint that release could be on the menu. He’s got me trained so well that I let out a whimper and he hasn’t even touched me yet.
The cruel smirk on his features when he looks up at me does nothing to help the situation, and he fucking knows it. “Needy, aren’t you? Tell me what you want.”
God, this is easier in a kinky setting, when I’m tied up and my brain is already starting to melt. Here, it’s hard to form the words, and I stay quiet for long enough that he sighs, sending another wave of need through me.
There’s amusement in his voice as he says, “Oh, I guess you’re not in the mood.” He starts to pull my skirt back into place. “A shame, because you’re getting punished later, and bad girls don’t get to come.”
“Please,” I blurt out, and the side of his lip twitches up.
“Please, what?” He circles his finger around my clit, and everything clenches. God, I need him to touch me there. I need it more than any pride I might have left.
“Please. I want to come, Master.”
