Page 60 of Born into Madness
“I don’t want to be in danger, and I don’t want anyone I care about to be in danger.” Her fingers nervously trace along my chest while she thinks. “I’m not sure what this means for us.” She blushes and then tries to backtrack. “I mean, not that there’s anusor anything, but you know what I mean.”
“You don’t think there’s an us?” I ask, surprised at how much it bothers me to think that this is so one-sided on my part.
“I just don’t want to assume,” she says. “I don’t want to scare you off.”
“Krovinka, you couldn’t scare me off if you tried.” I cup the back of her head and pull her closer. “There is most definitely anus,Cyn. There is no longer a you or a me. There is only anus. You are mine, and I am yours, and I would never allow anythingto happen to you. My family and the work I do for them will never touch you.”
“There’s so much I don’t know about you,” she whispers.
“You know more about me than anyone else. I’ve shared more of myself with you, exposed more of myself to you, and experienced more with you than I’ve ever done with anyone else.”
She kisses me, and as soon as she pulls back, I say, “Tell me about yourself. I want to know everything.”
At first she resists, mistakingly thinking that I don’t actually want to know every detail of her life and every part of who she is, but after several questions, I get her talking. She fascinates me, and the more she speaks, the more I want to know. She glosses over her childhood, only perking up when she talks about her times with Savanna, and then she tells me all about college and her decision to switch to a vet tech program. Her love of animals is obvious. She lights up just talking about them, and when I tell her I think it’s a great idea, her face breaks out into a huge smile, like my opinion deeply matters to her. Cyn has a way of making me feel special. She never looks at me as if I’m broken. For some unknown reason, she sees good in me. I may not believe it’s there, but knowing she sees it is a comfort I hadn’t been expecting.
“I’d like to meet your mom and stepdad,” I say, feeling her body tense at my words.
“That’s probably not the best idea. The last time I was there, things didn’t end so well. My mom and I kind of had a fight.”
I don’t push it, but I’m also not going to let it go for long. I don’t like the way talking about her family has caused the light in her to dim, and I know it will gnaw at me until I figure out what’s going on. Niki was able to get me basic details about her life, but Cyn is the only one who can tell me what’s really going on.
When she starts to yawn, I say, “You can stay here if you want.”
I’m hoping she’ll agree, but she shakes her head and says, “I need to get back.” When I tighten my arms around her, she laughs and kisses my chest.
“You don’t have any underwear,” I remind her.
“Was that a ploy to keep me in your bed?”
Without any warning, I roll us over. Her body is trapped beneath mine while I pin her wrists to the bed above her head. She wiggles, trying like hell to break free, but all it does is make me hard. She feels my reaction and huffs out a breath when she finally gives up.
“I don’t need to tear your panties to keep you in my bed,krovinka. This is where you belong, and this is where I want you.”
“I have work tomorrow,” she starts to argue, but I cut her off with a quick, “I’ll bring you.”
“All my stuff is in my dorm room.”
I grin and nip at her pouty bottom lip. “I’ll share my stuff with you, Cyn, and I’ll drop you off at your dorm in the morning so you’ll have plenty of time to get ready before work.”
“I snore,” she says.
“No, you don’t. You’re quiet as a mouse when you sleep, and you look fucking adorable, especially when you’re cuddling up with that ratty stuffed dog.”
Her eyes widen. “How the hell do you know all that?”
“You know I’ve broken in to watch you sleep,” I remind her.
“Yeah, but how long did you watch me?” She thinks for second and adds, “And how did you know about pizza and Netflix. I figured you’d just taken a guess, but now I’m not so sure.”
She wiggles again, but there’s no way in hell she’s getting free until I want her to. Unsure of how she’s going to react, I watch her and say, “Just remember I’m a little fucked in the head.”
Before she glares at me, she takes a second to soften her gaze and say, “Don’t say that about yourself,” but then she narrows her eyes and adds, “What the hell did you do, Sasha?”
Chapter 10
Cynthia
If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear the enormous man pinning me to the bed looks nervous. I feel the strength of him in every inch of his body—the powerful hand that grips both my wrists, the broad shoulders and muscular arms that are braced on either side of me, and the heavy weight of his hips on mine. Every inch of Sasha is deadly, but I’m not scared of him, not even when I saw him mutilate every single one of those dummies downstairs in what can only be described as a violent work of art.
