Page 36 of Make Me Bleed
“Mmm.Didn’t think so.” He works his jaw, the muscles tensing and bunching rapidly. His fingers splay over my neck, just under my necklace, spreading down toward my chest and along my collarbone in a possessive hold, before closing tightly together just under my jaw, which he tilts upward until my neck aches from the angle.
Peris drags his mouth over mine, but it’s not a kiss. In fact, it’s anythingbut,with the teeth and tongue he scrapes across my lips.
It’s something disgustingly possessive, and it makes my stomach churn in anticipation becausewhat the fuck?
“Get dressed,” he hisses into me, squeezing for a moment before releasing me and shoving me toward the bathroom, clothes now in hand. I stumble on my way but follow the path and let the door close softly behind me.
Peris and Gabriel’s voices are a soft hum on the other side of the door, but I can’t focus on them because I’m stuck on my reflection in the mirror.
Abel Silver stares back at me, and for the first time in years, he looksalive.Marked and possessed andtaken.And I know it won’t last. The bruises will fade—as will my time with Peris. I’ll go back to what I’ve been doing, and my life will go on as it has, but fuck, what a trip this has been.
It’s gone better than I ever could’ve imagined, seeing him again.
I didn’t think it would ever be a possibility… and on the off-chance it ever did, I thought he’d hate me too much to ever—I cut the thought off with a shuddering breath, sucking it in with my hands on the edge of sink, head dropped between my shoulders. I dig my nails into the smooth material of the countertop, relishing in the pressure of something so sturdy… somethingunbreakablebeneath my fingers.
I had to leave. I don’t know if he knows that, but I did. With Lucy pulling her shit and the way Adam was… I justcouldn’tdeal with it all anymore, and it was better to just get out than to try and fight something that was inevitable.
I didn’t see any other way, but I don’t know if he knows that. If he even cares to know that.
I should’ve said something, I know that. But… if I did, I wouldn’t have been able to leave him or Elise. They were good to me. Goodforme. And leaving them was the hardest thing I’veever done, but I’ve always put myself first, and that has never changed.
I’m selfish down to my very core.
Shouting from the other side of the door yanks me out of my head, and I jerk away from the counter, face flushing. I avoid my own gaze in the mirror as I pull my clothes back on—which happens to be my shirt and socks. I do my best to clean the dried cum from my skin, but there’s not much I can do about what’s still leaking from inside of me and what’s staining my skirt, so with a shrug and a deep breath that doesn’t do shit to help me feel better, I yank open the door to find Peris dressed in a pair of basketball shorts slung low on his chiseled hips and Gabe sitting in a chair across from where he’s pacing back and forth.
“Abel, how interesting it is to see you here,” Gabriel says when I step into the main area, and I snort.
“Yeah, I’m sure it is, Gabriel.” I cross my arms over my chest, feeling defensive all of a sudden. My hair sticks to the back of my sweat-slick neck as they both stare at me without saying much of anything else. “What?” I snap.
“Your shirt is on inside out,” Gabe says after a moment, and I flush hotly.
“Oh. Thanks,” I mutter and yank it over my head and fix it before pulling it back on. When I straighten it back out, I find both of them staring at me, Peris glaring and Gabriel amused. “What?”
“Was that fucking necessary?” Peris snaps.
“Yes?” I drawl. “The fuck’s your problem?”
“Gabe doesn’t need to see you like that.”
And that’s when it hits me. The realization has a smirk tugging at my lips, and Gabe groans and drags a hand down his face.
“Leave me out of this.”
“Oh, no, you’re so involved in this. Peris doesn’t think you need to see me without my shirt, even though he has no fucking claim over me.”
“I didn’t fucking say that?—”
“Yes, you did.”
“You kinda did, buddy, sorry.”
“Whose fucking side are you on, anyway?” Peris snaps, and I laugh loudly.
Gabriel throws his hands up. “Sorry! Sorry. I’m just saying.”
“You act like I’ve ever had a claim on you, Abel,” Peris says, startling me and, apparently, himself with the statement. We stare at each other, his mouth hanging open slightly and mine pinched tightly shut.
“That’s not fair.”
