Page 48 of Provocation
My weary eyes find the daisy tattoo on his chest, and I stare at it, committing every line to memory as Shade trails the loofa over my body slowly.
When we get out, I’m swaying a little as Shade dries me and he picks me up, taking me to my room.
I notice that there’s a small towel on my pillow and give him a lazy smile. ‘Thanks. What time is it?’
‘Almost eight,’ he replies. ‘Are you hungry or do you just want to sleep?’
‘Sleep,’ I whisper. ‘I thought I wanted pizza, but I’m not really hungry now.’
‘Okay,’ he says, pulling the cover over me before I feel him get into bed next to me.
‘Are you staying with me?’ I ask sleepily.
‘Yeah. If that’s okay with you.’
‘Yes,’ I murmur, closing my eyes and snuggling down. ‘That would be really nice.’
I feel him get closer, holding me against him. I’m glad that he’s here. I hope he’s not still upset about what happened before. I remember that contented feeling I had earlier and I sigh.
‘I love you, Jack,’ I whisper without thinking, and even in my half asleep state, I wince.
He freezes. He doesn’t even breathe.
What have I done?
‘I love you too, Marguerite.’
Relief floods me, and I turn to him, breathing in the sandalwood scent of his soap and keeping my eyes closed. ‘I think I always did. From that first day you showed me how to play videogames.’
‘Me too,’ he whispers.
BLAKE
When the buzzing of my alarm wakes me, I almost throw it across the room.
I’ve gotten barely two hours of sleep, and I feel like shit. I haul myself out of bed and into the shower, trying not to think about what I had to do last night.
It’s the begging that gets me, not from assholes who deserve everything they get, but from shop owners, and family members. Last night when we arrived at some pizza place on some bad street, I did what I had to do. Me and another guy I haven’t met before, Farley, trashed the shop because the owner, Sal, hadn’t paid his dues. Farley started beating the shit out of Sal, which was part of what we were there to do, but we hadn’t known that his teenage daughter was in the back, so when she came out sobbing for us to leave her dad alone, Farley grabbed herand bent her over a table with a sickening laugh while they both begged him to stop.
My stomach churns at the memory. The kid looked like she was barely fourteen. I pulled a laughing Farley off her and pushed her into a closet to save her from him, telling Sal we’d be back if he didn’t pay up, and hoping that he finds the money because that sick fuck is going to follow through with his threat, I know it. Hewantsto. I saw it in his eyes.
My shower is short and cold, mostly to shake off the lingering disgust that’s coursing through me.
When I see Daisy, make sure she’s okay after what we did yesterday, I don’t want to still be thinking about the things Kormak tells me to do.
My brow furrows as I remember Daisy laying in the bed. The way she looked when Shade was forcing her to come wasn’t something I enjoyed, and I hope Shade learned that being punished like that is clearly a hard limit for her.
I throw on some clothes and go downstairs, nodding at the guys in the kitchen and boiling some water for Daisy’s tea. There are some muffins out on the side, so I grab a triple chocolate one for our girl, knowing she likes her sweets.
‘You drink tea?’
I glance up at Jackson, one of the juniors I don’t hate. ‘Nope.’
I pour the water into the mug and worry it a little with the spoon, so it steeps quicker. I know she likes it strong, so I leave it to ‘mash’ while I put the muffin on a plate.
‘She’s got you whipped, huh? Never thought I’d see Eric Blake making a girl breakfast in the morning.’
I side eye this dude. He trying to make me feel embarrassed, or something?
