Page 21 of Iron Heart

Right now.

“Shh… Viki, baby,” he says, leans forward and puts his lips on mine in a wet, tongue-filled kiss that has me near nauseous.

I pull back.“Jasper,no!”

He looks at me, then down at my body, my red lingerie.“You don’t mean that.You asked me back here.You will like it, I promise.”

He pushes me back down on the bed, and his crushing weight falls upon me.My chest constricts while fear laces my throat, suffocating my voice.

No, I don’t want this.

Images of the kidnapping come flooding in.When a hand touches me against my will, I find my voice again.It comes forward like a burst of stored energy, wanting to be released.

“Stop!”I scream out, but it’s like he doesn’t hear.Instead, he continues and starts to unzip his pants, so I bite his ear.

“Ah, fuck!”he says, and I taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth.

The next thing I see is Kingsley’s shadow standing beyond him.In one quick motion, he pulls him off me and against the wall, hitting him hard in the stomach.

“What the fuck!?”Jasper yells when he doubles over in pain.

Kingsley hits him again, and this time, I hear a crack from inside Jasper as he slides down the wall.

“Get the fuck up,” Kingsley’s voice is filled with malice and darkness, like nothing I’ve ever heard from him before.

“Stop!”I yell at him, not wanting him to kill Jasper but just wanting him the hell away from me.

Quickly, his gaze falls upon me, and it’s pure rage behind his eyes.

“Kingsley, get him out of here,” I beg.

His eyes immediately soften as he snaps out of his rage.

He yanks Jasper by the shirt, lifting him up and out of my room.My legs curl up as I hear Kingsley issue a menacing warning.Phrases like ‘skin suit’ and ‘disappear if you ever touch her again’ reach my ears, and it dawns on me that he’s truly fearless.

Then he’s back.I sense his presence before my eyes even meet his.When I open my eyes, a weight seems to lift, even if just a fraction.I swipe away a single tear, and it hits me—here I am, in lingerie, with Kingsley in my room.I should be embarrassed, but I’m not.

Without a word, he reaches for a robe and carefully drapes it over my shoulders.Assisting me into it, he ties the silk tie at my waist, and I find myself grateful for his presence and this gentlemanly gesture.

“Maybe I should ask if you’re okay, but I’m so mad at you,” he says slowly and cautiously.

“Could you be a little more considerate right now?”I say, but it’s a weak jab.

He edges onto the foot of the bed.“You didn’t want this tonight, yet you went through with it anyway.”

“You don’t know that,” I object.

“I don’t like brats, Victoria,” he warns, his voice lowering to an octave that activates something inside me.

“You used my first name,” I note, surprised.

His lips flatten into a smile.“Maybe it’s time I did.I’m used to wome—” He stops short before correcting himself.“People obeying me,” he says, gesturing between us.

The slip-up doesn’t pass me by, and I’m curious but too tired to dig into it now.“Maybe it was a mistake to invite him back, but all I wanted was to feel connected to someone,” I confess, lifting my eyes to meet his.I see a flicker of understanding cross his face, but I go on.“That doesn’t give him the right to nearly force himself on me, especially after I said no.”

“I agree, and he knows the consequences should he ever come near you again.”His voice is menacingly low.

“Victoria, this isn’t going to work if you don’t listen to me,” he says, his fingers toying with the end of my robe.A surge of heat flashes through me at his proximity.

---