“You deserve a big motherfucking house that you can decorate just the way you want it. I used to watch you struggle to just make it to the next day, and I’d wish like hell I could take you away. Give you the world. I can now,” he said and moved his hands up one more inch. His eyes turned darker as he felt the dampness, telling him I was aroused with nothing to cover it. “My pussy is bare.” His voice was a low rumble.

  I nodded but reached up to grab his face with my hands. We weren’t through with this conversation.

  “I don’t want you giving up your home because you think I need some fancy house that I can decorate,” I told him.

  Blaise shoved my legs open as his gaze grew darker. “You are my fucking home, Madeline. You. Not this house. You,” he said, then ran his finger over my swollen clit.

  I whimpered. I wanted that to be true. I wanted to be his home because there was no doubt in my mind that he was mine. Even with the bad things he had done, I wanted him.

  “When you were gone, so was my fucking soul. I live for you now,” he said, then thrust two fingers inside me.

  My hands moved from his face to his shoulders as I gasped.

  “And this. Your pretty face keeps me human, your sweet smile calms my rage, your smart mouth keeps me sane, and this hot little pussy owns me.”

  While that wasn’t Shakespeare, it was pretty poetic, coming from a man who killed people regularly.

  “I love you,” I said as he began to slide his fingers in and out of me.

  “I thought I loved you,” he whispered. “But I’m well fucking beyond that now. I worship you. Fucking adore you. Now, lie back like a good girl so I can lick this needy pussy.”

  I didn’t say anything else. I wasn’t sure there was anything else to say.

  Lying back, I watched as Blaise unzipped his pants and shoved them down, freeing his erection before he grabbed my legs and put them over his shoulders. As his head lowered, every nerve in my body felt as if it were sizzling. At the first touch of his tongue, I cried out his name and grabbed his head. He flicked at my sensitive clit several times, then tasted me like I was in fact his meal. My body trembled as it climbed toward the sweet ecstasy that I knew would come.

  “Blaise …” I moaned his name, loving the sound of it.

  He tilted his head back so that he could see my face as he continued to drive me wild with his mouth. The lust swirling in his eyes was exciting and wicked. I loved when he looked at me like that. I wanted to do everything he asked of me. Not because I had to in order to make him happy, but because his pleasure was mine.

  His tongue curled up after one last lick. “When you come, I want it on my dick,” he said as he stood up and moved me so that he could slide inside me easily.

  Each of his hands grabbed my ass and jerked me up against him, and he sank deeper inside me.

  “I swear if I could just keep you here like this all the time, I fucking would,” he groaned.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck as he began rocking inside of me. He didn’t go fast, but instead took his time. Driving us both crazy as our climax built slowly. He bit the curve between my neck and shoulder, and I let out a sharp cry as he sank his teeth in. It hurt, but somehow, it also sent jolts directly to my center.

  Blaise lifted his head with a sinful grin on his face. “Fuck, I like biting you,” he said in a deep voice.

  The coiling promise of euphoria tightened between my legs, and as it slammed into me, I grabbed Blaise’s shoulders. My body jerked against him as I cried out. Blaise’s shout came almost immediately after, and I felt the warmth of his release spill into me. His hips lurched forward, and a tremor ran over his body.

  I wrapped my arms around him and laid my cheek against his chest. He pulled me closer, holding me. We stayed that way as our pulses slowed and our bodies relaxed. I was sure I had a mark on my neck again, but I didn’t care. If that got him off, biting me like an animal, then I liked it.

  “Sometimes, I fear I’m going to fuck you to death,” he said near my ear, and I laughed.

  Pulling back, I looked at him. “There are worse ways to go,” I teased.

  He smirked and then pulled out of me while keeping his eyes on my entrance. His depraved need to see his semen leak out of me was also something I liked. If that did it for him, then he could do it every time.

  When his eyes lifted to meet mine, I saw the territorial gleam in them.

  “Yes, I’m yours,” I told him.

  It seemed to ease the monster inside him.

  Thirty-Four

  Blaise

  Huck was standing outside the black SUV he drove with his arms crossed over his chest and the metal flashing at his hip. I glanced back at the door to make sure Madeline hadn’t followed me. She had been running her bath water when Huck called me to tell me he was outside.

  The intensity of his expression told me this was serious. He reached for the handle of the door and paused a moment, but said nothing before opening it. Sitting in the backseat was Gina. Gagged with her wrists and ankles tied with a rope. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. I could see her begging me not to kill her, although she wasn’t fighting to scream or speak through the gag.

  “Didn’t want anyone to know. Just in case,” Huck said.

  I knew what he meant. If I didn’t want her dead, Garrett couldn’t know we had her, or he’d kill her himself. There was a difference between my father and me. One I feared would make me a weaker boss. Killing a man I knew deserved it was easy. I had no remorse. I did it more often than I ever wanted Madeline to know. If she looked at me differently, I wasn’t sure I could survive that.

  My father would have seen Gina sitting in this seat and pulled out his Glock, pointed it at her head, killed her, and walked away, ordering Huck to clean it up. But I couldn’t do that. I paused. I didn’t even think to go for the gun on my hip. Instead, I studied her as Madeline’s words went through my head. She wouldn’t admit it was Gina, but she truly believed that Gina had had a reason. Nothing was Madeline’s fault. That shit was something she’d drummed up in her head. She took blame for bullshit she shouldn’t. She had done it as long as I had been watching her.

  “You said to let her stay gone, but she came to me. I didn’t go looking,” Huck said.

  I nodded. I’d figured as much. “Where did she find you?”

  “I was coming out of Devil’s, and she was standing by the car. Said she wanted to talk to you. Explain,” he said.

  “That was a bad move,” I told her. “If you’d stayed gone, you could have lived.”

  She trembled, and tears filled her eyes again. I couldn’t take the gag out and let her talk. Madeline could hear her if she screamed. I wasn’t sure Madeline needed to know we had found her. Garrett was going to order this kill if he didn’t do it himself. Madeline couldn’t handle this shit. She’d think it was her fault. Blame Gina’s stupidity on herself. I would not let Madeline hold that kind of thing on her shoulders. I wanted her happy. I wanted to be the one to give her fucking joy. Make her smile. Not destroy her.

  “You took what was mine. Gave her to fucking strangers who you couldn’t be sure wouldn’t hurt her. You TOOK her from me.” I felt my temper starting to build. Remembering how fucking terrified I’d been when I found Madeline gone. “Even if I let you live because Madeline begged me to and still refuses to tell me it was you, Garrett won’t. You know that.”

  Gina jerked and winced, as if I had slapped her. If Garrett didn’t take the shot, he’d order one of the men to take it. This was prolonged torture for her. She had to know she wouldn’t get a chance to explain. There was no explanation that would save her.

  “Take the gag off her.” Madeline’s voice came from behind me.

  FUCK.

  My chest burned with regret as I turned to see her wrapped in her black robe, standing a few feet behind us.

  She was so naive. So damn sweet. I was going to end up breaking her. This life I led would show her enough damn shit to crush her.

  “Madeline,” I warned, “go back inside.”

  She glared at me and shook her head. “Take the gag off. She should get a chance to talk. Besides, just because she ran doesn’t mean that she did it. I haven’t told you who handed me over to Tex and Brick. You have no proof.”

  Her chin was tilted up defiantly, and she looked so goddamn cute that I wanted to take her inside and tie her ass up. Keep her away from this part of my life.

  “We know she did it. You don’t have a poker face, baby,” I replied.

  Madeline’s gaze narrowed. “Take the fucking gag off her, Blaise!”

  Huck cleared his throat, and I swore to God, if the fucker laughed, I was going to punch him in that smug face of his. I swung my gaze from Madeline to Huck and shot him a warning look. I could think she was cute as fuck, trying to be a badass, but no one else got to enjoy it.

  I moved toward Gina, whose eyes went wide, and she looked down at the gun on my hip. She thought I was about to take her out now. Little did she realize, I was fucking owned by the blonde behind me, calling the damn shots. If she’d known how deep my obsession was with Madeline, she wouldn’t have been brave enough to take her from me.

  I jerked the gag off with more force than necessary and grabbed her face in my hand and squeezed it so tightly that I knew it would bruise. The demons inside me that wanted to make her pay for touching Madeline, for giving her to fucking strangers, were in control. It was hard to rein that in.

  Gina whimpered.

  “BLAISE! Let her go!” Madeline yelled from behind me.

  I slowly eased my grip on her face and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “She’s the only fucking reason I’ve not killed you,” I said in a low voice, then shoved her face away as I let go of it.

  When I backed up, Madeline stepped up beside me. “Untie her arms and legs. I know how uncomfortable that is.”

  I looked down at her. “Madeline, that’s a thin thread, baby. Don’t push me.”

  She raised her eyebrows at me and leaned in toward me. “She’s not going to run.”

  I leaned down until my face was close to hers. “Don’t fucking care.”

  Madeline growled and then turned to look at Gina. “You want to talk. Please do it, and please make it count. Please.” It sounded like Madeline was begging her to deny it to save herself.

  Gina swallowed hard and nodded. She looked at Madeline for a few moments before shifting her gaze to me. I saw the fear in her eyes and the way she was trembling. I knew she had nothing to say that was going to save her. She knew it too.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “And that won’t save you. It just confirms what Madeline won’t tell me,” I replied.

  Madeline touched my arm then, and I tensed. I didn’t want her to see the man I was about to become. The one she didn’t see. The one everyone but her knew existed.

  Gina’s gaze went to Madeline. “I thought you were going to be temporary. That Blaise would get bored with you. That this infatuation he’d had for years … he would get it out of his system after having you.” She paused and swallowed again. “But you weren’t what I’d expected. I liked you, and I could see in his behavior that you were different for him. There was more there than lust. He stopped coming to check on Angel as much. He was hard to be around when you weren’t with him. You had become more than a possession of his. You’d somehow possessed him.” Gina let out a hard laugh. “Something no one would have thought possible.”

  The only reason I let her keep talking was because of the way Madeline was gripping my arm. If I stopped this, I was pretty sure she would attempt to rip it from my body. She wanted to let Gina talk, and I was going to give her that wish even if it went against every-damn-thing I was.

  “He was going to move Angel back to the big house. I saw it coming before I heard him tell Garrett on the phone at the top of the stairs that he planned on moving her back. Then, he said I probably wouldn’t want to go with Angel. But without Angel at his house then he wouldn’t have use for me either. Why should I get to stay? He was going to want you all to himself. Without Angel, I had no role to fill for him. It’s why Garrett kept me all those years ago, and I knew it. I was Angel’s keeper. With her gone, I’d have to find a new place to live and I would lose the one thing I wanted most.” She paused and closed her eyes tightly.

  Madeline took a step closer to her, placing herself between me and Gina. She thought I didn’t know what she was doing, but I did. In her pretty little head, she thought her standing there would keep Gina alive. I could easily take the shot over her head, but she knew I wouldn’t do that in front of her.

  “I don’t have your kind of power. I knew that he’d eventually let me go when I wasn’t easy access. I’d lose him, and I couldn’t lose him. I’d loved him forever, and now that he saw me, I needed more time to show him that we could work. That we would be good together.” She sniffled. “But you were ruining all of it. Blaise would move the guys out too. I wanted to keep the life I had here, but you were taking it all from me.”

  My entire body went rigid.

  “Who, Gina?” Madeline asked her. The compassion clear in her tone.

  Fuck me, if she said Gage, I was going to slam this damn door to keep from shooting her in the head for pure insanity.

  “Levi,” she whispered. “I’ve loved him since the first time I met him. But he never saw me. Never acted interested at all. Until six months ago. Things changed. I, uh, was with Gage, and Levi came into the room and started undressing. He joined us. He finally saw me. It had taken me years to get his attention,” she said.

  “And you … you bat your eyelashes at Blaise, and he is done. Ready to change it all for you.”

  She let out a sob, and her gaze swung to mine. “I’m sorry.”

  I placed a hand on Madeline’s shoulder and stepped closer. “You think telling me you’re fucking sorry that you took what was mine because you were fucking Levi changes anything?”

  She sniffled and shook her head. “I know you won’t believe me, but the guy who found me and talked me into giving them Madeline told me who he was and that her father was desperate to get to know her. That he was a good man and he’d done shit in his youth he regretted, but he wanted to know Madeline. That no harm would come to her. I believed him.”

  I started to step around Madeline, and she grabbed my arm and dug her nails into my skin.

  “No, Blaise,” she said.

  Gina looked back at Madeline. “Just let him. He’s right. I didn’t know for sure you would be safe. The guy was attractive and charming. He seemed very sincere, but I couldn’t be positive he wasn’t lying. I wanted to believe him because if you were gone, then Blaise wouldn’t send us all away. Let him do it. Get it over with.”

  “What you did isn’t cause for death,” Madeline said. “Besides, you tried another way to get rid of me that was safer, and it didn’t work.”

  I looked down at her.

  “You were desperate. Love can do that to you.” Madeline’s voice was soft and understanding.

  Gina pressed her lips together, then let out another whimper before she nodded. “You weren’t supposed to forgive him for killing the people you thought were your family,” she said.

  The rage that burned inside of me at her words made it almost impossible to keep from killing her. Knowing she’d hurt Madeline for her own benefit was unforgivable. If Madeline wasn’t so fucking determined to keep Gina alive she’d be dead already. I wanted her dead.

  Madeline let out a sigh. “If he hadn’t told me the truth, then I probably wouldn’t have.”

  Gina sniffled. “I like you. It was nice, having another woman around. If you hadn’t been a threat to what I’d found with Levi—”

  “He fucked you, Gina,” I snarled. “Don’t pull at her damn emotions. Levi and Gage fucked you at the same time. That isn’t love. If Levi loved you, he wouldn’t share you. He’d cut off Gage’s dick for getting near you.”

  She let out a sob, as if hearing the damn truth—which she had to have already known—was hurting her. Madeline glared up at me. Had she not heard when Gina had mentioned having a threesome with Gage and Levi? She knew I was right. I’d never let another man near her.

  “Wanting something so bad that you ignore reality can get you into a shitload of trouble,” Huck said.

  Gina bowed her head and cried harder.

  Madeline took a step toward her, and I reached out to grab her arm and stop her. She looked back at my hand, then lifted her gaze to me.

  “Let me go,” she demanded.

  “I don’t want you getting in that car,” I replied.

  Her eyebrows drew together. “Why? Because you think she’s going to lean over and bite me? She’s all tied up, Blaise,” Madeline said, sounding annoyed.

  When this hell was over, I was taking her inside and putting her over my knee, then spanking her ass until it was bright red and she was screaming in an orgasm. I let her go and clenched my teeth to keep from saying something more.

  Madeline climbed up in the backseat and pulled Gina into a hug and held her while she cried. What the fuck was wrong with my woman? She was comforting the person who had shown her photos of Luke and Cole with bullets in their heads, then lied to her and handed her over to fucking strangers. She should have taken my gun and killed Gina herself.

  “How did you pause the camera system?” Huck asked her.

  Gina sniffled and looked at him over Madeline’s shoulder. “I don’t want to answer that,” she said softly.

  “Why the fuck not?” I asked, stepping closer to the car.

  She closed her eyes tightly. “Because you will kill someone who is innocent.”

  “If they showed you how to pause fucking cameras so that you could help someone abduct Madeline, then, yeah, I’m gonna fucking kill them.”