Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
My insides tangled.
I sucked in a shaky breath.
The time stamps on the messages said Nick hadn’t replied for a while, but when he did, the words stopped my heart and made me drop his phone.
Fine.
We’ll be there.
“W-What?” I shot out of my chair. “Y-You want to share me? After everything we’ve done? Every night you’ve possessed me? All that talk of being obsessed and keeping me forever and—”
“Hey.” Nick stood and bundled me in his arms. “I am obsessed, and this is forever. Just...trust me, okay?”
I pushed him away. “Trust you? You just agreed to share me, for God’s sake!”
“Yes, and as your Master, I command you to obey me.”
My mouth dropped open.
He’d never pulled that card.
Apart from being subservient to him in the bedroom, he never treated me as less than equal outside it. Never made me smart against his commands. Never thought I’d ever curse him for the power he held over me.
“Nick...what’s got into you? This isn’t like you. I don’t understand—”
“You don’t need to understand.” He kissed my forehead. “All you need to do is shower, put on that white summer dress I bought you, and obey me.” He strolled from the kitchen without a care in the world, leaving me shattered behind him.
“I hope you know I won’t forgive you for this,” I hissed as Nick pulled me toward the silver fence ringing Spectacle of Secrets.
He tensed as if I hurt him, but he didn’t stop. “Just...trust me, Ella. That’s all I ask.”
“I trusted you when you said I was yours. And only yours. You won’t even take me back to The Black Peacock because you can’t stand the thought of other men seeing me naked.”
“This is different.”
“How the hell is this any different?” I snarled as we crossed the road, and I lost myself to the storm of butterflies in my belly.
“Well, for one, Hunter has already seen you naked.” He stiffened. “Among other things.”
“You’re a bastard.”
“Remember you said that when you’re inside. I dare you.”
“Dare me?”
Wow.
Who the hell was this guy, and what had he done to my sweet, worshipping Master? He reminded me far too much of the callous Nick who’d done his best to hide his feelings beneath ice.
Hang on...
The way he refused to meet my eyes.
The tightness in his shoulders.
The regret that flashed in his stare every now and again.
I frowned.
If he regretted this, then...let’s turn around.
Now.
Before it was too late.
I adored my night with Nick and Hunter. I’d dreamed about it for months afterward. But...I loved Nick. I wanted Nick. I belonged to Nick. Hunter was part of our pasts, and...as incredible as he was—as much as he’d helped me with Nicholas, and I would always be incredibly grateful for his gift of awakening—I needed him to stay there.
Not because of temptation.
Not because I didn’t trust myself.
But because I was happy.
Blissfully, wonderfully happy.
Or at least...I was.
“Nicholas, please...” I tugged on his hand. “Talk to me. Help me understand this.”
Slamming to a stop, he cupped my cheeks and ran his thumbs ever so gently over my blush-dusted skin. “I love you, Ella, with everything that I am. If you want me to tell you what we’re doing here, I will. I can’t stand the thought of causing you misery or worry. So...ask me again, and I’ll tell you.” His hands tightened around my nape. “Or...if you trust me like you say you do...then...please be patient. Come with me. Obey me.”
I hovered in his control.
A figure appeared out of the corner of my eye.
A man I’d recognise anywhere with his purple contacts, roguish black hair, and suave eclipse-coloured slacks and shirt. No lightning bolt on his cheek tonight, but a black heart with a jagged line right down the centre rested beneath his eye as if he cried a single broken-hearted droplet.
I froze as he blew me a kiss.
I sucked in a breath as Nick looked over his shoulder and glowered.
The way he reacted to seeing Hunter again didn’t fit with what he’d said about sharing me.
He never said he’d share me.
I just assumed.
I—
No, Hunter definitely asked him.
And Nick said...fine.
Fine?
Fine!
As if I was a piece of rump steak?
As if I was nothing more than a toy he could rent out?
The nerve.
The audacity.
The pain...
My heart hurt.
My mind twisted and tangled, and my lungs forgot how to work.
The same sort of agony usually delivered by a palm or paddle coursed through me. Was this just another scene? Another torment before a great reward?
My eyes locked with Hunter’s.
I did my best to read him but wasn’t successful.
“Ella...please?” Nick murmured with a pleading puppy dog stare.
Holding his gaze, I did my best to remember the bliss Nick always delivered, especially after the worst sort of pain.
It took effort.
It took trust.
But...I did the unthinkable and let go.
I gave in.
To Nicholas.
To his command.
To what he asked of me.