He shakes his head and, with just a nudge against my chest, he shoves me against the wall.
“Don’t roll over. Don’t fucking give up!” he yells at me. “You fight. You get fucking mad. You hit someone. Hit me.”
I do, I slap my hands against his chest. I know not to slap his face. I make fists and pound him with them.
“Good. Harder. Hit me harder.”
“So you’ll hit me back?”
“I told you, I don’t hit women.”
“You did.”
“That’s a spanking you earned, Sunshine.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“It wasn’t ever meant to harm you. Not like what they did.”
He kisses me, smashes me against the wall, his lips pressing against mine. His body smothering mine.
“Hit me again. Fight me. Get fucking angry, but don’t fucking roll over. That’s not you. Not even close.”
I grip the sides of his head, pull his hair, let out a wicked, animal like roar as I wrap my legs around his middle. He’s kissing me and telling me that’s it. To keep going. To keep fighting.
He drops me on the mattress. It’s hard, and the springs dig into my back, but I don’t care. I’m tearing at his shirt, and he’s already ripped my shirt open, is taking one breast out of the bra while his other hand rips my shorts and shoves them off. He kisses me as I undo his belt, his pants, slide my hand in to cup his cock, his balls. I want him. I want him inside me. Now. I need him now.
He gets up on his knees and shoves his pants down just far enough to free his cock. He shoves my knees wide, holds them spread open, and looks down at me, at my dripping pussy. Pushing my legs down to the mattress, he thrusts deep and hard inside me. I suck in a breath and fist my hands. It hurts, but it hurts so fucking good. Our eyes are locked. He thrusts twice more before pulling out.
I look at him, and he grins at my disappointment. A moment later, he’s at my other entrance and, his cock wet with my juices, he penetrates that tight ring. I close my eyes and arch my back. Fuck, I’m going to come so hard.
“Look at me, baby.”
Baby. I like that. I like it so much. And I do. I look up at him as he fucks my ass, each thrust deeper, my body stretching to accommodate him, wanting him. When he’s fully seated, he lets go of my legs and leans in close enough to kiss me.
“Come for me, baby.”
I do. It’s like my body wants to please him. He moans as my walls throb around him, and I feel him thickening inside me as he moves. Barely a moment later, we’re coming together, and I’m watching his beautiful face and he’s so close, so close. We collapse together on that gross mattress, and when he’s holding me, I feel myself go limp. I feel myself soften, and for the first time in a very long time, maybe in forever, I let myself go. I relax and my eyes flutter closed. I can smell him, his aftershave, and he feels safe. I curl my face into his chest as he slides out of me and wraps his arms around me. I don’t know what happens after that because I fall asleep. It’s like all this time, all this running, catches up with me, and I can’t stay awake another minute, not one more second. Right away, I’m dreaming. He’s holding me, and I’m safe in his arms. And I can’t be without him anymore.
Because I think I love him.18Giovanni“I love you.”
I know she’s asleep when she says it, but still, those words jar me.
She doesn’t wake when I carry her out of the house, or on the long drive back to the city, not even when I carry her up the stairs and lay her in my bed.
I strip off my clothes, dropping them on the floor as I make my way into the bathroom and switch on the shower. I can still pick dried blood off me, and the knuckles of my right hand are bruised. They hurt, but that’s okay. It’s good to remember. And I’m not done yet.
I switch off the shower and reach for a towel to dry off. My work isn’t done yet. I won’t be sleeping tonight.
Two men are dead. Four more have to die. The three who raped her. And the one behind it all: her brother.
Four more men I’ll beat to death with my fists.
I put on a pair of jeans, make sure she’s still out, and go downstairs to my office. The house is dark, not a single light is on, but I like it this way.
I haven’t been this angry in so long. Hell, I’m not sure I’ve ever been this angry. Well, that’s not true. I was angry when I discovered my father’s deception. When I found the letter he’d hidden from me. The one Emilia found in the old Atlas in the library. If I’d received it in time, things would have been different. At least for Angelica.