Stark naked, she marched for his bedroom door.
“It’s not a goddamn lie!” he bellowed. “Go ask Liam. He was there. He knows exactly what went down. He was fucking her, too, for christ’s sake. Yes, precious, that’s right. I shared my wife with him. And it ended in disaster. I won’t fucking do that to you.”
Gasping, she stepped back from him in horror. “Wife?” Oh dear god, she’d fucked a married man? Raine didn’t have many boundaries, but that was one she held sacred. She never stole another woman’s man. “You asshole! Why didn’t you tell me you’re married? I would have never... And where the hell has she been all this time?”
God, she was going to be sick. Raine grabbed the comforter from Hammer’s bed and used it to cover herself as she backed toward the door.
He ripped it away from her body.
“My late wife. She’s dead because she couldn’t handle life with me.” His stare seared her flesh. “And if you think you can, then you have to start understanding now that when we’re alone, you won’t be allowed even this.” He tossed the cover back on the bed. “But if you think you’re ready to be my slave, precious, then get on your knees. Or get the fuck out!”
Her head spun. His wife. His slave. Dead...how? How did not handling Macen’s demands lead to a grave? She stared, struggling to comprehend. Hell, she’d never known—even remotely suspected—that he’d ever been married, much less lost a wife. And Liam had been there, sharing her?
“What’s it going to be?” he asked. “I’m not a patient man when it comes to sex with my slave. Open your mouth. Finger your clit and get yourself wet so I can fuck my pussy again. For your dithering, you won’t get an orgasm. I’ll probably want your ass again, too. Hell, we may not see daylight for a week. Now hurry up!”
“You’re trying to be a vile asshole,” she accused. She’d never seen him be this wretched to anyone. This wasn’t him.
“Nope, I’m finally being myself. You’ve got five seconds to decide. Either kneel and stick out your tongue or get the fuck out.”
She’d suffered abuse as a child when she’d been powerless to stop it. As a woman, she understood finally that she didn’t have to stay in any situation that made her feel less than valued. She’d had enough therapy to know she was worth more. Even if he was telling the truth, the relationship he described sounded like a one-sided nightmare. She’d never be happy like that.
“You’re a selfish son of a bitch, Hammer. Go suck your own cock.”
Head held high, she whirled to the door and yanked it open, feeling Hammer’s heavy stare all over her.
Raine stormed out into a wall that shouldn’t be there. She looked up—right into Liam’s face. His blue robe draped over his bare shoulder. His stare raked her up and down, coldly furious, as he catalogued every bruise, scratch, and love bite. Her heart plummeted to her stomach. Guilt strangled her throat.
Oh, Liam… All he’d tried to do was save her. And as she always did, she’d ruined everything.
She tried to dart past him and run to her room. Instead, he grabbed her arm, then shot Hammer a glare full of rage and loathing. “Let’s go.”
Liam led Raine to his room beside Hammer’s, rage still pinging inside him. She’d spent the night fucking Hammer, damn it. He tamped the anger down, compartmentalizing it for later, and shut the door behind them with a quiet click.
He looked at her standing naked in the middle of his room, lost, her shoulders curled self-consciously as she wrapped her arms around her middle. Fuck, bruises and marks covered her everywhere. What the hell had Hammer done, tried to fuck her to death? He’d rarely seen so many marks on a sub. Damn if he didn’t want to punch his “friend.”
Later. Now had to be about processing this logically, figuring out what the fuck had happened, and deciding what to do next.
Because the bruises she wore weren’t marks of tender passion at the hands of the man she loved, but were brands from a bastard who’d meant to betray him by marking her as his possession. Message received loud and clear, Hammer.
Liam fully intended to mark her, too, but his would be deeper than the flesh. And he knew exactly how to do it.
He approached her and draped the robe over her shoulders. “You have ten minutes to wash Hammer’s stench from your body and be dressed to leave.”
Raine looked like she wanted to shed guilty tears, but she held them back. “I’ll just go. You don’t have to—”
“I don’t recommend arguing with me just now. Shower and dress.” A muscle twitched near his eye as he shoved down more anger.