“She’s not. She’s a fucking bitch.”
On the front cover of the newspaper was a picture of the two of them.
“This is bad news,” she said.
“This is nothing.”
“Our past.”
“I dealt with that years ago. We were minors. Even at eighteen, we were still young, and our case was different. It’s closed, and the monsters were caught.”
“Not all of them, Noah. You know that as well as I. People paid to watch that stuff.”
He shrugged. “There’s nothing we can do.”
“Do you ever think about those people?” she asked. “About … why they wanted it?”
“I don’t think about them. There’s no reason for us to waste valuable energy thinking about them. They’re disgusting. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about what I could have done differently. How I could have fought.”
“Noah, there’s nothing you could have done. We’re not at fault with this. They are. Not us. We’ve got to remember that. It took me a long time to see it as well, but we’re both not to blame.”
Skye licked her lips, staring at the paper.
“You’re not the only one that has been called vile, disgusting, ugly,” Noah said. “I like control, and Scarlett, well, she likes to hurt people.”
“You have tapes of her with other men.”
“My lawyer does. He knows what to do with them if her name is attached to anything scandalous. I always make sure to keep myself safe, and I will always keep you safe.”
He reached out, offering her a hand.
Skye didn’t hesitate. She crawled out from his desk and snuggled up against him. Noah wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, and she did not want to ever let him go.
“I don’t think you’re vile or disgusting. I think you’re perfect just the way you are.”
****
Noah waited outside of one of his spare rooms, with the present he intended to give her. Skye was finishing the last of the dishes, but his mind, it was elsewhere.
He’d not seen Scarlett in some time, not since their divorce. His lawyer often dealt with her and let him know what he had to do to convince her to back the fuck off. He hated that cold-hearted bitch.
Her words were not new for him.
He was used to her being a bitch, and throwing shit at him like she did. He’d left the key to the room behind him lying around, and she’d found it. She expected to see something fun and exciting, but what she saw made sure the end of their marriage was imminent.
Running a hand over his face, he thought about Skye. She was nothing like his ex. She’d never throw words at him, or tell lies.
Never once in all of his marriage did he hurt Scarlett. He’d treated her like a queen. One night, she’d asked him if there was anything he’d like to do, and he being the stupid fool that he was, had told her he wanted to hold her, to hurt her but to also make the pain go away. He wasn’t into BDSM. After college, he made sure it wasn’t that, as otherwise he’d have gone and gotten the right sort of training. He didn’t wish to have a sub at his feet or to be in complete control of her life. There’s no way he’d ever be able to stick to that kind of routine, and besides, he hated holding whips and other instruments to whip and strike someone. His hands always did enough damage, and there was no way he’d use something else.
“All done,” Skye said, rounding the corner.
Her smile filled him with so much fucking pleasure.
“What is it, Noah?” She paused a couple of feet away from him, looking a little nervous.
“I don’t deserve you.”
She laughed. “I don’t …what do you mean?”