“This isn’t on a timeline, Harlow. I know you have a lot to heal from and this has to be secondary. You deserve to, I’m not asking for your heart right now,” he promised. “But never doubt that you are worthy of our attention. You’re strong, confident, sexy, and we want to get to know you. Hiro and I both.”
“Really?” I hated how vulnerable I sounded, but his words hit every insecurity I was clinging to like a freaking toddler with his blanket. It was safer to think they didn’t like me, I couldn’t get hurt if I was too afraid to pursue it, right?
“Stop doubting yourself, Harlow,” he ordered. “You are enough, they were the ones who were lacking. Never forget that.”
He leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead and walked away as if he hadn’t just shattered the walls I’d formed around myself years ago.
ChapterTen
Harlow
Monday Afternoon
Dr. Bradley’s Office
Dr. Bradley and I stared at each other, neither one of us willing to break the silence between us. I had refused to apologize about last time, and it seemed me questioning the stupid way he spoke to patients upset him.Sounds like a personal problem to me.
We continued our silent standoff until he shifted in his seat, getting more uncomfortable by the second, and finally broke.
“Do you want to go to Dr. Vane instead?” He said it like he was offering me an out, but the glint of malice in his eyes told me that I was right in assuming he was hiding something more behind this whole Mr. Rogers mask.
From the menacing look in his eyes, he wasn’t bluffing. My blood ran cold at the mention of Vane, and I narrowed my gaze on the awful doctor in front of me.
“Are you threatening me? I thought it was your job to be a counselor,” I said in a faux-innocent voice that had him shifting in his chair. Why they chose a counselor who seemed to be hiding a monster just under the surface was a stupid move. I’d hate to hear a session with a more vulnerable patient.
“We do have a high-security floor for our more unruly patients, Harlow,” he continued. I swallowed hard at the next threat he was throwing at me but kept my mask of indifference in place. I refused to let a man in a sweater vest make me feel like I was a failure.
It was like his words flipped a switch in me, and I couldn’t hold in my anger anymore. Similar to the consuming rage that took over in that abandoned warehouse, I was ready to end this man.
“No. I won’t be treated like this,” I said. “Go tell Vane that you aren’t a strong enough doctor to handle me questioning your off-the-wall methods. And just a bit of advice, victim blaming someone for the trauma someone else caused is fucking gross.”
He stuttered out something before standing, glaring at me through his fake spectacles.
“I’ll be speaking to Vane about your behavior, expect a visit to his office in your future, young lady,” he managed to choke out. His face turned red, and he rushed off yet again.
“Enlightening appointment, I feel cured already,” I snarked before he could shut the door. His gasp had me chuckling to myself. However, I couldn’t ignore the fact that I’d likely land in the office of my abuser, and I wasn’t exactly thrilled about that. Though, this time I was no longer a shell-shocked, unmedicated woman. I’d fight back.
If they don’t send you to high security and you can’t see anyone.With that happy thought I had the overwhelming need to get the fuck out of this shithole office.
There was no Hiro waiting for me when I gathered my things again. This time I was alone, and all I could think about was Vane, his hands on me and his cold eyes and voice putting me in my place. Once again, even in memory, he was taking what wasn’t his to fucking take.
Anger simmered under the surface while I rode the elevator up, and I was shaking by the time it opened to the third floor. My body was mine, not his, and I refused to let him be the last to touch me. It was my choice.
Ignoring the nurses’ station and the common room, past a quick glance around for the man I was looking for. Emotions didn’t have a place here, I needed someone who wouldn’t ask questions and would have no strings attached.
Drake.
I stalked down the hall, only stopping when I reached the right door. I knocked hard enough my knuckles stung, but I wasn’t backing down. Defiance and righteous indignation were too strong to ignore at this point.
“What the fuck, Harlow?” Drake growled as soon as he flung it open. But I wasn’t here for words, I pushed him inside, closing the door and locking it behind us for privacy. “What—” I cut him off by slamming my mouth to his. He was stunned, body tense and eyes wide, yet didn’t hesitate to grip my hair in his fist and tilt my head, taking over the kiss. For a flash, I was glad I didn’t misread him. A rejection might have been my undoing. Then again... Drake might be my undoing anyway. He was intoxicating and consuming, and I knew just how easily I could give into him, to let him claim my body, mind, and soul.
My hands ripped at his clothes, and we broke away long enough for him to pull his shirt over his head. I licked my lips at the sight of his perfectly toned abs and the deep V on full display with his low hanging jeans.
“Those too,” I demanded as my chest heaved. My thoughts were still a mess, and I didn’t want to think anymore. I wanted this to erase the rest of it, to help me reclaim the body that should have been mine all along.
“What is this?” he demanded, but he didn’t stop unbuttoning his jeans and letting them drop, his long cock springing free as they fell, revealing he was commando. The piercings that lined his shaft were the icing on the cake.
“We’re going to fuck, Drake. I thought that was fairly obvious,” I said drily as I dropped to my knees. His breath cut as I wrapped my lips around him, using my tongue to lube him up enough that I could slide my mouth over him with ease.