18. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dahlia

" W ake up, Dalí." My brother. Alive. Covered in blood and guts.

Other people's blood. Other people's guts.

Our neighbors'.

"Wake up, Dalí."

They're on his shirt. His jeans. His brown hair is the color of copper. His brown eyes are huge and wild.

"I'm up." My voice comes out choked. It's hard to talk when I'm hovering over Mrs. Price's body and pushing her intestines back inside. Takes a lot of work. The fuckers are slippery. "I'm up."

She's crying.

"Dalí, wake the fuck up." Ian takes a step closer. His knife has done so much damage today. Too much damage. I'd be mesmerized if not for poor Mrs. Price.

What would I tell Tyler? How would I live knowing my brother ended the life of the woman I consider my grandma ?

Bloop. Another organ slips out of her. Her heart this time, out from beneath the ribs. Just pops out and onto the floor. As still as a stone. Definitely not beating.

I want to scream. I can't scream.

"We can save her. Help me, please."

"I am helping." Ian's on his knees the next second. At my side.

Good, he'll fix this. Ian could always fix everything. Other than Al. No one could fix that bastard.

"I didn't mean to hurt Mrs. Price." His eyes cut to mine. Dark and brimming with tears. "I didn't mean to. You have to know that. I…I snapped."

"I know, Ian." My hand curls on his bloodstained cheek. "I kno—"

"Stay right there!" Someone's at the door.

I can hardly see who that is before my brother's brains are all over the red sweater Tyler got me for my birthday. With my parents, Ian and Al gone, every cent we had is mine. I can afford my own clothes.

But Tyler says he loves getting me gifts.

An earthquake rattles the walls in Tyler's apartment. No. They don't rattle. They swoop. Like a ship when its bow hits a mean wave. I've never been on a ship before, but it feels like a wave. A tidal wave. A tsunami.

"Wake up," Ian's dead mouth implores me.

His face changes while he does.

His maddened expression morphs into a harsher one. Stoic instead of psychotic and dead. The eyes glaring at me are alive. They aren't lost. The cheekbones are higher. Hair cut on the sides instead of being longish and messy .

"Tyler?" A smile curves on my lips.

Despite the guts and the dying woman beneath me. Despite losing my brother again.

"Tyler?"

There's nothing there. There's nothing on the floor when I look down. A black tarp, that's it.

My fingers clutch onto air, searching for Mrs. Price. The scent of blood is mild compared to the vanilla extract that's assaulting me. The chocolate. The sugar. Strawberries. They're everywhere, and we've been transported into the back-back room of Sweet DeNights.

"I'm here, Dahlia."

He sees me. He's known for years, but now he sees the real me. Finally.

"Wake up, little savage."

He loves me.

"Wake. Up."

Poof.

The dream dissolves into thin air.

I'm in my room. With someone on top of me. Inside me. Fucking me slowly. Stretching me wide.

My first instinct is to reach for the knife I keep beneath my crumpled sheets. Shove it into their chest and rip their hearts out. I keep my eyes closed to trick them into thinking I'm still sleeping. For the element of surprise to be on my side.

The more the monster grunts and fucks me, the more I realize this isn't a monster.

This isn't just someone .

Tyler.

My sweet asshole .

He's accepted my silent invitation. That's so depraved. So hot that I have to stifle a moan.

How long has he been here? What have I missed? I had to have been deep under. I've been running on four hours of sleep for days. Skinning and chopping bodies. Stalking Tyler and waking up early to ground freeze-dried flesh and bake cupcakes has taken a toll on me.

But Tyler woke me. Forced himself on me in my sleep.

And I'm more than ready to play with this predator that owns my heart, body, and cunt.

The sexy not-monster on top of me doesn't notice I'm reaching for my weapon. Doesn't grab my wrist or tell me to drop it.

I have the upper hand. For a second.

He's quick. I have to be quicker.

One, two, and three.

Oh, fuck me—that last thrust hurt so good.

Ignore.

Eyes open. Knife to his throat.

"Hello, handsome."

A smirk graces his lips. "Hi, yourself."

The shock on his face only lasts for a moment. With the blade against his skin, Tyler keeps pummeling into me. Harder. More painful. Like he's determined to ruin me. Bruise me from the inside. Brand my pussy with his dick.

"Please," I beg him for more while keeping my hand steady. The knife shines against his throat.

His eyebrows lower. Hands on my neck .

"It's cute"— grunt —"how you think you can scare me with that."

The warmth of his body seeps into mine. His cock rubs that spot that— oh my fucking Satan, it's so good .

Then there's Tyler himself. God of wrath. He fucks me like one. Loves me like one.

While the blade is glued to his Adam's apple.

Nothing has ever been this beautiful. This hot.

"You're not scared?"

Smiling is impossible when I'm struggling to catch my breath. My lips are parted, my throat tight. Tyler is everywhere. In my pussy. Grinding his toned body on my clit. Squeezing my neck so I know who my owner is.

"No. You won't hurt me." His eyes glide lower. To the blade. A second later, they're back on my face. "I've known you for a while, Dahlia. I've—"

Stalked you.

Figured out the people you lure to the back room don't make it out of there.

Remember the abuse you went through.

"You what?" I stare at him. Apply a tiny bit more pressure on the blade. Nick his skin and see then feel a drop of his blood falling on my chin.

This isn't a part of the game. This is me silently begging him to come out with it already.

His thumb strokes my tattoo. "Never forgotten what you are."

I tilt my head up to give him better access. Then I press the knife a little closer .

"Savage," Tyler grits out, picking up the pace. "My little savage. I didn't expect anything less from you."

Another droplet of blood lands on my cheek. My nipples pull tighter at that. Becoming more sensitive.

"You're bleeding."

"I am." Holding me in place, he rubs his blood into my skin with his thumb. "So?"

"You're okay with that?"

When he cocks an eyebrow followed by a ruthless thrust, all the air whooshes out of my lungs. I don't think he has any idea how hot he is.

My bottom lip goes dry. I dip my tongue out to wet it, but Tyler is faster.

He leans in to lick my lips for me.

At first, I flex my arm muscles, keep the knife firm where it is. That doesn't last, though, because Tyler doesn't back off. He's determined to get to my lips, even if it means that I'll sink the knife into his throat. If I end this gorgeous man's life.

It'll be a cozy day in heaven before I do that.

So I bend my elbow for him. Moan for him when he bites my bottom lip. Licks off a new drop of his blood that's slipped while he's lowered his lips to mine.

"That's a fucking turn-on, Dahlia. To have you cut me." The scowl on Tyler's face should be frightening. It probably would, to anyone else but me. "Even better than fucking you in your sleep. You're alive. You're alive and you're a violent little thing."

His words are made of low grunts and rugged breaths. The sounds of our flesh slapping are as loud as his voice is .

The appropriate reaction to that would be to say something like, aww. I'm so sorry you've been scared for so long . To drop the knife and offer him sweet words to soothe the ache in his heart.

"My knife can do more than that." My hand doesn't budge. I'm not offering an ounce of compassion. This is better than pity. Way better. Especially for my Tyler. "Say the word, and I'll slice your neck right open. I'll drink every drop of your blood. When you're dead, you'll live inside of me."

"Jesus." Tyler's mouth is on mine. His teeth are on my bottom lip. He sucks me into his mouth where his tongue laves and lashes at me and I almost come on the spot. "This shouldn't be this hot. My little psycho. Fuck."

The knife is still there, nearly slicing his throat. He doesn't care. He kisses me again with so much intention and ferocity that I forget how to breathe.

"You're tight, Dahlia," he whispers as the bed creaks beneath us.

The bed my parents slept on. The one I won't ever get rid of, even after Al's filthy body tainted it.

"I could come this fucking moment and I'll be hard all over again. Fuck, that pussy. You take me like such a good girl." Tyler's cock impales me. Drives deeper. To my womb. "Every fucking inch of me."

No condom separates us. He's not scared. Not worried about having babies with me.

My joy stays bottled up inside. There'll be time for it later.

Using my other hand, I scratch the back of Tyler's neck. "I'm not good. "

At this, his grasp around my throat tightens. Squeezes out more air from me. His lips hike to the side, and it's wicked. Borderline evil.

"I'll be the one to say if you're good or not." He bites my lip harder, and I scream into his mouth. "You don't get to decide anything tonight."

His words and the pain are a diversion. My knife is being stolen from under me.

My man is being ripped from my grip. Tyler sits on his knees. Continues to thrust while he digs his fingers into my thigh. While pulling my leg up and opening me to him.

I had no idea he could be any deeper than he's already been, but he can. He fucking can. Pain slashes through me. A deep feeling of helplessness curls around my lungs.

And love. Tyler's eyes are cloudy and adoring. It shouldn't make sense, this duality. He shouldn't be able to hug me through his eyes while he's abusing my pussy.

Tyler does it anyway.

The desire to have my hands on his body and scratch him some more has me pushing up on my forearms.

He shakes his head.

"What did I just say?" He pins the blade of my knife to my clit. Warns me to lie the fuck down, or else. "I decide how hard you'll take my cock. How bad you're going to hurt. What position your sweet body is going to be in. And you'll obey, because that's what good little sluts do."

Years ago, when life was a mess and Tyler was strong with a side of caring and sweet. When Ian and I were Al's victims. That was when I had a knife to my neck .

I won't take anything lying down ever again.

Tyler won't be sweet and na?ve anymore. He'll fuck me harder. I'll be here, fighting right back.

"You'll decide how many babies you're putting into me?" I shift my gaze to the place where our bodies connect. We're skin-to-skin. His cock is slick with my arousal and he's stroking my clit with the knife until it's impossible to silence my moans. "I thought you said it'd be fucked up?"

"Little savage, there you go. You got what you wanted. Then again, you always have." The force of his thrusts is brutal. It's a miracle either of us can scream between the moans and grunts. He slaps my clit with the blade of my knife. Two, three, four times. "My bad girl is begging to be punished."

I'm begging you to love me. To admit it, dammit.

I blink away the tears forming at the corners of my eyes. Bare my teeth to him.

"What do you want?" My words are clipped.

Tyler spanks my clit again. My fingers crumple the sheets beneath me, my body falls to the bed. Tyler's ruthlessness is such a fucking turn-on, and I take it. I take everything.

"This is what I want." The knife lifts from my pussy. His body sheathes mine. He brackets my face, never letting go of my weapon. "I wanted to break in here. Wanted to be a violent fuck with you. I can't be the man you remembered. I can't and don't want to be anything else but this."

Over the last two nights, he's been brutal. Tenacious. Fucked me in his home like we were Morticia and Gomez Addams. Nothing like this, though.

And I don't hate it all .

"Don't care about what side of you I get. What about loving me?" The question is pathetic. The way I'm grunting it, like some angry, indignant beast, isn't. "You have to want that too."

"I want to own you." A new emotion flashes behind his brown, determined eyes.

I shouldn't be hurt that he doesn't say what I asked him to. I am. "That's not love, asshole."

"The mouth on you." He pushes my cheek. Mashes my head to the side. "You're going to get in trouble for that."

"Fuck you."

My eyes are forced to look at the knife he holds down while his lips and teeth lash at my throat. On my tattoo and the scars.

I love his cock filling me. Love his hand hurting my face.

And I hate that his lips are there. Where I'm scarred. Where Al left his mark on me. I didn't hate it before. I do now, when he's on top of me, pretending he doesn't love me.

I curl my hands into fists, punching his wall of a chest. It's a tight fit. Less than a couple of inches separate us. But I won't let him do this to me. Won't accept his lies.

"No, little savage." Tyler sinks his teeth into my flesh. Sucks on it, then digs his teeth deeper. "Fuck you. Like I'm doing right the fuck now."

"Stop biting me there."

I'm about to come, his dirty words and harsh strokes pushing me there.

But his attention to my scars keeps infuriating me. Fucking offending me .

"Stop kissing me there."

"I can't destroy these damn things." His teeth and mouth torment me with each sentence coming out of his mouth. "I can't punish the man who did this to you. So I have to do this. Claim them. Leave my own mark on you."

My humiliation disappears as if it's never been there. His possessiveness is Tylenol for my never-ending flu. All the bad, hurtful things fall apart. There's nothing in my body but lust and adoration and love. All the love.

My fists become claws on his chest. My pussy clenches and then my orgasm hits me so hard that I scream. I beg for him, clench for him. Say his name like my life depends on it.

"Fuck," he growls, sucking on my skin harder.

"I love—" I start.

This time when Tyler growls, the sound reverberates in his chest. He pulls out of me at a terrifying speed that leaves me empty and lonely and pissed off.

"Don't you dare leave." My growl is louder than his.

"I thought I told you something. Just a few fucking minutes ago."

Though I fight and kick, my strength is no match to his. It's easy for me to take on a man twice my size—and I do—but these men aren't the men I crave.

"You don't get to decide anything tonight."

Tyler flips me on my stomach. One hand between my shoulder blades, pushing me to the bed. The other is nowhere until it lands on my ass three times.

I'm a moaning and screaming mess. I'm loud and I sound as if I'm in pain. Not like the neighbors would do anything about it. That's why Tyler doesn't shut me up. That's why he connects his hand to my ass another five times.

"Who owns you?" Slap . "Say my name so every motherfucker in this building knows."

"Tyler."

"That's my girl."

My eyes focus on what the man above me has forgotten. My knife. I slide my hand across the sheets, my fingers opening and about to curl around the handle.

"No," Tyler roars, snatching it before I can.

I never stood a chance against him. He's so fast.

Faster than I gave him credit for. And I did.

This man has secrets. I've been watching him while he sleeps or does errands in broad daylight. Nothing's indicated that he's become a…he almost reminds me of…me.

I've learned to react fast out of necessity, or the people I bring to the back-back room get the upper hand.

What's turned Tyler into this?

"Thank you for the reminder, though." His hand, large and efficient, finds both my wrists. He yanks my arms behind my back, his hand a manacle around my wrists. "I knew I forgot something."

A soft clink and I spin my head to look at Tyler. As much as my head would turn when I'm being shoved into the mattress by my wrists.

I hardly believe my eyes. The knife has been settled between his teeth. He looks like an assassin with the drop of blood that's drying on his throat. There's not an ounce of fear in his eyes. He's completely sure he wouldn't cut his tongue and bleed out.

Murderous confidence. That's what it is.

Except he's not biting into the blade to look badass. Tyler needs his other hand free. Free to fist his cock, taps my asshole with it. A shudder runs through me. The anticipation of what Tyler's has planned for me is beyond delicious.

The man who hid in the shadows for too long has finally come out to play.

As if his cock isn't enough of a warning, Tyler glares at me. Sending a message.

I'm taking your ass tonight.

"You can use my shampoo for lube."

He taps my ass with his cock another time. His way of saying no .

"Tyler." My heart slows. Stutters. My ass clenches to protect myself.

Tyler is huge and is anything but gentle.

I'm not ready. Can't be.

His eyebrows lower while he drags his cock down my ass crack and slams it in my pussy.

"Fuck." In this angle, from behind, it's as if he's never been there before. "Stop." Please don't. "Stop."

Tyler sees through the lie. He owns my body. Marks my flesh with his fingers. Delivers one rough thrust after the other. He bottoms out every single time and when he leans forward to stroke my clit, all it takes is a few brushes of his thumb before I lose it .

My eyes roll to the back of my head, my body shaking from the force of my orgasm. He's stopped rubbing me. Stopped pounding into me. But with his cock throbbing deep inside me, it's as if my orgasm is never going to end.

"Make no mistake, little savage." His voice has me snapping my eyes open. The knife is in his hand, his eyes looking possessed. "This orgasm isn't yours. It's mine."

The words sober me. Make me bratty. "I came because I wanted to."

"Wrong." His thrusts resume at a slow pace. " I wanted you to. I fucked you like no one ever would. Touched you like no one else could. That's why you came."

Tyler releases my wrists. He snatches one hand, pulling my arm back before I come up with a clever response. He massages my fingers for a moment, sliding the blade on them from the pads of my fingers to my palm.

"What are you doing?"

He groans. Uses his strong hips to push my body into the mattress.

This brutal man pins the tip of the knife—and, motherfucker —cuts into the fingertips of my index and middle finger.

My scream is ignored. My scream is a turn-on for him. He doesn't stop until each one of the cuts is deep. Until blood spurts to the small of my back.

I'm about to tell him this won't kill me or maim me. That if he's planning on doing either, he has to chop a finger off, not nick it.

I would've too if he stopped there .

Tyler drops the knife to the mattress, close to his knee. He makes a fist of my hair while guiding my bloodied fingers to my pussy.

"Touch yourself. Make it feel good, Dahlia." My head is halfway up the pillow when he forces my fingers between my lips. On my clit. "Be my good, dirty girl, and come on my cock. You make me so fucking hot when you bleed for me like that."

The liquid is warm on my already heated skin. Tyler helps me rub myself, and it feels so nice. Except I'm sensitive down there. Still high on my last orgasm.

This will never work. "I can't."

"Not an acceptable answer." His hand drags my fingers up and down. "You begged for me. Wanted me. Guess what, little savage? This is it. That's the man I've become. This is what it's like to have me. I'm going to demand as many orgasms as I like, and you'll give them to me. Now, make yourself come for me. Again and again and again."

"Do you even know how the female body works?"

"Dammit, Dahlia." My words don't register. Tyler's determined, stroking me faster. Wetting my clit with more of my blood. "You make me lose my goddamn mind when you talk back."

Sick, deliriously hot bastard. I'll give him what he's asking for. I'll give him everything. "Sounds like something an asshole would say."

Less than a split second passes and his hand is no longer on top of mine. Neither is his weight.

Smack .

This slap on my ass is the worst. The one that stings all the way from my behind to my pussy and up my spine. It hurts everywhere. It'll leave a mark in the morning. Maybe I'll go and tattoo the shape of his palm.

The thought alone has my pussy clenching. And he's right, it does feel good to rub myself again. To push my ass to his groin, to encourage him to resume his harsh thrusts and hushed curses.

"You owe me another one." Tyler's fingers bite into my hips. His cock burrows into me mercilessly. "Come. Again. Dahlia."

My second orgasm is brutal. My soul is yanked out of my body, then slams back inside. I gasp for air as soon as my heart starts beating again, whispering Tyler's name and then, "Please."

"That's my good girl." The front of his body brushes my back. With a surprising tenderness, he plants a kiss on my shoulder blade. My cheek. The corner of my mouth.

I watch him, curious and cautious and enthralled.

"It's time I take your ass, little savage."

"I—" I stop. "Will it hurt?"

"Do you want it to hurt?"

"No." Yes.

"Too bad. Because you're getting it."

My knife is at my fingertips again. Tyler cuts into more of my flesh, drawing more blood. He repeats the motion with my other fingers, slicing a horizontal line in the inside of my palm. Spears into my skin blindly and precisely. Like a practiced man would. Suspiciously so.

All while he's kissing and nipping and licking my shoulder.

Blood drips out at a steady pace, and I wish I could see it. Tyler doesn't let me. Most of his weight is still on me when he tilts his hips back, pulling out of me.

"Give me those." His hand is around my wrist, yanking me to him.

My fingers curl around his throbbing, wet cock. My breath hitches. Heart exploding.

I'm this close to coming again just from having him rock into my wounded palm. Feel his groans of pleasure on my back.

"This ass." He gives my shoulder one last bite before sitting up. "This fucking ass." He spits on my tight hole, rubs it with his thumb. Pushes inside. "It's mine."

"Yes." My body squeezes around him.

Tyler doesn't back out. Doesn't tell me to relax, that it'll be better if I give in to him. He removes his thumb, only to insert two fingers inside my untouched hole.

My throat makes mewling sounds I don't recognize. My body wiggles from the burn. It lasts a few seconds until everything, burn included, transforms into pleasure. I push back, and Tyler grips my hips as his fingers sink deeper.

"You've always been mine. Every inch of you. Every cell. Every breath you've taken." Tyler removes his fingers, trades them for the crown of his cock to my ass. Nudging the tight entrance. My blood is hot against my sensitive skin. So wet. "Whether I'm here in your room or miles away. You belong to no one else."

"No one. "

My voice makes my customers smile. It makes my targets piss themselves. Tonight, around Tyler, it encourages him to push deeper and get the head inside.

"It hurts," I cry out.

"I promised you it would." His fingers lace into my hair, tugging so I can see his lip curling in a sneer. A sexy, smoldering one. "I don't lie, beautiful. Not to you."

Inch by thick inch, Tyler fills my ass with his cock. I'm waiting out the sting. Waiting for this to get better like his fingers had.

It doesn't. I'm speechless. Breathless. The screams in my lungs get lodged in my throat as I try to accommodate Tyler's girth.

"That's a good girl." A hint of warmth seeps into his voice. I almost miss it, it's so subtle. "Rub yourself again for me. Make yourself come. It'll get better."

Is he insane? This will never feel good.

I grip the sheets tightly, and Tyler comes for me. He's violent when he shoves my fingers on my clit. The bleeding in my fingers and palm has slowed. I'm still dripping, though. My fingers are still wet when Tyler rolls them on my clit to the rhythm of his hips.

"Better?"

"So much better," I tell him the truth. And all it took was a few seconds of this. "Thank you. Thank you. I'm close."

"Good girl." He releases my hand, warning, "Don't stop. Don't you dare fucking stop."

His hold on my hips lets him fuck my ass hard and fast, ruining me for any other man. Ruining me period .

"I'm going to come inside you," he grits out. "Going to mark your ass with my cum. You better come before I do."

"More," I beg. I don't know more of what I'm asking for.

Tyler seems to.

"You're such a beautiful little whore, aren't you?" He thickens inside me. Slaps my ass, one cheek, then the other. Hurting me. Degrading me. Doing the exactly right things to make my soul soar. "My whore. This pussy, this ass—your mouth —you've been saving them for me. You could tell I'd break one day. You've been such a patient, sweet slut for me. Mine."

Whether he stays or leaves eventually, I have no way of knowing. Nor do I care. It's impossible to think of the future when he says those things to me now. As if he means them.

My orgasm starts in my pussy. It doesn't stay there, expanding and contracting at the same time, and I'm shaking with each wave. Can't stop shaking when Tyler releases his own orgasm inside my ass and fills me up.

"Fuck, I—"

Everything goes black.

"Come here, little savage."

Somehow, I'm up again. In the air. In his arms, being carried to the shower.

"Are you staying?" My fingertips draw the shape of a heart on his chest, just below his collarbone. It becomes a red heart because I'm scratching his skin, my blood mixing with his. "Or do I need to cry again?"

He levels me with a look that says he won't joke about my meltdowns. So chivalrous .

"I'm staying. I've wanted you to stay for the past two nights, but fuck. I was trying to be respectful. Was trying not to break down when you demanded to go home by yourself."

"Be respectful tonight too." My fingers bite into his neck. Pull on his short hair. "Stay."

The doorway to the bathroom won't fit us both. Tyler twists to the side, squeezing our bodies past it. Same as always.

"You won't like what I'm going to do to you. What I've been planning on doing to you for years." The orgasm hasn't drained the darkness out of his eyes. They're every bit as ferocious, even under the hot water spray. "Protesting won't do you any good."

His gaze should raise a ton of red flags.

Instead, it piques my curiosity.

"Do what?" I'm on the floor. Tyler leans against me as he reaches for the shampoo on the plastic rack. "Tyler, what are you going to do to me? Because honestly, I don't think my ass can take any more. Not tonight."

Tyler's eyes narrow. During those magical, fucked up years when he'd been my guardian, he'd give me the same look a lot. It happened mostly after I said inappropriate shit that made his grandma laugh.

Will he laugh now?

"I'm going to lock you up."

Shampoo is squeezed into my hair, rubbed into my scalp. It feels so nice that I ignore what he just said.

"You're going to let me suck your cock?" I close my eyes, humming. "Why wouldn't I like that? "

A loaded silence takes over after my question. I don't have it in me to press Tyler. I don't have anything left in me at all. I'm worn out, bone tired, and in desperate need of sleep.

Which is why I allow this. Allow him to say nothing while he massages soap into my body, washes me clean, and helps me out of the shower.

He tugs a towel from the hook on the wall, wraps it around my body. Wordlessly, Tyler reaches with his arm to the medicine cabinet, never turning his back to me. Once he fishes out the first aid kit, he sterilizes the cuts on my hand, the open wounds his bite marks left on my neck. Bandages both.

"Well, are you?" We're next to my dresser in the living room after he carried me there. He pulls a black T-shirt over my head. A T-shirt and nothing else. "Going to make me suck you?"

"Another day." He slaps my hand away, not letting me grab the pair of panties in his hand. The weirdo ties them around my eyes, then walks me to the couch that's facing away from the room. "Keep it on. Stay here. I'll change the sheets."

This is actually kind of cute. "Where's my asshole and what did you do with him?" I call after him.

"He's here." Tyler is efficient, returning to my side quickly. His thumb grazes my cheek when he rips the panties blindfold off my eyes. He's wearing his T-shirt and briefs, smirking in this new, wicked way of his. "I warned you I'm not the same as I was."

"Okay… "

His hand is on the small of my back and he walks me back to the bedroom. Throws me on the bed on my back. Lifts my shirt to my breasts.

"Stay," he repeats.

My eyes follow him as he picks his bag off the floor. Opens it. Pulls out a—

"No." I sit up, shaking my head. Maybe if I cross my arms, I'll look more intimidating. Maybe he'll remember all those people that went into my shop and never came out. "Absolutely no."

The stainless steel and the design of the chastity belt are beautiful. Delicate even. But I won't be caged. Even though I was allowed to go to school, for all intents and purposes, I'd been Uncle Al's prisoner for six months. Ian and me.

Never again.

He turns the lock on the front of the chastity belt, opening it. "Yes."

"Tyler, stop."

"I won't."

"Al turned Ian and me to his prisoners." I frown. Growl. "It won't happen again. I'm so much more than some ani—"

Tyler's hand wraps around my throat at frightening speed. "I am nothing like him. This…this belt. I need this. I'll be gone for a day. And you'll have this on until I'm back. Don't worry. There are holes for when you need to go to the bathroom. But it's symbolic. Please."

We're glaring at each other in the dark. My heart pounds. His nostrils flare .

"This is about removing him from you." Tyler's mouth ghosts over the bandaged tattoo on my neck. Then he's back to looking at me. "This is about me owning you. And you're giving this to me. More importantly, you're taking it."

More silence. Tyler's quiet for the minutes it takes me to wrap my head around the idea. The idea of being this unhinged man's possession. Of having him , not Al on my pussy for the next twenty-four hours.

Okay. Okay. I've got this.

My smile is slow. "I'm yours."

"You are." His grip on my throat loosens, and then it's gone. He grabs my leg, hauling me to the foot of the bed. "I'm trying, Dahl. I swear I'm trying to be a good man. For the both of us. To not be as terrified. That's another reason I have to do this. It'll keep your pretty pussy safe when I can't be there."

"Don't worry." I stay still as he lifts my legs one after the other and adjusts the belt around me. "You're locking me. I'm yours. Nothing will happen to me. I promise."

I won't say more. We both know who I am. What I do. That I don't need a human shield anymore. I'm my own damn knight in shining armor.

But we've been through too much tonight for this type of conversation.

He'll just have to get the hint on his own.

"I don't deserve this." The lock snaps shut, effectively caging me in. "There won't be a happy ending for us. Not after everything we've been through. Tell me you think differently?"

If I weren't this sleepy, I would've put up a fight. Explained in detail that our past doesn't reflect on our future. How we, out of everyone, deserve an ending that isn't a total shitshow.

Lucky for him, my eyes are heavy. Tyler wraps his warm, lean body around me and I don't even notice the belt is on me anymore. This psycho brings me that much peace.

"Night, Ty." My bandaged hand covers his that are pressed to my stomach.

His chin rests on the top of my head. "Night, little savage."

My alarm rings at four a.m. the next morning. By then, he's nowhere to be found.

I'm anything but upset, though.

This belt he's put on me is more of a promise than any engagement ring ever would.

It's sick and it's beautiful and it's crazy.

It's Tyler. My Tyler. Mine .

The smile on my face is there to stay as I throw my legs out of bed.

Time to ground flesh into dust.