24. Persephone

Chapter 24

Persephone

T he next morning, I felt Hades' dark menace. Although he'd showered last night, I swore I could smell the blood that surrounded him.

I wanted to ask what he'd done, but fear of how he'd answer was strong in me, so I kept my mouth shut.

Besides, my imagination was vivid enough about the reality of who and what Hades was, that I knew if he hadn't killed the judge, he absolutely brought him to the brink of death.

I pushed around the scrambled egg on my plate, my appetite nonexistent. Going back to school was the last thing I wanted to do.

At least I was thankful the cardigan I wore covered my wrist, hiding the bruise. I certainly didn't need anyone remarking on that on top of everything else they wanted to throw at me.

I glanced up at Hades, not surprised he was staring at me. I felt his gaze like a brand on my skin. It burned me from the inside out.

He watched me like he was hungry, like the breakfast in front of him wasn't nearly enough to sate his need for sustenance.

I tried to focus on my food. But suddenly all I could think about was what we'd done the night before, how he'd made love to me thoroughly, as if he knew it was what I'd needed the most right now.

I was still sore, and every time I shifted on my chair, there was that slight twinge of discomfort. I swore I could still feel him deep in me.

He ran his thumb back and forth over his bottom lip, his eyes growing hooded the longer he watched me.

"What?" I breathed out. I placed my hands in my lap, pulling at the sleeves of my cardigan, feeling my body heat. God, I felt like a nympho around him.

"I'm just thinking about how sweet your pussy tastes." He leaned back in the chair, the wood creaking slightly. "I keep picturing spreading you out on the table and eating out your cunt."

I heated, grew wet. The sound of the staff just in the other room should have made me dryer than the desert, but knowing anyone could walk in and hear the obscene things Hades said turned me on.

"What happened last night?" My voice cracked.

"I fucked you, baby. Real good, didn't I?"

My face grew unbearably hot. "You know what I mean."

"Hmm." He sounded so self-satisfied as he made that sound.

Dropping his arm to the table, he started smoothing his fingers back and forth over his linen napkin almost seductively.

"Do you really wanna know, or are you just stalling?" The corner of his mouth quirked up, and I licked my lips. "You really want me to tell you?"

I felt like I was on autopilot right now, but I had to know. Did he kill the judge? Just maim him like he had Trevor? I knew I would feel at fault even though I hadn't committed the act. But Hades would've done it because of me, to protect me.

"Did you kill him?" He stayed silent, and with each passing second, my heart beat harder and faster.

"I hurt the one who hurt you." He grabbed his cup of coffee, taking a long sip, his focus never wavering from me. "But I didn't kill him. Not this time. I made my point clear. Broken jaw. Shattered kneecaps. And his hands…" He ran the tip of his tongue over the rim of his mug. "I took a hammer to each digit until his bones became powder. If he so much as breathes in your direction, if his bastard offspring looks at you the wrong way, I will rip both of their throats out."

I felt shock and horror claim me. The visual of what Hades had just described was abhorrent. But then I thought about what the judge had done to me, said to me. And any shock seemed to take a back seat to my… satisfaction.

He set the mug back on the table and called out to the staff. A second later, an older gentleman came in. And the entire time, Hades watched me.

He reached down, grabbed his briefcase off the floor, and set it on the table. A quick pop-pop and the locks were undone, and he was opening the lid. I couldn't see the contents inside from my position, but it was only a second later that he was closing it and holding up a knife.

I felt my eyes grow large. The knife was sheathed in black leather, and I could tell the blade wasn't enormous, maybe the length of my palm. Hades set the briefcase back on the ground and unsheathed it, the silver catching the morning sunlight.

"What's that for?" My mind immediately went to images of him dragging that blade along my skin. Not hurting me. Not cutting me, but the threat would be there. As if he heard or read my thoughts, he slowly grinned.

"Another time to play like that, baby. This is for you to protect yourself when I'm not around." He held the blade out, handle toward me, and for a second I didn't take it.

But then I reached out and curled my fingers around the hilt.

"That's a fixed blade from William Henry."

I didn't know what that meant, but nodded regardless.

"The Damascus blade has an HRC rating of sixty for optimal sharpness and consists of sixty-seven layers of three alloys."

I lifted my gaze to his. "Impressive." Again, I didn't know what the hell that meant.

"The Kingman turquoise is compressed with a zinc matrix that looks wonderful with the G-10 composite handle and black leather lanyard with sterling silver accents."

There was a gorgeous turquoise inlay in the handle, and I ran my fingers along it.

"A motherfucker comes at you, I want you to use that, Persephone."

"W-what? I can't stab someone."

"You can and you will. You stab that fucker repeatedly until they stop."

My heart was racing at the thought of using this on a person. I opened my mouth to tell Hades again I couldn't do that, but then I thought of Trevor, and of his father. What if someone like them came to hurt me? What if Trevor wanted payback?

So instead of denying anything, I said, "Okay," in a soft, but firm voice.

"That's my girl." He snapped his fingers.

"Sir?"

"Carlisle." He addressed the servant. "I want you and the other staff to stay out of this room for the next hour."

I felt my eyes widen at the dark promise I heard in Hades' voice.

"No matter what you hear." He glanced at the staff member. "You don't come in here. Understand?"

Carlisle nodded, cast a quick glance at me, and left us alone.

"Come here, Bunny." His voice was low and even.

My heart beat three times before I finally did as he ordered. My legs felt like rubber as I walked toward him. When I stood a few feet from where Hades sat, I held my breath.

"Closer, sweetheart," he purred.

I couldn't move, and I didn't know why. Excitement and anticipation mixed with my unease at what he had planned.

"I won't repeat myself, Persephone." His voice hardened.

He lifted his arms and gripped my hips in his enormous hands.

I was so much smaller than him that the width of his hands seemed to nearly encompass my waist. I tensed when his fingers pressed into my flesh harder. And when I glanced down at his lap, I could see he was already so hard.

"Are you wet right now, baby?"

I shook my head.

"Pretty liar," he murmured, his thumbs moving back and forth along my sides. "Let's see how much of a liar you are."

My heart beat overtime.

"As much as I love that little schoolgirl uniform… undress."

My mouth dried, and I darted my gaze to the door that led out of the dining room. "Here? Anyone could walk right in."

"I told them not to. Unlike you, they obey me." His hands tightened against me. "Actually, how about I take it off of you, sweet girl? How about Daddy takes control because I know how much you like that?"

"I have to go to school soon."

"Not for another hour. I want to get you off before I send you off."

I shouldn't have gotten aroused when he referred to himself as "Daddy." It was such an obscene thing, filthy… in the best way.

He smirked and slid his hands up, pushing up the loose shirt I wore until my flat belly was on display. He leaned in and dragged his tongue over my stomach and along my navel before pulling away.

"So sweet." He kept pushing my shirt up until I was forced to lift my arms. My gaze kept going to the door, expecting someone to burst in, but we stayed alone.

He pushed my pants down and I silently—obediently—stepped out of them.

"I want you to strip all the way." He leaned back in his chair, waiting for me to do what he said.

When I stood totally nude before him, I noticed the way his pupils dilated, how his breathing increased. "Perfect, Princess."

I didn't know how long I stood totally naked, bared for him like a piece of art in a museum.

He snagged me around the waist and jerked me forward so swiftly, a startled sound left me and I had to brace my hands on his broad shoulders to steady myself.

The expensive material of his suit was buttery soft beneath my hands, and I felt how muscular he was as he shifted slightly and leaned forward.

His lips were precariously close to mine, so I smelled the soap on his skin and felt the heat emanating from his body.

"Here's what's going to happen," he said slowly, enunciating each word as if he didn't want me misunderstanding."You're going to strip, sit on the table, and spread your legs." My heart thundered, and he slowly smiled. "And I'm going to enjoy my breakfast as I stare at your pussy. Get on the table, Bunny."

After what we'd done, I shouldn't feel shy about anything. Hades had seen every intimate aspect of my life.

He pushed his plate aside, moved his chair back, and spread his legs wider to give me more space. Then he watched me like a hawk.

Getting on the table was harder than it should have been, but I was very aware of every move and flex of my naked form, as I had to move between his thighs in order to sit right before him.

I was burning alive with my desire. He wasn't even touching me—hadn't laid a finger on me—yet I was ready and willing for anything he demanded.

I was so wet, my juices coated my inner thighs in a slippery, filthy display.

Long moments passed as we just looked at each other, me feeling like I'd just run a marathon for how hard I was breathing. A light sheen of sweat covered my body, my nipples ached, and I was on the verge of moaning out my need because I wanted him to touch me.

Yet, Hades was unaffected, his respirations calm, steady, his face showing nothing.

"Move back on the table, Bunny. Enough that you can spread your thighs and brace the heels of your feet on the edge." The inclination of his voice was as if he were talking about the weather, not asking me to bare my pussy to him as if I were an art exhibit.

I flattened my hands on the table and pushed myself back enough so I could put the heels of my feet on the edge, just like he'd ordered.

I focused on the detailing of the trim that ran around the ceiling, then moved my gaze along the light fixture directly above me.

"Open wider for me. Let Daddy get a good look."

I did what Hades wanted, spreading my thighs so my pussy was on full display, so my lips parted and the cool air brushed along them.

And as the seconds felt like they turned to minutes and Hades didn't speak, didn't touch me, I finally tore my gaze from above to chance a look at him.

He hadn't moved, his body still relaxed in his chair, his coffee mug in hand as he stared at my pussy and drank.

My pulse was throbbing in my clit, and I'd long since grown numb to the fact there was a steady stream of my juices sliding down my pussy and the crack of my ass.

The linen tablecloth beneath me was damp because of it.

"Are you going to touch me or just look?"

"Just look, baby. Just. Fucking. Look." He slowly lifted his gaze from between my legs to look at my face. "You have the prettiest fucking pussy I've ever seen. A damn work of art. Let me enjoy basking in the fact no other man will ever see it but me."

And so he did just that, and the longer he stared at me, the more turned on I got.

"You're making such a mess. The tablecloth is soaked."

I started biting my lip, wanting to have just a stream of his warm breath along my clit. That alone would surely get me off.

My nipples hurt and were hard and tight because all I could imagine was having Hades lean forward and suck on them.

He rose from the chair and just stood there for a moment, looking down at me. I allowed myself to take in his huge, imposing form, and across his wide shoulders and broad chest that blocked out everything behind him. I continued staring along his narrow waist and the muscles I could see clearly defined under the expensive material of his white shirt.

And when my gaze landed on the massive erection he sported, I couldn't hold in my moan.

I was attracted to him in the most primal way a woman could be toward a man.

I'd had Hades, yet I felt so starved, like he hadn't fucked me multiple times already.

"Lean all the way back, elbows on the table."

I instantly obeyed, and he was kneeling between my legs, hands on my inner thighs as he kept me open.

"Ask me to suck your clit until you come."

"Please, Hades. Please suck my clit until I come."

He blew that warm stream of air along my pussy, and I let my head fall back as I moaned.

"Ask me the way I want to hear it." He spanked my clit, and I cried out. I didn't care how loud I was, and if the staff could hear. I wanted to get off so badly I'd do anything he wanted.

"I want Daddy to suck on my clit and make me come."

His grunt was primal and feral, and when he sucked that bundle into his mouth, I moaned so loud my ears rang.

I was right on the precipice of getting off when I felt the coldness of the blade skate down my inner thigh. I'd been in such a hazy cloud of arousal that I didn't even remember setting it down.

My eyes flew open, and I watched as Hades moved the knife down my leg to my ankle, and back up until he pressed the sharp tip to that soft junction where my pussy and thigh met.

My mouth dropped open, and he sucked harder. It was when he added pressure to the blade, cut my skin, that I tumbled over the edge. And it was the sight of that little bead of red dripping along my alabaster skin that had me flying higher than I'd ever been.

And the entire time, it was Hades' praise and his worship of my body that kept me in euphoria.