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“No one can hurt me.” Except you. But I don’t tell her that, even though I know it’s too soon to start throwing around that I’m in love with her even if I don’t know her completely.

“They’re not after me,” I barely hear her. “They’re after him, and I won’t let them get to him, I can’t.”

It takes a moment before I realize she’s talking about Gabriel. That whoever these people are, they’re after her brother and she’s trying to protect him.

Taking a deep breath, I know right now I need to tell her who I am, what I do for a living.

“I’m known as The Butcher. A hired hitman that a lot of undercover circuits use. I’ve killed more people than I know,” I say, dragging her hand to my side. I know she can feel the little indents of the scars I mark on my body for the kills I’ve done.

“Bad or good?” she asks, her finger tracing along the scars.

“Not all of them were bad.”

Izel doesn’t say anything, and I honestly don’t know what to think about it. Her hands are still moving against my skin, and I can feel my cock threatening to harden from her touch.

“Have you killed children?” she finally asks me.

“No,” I immediately say. “I, I won’t hurt children, even most of the time women. It’s usually men that I kill, but no, never children.”

Izel lets out a sigh I hadn’t even realized she had been holding. Nodding her head into my chest she stops touching my side and wraps her arms around my waist.

“We all have to do some bad things, but that doesn’t make us bad people,” she whispers.

And if that’s not the truest statement I’ve ever heard. It makes my heart ache and my stomach flutter because I’ve told myself I’m bad. I do horrible things. I murder others and get paid for it. I enjoy it, the rush, the feel. I have a sick mind, but somehow Izel looks at me as if I hang the sun for her.

“You’re not going to hurt me or Gabriel, are you?” She tilts her head back to look at me.

Shaking my head, I refuse to hurt her. Even if they, whoever they are, tried to hire me. I wouldn’t.

“Then you have nothing to worry about. I don’t look at you differently.”

I didn’t realize her saying that, that it was my worst fear. That she would truly think I’m a monster, even when she witnessed me murdering four people.

It’s a long moment before she finally lets go of me. I reach forward not wanting her to let me go just yet. Grabbing her wrist she stops in her tracks, glancing down before meeting my eyes.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. How am I going to explain to her that I’m just a needy bitch, and her touch seems to calm me down?

“I need to go lie down. My cramps, my body is starting to hurt.” Smiling at me, she pushes up on her tippy toes. “Come on, I can only reach so far, Pup.”

I smile unable to help myself when it came to her. Bending down, I press our lips together. Groaning, my hands slip around to her ass, pressing her against me.

“Zion…” Izel moans, pushing against my chest. “I wasn’t kidding when I said my cramps are hurting badly. I need to go lie down.”

Nodding my head, I reluctantly let her go, watching as she dries off, throws her hair into a towel, and leaves the bathroom. Hurrying through my own shower, I barely make it out of the bathroom when I hear movement downstairs and find her not lying in my–our bed. Throwing on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved Henley, I make my way downstairs, only when I reach the end of the stairway I hear Gabriel.

“I take it we’re not leaving?” he asks. I can hear the playful tone, and thank God, because I don’t know what I would have done if he wasn’t being nice towards her.

“We talked some, and I think it’s best if we actually stay.”

“Did it have anything to do with the noises I was hearing last night, well, actually this morning. Because, sis, I gotta tell you there are some things I’d really rather not hear. I mean, fuck, I’m surprised you’re even walking with the painful screaming I heard.”

I don’t know if she’s blushing or not, but when she gasps and whisper-shouts his name, I smile, knowing full well that she was not in pain. Or any pain that she didn’t like.

“Don’t make that face at me, Izel.” He laughs. “Have you at least seen his face? Or do you have some mask kink? I hear that’s a thing.”

I dread hearing what she truly thinks. I know I’m ugly, the scars on my body are hideous and my face goes right along with it.

“He has, and I swear to God, Gabriel, if you make him feel any type of way, if he even shows you… I’ll chop your tiny wiener off and shove into a blender. Good luck fucking another man with no cock.”