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ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

DIYA

“T hou shalt not fantasize about thy patients, Doctor Sharma,” he said, staring at me over the book. “Isn’t it, like, some unwritten rule in the sacred scrolls of psychiatry or whatever?”

If I could rip that tongue right off...

Sputtering, I stood up from my chair. Fury and embarrassment coiled up my skin until my lungs turned small. I cursed, gasping for breath.

What did you do?

I wanted to punch myself. I wanted to choke myself for showing that side of me to him. That dirty, unhinged side. I had handed him a weapon, unknowingly so, and he would use it to undermine me, keep me in line.

I stormed toward him, finally managing to calm my raging breath.

“What were you doing in my home?” I pushed him against the metal shelves. He didn’t resist; he just complied, looking down at me with eyes that made me think of summer mornings lost in the woods.

So fucking green.

“You already know the answer to that, don’t you?” He leaned closer to me, his eyes darker than I had ever seen. “You think Vincent could satisfy you, Sharma? You want me .”

“It was a stupid dream,” I bit out, the lie tasting like a sweet poison. I hated myself for this obsession. I hated that I wanted him, but the shame didn't lessen the lust.

Every whisper of his name in my mind was like a fever dream, pulling me deeper into the madness until I was no longer clear where my thoughts ended and the obsession began.

I already knew I wasn’t sane, but this..

I wasn’t angry that he had come to kill me. I was more angry that he saw me finger-fucking myself as I called out his name.

“It didn’t sound so stupid from where I stood. It sounded hot,” he said, running his fingers down my arm. I shuddered much to my displeasure, and his smile widened. “Was I fucking you in your dream? How fast? Did you enjoy my cock… buried deep inside you?”

My legs wanted to give out as I took a step back from him. He stopped me by wrapping an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. His fingers dug into my hips, making me moan.

“Suddenly feeling bashful, Sharma? You weren’t so shy last night. You force-fed me your cum…” He licked his lips, his eyes never leaving mine. “And then ordered me to lick your pussy.” He smacked his lips, as if he could still taste me on his tongue, eyes turning dark.

“Di-did you?” I stuttered. The ache in my pussy grew until my whole body sang for this bastard.

He chuckled, gleaming eyes staring at me with amusement. “Did I what?” He smiled, his fingers going down my hips, down the side of my thighs.

“You know what,” I said, disdain and desire warring against each other.

“Oh, how desperate!” He grinned. “I wanted to. If I wasn’t a gentleman, I would have. I’d have pushed my tongue in your pussy and made you scream my name until your throat went sore.” His smile turned indulgent. “Not that you needed me to do any of that. You’re so fucking good at screaming my name without any help from me, Sharma.”

“You? A gentleman? You came to kill me,” I retorted, trying so hard not to think about his tongue inside me. Not now.

“Well, I didn’t, did I?” he said with a deep sniff, his nose against my throat. “Are you wet now, Sharma? Are you thinking about my face between your thighs, tongue buried deep in your pussy?” His voice was derisive as he licked the underside of my ear, sending my pulse into overdrive.

My breath came out in a shattered gasp as I pushed him away. Slowly, I took a step back and another, putting some distance between us to calm my overworking heart.

“Get the fuck out.”

“Oh, but I still have…” He took a quick look at the clock. “Another twenty minutes before my session is over, Doctor Sharma. You usually have so much to say even when I don’t talk back. We’ll talk today… About how wrong it is to want to fuck your patient, even if he’s as sexy as me.”

“You just told me you aren’t my patient,” I said, clenching my palms tighter, resisting the urge to lunge at him and strangle him.

“Well, but you didn’t know I was faking it,” he said, sitting down on my chair. “Sit.”

I didn’t want to, but my legs couldn’t take it anymore.

That cocky smile made me want to claw his eyes out. Or… or to take him up on the offer and sit on his sexy-as-fuck face.

I glared at him, crossing my legs.

“Was that your first dream?” he asked after a minute of silence. “You looked like you do that all the time.”

Of course, it wasn’t the first dream, and it wasn’t the worst one either.

“You have had your fun, Maddox. I want you to leave now.”

“So prim and proper. You weren’t when you were thrashing and begging and screaming for me. No, you looked wild, deranged. Your fingers were on your clit, rubbing, slick and wet, and then you gave me your finger to taste you,” he said, eyes sneering.

He was enjoying this little power play. I was the rat under his nasty claws, and he wasn’t going to let go, not until he got what he wanted.

Standing up, he came around until he was closer. Leaning against the mahogany desk, he lazily ran a finger down the bulge in his pants. He was so fucking hard already.

I licked my lips.

“Last night, I came… just from looking at you,” he admitted, eyes burning into mine. “It was so embarrassing, you know, to come from just looking at a woman. I had never done that in my life. No one had ever made me lose control, not like that. I couldn’t sleep after that. I couldn’t stop thinking of you. I touched myself, wondering how it would feel if it were your fingers around my cock,” he said with a long groan.

My mouth watered as he ran a finger along the hard length of his cock. He groaned. “What if this was your hand?” He cupped his erection, eyes half closed, and moaned.

My fingers itched. My body was overheated, my breath came out like desert air.

The word yes was at the tip of my tongue. I clenched my thighs, keeping the pressure in.

“But that’s against the rules,” he said.

“And you’re so stringent in following rules…” I scoffed. “That must be why you killed Doctor T.”

“Well, I try to follow rules whenever possible.” He cocked his head. “About Vince—”

I cut him off. “If you’re worried I’m going to spill your secrets, don’t. We won’t be talking about work, let alone you. You can go now.”

“Well, I’m not scared of Vincent,” he said, leaning over my chair. “I just want to know why you’d go on a date with him when we both know you want me.”

“You’re not the first guy I’ve dreamed about,” I said with a frown. “You’re not that special.”

“Are you saying you’ve had wet dreams about a lot of men, Doctor Sharma? Are all of them your patients?” His eyes went dark as he cupped my throat. “If that’s so, you need a shrink.”

I pointedly looked at the clock. “Time’s up, Maddox. See you.”

“Hmm.” He thumbed my lips before moving away. “Goodbye, Sharma. See you later.” He walked out, slamming the door behind him.

I slumped on the couch with a sigh. My life was a clusterfuck, and I had no one to blame but myself.

My phone rang, pulling me out of my lust-induced thoughts. I smiled when I saw the name flashing on the screen.

“Hey, Lay, how are you?”

“I’m great. You? Not so much, Dee. Declan has been asking about you. Sheila told me he’s going batshit crazy trying to track you down,” Layne said. “Bastard just won’t quit.”

I rubbed my temple with a frown. “There’s no way he can find me here,” I said. “Why won’t he just leave me the fuck alone?”

“Oh, come on. After we maimed Toby and sent him a little souvenir? You think Declan’sgonna let that slide?” She snorted.

“I wasn’t the one who cut his hand off and made a fucking display out of it. It was all your idea, Lay.”

“God, I miss working with you. Killing Toby was so fun.”

“I don’t. You’re fucking impatient,” I said with a sigh. “But I do miss killing. That silence when the poison kicks in and when men finally go still…” My voice trailed off as my thoughts drifted back to the last time I killed with Layne.

Layne and I rarely worked together, but when we did, it was always fun, even though we preferred different methods. Layne was all about big, theatrical displays—the mess, the blood, the art. I found beauty in the simple things, in silence.

“Come home,” she whispered. “Just come back. We’ll figure it out together. Or Trina and I can come there. It’s not like I can’t sculpt from anywhere.”

It was hard not to beg her after she offered.

“You’ll go mad,” I said with a smile.

“If you can survive there, we could too.”

“I’m barely hanging on,” I said, drumming my fingers on the table. “I’ll stick it out for a few more months, just until Knight stops poking around. Then I’ll come home.”

“What about Asher?”

“Oh… don’t worry. I can deal with him,” I said.

“If you want me to kill him, let me know. I’ll be careful,” Layne said.

“Not yet. Bye, Lay. I have a session soon.”

“Bye, bitch. Stay mad.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to remind me,” I grunted, and she laughed. “Bye.”