Page 44

THE HOUSE OR ME

MILA

Alex traces the sensitive skin around the heart he carved into my inner thigh. “Tender?”

I look down. “Just a little. What about yours?”

He shrugs, watching me from where he’s propped up on his elbow beside me on the bed. The sheets and blanket are in a pile on the floor, leaving me completely exposed. He doesn’t seem to mind it as he traces my skin like he’s memorizing every inch.

The heart I carved beneath his collarbone isn’t as neat as the one he drew on me.

I probably shouldn’t like the fact that I did that to him when he already bears enough scars.

But every time Alex shifts and I get a peek at my mark on him, I remember how it felt to have him inside me while I carved it.

My thighs press tight, clamping his hand between them.

“What was that thought?” Alex smirks, his gaze flicking up.

“Nothing.”

He chuckles, knowing I’m lying. There’s no denying it when every ripple of muscle has me clenching my thighs tighter.

I can’t control myself around this man.

Alex drifts his hand up over my stomach, learning every limb. I’d be self-conscious if he weren’t allowing the same. There’s something intimate about him trusting me to see him fully. Scars, marks, and all. I love it.

I love him.

Those words flap around my ribcage, refusing to settle down.

This man is drop-dead gorgeous, and he’s made me the center of his world.

“Can we circle back to ‘Alex, the high school basketball star’ for a second?”

Alex draws a lazy circle on my stomach. “What about him?”

“You were team captain. Friends with everyone. Rich. Gorgeous.”

Alex cocks an eyebrow, meeting my gaze.

“What?”

“Nothing. I’m just sitting here appreciating the endless compliments and curious where this is going.” He grins, planting a kiss between my breasts. “By all means, continue.”

“And here I thought I’d found the one member of Sigma Sin who didn’t have a nauseatingly large ego.”

Alex’s hand skims down my stomach, pausing at the apex of my thighs. “Nope.”

“Good to know.” I roll my eyes. “But seriously, from what I could tell on your social media, you were worshipped.”

“You stalked me online?”

“You stalked me in person. ”

He smiles. “I wasn’t judging.”

“Of course not.” I shake my head. “I’m just thinking about what you said. You had everything, including your choice of women. I just assumed you were like the rest of the guys at Sigma House. Fucking any girl who would let you.”

“You have such a high opinion of me.”

“You know what I mean.”

Alex lifts onto his forearm, scooting up the bed so he’s hovering over me. “Are you bothered that I told you you’re my first?”

“Not bothered. Definitely not bothered.” My cheeks warm. “I’m just surprised, I guess.”

He hums, splaying his fingers over my stomach, staring at the dip at my throat, and slowly moving his hand up to it. “Sex never really interested me growing up.”

His hand skates up my ribs. His fingers brush the underside of my breast before following the path between them, not pausing until they wrap one side of my throat, while his thumb rests over the other.

Not tightening his grip or stealing my air, just holding so he can sense every swallow. Feel every beat of my heart.

“Pain made more sense than pleasure.” He moves his hand around my neck to hold the back of it.

“Is that why you were always fighting people or doing those things Patience said?” My eyebrows pinch. “She told me you should have been locked up in Montgomery long before you ever were.”

He smirks like he’s proud of his sister’s deduction.

“My sister’s not wrong. Patience loves me, but I’ve always scared her.

She couldn’t understand who I am. And when my father tried to help me, she just resented both of us for it.

She didn’t agree that my anger needed to be channeled.

She took after my mother in that way, preaching abstinence.

But don’t tell her I compared her to our mother, or she’ll never forgive me. ”

“They have a complicated relationship?”

“You could say that.”

Not elaborating. Got it.

“So Patience thought you should abstain from sex?”

“Not sex.” He shakes his head. “Inflicting pain. But like I said, she and I didn’t agree on our methods.”

“While your father encouraged it?”

“My father is Sigma Sin. He understands not all disagreements can be sorted peacefully, so he gave me an outlet.”

“You make it sound like you need to kill people.”

Alex’s gaze moves up to mine. “Not necessarily. I needed to fill this hole inside me, and that was the only way I knew how to do it at that time.”

I roll onto my side, and he slides his knee between my legs as he hitches one onto his hip. “Maybe you should have just tried sex. It can be very relaxing.”

I trail a finger from the hollow of his throat, down the center of his chest.

“Maybe.” He smirks. “But I’ll never regret waiting for you.”

For the first time in my life, I wish I could say the same.

Growing up how I did, my body was a tool.

A weapon. A bargaining chip. I used it unapologetically because I was never taught how to value it.

It wasn’t until Alex saw more than curves and flesh that I understood intimacy.

Or how sex could actually mean something.

My cheeks burn as he brushes his thumb over my jaw.

“How did your father help?” I steer the subject away from my insecurities before he notices .

Alex pauses, and even if he doesn’t call me out, I sense he noticed the shift in my expression. “He would assign me specific tasks to help the House.”

“Killing people?”

“Sometimes it was just about sending me a message.” He tucks my hair behind my ear. “He taught me how to embrace who I was.”

“Or he made you think that’s all you are.”

Alex’s fingers pause where he’s rubbing my back. I probably should have kept that to myself since he respects his father. We clearly don’t share the same feelings toward Gideon Lancaster.

“Perhaps.” Alex flattens his palm on my back. “If that’s the case, then it’s a good thing I found you. Who needs pain when you can ride my cock and take all other impulses away.”

His hand slides between my legs, and I lose my breath as he breaches my body. He sinks two fingers to his knuckles. My nails dig into his shoulders when he curls them.

“Good thing,” I whisper, losing my breath.

“That’s it, my angel.” He kisses the hollow of my neck as he hums against me. “Show me what I’ve been missing.”

My skin is vibrating. Static pulses.

Alex rolls me onto my back and settles between my legs. With a harsh thrust, he impales me. His mouth finds my jaw. My cheek. My lips. He tangles his fingers in my hair and fucks me slow and deep. Erasing anything but him. Making me the beginning of his universe.

And as he picks up pace, he becomes that for me.

I lock my ankles around his hips and move in time with him. Splitting us apart. Melting us together .

Our tongues dance, and I taste every groan. Every good feeling I give him when he stopped believing he could.

My hands trace down his sides. One is smooth, and the other rippled. Torn halves of the man I’m in love with.

He angles his hips and strikes a new place, where there’s no amount of resistance that could stop my climax from ripping through my body. But I want him to follow me, so I reach under my ass and grab him by the balls, forcing him to follow suit.

“Fuck.” Alex grunts, burying his face in my neck as I squeeze him.

His hips piston, and I swear he meets my heart with every pulse. Hot cum spills into me. All sweetness is gone as his thrusts are endless and harsh. We can’t be contained. I wouldn’t want to.

“You feel so good.” He kisses the side of my neck as his body shakes and the remnants of his release leak out between us. “Better than anything I would have believed existed before I met you.”

I trace my finger over his hard pec, around the heart I carved in his skin. “So do you.”

My hand pauses on the marks he wears for Sigma House. For the mark he wears for me. Which will he embrace in the end? The pain or the pleasure? His heart or his bloodline?

The House or me?