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Chapter Thirty-Five

MERRICK

This isn’t a soft and sweet moment. This is pure raw fucking. I’m covered in the blood of my enemies, their hair and brains, too, but I push that thought to the side. Hitching her up against the door a little more, I grunt as I strengthen my grip on her, then I align the head of my dick with her center and slam inside.

She’s not quite ready for me, so her breath hitches when I am completely buried. I don’t wait for her to become accustomed to my intrusion, either. This is ownership. This is control. And right now, this is about being alive.

We both fucking made it to the other side and are here to tell the tale.

My gaze is focused on hers. Connecting to hers as my hips move hard and fast. Colette’s head slams against the wall once, but she never breaks eye contact with me. She is fucking perfect, the balm that my tattered soul needs to survive and maybe even thrive.

I would love to think that I could hold out and fuck her this hard for hours, but I’m close to finding my release after only a few slams inside of her amazing fucking cunt. I release one of her thighs but don’t stop as I slip my fingers between us.

Pressing my thumb against her clit, I rub firm circles as I continue moving. She whimpers, her hands flying to my shoulders as her nails dig into my flesh. I welcome the sensation, the pain, and even wonder if she will draw blood.

I’m not sure I would even care if she did. At least it would be my own and not someone else’s like I’m already wearing. I keep thrusting inside of her, my hips moving hard and fast, my rhythm never yielding.

The noises Colette makes fill my ears. They’re sexy and sweet with a raw touch. I want more. I always want more from her. I’m not sure I could ever get enough. How the fuck I survived without her right here for months, I’m not sure.

“Please,” she whimpers. “ Please .”

When I pinch her clit, her pussy clenches around me, her nails dig into my flesh even harder, and she comes at the same time I slam into her pussy and do the same. I come so hard that every muscle in my entire body freezes.

I can’t speak, can’t think, can’t move.

I am immobile as I stare into those green eyes of hers. I don’t know if she’s sucking my soul with her gaze, but I do know that her cunt is sucking my cock dry, and I can’t wait to do it again. And again. And again. Until the day I fucking die.

Tilting my head to the side, I shift forward and touch my mouth to hers. She whimpers again, opening her mouth as I slip my tongue inside of her and taste her. As I sweep my tongue around hers, tangling with hers, I thrust my hips again and moan as she swallows the sound.

I nibble on her bottom lip before I break the kiss but stay fully seated inside of her. I’m not ready to slide out of her warm, wet heat yet. Shifting my head backward slightly, I look into her eyes.

I lift my hand from between her legs and cup her cheek before I slide my thumb along her bottom lip, my gaze traveling and following the movement before I shift it back to meet her eyes.

“Welcome home, baby,” I rasp. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

I wasn’t gentle. I’m usually not that gentle, but typically, I work my way up to being rough with her instead of just fucking her into the wooden door right off the bat like I did tonight. Her eyelids lower slightly as she looks at me, her lips curving up into a lazy smile.

“You couldn’t hurt me if you tried,” she says, her voice husky and sexy as fuck.

Instead of arguing about that statement, because I’m pretty sure I could, in depth, I lean forward and touch my lips to hers again in a soft kiss. Then I release her leg and reluctantly slip out of her body to take a step backward.

Picking her up, I wordlessly carry her toward the bathroom, starting the shower water, and then, once it’s warm, only then do I place her down on the tile floor before I step in behind her.

Colette gasps as she watches the water wash the blood from our bodies down the drain. Spinning her around, I tangle my fingers in her hair, tugging her head back slightly so she has nowhere to look but in my eyes.

“Ignore that shit, baby,” I murmur as droplets of water fall from my face to hers. “We did what we had to do for survival.”

Her tongue snakes out as she slides it across her bottom lip, then she lets out a heavy sigh, but I can see the wariness in her gaze. The adrenaline is gone, and now it’s settling in. It’s all settling in. Everything that’s happened, everything she did, I did—that was done to us… or almost done.

“I should be sad,” she whispers. “He was still my father, and I did that to him. Me. Nobody else.”

I hum, brushing my lips across hers again before I lift my head just enough to rest my forehead against hers and close my eyes. “You did, but he wasn’t a human, baby. That man was a monster.”

And he was, like Ravet, just in an indirect way. Sure, he didn’t actually hurt any boys that I know of, but he was more than willing to sell whoever he needed to in order to get what he wanted, and that makes him exactly like Ravet.

I’m not sad that any of them are dead. In fact, I can’t wait to fucking celebrate. I wish I had their bodies here in Nights, so we could stand around them and take turns pissing on them, that’s how little I respect any of those fucking people.

But I don’t say any of that to Colette. Instead, I lift my head and proceed to wash the blood and hopefully a little of the guilt down the drain. Then I place her in bed and hold her until she falls asleep before I slide out of the sheets and make a few phone calls.

COLETTE

I’m not sure how long I sleep, but when I wake up, the sun is beginning to rise. It takes me a moment to realize where I am, but when I sit up and look around the room, I let out a sigh of relief because I am home.

Slipping out of bed, I wince at the soreness between my legs as I make my way toward the bathroom. After taking care of my business, I wash my hands and attempt to look at my reflection in the mirror.

Horrified.

That’s the only emotion that slides through my entire body at the person who greets me in the mirror. Going to bed with wet hair should never, ever happen, and yet I was so exhausted that I allowed it.

Immediate regret.

There is no fixing this mess. I’m going to have to rewash it again. Opening and closing the bathroom drawers, I try to find a hair tie somewhere, but there is nothing. My bag is probably still next to the front door where Merrick dropped it last night, and even then, I’m not sure if there are any hair ties in there anyway.

I’m just going to have to face Merrick with this hair. There is nothing else that I can do about it right now. Leaving the bathroom, I walk over to his closet and flip on the light before I make my way to his dresser.

I know exactly where all his things are located.

I spent a lot of time in this condo by myself with nothing to do, so I did the only thing I could think of… I snooped.

Naturally, I told myself that it was what I needed to do in order to try to get to know my new husband better. But the reality is, I just wanted to look at anything and everything. Now I know where everything is located, including his black undershirt.

Once I slip his shirt on, I go in search of him. Again, he isn’t hard to find. This is a pretty small condo—there is only a pocket office, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a half bathroom, and a bedroom with a full bath.

It’s perfect for just the two of us.

But when I look around the living area, I realize that he’s not there. My brows snap together, and I can’t help but feel much like I did all those months ago when he would leave me here alone for hours and not come back until he was ready to fuck me, then go to sleep.

My heart begins to race, my spine tingles and goose bumps break out all over my skin. I don’t know where Merrick is, and I can’t help but wonder if everything is going to go back to the way it was.

I don’t want that. I don’t want to be alone all of the time. I was hoping this was going to be a brand-new start for us. That things would be different. I felt a closeness to him, but maybe I made all of that up inside of my own head because it’s what I wanted it to be.

Just like when I came on to him the first time at my father’s house, I threw myself at him. And when he got caught with me, I was thrust onto him and he was forced to marry me. I got what I wanted. I manipulated my way out of that house. Did I just do that all over again?

“Hey, baby, you’re awake,” a deep voice rumbles, breaking me from my thoughts.

Spinning around, I see Merrick standing behind me. He’s just come out of the pocket office. I hadn’t looked in there for him. I hadn’t gone over to that side of the condo at all… the whole ten feet away.

“I am,” I say, trying not to sound like the absolute anxiety-ridden woman I was just seconds ago, questioning everything about myself and him. I’m not sure if I actually pull it off or not. I doubt I do, but Merrick is kind enough not to say anything.

“We’re going out with Theron and Lucille tonight. Do you need to go shopping for clothes and things?”

He’s sweet to ask. Immediately, I lift my hand, touching the side of my unruly blonde hair. Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I shrug a shoulder. I don’t want to spend his money, but I certainly have none of my own, so I don’t really have a choice.

“Go shower while I get you something to eat, then we’ll go shopping. I’m sure you need everything.”

I do need everything—every damn thing. I open my mouth to tell him that it’s okay, I can figure it out, but he doesn’t let me. Merrick closes the distance between us, lifting his hands before he cups my cheeks, then touches his mouth to mine. He doesn’t deepen the kiss. Instead, he speaks against my lips.

“You’re here, you’re safe, you’re mine. Let me take care of you, Colette.”

Yes, please.

I melt for him.

This man who didn’t need to come back to save me. Who didn’t need to come back to me at all. And yet, here he is and here I am. I’m never going anywhere, not ever again. I would have to be killed to ever leave his side again. Because no way in hell will I ever go willingly—not ever again.