Page 386 of Phobia

“Tell me what happened.”

I didn’t want to talk. I didn't want to relive tonight. I wanted a change, to run away and start over. “I need you, Bastien. I want to be yours forever.” It was the truth.

He backed away from me slowly. “I ain’t the marryin’ type.”

I threw my hands in the air, the volume of my own voice deafening my ears. “Why not? Is it because you're married already?” That was it. Madame Laurent’s joke was true. That was why he only came out here at night. I clutched my stomach to keep the bile from rising. “Oh, God, you have a wife. Do you have kids, too? You were here with me while your family was home asleep every night?”

He put his hand up. “Enough, Rosalie.”

It was like cold water over my head. He never used my first name.

“I ain’t married.”

Relief washed through my insides but I still didn’t understand why he wouldn’t entertain my plan. “Then why don’t you want to be with me?”

“I am with yeh. I’m with yeh right now.”

I moved closer to him, my body craving his touch. “No. I want all of you. I want you to take me like a man takes his wife.” I liked all the kinky shit we had done, but we still hadn’t had sex in the traditional sense, and I so badly wanted to consummate our relationship—to truly be his.

His beautiful face hardened like stone. “Is that what yeh want, for me to fuck yeh?”

“I want everything you have to offer me. I’m yours. Please, Bastien. I need to belong somewhere, and when I’m with you, I finally feel like I belong.”

He couldn’t hide his hungry eyes behind his poker face. “Songbird. Yeh can’t be with me. It’s not easy to explain.”

“Papa kicked me out of the house, so I have all night to listen.”

He rubbed at the back of his neck, like he was having an internal battle that I wasn’t privy to. “Being mine forever requires some...provisions.”

“Provisions?” Now was not the time for another one of his riddles. My heart was on the line here, for Christ’s sake.

“There’s certain laws that govern me, and any partner I choose must abide by them, too.”

This didn’t sound like something any woman would be jumping through hoops to volunteer for. I was scared to ask for clarification, but curiosity got the best of me. “What are they?”

He ended the conversation before it ever really started. “I can’t have yeh involved.”

“But you said I was yours.” I was dizzy from his flip-flopping.

“Yeh are. But marrying someone is a permanent decision. There’s no going back once yeh commit to me.”

Wasn’t marriage a commitment? What more would he need? I was officially scared. “Are you in a cult or some shit?”

He chuckled. “Not quite.”

“Then show me, please.” I pressed my hand to his bare chest, feeling his stillness center me. “I want to understand you.”

He took a huge breath and squared his shoulders. “Ask me one more time.”

“Show me, Bastien,” I begged. “Show me how to be yours forever.”

His eyes danced to life. The atmosphere changed, and I could feel something wicked surround us—something hedonistic.

Bastien inserted two fingers into his mouth and produced an ear-piercing whistle.

I looked off into the night to see what he was summoning, but then his mouth captured mine, stealing my breath away. My eyes shut as I caved into his passion. Our chemistry was undeniable, and the only explanation was that we were made for each other.

All too quickly, he pulled away, leaving me panting for more. After the haze of his kiss wore off and I regained my vision, I spotted a band of men. Twelve men in total, all dressed the same, in white button-down shirts and long white pants. Their clothes were dirty, as if they had been rolling around in the dirt. Their lascivious stares crawled up my body, blooming unease in their wake. If Jean had been greedy for my body earlier, then these men were ravenous.