Hush (Black Lotus #3) (20 page)

“Declan!”

More commotion.

“Get the fuck off me!”

“Get your ass on the ground, inmate!”

“Declan!”

“Another,” I tell the bartender in the lounge of the hotel, and he pours me a shot of whiskey.

I can’t go back to the room just yet, I’m much too volatile. I’ve spent my whole life trying to measure up to my father’s standards and prove to him that I’m man enough to persevere on my own in this world. And for what? It was all a lie. A lie that claimed my mother’s life and mine. I lost a huge part of myself when she died and was left with scars that no man should ever have to bear.

The moment she died, I was blamed. It was me that wasn’t man enough to save her, and my father spent his whole life making sure I knew I was the pussy he saw me for. He destroyed everything and has left me in this nightmare of realized deceit.

“How did it go?” Elizabeth asks when I eventually walk through the door of the hotel room.

I’m nothing but knotted up rage and anger and agony that alcohol can’t even cure. I’m broken bones and bleeding wounds, empty and missing my mum like never before. My cold stone exterior masks the pansy I feel like. It shields the insecure man in me that wants to fall to his knees and have his girl hold on to him as he cries for all the years he’s hidden behind strict control. And at the same time, I want to lash out, punch my fists through the walls, and spew the venom in my veins for all that son of a bitch has done to my life.

“Are you okay?” I hear her say through the static of vehemence rushing under my skin. “Declan?”

I bore my eyes into her, silently pleading to use her to expel my wrath onto. My hands fist, and I feel the vibrations in my flexed muscles when it all becomes too much to hold in.

Her hands touch my clenched jaw and she runs them down my trembling arms, all the while looking up at me so lovingly when I’m pouring out pure fury. She’s a goddamn godsend when she perceives my reticence and gives me the permission I’m needing so badly.

“Touch me.”

“I’ll hurt you.”

“It’s okay,” she says so fucking sweetly. “Give me your pain so you don’t have to feel it.”

I kiss her with binding brutality, and she allows it. I’m a wolf, devouring her, clawing her, ripping her clothes off in a storm of violence. She stumbles back as I force my body against hers, pushing her to the ground. I stand above her naked body and breathe in broken pants.

She’s so small, milky white flesh, and ruby red-hair, and she must be crazy to submit to me right now, but she does, saying, “Don’t hold back.”

I strip, and she watches, inviting the beast to come out and play. I’m already rock hard, and when she sits up and wraps her delicate hand around my dick, it pulses and leaps in her grip. I slap her arm away. She lies back, and I reach down and flip her over. Kneeling above her, I grab a handful of her hair, yank it back, and strike her ass with my hand. She cries out, eliciting a heady arousal of power in me.

Reaching for my pants, I rip the belt out from the loops and fasten it tightly around her arms, above the elbows. She squirms and emits little ragged gasps, and I raise my hand, letting it drop in a sharp slap across her ass again. It immediately welts as the blood rushes to the surface, making my dick even more thick and hot with need.

She doesn’t resist when I reach under her waist and jerk her ass up in the air and shove her knees under her so she’s propped up like a fucking beauty. Tangling my hands into her hair, I shove the side of her face into the floor, and when I run the tip of my cock through her slick warmth, I realize she’s ready for me, dripping wet.

I slam my dick inside of her with raging force, and without any restraint, I fuck her licentiously hard. I grab ahold of the belt to use for leverage, and with each pounding thrust, I drive her body into the floor.

My skin is covered in a sheen of sweat as I thrust my hips sharply, barraged by a million sensations all at once, blurring the edges of pain and pleasure. Elizabeth’s yelps are muffled by the floor as I grunt freely into the air.

I pull out and shove her over onto her back, watching her wince against the pain of lying on top of her arms, but I see her hidden mirth. She then lances her nails into my heart, making me love her even more when her lips lift in a faint smile and she spreads her legs wider for me, inviting me to take more.

I can’t
not
be one with her.

I hold my dick and slide into her swollen, ripe pussy. I still myself, and her needy body begins to clench around my shaft. Drawing back, I growl as I fuck her frantically and the room fills with a requiem of moans, gasps, and grunts. Elizabeth bows her lithe body up to mine in an attempt to fuck me back.

She’s a fucking paradigm.

My cock begins to swell in her, building in a vigor of ecstasy at the same time I sense Elizabeth’s body tensing up, faltering in rhythm. She stares up at me, and I reach underneath her and find her hand. I hold it tightly in mine, needing her to know that she’s safe to allow herself to fall apart with me, that we’re in this together in our most vulnerable states. Her eyes swim out of focus, and she draws in a tight breath before releasing an intoxicating moan, carnal and raw. Her pussy clamps in spasms around my dick; I buck into her, exploding, shooting my cum deep inside her, groaning in sync with her pleasure. Her hand squeezes mine as we ride out our orgasms together. She writhes under my body, drawing as much pleasure as she can from me, and I love how greedy she gets with me in these moments.

When we’re sweaty, sated, and completely out of breath, I roll us onto our sides and unbuckle the belt, and like all the times before, she clings her arms around my neck. My cock twitches as I keep it buried in her and band my arms around her body as she holds on to me.

I’m sure she’s unaware that I need her embrace more than she needs mine in this moment. She soothes me in a way no one has been able to, taking the toxins out of my bones and replacing them with her love. She fills me entirely, handing herself over so willingly for me to take whatever it is that I need, and she does it so perfectly.

I pull my head back to look at her, and she nuzzles her forehead against mine, keeping her eyes closed. When I lean in and kiss her, open and deep, I gather her completely in my arms. She becomes desperate, and I meet her urgency to be closer. I bruise her, crashing my lips with hers, and we bleed. Like cannibals, we feed off each other, sharing the blood from our hearts, uniting us even more.

DECLAN SITS IN
quiet despair as we fly back to Chicago. I knew better than to push him to talk when he returned to the hotel last night. I could see the torment in his eyes, so I kept my mouth shut and handed myself over to him so he could use me for comfort. We spent the whole night on the floor together, naked and wrapped in each other’s arms.

He’s been quiet all morning, and I’ve followed suit, returning the silence. I don’t know what was said between him and Cal or how it ended, but I doubt it ended well. When I look over to him as he sits next to me, I find him staring at me intently. I want to ask him if he’s okay, but I don’t. Instead, I simply give him a subtle smile and squeeze his hand that’s holding mine. He kisses the top of my head, and I close my eyes, using his shoulder for a pillow for the remainder of the flight.

Declan has been down in his office on the ground floor of Lotus since we returned from New York while I’ve stayed up in the penthouse. He’s yet to speak to me, and I’ve been busying myself with the passenger manifest.

Michael Ross

William Baxter

Clint Noor

Ben Wexler

I’ve spent a couple hours on those names and have come up empty. Deciding to give myself a break, I call down to the kitchen and order some food and then mindlessly flip through a few magazines. Minutes dissolve into hours, and when the sun begins its descent, I sit on the edge of the bed and watch.

When the sun kisses the horizon, the bed dips beside me. We sit together in silence until the day shifts into night.

“She’s my grandmother.”

His slack voice cuts through the darkness, and when I turn my head to look at him, his eyes are focused on the sky.

“Who?” I gently ask.

“Isla,” he reveals. “She’s my mum’s mother.”

“He told you that?”

Declan nods. “I’ve had a piece of my mum here all along and he never told me.”

There’s longing in his voice, a feeling I’m no stranger to.

“I’ll never speak to that man again,” he tells me when he finally looks my way.

His eyes are flooded in pain, and it kills me to see him like this when he’s always so pulled together. And in a rare moment, he stands in front of me before lowering to his knees, and then grips my hips and lays his head on my lap.

My undeniably strong Declan, slayed to the core.

Leaning over, I shield his body with mine.

I can’t sleep. Declan went to bed hours ago, but all I can do is toss and turn. My mind keeps drifting back to the past, and memories of my dad play in my head. Looking over at Declan, he looks so peaceful. I watch him as he sleeps, but it’s impossible to ignore my stomach when it growls at me. Slipping out of bed, I pad across the room and shut the door quietly behind me. I head over to the kitchen and pull out a slice of cheesecake that room service delivered earlier. Grabbing my notepad and the list of passengers, I take a seat on the couch in the living room and begin working on the next name.

Asher Corre

Looking at the name, I pick up a strawberry garnish from the plate and eat it, and another memory of my dad finds me again.

“Happy birthday, princess.”

“Daddy,” I groan as I roll over in bed, rubbing the sleep dust out of my eyes with my hands.

“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

I open my eyes to see my daddy sitting on the edge of my bed with a great big bundle of pink balloons and a smile on his face.

“Am I five today?”

“You are. You’re getting so big, baby.”

“Then you can’t call me ‘baby’ if I’m so big.”

“I’ll call you ‘baby’ even when you’re my age,” he says. “Come on, get out of bed.”

I groan again, still sleepy, and he sets the weight that’s tied to the bottom of the balloons on the floor and then reaches his hands out in an over-sized gesture. I immediately squeal and throw the covers over my head.