Carver steps in behind me and I feel his body pressing against mine. I straighten myself up, sticking my back right against his solid chest. Without saying a word, his hand curls around mine, and before I know it, a gun rests comfortably between my fingers.
He raises my hand until the gun is pointed directly at Sam and only then does he allow his own hand to fall away, letting me take Sam’s final punishment into my own control.
I let out a shaky breath. After everything we went through today, I still didn’t get a chance to shoot a gun, so this is it. I keep one thing in my head, the one warning the boys had given me—don’t fucking miss.
Keeping a strong arm, my hips squared, and my chin raised with confidence and pride, I squeeze the trigger and let the bullet fly.
CHAPTER 21
The bullet launches straight through Sam’s skull, and I watch as his body goes limp, sending him straight to hell. The only sound I hear is the sound of my pulse thumping rapidly in my ear.
My heart races but as my arm lowers and the back wall of the small concrete room is splattered with blood, I feel completely elated. Every single one of my demons are released, every monster gone, every ache and pain that resides within vanishes into thin air, and while I’ll always be haunted by the life that I’ve lived, I’ll never be scared of what can’t hurt me again. Never fear the dark, shadowed corners, never need to long for Carver’s arms to keep the monsters at bay, never need to fear the faceless men.
I’m finally free.
Carver steps in behind me and just as silently as he had given me the gun, he takes it away, and as he walks back to the long workbench that holds his many tools, I find myself watching him, needing my gaze to be anywhere but on Sam’s dead body.
Carver takes a black rag and wipes down the gun, removing my fingerprints even though nobody will ever find this secret room down here. He places it in a drawer before turning around and meeting my stare.
He watches me for a moment, and I wonder what the hell he’s seeing. Do I seem haunted? Terrified? Or can he see how my soul is finally coming back to me and that I feel like a brand-new person ready to take on the world? Ready to take on Dynasty?
I struggle to catch my breath but with his eyes on mine, I feel as though I could run a marathon. He doesn’t take his stare off me, and as the seconds tick by, the tension in the dark room grows. Need shines in his eyes, filled with desire, and wonder. He doesn’t judge me for what he just witnessed, doesn’t frown upon me or think that I’m less of a woman. He doesn’t push me away with horror. Instead, he watches me as though I’m the strongest woman he’s ever met; the bravest, fiercest, most aggressively perfect woman, and it scares the shit out of me.
His chest rises and falls with quick rapid movements and the longer I stand here, not saying a word, with his dark, stormy eyes boring into mine, the more intense it becomes.
I have to have him.
Why the fuck are we fighting this attraction? I have to feel his skin on mine, feel his lips roaming over my body as his fingertips knot into my hair. I want his sweet words whispered into my hair as his tight grip curls around my waist. I need to feel his thick, veiny cock slamming up into me and taking it all away.
I need him to make me forget everything.
I have to have everything that he is, and I have to have it now.
Fuck it. I don’t even care if he pushes me away.
I storm toward him, instantly throwing my hand around his neck and jumping up into his open arms. My lips crash down on his as my legs wrap around his waist. It’s free falling from the highest peak and not knowing what’s waiting below, but the journey down is the most exhilarating ride I’ll ever take.
Carver’s lips tangle with mine as we fight for dominance, just as we always do. His kisses are bruising but I welcome it, needing it harder, needing so much more.
He spins me around until my ass is dropping down onto the workbench, and the idea of knives, guns, ropes, and weapons just sitting right beside me only seems to get me hotter.
Grabbing his shirt, I tear it over his head and instantly wrap my arms back around him. My hands roam over the tight muscles of his back, exploring every inch of it as my legs tighten around his waist and draw him in until his hard cock is pressed right up against my pussy.