“I don’t want to talk about it,” he says stiffly.
“Please, CK. Just open up. After Sebastian, this must be killing you,” I beg him.
“It’s done. She threatened my daughter, not to mention she was responsible for Jess.”
“You cannot just brush this under the carpet.”
“I can and I will,” he says defiantly.
“Please, let me help you,” I wail.
“Okay, you can help me by removing your clothes and putting your mouth to better use. Suck me off and I promise you, I will feel a million times better.” The challenge in his eyes makes me shiver. In a good way. He is using sex as a distraction and I can deal with that, because once he is sated, he will be vulnerable, and I will pounce again.
“On your knees,” he says to me in a tone that I dislike immensely. It’s that tone he used to use when he was punishing me.
I give him a nasty look, but I do it anyway. Eager to please him, to make him forget about his problems and to make him feel better about himself. Even if it makes me feel like utter shit in the process.
I watch as he undresses himself and then he stands in front of me, his already erect cock inches from my lips. I lean forward and he steps back, causing me to tumble forward. I catch myself on my hands. Feeling his hand at my back makes me feel even worse. This is how he really wanted me. Like an animal in front of him. I grit my teeth as he pulls my hair in his tight fist. He yanks my head back sharply and crouches in front of me.
“What are you doing?” he asks. “Kick my ass.”
I blink in surprise. “Huh?” I stammer, unsure of what just happened.
“I said, kick my ass. You don’t let anyone treat you like a piece of shit, Aefre. Don’t allow me to just to make myself feel better.” He lets me go and steps back. “Stand up.”
“No,” I say stubbornly. I am here now. Might as well stay down here.
“For fuck’s sake, Aefre. Get up. You are my wife. The mother of my child. I can never, ever treat you this way, not ever again.”
“If you don’t do it to me, you will find someone else.”
He heaves a massive sigh at me. “Don’t start,” he berates me.
“You know I am right. I refuse to let you fuck another woman.”
“But it’s okay for me to sit around like a dumb-fuck while you fuck other men?” He doesn’t say it maliciously, at all, but it strikes my heart like a dagger.
I don’t even look at him. He has made me feel ashamed of my actions and he shouldn’t ever do that. He was the one who told me to embrace my Vampire nature all those centuries ago.
“I don’t think you are a dumb-fuck,” I say lamely.
He laughs at me. Again, it isn’t nasty. He sounds amused. “I know you don’t,” he says, crouching down at me. “I am only teasing you, Aefre, trying to get a rise out of you. I am worried about you.”
“Why?” I ask, intrigued now, looking up at him.
“You have been through a traumatic ordeal, and you don’t seem to be dealing with it. You aren’t grieving. You aren’t angry. You aren’t sad. You are…nothing.”
“I’m okay. I’m dealing,” I say, sitting back now. “This isn’t about me, CK. You need comfort.”
He chuckles at me, but it sounds hollow. “Comfort for what? Protecting my daughter?”
“Killing your sister,” I point out.
“She stopped being my sister a long time ago, Aefre,” he says seriously. “She may have remained attached to the bond, but I never did. As you know, it was only…Sebastian that mentioned her to you. I was happy to let it lie.”
“Still,” I say. “You must have felt something.”
“I did,” he says.