My cheeks warm with a blush. “But Iama good girl.”
He pinches his fingers under my chin, turning my head a little more toward him. “You’re my good, slutty girl.”
My heart thumps faster, tightening my chest and making it a little harder to breathe. I love being called a good girl, but if I’m Jaxon’s good, slutty girl, then I’ll be that. He can say he wants a dog, and I’ll start barking. I’ll be whatever he wants me to be.
The corners of his lips quirk. “You like being called that?”
I nod, unable to find words without stuttering and sounding stupid.
“Good.” He grins and pecks me on the tip of my nose when I really want him to kiss me on the lips. “I see you’ve found the starter.”
I blink out of the state of shock and follow the direction of his gaze. I perk and turn to face him. “I did. Thank you for doing that for me.”
Jaxon’s features soften, and he tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “I’d do anything for you, flower.”
I catch his wrist and kiss the middle of his palm, enjoying his sharp intake of breath. Something I’ve been meaning to ask him pops into my mind. “By the way, I meant to tell you thank you for the ring. It’s beautiful. Where did you get it? Maybe we can go to the shop and find you a band.”
Jaxon’s grin turns wicked. “You like it, huh?”
My eyebrows furrow. “Yeah. What’s that smile for?”
“It’s a custom ring. I also have a few other pieces that I’ve been meaning to give you.” He holds his finger up and leaves the kitchen. A minute later, he comes back with a black bag.
I take the offered gift and pull out the boxes. Jaxon eagerly watches as I open one, revealing a beautiful skull necklace with more diamonds. The other box has a pair of diamond earrings with what look like bones attached to them.
“It’s beautiful.” I pull out the necklace, and he helps me put it on. Brushing my fingertips over the earrings, I say, “What kind of bones are these?”
Jaxon crowds behind me and shuffles me toward the counter, where I lay the boxes down. He cages me in, with his hands on the edge of the table. “Fingers that have been whittled down.”
My spine straightens, and I look ahead of me, my heart making itself at home in my throat. “Fingers?”
He drapes my hair over one shoulder and kisses my neck. I wait for him to answer, but he focuses entirely on kissing my skin like he’s making love. Slow and delicate. One of his hands moves to my apron belly, squeezing the roll and slipping down the front of the sleep shorts I threw on earlier this morning.
“Jaxon,” I whisper, and settle my hands on the counter to hold myself up.
“Hm?”
“What do you mean, fingers? They aren’t...they aren’t human fingers, are they?”
He chuckles and spreads my pussy lips apart and dips his middle finger to rub my clit in slow circles. “Oh, they’re human fingers. Michael’s, to be exact.”
I stiffen. “Why would you . . . ?”
His fingers still, and he lifts his head, his gaze burning a hole in the side of my face. Thick tension fills the space between us. “Do you remember now?”
I swallow and nod. “Yes.”
“I’m always good about keeping my word,” he murmurs.
Shifting, he drags my shorts down to my knees and jerks my hips backward so my ass is out. I barely have any warning before he frees his cock and thrusts into me with a loud grunt.
“He touched you.” Thrust. “Hurt you.” Thrust. “So I took his hand, and you’ll wear those earrings to serve as a reminder of what happens when someone touches and hurts you. I killed Connor and Kyle too. Last night, in fact, and soon you’ll be wearing their bones as well.”
It takes a moment for me to know who he’s talking about. “So you know? About the pictures?”
Jaxon’s fingers trail over my jaw in a loving caress. “Yes, and they paid with their lives.”
Guilt eats at me but not for the reason it should. I feel awful for feeling relieved about their deaths, but they wereassholes to me in high school, and those pictures still haunt me to this day.
