Owned by the Bad Boy(22)

“She’ll tell them she left to be with me.”

Johnny lets out a groan of frustration. “If you think she’s going to play along—”

“I’m not going to kill the mother of my child. Don’t suggest it again.”

I clutch my hand to my chest as a surge of energy hits my heart like a live wire, giving it a strong jolt. It clenches hard and then flutters with palpitations.

Did he find me just to kill me?

The voices downstairs continue to talk as a roar fills my ears. I stand up, using the wall to brace myself. My frantic heartbeat jumps into my collar, which is tight around my neck.

The front door slams shut.

I’ve got to get out of here.

I reach into the crib and wrap the blankets around my son, lifting him out.

“Where do you think you’re going with my son?”

My heart hits my throat as I turn around with the fussing baby in my arms.

Luc’s sleeves are rolled up, revealing the intricate tattoos on his arms.

“I’m getting the hell out of here.”

“Put him back in the crib.”

How can he just stand there and order me to stay here when his boss made it perfectly clear he wanted me dead? He reaches for me, and I slap his hand away.

“I won’t! Stay the fuck away from me!”

Étienne bawls, the harshness crashing against my ears. God, I hate the sound. It always cuts deep into me, and the way Luc looks at me hurts even worse. Étienne looks just like him.

“Give him to me, Claire.”

“Please just let me go.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Your boss wants me dead!”

The frustration in the room builds into a crescendo—the crying baby, my voice drowning him out. He sneers at me, the vein in his forehead jumping.

“You don’t get it, do you?”

Get what?

“The moment I got out of jail, Johnny told me what he was going to do.”

My throat closes up as his hip bumps into mine. He was always doing that—getting way too close. My heart quickly thumps the moment I feel the brand of his fingers on my hip. He curls his hand over our son’s head, brushing the black, fine hairs.

“They were going to kill you, Claire. I had to get to you first.”

Stunned, I allow him to slide his hands under Étienne and lift him in his arms. He cradles him carefully. My heart stops when he gently rocks our son, his cries subsiding almost immediately. Luc’s sullen face cracks with a wide smile, and the difference it makes is astonishing. He looks just as handsome as he did a year ago, when every crooked grin he sent my way made me stumble over my words. I didn’t expect him to be so taken with his son. Guilt needles at me as he lowers him back into the crib.

“Why did you come after me?”

Why didn’t you just let me die, after everything I did to you?

A few quick steps, and his body presses against mine, his hand snaking through my hair. Fingernails lightly scrape my scalp as he tugs slightly, his other hand fingering my collar. “All I thought about for weeks and weeks was that sweet pussy of yours. I couldn’t give it up for anything.”

His eyes ablaze with passion, he hooks a finger around the metal loop of my collar and yanks me forward. I fall against his chest, feeling his lips brushing mine.

“I’ll never forgive you.”

* * *

My knees ache.

The sipping sound grates against my ears like nails on a chalkboard. I look up, watching him nurse his whiskey as he sits back into his leather chair, reading the Abigail Graham book I brought back with me. Every so often he chuckles, the sound striking something deep inside me. Something that curls into a little ball.

“Jesus Christ, they publish this shit?”

Two hours the bastard made me kneel while he read through my romance book. My blood heats up my skin, and I clench my teeth together, willing myself not to cry out. I don’t know what kind of game he’s playing.

He flips the page and pauses for a moment and then bursts with laughter. “The blindfold is not perfect. In the bright afternoon light I can see his outline, the perfectly sculpted lines of his body, like a living statue, and his cock. Good God, he’s huge, his rod arched from arousal. I want to get my mouth on him, please him, swallow him.”

Every word trembles from his mouth as he fights to read the book out loud through tears of mirth.

“His rod?”

He folds the book and lays it against his chest, his voice booming to the ceiling. Then he wipes his eyes and opens it back up again.

“Oh shit, it gets better. I watch his cock disappear into my red, freshly spanked ass. I groan as he goes deeper, and deeper still. Is it ever going to stop? A breath sucks in through my teeth as he rests on my back, my ass pressed against his hips.” Luc abruptly stops laughing and looks at me with interest. “Damn, babe, I didn’t know you were into anal.” He makes a deep sound in his throat.