Tales of Darkness & Sin - Pepper Winters Page 0,67

new…like the Cayman Islands. He got angry and told me that place was trash. To never mention it again.”

My mind itches to run back downstairs to follow this new lead, but I opt for rest instead. Turning the lights off, I prowl through the darkness, stepping out of my sweats along the way. I slide under the covers and like a heat-seeking missile, I find my target. I pin her small body beneath mine, forcefully spreading her thighs apart to make room for me. I’m enjoying the fuck out of her whimper when I rub my erection, that’s barely covered in my boxers, against her pussy.

“Are you warm now?” I growl, inhaling her sweet scent.

“Y-Yes.”

I expect her to fight or cry, but she does nothing but breathe heavily beneath me. Once I’m certain she’s getting close to climaxing, I slide off her and roll onto my back.

“Go to sleep now, Tesoro. If you’re a good girl tomorrow and continue to help me on my quest for answers, I’ll give you a shirt to wear.” I turn my back on her. “But so help me if you sneak out of this bed and betray me, I won’t think twice about fucking you up like I did Bo. My patience is awfully thin tonight.”

I’m almost asleep when I hear the barest whisper. “Goodnight, Saint.”

CHAPTER SIX

Melody

I wake to a startling warmth at my back. For a few blissful seconds, I bask in it, until realization hits, and I remember where I am, how I got here, and what exactly that warmth is behind me. I stiffen, my stomach turning, as images from the day before play out in my mind.

Panic.

Rough hands.

Yelling.

A deafening bang.

Blood spatter

Warmth.

I glance down at my hands that are still lying flat on the bedsheets and my body wracks with a shiver as I recall the way the sticky crimson felt on my skin. The metallic tang that hung in the air, singeing my nostrils. It wasn’t like it was in the movies. This was real. Death was horrifying.

Yesterday was a nightmare, one I have no desire to repeat any time soon. I thought for sure I was going to be assaulted by one of Saint’s men. I pause mid-thought, running his name over my tongue.

Saint.

It’s incredibly different, yet oddly, it suits him.

He’s nothing like a Saint, obviously, but when I think about this frightening man, I can’t imagine him wearing any other name. He’s a dichotomy. A walking talking contradiction.

Peeling my eyes open, I glance around his room. The décor is masculine and sparse, though still homey compared to my cold, empty room. His is warm and smells like him. I’m happy that I’m here rather than in the other room, where the air is no longer blasting at an arctic temperature.

I truly believed I was going to die in there.

Alone.

In an ice box.

I didn’t understand why he was doing it. Freezing me out. What was he getting out of that?

My misery.

My humiliation.

Breaking every vital part of me down so I’ll give into him that easily. That’s what he was getting out of doing this to me.

It made sense to me now. Hell, if we had the same morals, I might even be impressed.

I’m not.

I glance around his room again. Soft light filters in through the curtains, and my heart screeches to a halt when I spot his gun still sitting on the dresser, in the same place he left it the night before. My mouth grows uncomfortably dry, and I lick my lips, toying with asinine ideas.

Sure, I can try to slip out of bed without waking him and grab for it, but something tells me he’d snap my neck before I ever got that far. Everything he does is a ruse, and this, it’s just another one of his tests.

Instead of risking it, I lay there, his tan, intricately tattooed arm slung around my body, holding me captive against his warmth. I try not to think of all the things this man is capable of. What those hands are so obviously capable of. Instead I think about my father and his role in all of this.

Why did Saint suddenly want so much information on my father? What was Daddy hiding? There was still a miniscule part of me who wanted to protect him from Saint’s wrath and whatever evil vendetta he was acting out, but the other part? The part that was cast aside so easily and given to this vicious man? That part of me wants to