Trey - Shandi Boyes Page 0,91
means I need your permission, K. I need you to come out of the dark and tell me this is what you want. I need to know you want this as much as me.”
When I stare into her eyes, waiting for the light of life to return, they do a lengthened blink. “It’s not enough, K. I need more. I’m far from a fucking saint, but I can be your light. I can protect you better than the dark.” After tugging her in so close, the material of her saturated shirt and my drenched boxer shorts become one, I say, “The dark won’t last forever. Even on the blackest nights, stars still shine through. Let me be that star for you, Duchess. Let me guide you out of the dark. Then I can kiss you as often as you want.” I bring my lips an inch from hers before murmuring, “I know it’s safe in the dark, but that isn’t living. You can’t exist if you’re locked up in your past. Let it go, K. Show them how strong you are. Fight for you and only you…”
My words fade out when K proves she’s always been more brave than afraid. Her lips are on mine—only just—but it feels like the most intimate thing I’ve ever done.
A better man would stop at a peck kiss. I’ve told you before I’m not one of them.
She’s only just tiptoed out of the dark.
I want her fully emerged from it.
But if I do that, I could lose her forever.
Since that’s the last thing I want, I don’t act like the man I was raised to be, nor the one I’ve faked since I was freed from hell. I commence being the man I saw in K’s eyes when she peered up at me lifeless and lost.
I will be the man she needs me to be.
The thump of my heart in my ears doubles when I slowly notch my head back so I can peer into K’s eyes. She’s back, but her grip on reality is loose, proving I made the right choice.
After clearing away the hairs fallen in front of her eyes, I issue a promise I plan to keep even if it kills me. “While Achim played for the castle, we took down his whole fucking kingdom. I promise you, Duchess, your crown is next. It just won’t be pronged with jewels.”
Epilogue
Trey
Nine long months later…
Killing doesn’t faze me. I experienced all types of murders long before Nikolai found me shackled to a wall, naked and on the verge of death. I could end a life without the slightest increase in my heart rate and eat an almost rare steak only minutes later. My stomach didn’t twist, and my brow didn’t mist with sweat. I was the monster I was raised to be.
K changed me.
Don’t get me wrong. The man hanging from the second-story balcony of his home, bleeding and whimpering for his life won’t get any leniency from me. But women, in particular, beaten, sold, and raped women, they’re not on my list anymore. I’ll kill the men responsible for what happened to them. I’ll slit their throats after cutting off their cocks and feeding it to them, and I’ll torture the ones stupid enough to think they can come between us.
That’s what’s happening here tonight. An errant, low-bottom-gangster wannabee thinks he can play Nikolai and me as fools. My sidekick and I are determined to prove him wrong.
K isn’t responsible for a single nick on his body. From her vantage point in the foyer, she doesn’t even know his cock is hanging out of his trousers, ready to be removed. Her presence merely ensures the thudding of my pulse in my ears keeps my head in game mode and not on my past when torture and deprivation of liberty were above me.
Lester would have been dead an hour ago if it weren’t for K. This way, I’ll get the information I’m seeking and the adrenaline high K loves feeding off after every raid.
Eager to get that side of the festivities started, I say, “Let me make sure I have my facts straight, Lester. You’ve never heard of Zoran Davis, and you don’t know where he is. Is that correct?”
He can’t answer me since he’s gagged, but he has no problems nodding even with a rope burning his jugular. He’s tiptoeing on a chair like Justine did mere seconds before Vladimir kicked it out from beneath her a year ago.
I’ve always had a