Sin & Suffer (Pure Corruption MC #2)(47)

He kicked a cupboard. “He was teaching me another f*cking lesson!”

My knees locked in place. “What lesson?”

“That he can still take whatever he damn well likes! My happiness. My goodness. My freedom. He can screw me over and there’s nothing I can f*cking do about it.”

“But don’t you see—let him try! He’ll never succeed now that you understand how he controlled you. He’s worthless, Arthur.” Moving around the breakfast bar, I went to him.

He darted out of my reach.

“For once and for all, you need to forgive yourself.” I braced myself. “Yes, you killed my parents. Yes, you pulled the trigger. But, Art, you were dead on your feet. You were bleeding, you didn’t aim—Rubix did. You didn’t squeeze the trigger with your lifeless, drunken fingers—Asus did.”

My mind cartwheeled back to that night.

My heart was lead and wings, sinking and fluttering all at once.

His footfalls were so familiar but for every stagger of his, there were two other sets that sent terror to my bones.

I crawled from beneath my covers, blinking away sleep. Something urged me to follow, to hide, to see.

Moving from one puddle-shadow to another, I swallowed my gasp as I saw Rubix and Asus carrying a mumbling Arthur between them. I trailed behind, unable to leave as Rubix whispered atrocities in his ear.

“You have to do this, Art. Thorn raped her as a little girl.”

“They deserve to die, Art. Her mother sells her to other men for pleasure.”

“They must be destroyed, Art. Her soul is doomed unless you free her from them.”

When Arthur groaned and didn’t believe his lies, other monstrous things fell from Rubix’s lips.

“Kill them or I’ll rape her.”

“Kill them or your brother will rape her.”

“Kill them or the entire Club will rape her.”

Tears streamed down my cheeks as Arthur stumbled and stuttered, finally positioned at the foot of my parents’ bed.

I couldn’t watch.

I couldn’t look away.

Rubix laughed as my father woke up. In slow motion, Asus raised Arthur’s arm, even as Arthur screamed and fought.

But it was too late.

Bang!

Tears escaped unbidden as I sniffed back the past. “You were just the pawn they used so their hands weren’t dirty. They made sure the gunpowder was on your skin. Your fingerprints were on the murder weapon. They killed them and framed you. They destroyed both of us.”

Our breathing acted as knives, smashing the stagnant silence into smithereens.

That night replayed over and over again, but I remained in the present. I didn’t need to relive how the fire began or how I screamed as the flames found me.

Arthur moved toward the marble-topped island, gripping the ledge with his fingers and bowing as if the weight of the past was too much.

Seconds ticked endlessly loud. We didn’t move or speak.

Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer.

I went to him.

Lashing my arms around his middle, I squashed my cheek against his spine and willed him to feel my heart beat. To understand the forgiveness in its rhythm, to finally come to terms with the only crime he was guilty of: of being a puppet for his heinous father and brother.

Slowly, Arthur linked his fingers with mine. My skin sparked where he touched me and my knees trembled as he unlocked my iron-fast grip and spun around to face me.

His emerald eyes were pools of despair and desire.

With hitching hesitation, his body swayed into mine and his mouth hovered a whisper away from taking. “Can this be true? Not only can you absolve my sins, but also give me even more justice when I end his f*cking tyranny?”

I nodded, standing on tiptoes to finish what he’d started.

I kissed him.

I expected a sweet surrender, a gentle sweep into bliss. Instead, something that’d been brewing in Arthur since that night unleashed.

He shed the pain of his concussion.

He shed the agony of being incarcerated unfairly.

And he shed the unhappiness of being betrayed.

His lips claimed mine; his loud groan entered my lungs. His tongue wrenched past my lips and the kiss I’d envisioned wisped into smoke as he drove us from lust into mania.

His hands clutched my backside, lifting me up and swinging me around to land on the countertop. My panties weren’t enough material to slip and slide and my naked thighs glued me to the cool surface, wedging me at the perfect height for Arthur’s questing hands.

Imprisoning my knees, he opened me wide and settled his large bulk between them. His lips nipped and caressed their way down my neck. The small tank top I wore didn’t stand a chance against his teeth and a vicious tug. The white cotton shredded like a flag of surrender, baring my breasts and throbbing nipples.

“I’ll never be worthy of you.” His mouth suckled my left breast, his hot, wet tongue swirling until I gasped and writhed.

“I’ll never understand how I stole your love.” His lips found my other nipple, granting it the same treatment. His voice never rose past a caress, lulling me into him with every syllable.

My back bowed and I grabbed his head, holding him against me. He devoured every millimeter of skin, rising over me to trail wet kisses from my cleavage, to clavicle, to mouth.

I gasped as his lips claimed mine again, bending my neck with a fistful of red hair until I moaned and handed myself completely into his control. He was merciless while I was meek. He was dominant while I yielded.