Page 26 of Sinful Pride
“I’m yours. Only yours. I don’t want them to see me,” I whispered frantically.
Abaddon smiled at me and I found myself in a princess carry.
“Show’s over,” was all Abaddon said as he carried me to our room.
I hid my smile in his chest.
Abaddon carefully pulled all the golden finery—sans the new piercings—off, and cuddled me, avoiding putting pressure on my throbbing nipples.
“Aren’t you disappointed?” I asked, when I felt more like myself.
“Why would I be, sunshine?”
“Because I had all those plans… I had boasted about how amazing the show was going to be and I couldn’t follow through. I left you high and dry and I teased everyone… and ended up not delivering on those promises.”
“You were magnificent,” Abaddon argued, his brows drawn together. “The spectators were spellbound and I… your trust is the best gift I could ever get. Sexual acts pale in comparison to you baring your soul to me, putting the tools to hurt you in my hands, accepting my jealousy…”
“I thought I would want everyone to see me but…”
“There’s intimacy only the two of us can understand,” my lover said, pressing his forehead against mine in a gesture that felt more intimate than a kiss. “I don’t begrudge you wanting us to be alone in a moment of deep vulnerability. In fact, you requesting I whisk you away pleased me greatly, for I wanted you only to myself.”
“You have me. What are you going to do with me?” I tried to put my normal flirtatiousness in my voice, but I was emotionally exhausted after that scene.
“I’m going to hold you… and we are going to sleep,” Abaddon said firmly.
Ah, he could always see through my bullshit, and it was immensely gratifying to be able to depend on that. I let myself relax further until I fell into a dreamless sleep in his arms.
Chapter 10
Beelzebub
I drummed my fingers on the table. There was an itch under my skin I wanted to scratch, so I returned to Steel Velvet just a few days after the bachelor party. My eyes slid over the more experienced crowd. Leather here, a dildo tail there, beautiful collars… There were several patrons I could go over to and they would be mine for the night, agreeing just like that, sinking to their knees so easily. But that wasn’t quite what I wanted. Maybe I should go for someone who would fight me. Give me a challenge. One of the people who pretended they didn’t want to succumb to the inevitable and thrashed in my net, only pulling the strands of the web around them tighter.
No… that wasn’t what I wanted, either.
I felt like a man in front of an open buffet where nothing looked good enough to eat; a disappointing experience. Maybe a fight could alleviate my primal desires in a different way. The feeling of blood on my knuckles, the stench of my opponent’s fear as I pushed them against the rails of the ring…
I caught a sight of newcomer out of the corner of my eye and that derailed my vicious thoughts. Or rather, changed their direction. The new meat was someone I had never seen before. A skittish, pretty little angel. Oh, yes, I wanted that. I wanted for him to crawl right between my claws, willingly ask me to punish him.
I stalked toward the small figure, but as soon as I came close, the angel squeaked and hid behind his bigger companion.
“Come out, little mouse, I just want to play,” I taunted the angel, but he just shook his head, not able to even look at me. I took another step forward, but the taller angel stopped me with his outstretched hand.
“Keep away from him, demon. I will not let you touch him.”
“Is he yours? That can be changed.”
“No. but he is uninterested in someone as depraved and cruel as you.”
“Let’s just go,” the smaller angel said and pulled his friend away.
I grit my teeth, happy that my skull-like face always looked like I was grinning even when my smile dropped. My scary reputation was a good thing that I loved to cultivate and usually I wouldn’t see the interaction as a negative thing, but I was impatient today. The experience from three nights ago just fueled my hunger to rend someone open and make them cry. I thought I could easily find a replacement for Tirael, someone else who was willing to be torn apart while still fearing me, but I might have been mistaken about that.
Well then, if I couldn’t find the taste I wanted at the open buffet, I just had to go back and find the dish that made me salivate in the first place. Unlike Raphael, I didn’t have any absurd notions of sleeping with a mark only once. If they developed feelings it wasn’t my problem. In fact, sometimes that fueled my sadism in a delicious way. Psychological torture went hand in hand with physical pain, after all.
I strode into the Embassy; the door chiming softly when I entered. Tirael was already rising from his seat behind a huge desk but, before he could act a good host, I strode to his desk and plopped on it, shifting a stack of papers to the side to make space for my perky ass.
“Hello, beautiful. How’s it going?” I said with a grin.