I swallowed, my need to lash out and raise my walls insistent. It was a necessity around my mother and her associates, but around Kingston, I didn’t want to be like that. Some habits were hard to break though.
“Why do you have so many tattoos?”
He didn’t move, but his body stiffened. He didn’t open his eyes. “They invoke fear. Scars draw pity.”
I froze, unable to even breathe.
“Did my mother and Ivan…”
My voice cracked. The words were lost. My thoughts scattered in the wake of the violent hatred that flowed through my veins like lava. For a long moment, we remained quiet, our bodies almost touching.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I swallowed the lump in my throat, too much of a coward to turn and look at him. “When I lost my…” My fists clenched and unclenched next to my otherwise still-as-death body. “Losing my sister killed me. Her screams have never left me.” My jaw clenched as my voice broke.
“Me neither,” he admitted quietly.
For a moment, there was nothing but our breaths, the sound of the waves against the shoreline and the sun against our skin.
“Mother…” My palms started sweating, the noises in my head louder with every uttered word. “She held me responsible.”
“She’s responsible.” The wind swept through, touching my burning skin. “If she needed anyone to blame, she should start with the bitch in the mirror. You’re a victim too.”
I swallowed, needing to hear those words for so long, yet relief didn’t come. Instead, my chest grew heavy and my heart pounded to the rhythm of a drum.
“It doesn’t make it any better,” I whispered. “The scars… I had them too.” It was the first time I had admitted that to anyone. “Cosmetic surgery can do wonders,” I finally said, clearing my throat.
“Is that the reason you don’t like to be touched?”
“Yes.”
My body started trembling. Memories, moments—history, written and unwritten—stuck between us, and I wasn’t sure where it’d take us. All I knew was that I was coming undone, every fragile thread of me ripping apart, bit by bit, losing myself and my twin.
Silence.
The air shifted and a soft breeze caressed me. His cologne wrapped around me, sending a shiver down my spine. His warm, strong arms scooped me up, and it felt like my heart stopped.
“It’s not your fault.”
I brought my palms to his hard chest, his body hot like the sun. I didn’t dare open my eyes. Not when his soft lips brushed against my cheek. Not when they met my own. My fingers curled into his chest, as if I could claw my way through him and bury myself deep inside.
I parted my lips and he captured my bottom one, sucking it lightly. Savoring my mouth as if memorizing every dip and curve.
Before he bit me.
My eyes snapped open to find his brimming with an inferno. The air between us crackled, electricity sending my heart into overdrive. At this rate, I’d end up with a heart attack at the tender age of twenty-six.
“I thought you didn’t like to be touched?” I rasped.
The fire faded from his eyes, turning into sharp black diamonds. His grip tightened on my hips, and then he dropped me, my butt hitting the soft sand.
He left me without another glance, and as he disappeared from view, I couldn’t help but note the irony.
I was the one left with sand wedged in my ass.
Chapter 48Kingston
Iwasn’t going to last long with Liana in a tiny bikini. The image of her like that was now seared into my brain, and there was no cure for it.
I thanked all the fucking saints there were no other humans on this island, or I’d have to blind a lot of innocent people. And that would make a hypocrite out of me.
Slowly but surely, Liana was getting under my skin.
It caught me off guard. Or maybe I saw it coming a mile away but was unwilling to admit it. Every passing hour around her made me feel hot and edgy. It started with our rendezvous in my penthouse, the taste of her arousal, a drug that had me needing more. And then that kiss happened. The library kiss was an innocent preview, but yesterday was a game-set-match for her.
And she didn’t even know it.
I ran my tongue across my teeth. Now that I’d touched her, tasted her, and seen a glimpse of the woman she was underneath her perfect femme fatale exterior, I couldn’t resist her. I wanted to go find her and fuck her, now.
The real Liana was tormented by ghosts just like I was. She was vulnerable, yet a fighter. Soft but also strong. It was impossible to resist her.
But guilt was a powerful thing. I made a promise to Louisa and, by God, I didn’t want to break it. I loved her; I still did. So how did I move on from it?
I poured myself a glass of whiskey. I didn’t particularly care for alcohol, but since Liana had come back into my life, it would seem I resorted to it more than I cared to.
As the bitter brown liquid trickled down my throat, a memory rushed forward.
“I’m a wimp, Ghost,” Louisa cried, her head resting against the table. “I think I need more of that numbing cream.”
I chuckled. “Sunshine, you can’t possibly feel the needle at this point. It’s all in your head.”
It was just the two of us in the safety of her bedroom as I inked the tattoo on the nape of her head—one to match the design on my forearm. It was the only spot that nobody here would notice, with the way she usually kept her hair down.
“I wish those tattoo stickers were permanent.”
Unlike her sister, Louisa didn’t handle pain well. It was the reason I gave her a strong painkiller and cream to numb her skin.
“Maybe I’ll invent them if we get out of here,” I mused as I picked the gun back up and started working on the shading.
“When.”
My sunshine—always an optimist. “When,” I mimicked, teasing.
After a few seconds of silence, she spoke again. “Kingston?”
“Yes, sunshine?”
“If you ran alone, I could keep Mother and Ivan off your scent.”
I stopped and turned her chin so I could see the left side of her face. “Freedom without you is meaningless.” Her lip trembled and I leaned over, brushing my lips over hers. “I’d rather have a few seconds beyond these walls with you than have to suffer a lifetime without you.”
“Will you love me forever?” she questioned, her insecurity wrapping around my throat. “Maybe when we’re free, you’ll see that I’m… nothing.”
I let out a sardonic breath. “Sunshine, you are everything.” I smiled hearing her exhale. “I’ll love you when the sun stops rising. When the planets stop spinning. And when death comes for you, I will hold your hand and follow right along.”
A soft sniffle filled the space between us. “I love you, Kingston.”
“I love you more, sunshine.” I continued with her tattoo, lost in thought. We’d make things right in this life, we’d be free to live our truth together.
“Don’t let them take me,” she whispered over the whirring of the tattoo gun. Gripping it between my fingers, I lifted it off her skin. She was staring, eyes half-lidded, at the wall opposite us.
“They won’t take you,” I promised. The Tijuana cartel was our biggest threat. There was no way to defeat them if Sofia and Ivan were willing to sell her, but I’d make sure we got out. “We’ll be gone before they ever arrive. I’ll keep you safe.”
“Liana too, right?”
“Yes, your sister too,” I agreed reluctantly. Liana was a wild card. She wasn’t exactly eager to leave the underworld behind.