Page 123 of Bound in Ashes

And it hadn’t been enough.

I clenched my fists, walking toward the fence.

It was a project I wasn’t sure would ever be done, but one I threw myself into.

I tried to do that now, but with each twist of the pliers, the pressure built.

Don’t you?

I dropped the pliers in the grass and stomped toward the house.

The part of me that never turned off was aware of the sounds of the farm, the people going about the tasks we pretended kept us safe, oblivious to the storm inside of me.

But that was background noise.

Static on the dead radio we didn’t even bother to turn on anymore.

It was less than nothing because I was completely focused on her.

Always on her.

I stopped in front of her bedroom door.

Our bedroom door…what a fucking joke.

Barely contained rage had me throwing the door open.

Asia didn’t flinch when the door hit the wall.

She was a vision.

Calm personified.

My own personal fucking torment.

Her eyes widened ever so slightly when I pushed the door closed.

But she didn’t back down.

She never did.

Her eyes were locked with mine as I approached. She didn’t blink, but her nostrils flared with her hard breath. Her tongue peeked out and swiped her lips.

I followed that same path, swiping her lips with my tongue, my breath constricted in my chest, my hands trembling with the need to touch her.

She parted her lips, shaping them to speak.

I didn’t give her a chance.

Kissed her hard, rough, a clash of lips and teeth.

I grabbed her wrist and turned her.

I smiled at her little grunt when I pushed her down on the bed.

Didn’t give her another chance to react then, either.

I slapped her ass, then curved my palm to grip the soft yet firm flesh.