Page 76 of Love You To Pieces

“Just breathe, darlin’ girl,” he murmurs against my hair. “You’ve got all the space in the world to just breathe. Scream, cry, yell if you need to. You’ve gone through a lot. You’ve faced more than anyone should. Just let it out.”

His fingers tangle in my hair, moving to comb through the sweat-sticky strands as I do what he says. I just…breathe.

But breathing soon isn’t enough, and I feel hot tears soaking into his shirt, my shoulders shaking with silent sobs. “Why her?” I gasp. “Why her instead of me? That could’ve been me, Fox!” My voice gets louder than I intend it to, but he doesn’t seem upset. If anything, Fox just holds me tighter.

“Did you see the note? Prime meat. No fucking buyer. What if J. Harrison had been interested in buying me instead of her?” My fingers tighten, gripping his shirt, dragging him even closer.

“What if I never had the chance to escape from there? And Ariana didn’t do anything wrong!” The volume of my voice grows, and my fingers tremble, though I make sure to stay away from where he was stabbed as Fox holds me and allows me to just let it out.

“I was so close to dying, and it feels hypocritical for you to comfort me,” I admit at last, terrified that the words I’ve been thinking for the past few minutes will piss him off.

But he chuckles, to my surprise, and rolls me onto my back, bracing himself above me. “Hypocritical? Maybe,” he agrees, his brown eyes dark as he stares down at me. God, Fox is beautiful like this. With the sun like a halo around him, shining through his curls, he looks angelic in a way that has nothing to do with heaven.

“But we have never tortured who we eat, Sadie-Rae.” The seriousness of his tone makes me take notice, and I search his eyes, looking for a lie. Finding none, I can’t argue with him. “We don’t kill for fun. We don’t hunt people down and take our time like the Hills do. My mother would never have let any of us do that. Hell, the first thing she taught us was how to accomplish as clean and painless a kill as possible. Maybe that doesn’t mean much right now, in your eyes? But it means a world of difference to me. I don’t know why Ariana got tagged to be butchered like that. I don’t know why Harrison was so interested in her and watching her suffer. But I’m going to be really honest with you right now, even if you don’t like it.”

He leans down, his face so close to mine I could easily reach up and tangle my fingers in his hair.

“I’m real glad it was her and not you. Because you’re mine, Sadie-Rae. Mine and Deacon’s. And no Hill is going to change that, you hear me? Even if we have to hunt down every member of their family tree until nothin’s left. Starting with the three brothers who think they’ve gotten away from us.” The possessive intent and the simmering rage are a good distraction from my problems. I can’t help but just look at him, and I finally give in, reaching up to play with his hair.

“Where did Deacon go?”

The words fall between us and I Fox rolls off of me, dragging me with him once more. He sighs, fingers tangling possessively again in my hair, and kisses my temple. “Oh, Sadie, Sadie,” he croons. “Always asking the most direct questions. Can’t you just accept he’s out on some boring adventure?”

“No.”

“And that’s what I love about you. Come here, gorgeous.” He urges me up until I’m sitting on his lap and being oh so careful not to nudge the wound on his side with my knee.

“Fox, you’re hurt,” I protest. “I don’t want⁠—”

“I won’t let anyone hurt you, Sadie-Rae.” He cuts me off like I haven’t even spoken, and leans into me so we’re pressed together from waist to chest. “I won’t let anyone take what’s mine ever again, you hear me? It’s taken me thirty-something years to find something I want to keep just as much as Deacon. You aren’t for sale. You aren’t for trade.” He pulls me closer until our lips are brushing.

“And you aren’t going anywhere, gorgeous girl.” Before I can reply or protest or even flounder, Fox kisses me. While normally his kisses are sweet and affectionate, this one is full of desperate possession, of a soul-consuming desire that feels like he wants to absolutely devour me.

I’d let him.

Hell, I do let him. I lean into him, relaxing against his chest, and splay my hands against his shirt as my eyes slip closed. He takes his time kissing me. He takes every second to taste the inside of my mouth, to press his tongue to mine and nip at my bottom lip. When he’s satisfied, Fox kisses down my throat, his hands moving to slip my shirt up and off, my bra following it.

The sun is so warm against my skin that I almost arch like a cat. He bites down on my shoulder once I’m topless, which does make me arch, a gasp leaving me as I move into the bite.

“Such a pretty, perfect thing,” Fox admires openly. “My pretty thing. My Sadie-Rae. Do you know what I’ll do to anyone who thinks they can sell you, hmm? My pretty, darling girl?” Without warning, he pushes me down onto my back in the grass, the blades soft and springy against my skin thanks to last week’s rain.

But Fox isn’t done. He’s quick to drag my newly bought leggings down my thighs, taking my sneakers with them until I’m completely naked, outside in the Texas sun.

“We’ll kill them,” he promises. But the sweet affection in his voice is tempered by the dark promise in his gaze, which tells me he’d enjoy killing anyone he deemed deserving of it. “Oh, darling girl, we’ll tear them apart for even looking at you. This is mine. I’ll share with Deacon, because, well”—his smile turns sly—“he’s mine too.”

Bracing himself on one hand, Fox lifts the other to wrap his fingers briefly around my throat. “All mine,” he murmurs reverently, stroking the pads of his fingers down my chest to my stomach, before starting back upwards again. “Do you know what you do to me, Sadie?”

“Turn you homicidal?” I ask, unable to keep quiet.

His smirk is a quick, fleeting thing, and Fox’s chuckle is warm as he shakes his head. “So mouthy, even now. Even today, after you’ve gone through so much. But yes. You make me want to kill anyone who’s ever put their hands on you. Not just the Hills. I mean anyone.” He cups my breast, thumb teasing my nipple, and my breath hitches.

“Anyone who touched you here,” he growls before dragging his fingers down my body again. This time, he doesn’t stop at my waist. With his eyes on mine, he forces my legs apart so he’s kneeling between them more comfortably. Before I can say a word, he strokes his fingers up my slit until he can circle my clit slowly, lightly, and just enough to make me want more.

“God, I’d tear apart anyone who’s ever touched you here,” Fox goes on. “Deacon would help me, little rabbit. We’ll erase everyone who has any memory of what you feel like. Of what you taste like. And how—” Without warning, he pushes two fingers into me, causing me to cry out.

“How you clamp down around my fingers and my cock like you’re just begging me to stay inside you.”

I pant as he fingers me, my body moving with him, though I keep my eyes on his as I finally say, “You can’t kill my past boyfriends.” Swallowing, I force myself to continue the protest, trying to use logic where it’s probably not welcome. “I didn’t know you yet. They didn’t⁠—”