Page 940 of Lessons in Cruelty

She takes him slow, all the way, until her lips touch her own fist where it’s wrapped around the base of his hard cock.

Kai’s bare heels scrape the floor as his entire body shudders. He goes to push Haven’s head down, but Rooke pulls back on the silk looped around Kai’s throat, forcing Kai to grab at the robe’s belt to keep Rooke from strangling him.

Keeping his hands away from Haven’s head.

“Pretty picture, isn’t it, Deputy?” Rooke says. “The boy you should arrest, dripping on his own stomach while the girl he used to hurt sucks him like she owes him money.”

My breath has gone shallow. I can hear it rasping in and out between my clenched teeth.

“You could stop this. You could stop it right now. But you won’t, will you?”

Haven pulls off. A string of spit hangs from her bottom lip to the head of Kai’s cock. She wipes it with the back of her wrist as she glances toward me.

“Should I stop?” she asks in a low voice, firelight gleaming on her wet mouth.

My throat is so dry, all I can get out is a creaky, “No.”

Haven’s eyes go to Rooke.

“You heard him,” Rooke says. “Again. Slower this time.” He yanks on the silk leash around Kai’s throat. “And if you come before Fox says you can, you’ll be in a world of hurt, boy.”

Kai’s cock jumps in Haven’s fist, but his vicious glare is directed at me, not the one holding his leash.

Thank fuck we’re both pinned down, because he looks like he’d happily smash my face in. When I hold his stare, he sneers at me.

“You’re going to regret this, pig,” he mutters through clenched teeth.

A surge of blood hardens my cock. I’m eternally grateful that the layers of insulation I’m wearing show only a thick ridge beneath my pants. If not for that, my cock would be standing as proud as Kai’s.

“Get to work, girl,” Bastian says.

Haven blows him with ruthless patience. Every time Kai’s thighs begin to tremble, she stops. When he tries to thrust, her hand tightens in warning and Rooke draws the silk taut around his throat.

The first time she edges him, Kai curses her.

The second time, he curses Rooke.

By the third, he’s staring at me as if this is somehow my fault.

On the fourth, his body locks so violently the chair legs scrape across the floor. Haven pulls away just before he can come and waits, calm as anything, while he fights his way back under control.

Rooke watches me over Kai’s head with the patience of a scientist letting an experiment run. Which is exactly what this is.

He’s waiting for me to end it.

Instead, I lean forward.

Kai’s had enough. He’s squirming in his seat, sweat slicking his brow, his pecs, his abs. When I make eye contact with him, he shows me his teeth.

“Please,” he spits, and then bares his teeth like he hates himself for saying it.

Haven glances at me while her hand stays loose around him.

This is the moment to end it. I know that with perfect clarity. Kai has asked, Haven is waiting, and Rooke has put the choice in front of me like a loaded gun, expecting me not to pick it up.

Didn’t have Psychological Russian Roulette against Professor Rooke on my bingo card, but I’ll be fucked if I’m backing down now.

My voice comes out rough. “No. He’s not coming yet.”