Page 58 of Twisted Tate

I brace one hand against the wall and slide the other into her hair, stroking gently. My cock is hard because it is physically impossible for it not to be when her mouth is on me, but this is not about that. This is about giving her an anchor. This is about being the thing that pulls her back from the edge.

“That is it.” I keep my voice low and steady. “You are here with me. You are safe. Nothing in that room can hurt you anymore.”

I hear Thorne and Fox working on the safe behind me. Fox says something, but I don’t turn around. My entire world has narrowed to the woman on her knees in front of me, the way her breathing is slowly evening out, the way her grip on my thighs is loosening from desperate to steady.

A minute passes. Then two.

Her jaw must be aching, but she doesn’t pull off. She just holds me there, her eyes closed, her body finally still.

I have never felt closer to another human being in my entire life. This woman is trusting me with the most broken parts of herself, and I will spend the rest of my days making sure that trust is never misplaced.

“Look at me, baby girl.” She opens her eyes and looks up at me with my dick still in her mouth. “That’s it. Look at my face. Try to remember my face, baby.”

She keeps her eyes on mine, and I see the tears spilling down her cheeks.

“You are the strongest, bravest woman in the world, baby girl. I am proud as hell of you. There is nothing in there that has any hold on you. Just me.”

After another several seconds, she slowly pulls off of me, her lips swollen, her face wet. I pull her up to stand and wipe the tears from her cheeks with my thumbs.

“Tate—” Her voice cracks. “I need . . . I need to tell you . . .”

“You can tell me anything, baby girl.” I know she’s been holding something back. I’m scared that I know what it is, but she needs to say the words when she’s ready. And I fucking love her no matter what she’s survived. Nothing would change that.

Her breathing goes erratic again, and I pull her to me, my dick still hanging out, but I kiss her this time. I give her my tongue, hoping I can ground her before she has another full-on panic attack.

She sinks into me and kisses me hard, massaging her tongue with mine, sucking when she needs it. I don’t care if we do this every day for the rest of our lives. I will be what she needs in these moments of darkness, and I will bring her back to me each and every fucking time.

Reese finally pulls back and her breath is even again. She looks up at me with so much emotion in her eyes that she could bring me to my knees.

“You don’t have to go back in there if you don’t want to.” I press a kiss to her forehead.

She is shaky, but the panic has receded from her eyes. When she looks toward the room, she doesn’t freeze this time.

“No. I am ready.” She squares her shoulders. “I need to do this.”

I finally tuck myself back into my pants and take her hand. Together, we walk into the room that is the source of her nightmares.

Thorne is at the safe, which is now open. He is pulling out folders and stacking them on the desk. Fox is rifling through a filing cabinet in the corner. Ivy stands near the door, her arms wrapped around herself.

When I look at Ivy, I notice her hands are shaking. She is staring at the leather couch with an expression of disgust.

She knows. Maybe not what happened to Reese specifically, but she knows what this room is.

“Ivy?” Reese’s voice is soft.

Ivy blinks and focuses on Reese. Reese crosses to her and takes her hand. “You don’t have to be in here.”

“Yes, I do.” Ivy holds onto my girl. “I am not leaving you alone with this.”

The two of them stand there for a moment, holding hands in the middle of a monster’s lair. I watch my girl face her fucking fears like a warrior, and I fall a little deeper in love with her.

“Holy shit.” Thorne’s voice breaks the moment. “You need to see this.”

I move to the desk where he has spread out the contents of the safe. There are folders, hard drives, and stacks of documents going back years.

The first folder is a ledger. There are names in one column and prices in another, then dates. The entries span almost ten years.

I start reading, and my vision goes red.