She tried to meet his gaze, tried to get him to make the choice for her, but he glared back, blue eyes hard as stone, and he kept fucking her with the condom on. Eden chewed her cheeks, on the verge of tears again. He wouldn’t take it off. Of course, he wouldn’t. Willow was playing at being reckless, she actually was reckless. Goddammit, why was she like this?

I’m engaged. Congratulate me.

Willow slowed his pace, returning to the stroking thrusts that had driven her to insanity in Sydney. In this position, his balls slapped her clit, a rude, borderline repulsive sensation that made her come all the same. She finished screaming, yowling, hating herself, hating him, and she shuddered. Willow stroked her back. “That’s it, baby. Back up on me. Scratch that itch.”

As her tremors slowed, Willow’s pace picked up. He was about to come, and his cock was too thick for it to be an altogether pleasant experience. Maybe he knew it too—why he’d learned to go carefully until the woman finished. As he slammed into her Eden imagined her insides shifting, protecting herself from him.

“Fuuuuuck, you little diamond.” His hips pressed deep as he yanked her hair. “You little whore.”

One last throb, an orgasm in minor key, and Eden exhaled as he stilled inside her. They knelt in place, breathing hard, and she waited for him to pull out and collect his fallen money. Maybe he’d even leave. No conversation, just a smirk and a slammed door. That would be good. She wouldn’t have to look at him or think about what they’d done. She could just go to bed and pull the covers over her head.

Sloan’s warm arms wrapped around her, tugging her back into his chest. “Hi, pretty girl.”

She turned to look at him. He was Willow again, his face open, his smile soft and somehow hopeful. Her heart flipped like a pancake and lyrics streamed to her mind as though piped in from another reality.

There’s demons I keep around me

they’re family

you’re a danger

a smiling stranger

But I need relief,

A piece of peace

I can’t go with you,

or stay where you are

So take me there,

Only not too far

I’m already naked

collapsed and undone

my heart keeps saying

it’s too late to run

The words repeated as Willow stroked her hair, shifting their bodies so he was holding her in his arms like a baby. And she knew she was fucked. She hadn’t been careful enough. Or careful at all. She liked Willow. Liked him in a way she hadn’t liked anyone since she was fifteen. And it was too late to run.

12