The Club Sin Series 4-Book Bundle (63 page)

Kyler pointed to the envelope. “Agree to the divorce and sign the document.”

Rory's gaze lifted and his eyes were bloodshot. He reeked of the coffee that Kyler had asked the cops to serve him throughout the night, as well as booze. “That's between me and Ella. You can't force me to sign shit.”

“I don't have to force you.” Kyler spun the chair in front of him around and dropped down onto it—all the while keeping a careful distance from Rory. It was one thing to hear about his violent behavior, but seeing it firsthand made it all the more real.

Rory would never get within a few feet of Ella, and preferably would stay in another state entirely. But Kyler reminded himself that today wasn't about him, it was about making Ella safe. “Do you love her?” he asked.

Rory hesitated, then said softly, “I do.”

The fucker's eyes got all teary. Kyler could've leveled him simply for that. “If you love her, honestly care for her, then you'll realize that she deserves better than you. She has a good thing going for her in Vegas. Do you honestly want to cause her more pain than you've already caused?”

Rory's mouth parted, but Kyler interjected, “She's mine now. I have no idea how much clearer to make that.” He leaned in across the table and heard the snarl in his voice. “The option for you to take her back to Savannah isn't an option anymore. Regardless, she has a soft spot in
her heart for you and thinks you're not this horrible piece of shit that I know you are.”

“Kyler,” Sawyer warned.

His gaze flicked to Sawyer, who hadn't moved off the wall but raised his eyebrows. Kyler clenched his jaw, controlling his voice. “Ella is staying with
me
. In Vegas. Where she is safe and loved. She has nothing left for her in Savannah, and she certainly does not want to be with you.” He tapped his finger against the paper. “Sign it and let her move on with her life.”

Whatever Rory had seen in Kyler's expression he must've taken seriously, since his shoulders slumped. “Is that what she wants?”

“What
she
wants is no longer
your
concern,” Kyler retorted. “Her moving away and the restraining order should be clear enough for you to realize the relationship is over. You cannot possibly be that stupid.” He drew in a long breath, then released it slowly. “I don't know what you're hung up on, but it's done. Over. Now that I know of the restraining order, believe me when I tell you that I will not hesitate to get you arrested. Do not contact her. Do not come anywhere near her. Are we clear?”

Rory held his gaze, then, like the coward he was, he hung his head. “Yeah. We're clear.”

Kyler leaned away, staring at the piece of shit. He'd seen too many people come from hard times and do incredible things with their lives, regardless of the odds. There was no justification to think it was okay to act like a complete asshole at rough times in their lives.

Rory stared at the envelope before he removed the papers. His hand shook as he picked up the pen and signed the document. “She's a good woman.”

Kyler's fists clenched as he rose from his chair, all his rage slowly building to unbearable levels. He noticed Sawyer stepping in closer to him as he pressed his hands against the table, leaning into Rory. “If beating those words from your fucking mouth wouldn't make me a man like you, that would be in your foreseeable future.”

He brought his face within inches of Rory's, noticing Sawyer move just a bit closer, then he added, “A man of your character doesn't get to mutter those words. You are to never talk about her again, in any fashion whatsoever. And you certainly don't need to tell me that I have a woman so special that I'd go to all measures to keep her safe.”

Grabbing up the papers, he glanced to Sawyer, who had taken a step back and relaxed his posture. “Get Maggie to call her friend in Savannah and get him on a plane.”

Sawyer raised her brows in surprise. “Are you sure?”

Not process the paperwork for breaking the protection order?
the question rang out between them.

“No, I'm not,” Kyler muttered, not giving Rory a second look. He didn't deserve it. He deserved to be ignored and feel small, like he'd done to Ella. “But that's what Ella would want.”

She's the only thing that matters
.

Not Rory. Not abuse. Only
her
.

On Sunday morning, Ella waved at the girls as they drove off in Dmitri's Hummer. The world was a little foggy this morning and her head hurt from the three glasses of wine she'd drank last night. Though, at least she wasn't as bad as Kenzie, who'd guzzled double what Ella had.

Kenzie had said all of two words this morning and grunted the rest. While funny as it was, Ella knew the effect that last night had on her. She knew she most likely would've run, not wanting to face any of them again. By their staying with her, they took away her chance, and as rattled as she felt, she was also touched by their friendships.

I'm lucky
.

She sighed as Dmitri's Hummer vanished around the corner and she shut the front door.
Now what?
Her thoughts spun wildly out of control. What happened with Rory last night? Did he go to jail? Why did Kyler want to go with him? More important, why hadn't Kyler come back to her last night?

Everything hurt.

Her head throbbed. Her heart ached. Her damn soul felt battered, if she were being honest with herself.

Instead of standing at the door, thinking shit over that she couldn't control, she set to showering off the hangover, since two cups of coffee and a painkiller hadn't helped yet. Moving through her hallway, she entered her small, modern bathroom and stripped out of her pajamas, getting into the shower.

There, she stayed for a good fifteen minutes until her head stopped thumping and the world seemed less hazy. Once she turned off the shower and reached for the towel on the hook, she heard her front door open and close.

Knowing exactly who it would be, and needing more than ever to see Kyler, she grabbed her housecoat off the back of the door. Then her wet footsteps followed her into the living room.

Water dripped off her hair, landing on the hardwood floors, when she spotted Kyler sitting on her couch with his back to her. She moved around the couch and noticed an envelope on the table. He turned to her, and his guarded gaze still held that cold distance. Seeing it brought
forth emotions she wasn't expecting. Happiness didn't fill her at his arrival, red-hot anger did.

“What's that?” she asked, pointing to the envelope.

“Your signed divorce papers,” he said, not moving from the couch.

“Rory finally agreed to the divorce?” she whispered. “On his own?”

Kyler nodded, never taking his gaze off her. “He signed them this morning, and Sawyer's seeing that he's on his way back to Savannah now.”

She swallowed back the emotion threatening to explode. How had Kyler achieved getting a man who'd fought a divorce for ten months to finally agree? “Did you have a hand in getting Rory to sign?”

His expression gave little away. He had his emotions very in check. “Would you expect otherwise?”

Gratefulness slid through Ella, of course it did. But she couldn't get past the feeling that something terrible had changed between them. He'd never been so cold, nor had he been able to keep his hands off her.

She hugged herself as the floor dropped out from under her.
I can't lose you. Don't do this!

He studied her and sighed. “I see anger in those eyes of yours, Ella. Care to explain why?”

Possibly defensive because of his distance, all of what she experienced last night rushed into her. What he'd done was sweet and thoughtful, but something remained in her thoughts. Something she couldn't let go of. “I told you to leave it alone with Rory. I told you that I didn't want you involved with him. If you hadn't gone to Rory, he wouldn't have arrived last night. Now everyone knows about what happened with him. And that is not something I ever wanted. So, yes, that makes me angry.”

The ever-so-cool Kyler regarded her with a long look. “I won't apologize for approaching him, Ella. Nor will I apologize for ensuring you got the divorce you wanted and enforcing that Rory goes back to Savannah.”

“I don't want you to apologize.”

Don't you?
her mind argued.

Deep down, she wanted to blame someone or something. If Kyler hadn't pressed Rory, this distance wouldn't be between them. He wouldn't have seen the violence she once endured.

The fact that he was being so collected only angered her more. She wanted emotion.
Realness
. She wanted him to stop treating her like a woman who was a second away from breaking into a thousand pieces.

One sleek brow arched. “Then what do you want, sweetheart?”

She drew in a long breath, and all her emotions came pouring out of her. “I wanted a normal life. I wanted to be like everyone else, and I had that, even if for a little while. And now it's all followed me. Now everyone knows. This was why I didn't want a relationship. I don't want the drama.”

“You can't run from this and you can't avoid what happened,” he replied with a soft voice. “You need to turn and face it. See that no one is going to fault you for this. You need to count on me to talk about it.”

“
I
don't want to talk about it,” she growled, angry tears filling her eyes. How many times did she possibly have to say that? “I don't need to talk about. I dealt with it, okay? For months I dealt with what it did to me. I have recovered from that. I don't want to go back to that time in my life.”

Kyler didn't move. Was he even breathing?

He finally said, “You must, Ella. It's that simple.”

She wiped her tears, cursing those damn things trailing down her cheeks, and said through clenched teeth, “I don't understand why you need to hear about what happened in the past.” She threw up her hand in frustration. “Why do you need to hear that I lost my parents? That it destroyed me for a long time. If it wasn't for my grandparents, I would have been a fucking mess.”

Drawing in a deep breath, she attempted to control the shaking of her voice, but failed miserably. “Why does it matter that my grandparents died, leaving me with only Rory and his friends? Supposed friends who all turned their backs on me the moment I left Rory because I was in the wrong, even though he hurt me. That every fucking day I look in the mirror, my scar haunts me with memories that the man I loved threw me into a goddamn table. Why do I need to be reminded how fucked up my life is?”

Kyler's eyes flared, but his voice remained gentle. “I want to hear all of that because it's your life, Ella. It's what has happened to you.”

“No, you don't want to hear about all that,” she yelled her retort. “You don't want to
know how much I've cried. How long I've felt alone. How broken I was and how hard it used to be just to wake up every morning.” Tears rushed down her cheeks as she shook her head. “Because when you do, you'll change even more.”
Things between us will be worse than they are
.

He seemed surprised, straightening in his seat. “How have I changed?”

Good. Surprised is at least showing something
. “You refuse to touch me like you would other submissives. You treat me differently. Don't deny it, I know you do. You see me as broken.”

Slowly, he rose from the chair, careful not to get too close. “It's not because I don't want to play with you like I have others, Ella. But I can't ignore what you've been through.”

“Stop thinking about my past.” She glared, feeling all her pent-up frustration escaping her. “Stop treating me like I'm breakable. Stop treating me like I'm this helpless woman who can't stand on her own two feet.”

“Ella,” he said in a low warning.

“What?” she snapped, loving that he shook slightly. Yes, she wanted him to express more than a stony look. “My past doesn't concern me. It shouldn't for you, either. Stop restraining yourself. I know you won't hurt me. And I see what others do in the club. I know how you treated me that first night before you learned about Rory. With passion. Without regret. With pure desire.” She thrust her fingers into her hair and yanked. “I'm. Not. Fucking. Breakable.”

He took a step forward, his eyes blazing. “I never said you were, but I need you to be honest and open with me.” His expression darkened—cautious, but hinting at something much more passionate. Something that wasn't controlled or worried about past abuse.

Something that screamed of possessive desire.

“I am being honest. I'm just not talking about shit that doesn't matter. Stop walking on eggshells around me.” She heard the huskiness in her voice in response to his dominance. “I don't need you to go around fixing everything. Okay, I'm grateful you got Rory to sign the documents, but that's not what is important. I want you, Kyler. All of you. The real fucking you who doesn't stare at me like I'm wounded.” She vibrated at his corded neck and at the flexing of his forearms. “If you can't give me that, this will never work.”

He took another step, coming a bit closer. Something so very dominant crossed his features, tightening his expression and changing the color in his eyes to a darker blue. The air
between them became electricity charged. “What won't work?”

“Us,” she shouted.

His eyes slowly narrowed. “Once, I will allow you to say that this won't work between us. Only once.”

Her lips parted to respond, but he erased the distance, tugging her tight against the hard planes of his body. He dragged his fingers into her hair, then closed his fists in their strands. His eyes spoke of a yearning that went past sensual heat; they shone with the desire to own.

His voice was low, not controlled. “Here, in my hold, things are right. This is your home. No matter what is going on between us, when you are under my touch, you never doubt us.”

He tugged on her hair, slicing a fierce burn into her. She craved
this
. Desired him. Ached for
him
.

He added with a growly voice, “Here, you are safe. Here, nothing else matters.”

But is here honest and real?
her heart whispered.

Or was it an illusion of two people that held an incredible passion in the arms of each other, yet couldn't find that perfect place to stand on to make a relationship out of it?

She needed him to stop living in her past.

He seemed permanently focused there.

Kyler drew in a sharp breath, then leaned down toward her, nose to nose. “No matter if we have things to work out or what we go through, you need to be strong in knowing that this is meant to be.”

Why can't I agree?

In so many ways they were good together, but in other ways they were so wrong. He enjoyed adding pain to pleasure. He was a Dominant, desperate to control a woman. Hell, she wanted to experience all of that without restraints of concern. She ached to feel the leather of his flogger and the sharp bite of his palm.

She stared up at him, pinned in his arms. “But how can this work if you can't let go of what happened with Rory? If you're always thinking you need to fix a problem in my past? If you can't see me for what I want? If you can't see past all the pain?”

Kyler dropped his chin, his eyes in direct line with hers as he walked her backward. When her back met the wall, he stated, “Sweetheart, baiting a Dom is not suggested. I told you I would only hear that from your mouth once.” Then he crushed his lips on hers.

It was a hard, passionate kiss that spoke of anger and lust. And she melted. She followed his mouth, relishing in his lack of restraint. No hesitation. No worry. Just a man kissing a woman in a way that proved he owned her—that she belonged only to him, always to him.

He nipped at her mouth. “Mine, Ella.”

She gasped, pulled by the pain on her lip as he bit harder. Her body flared in acceptance, pooling heat into her loins. Moisture coated her lower lips in an instant want for him to claim her.

“Mine,” he growled, snaking his hands into her housecoat and opening it before he lowered it off her shoulders. He nudged her head to the side, nipping at her neck. Then he backed away, removing his shirt in that fast way men did, and his mouth was right back on her.

He pinned her to the wall as their openmouthed kisses only became hotter as tongues clashed together with his growl of dominance. He left her no room to move, no choice but to accept his bites.

She reached for his belt and had his jeans open a second later, sending them pooling at his feet. With rough touches she had yearned for, he grabbed her thigh, looking to her. Reckless, passionate eyes stared back at her, sending a hot shiver through her.

His gaze burned as he slid his hand over her bottom. His mouth sealed over hers in a kiss that she couldn't run from. A kiss that measured up to no other. One that had said Kyler had been holding back. Now he'd been pushed too far. His touch wasn't careful. It was messy, forceful, demanding.

She soared under his erotic assault.

Bringing her bottom lip between his teeth, he gave a fierce bite. Then his hard gaze lifted to hers and he growled, “Say it, and by God, mean it.”

Under his force, his stare, his unleashed power, she accepted what he had said—this was right, no matter the issues between them. Now he owned her. Possessed her. Cared for her. She belonged to him. And even if this lasted for only this moment, she knew she'd forever search to have him looking at her this way again.

“I'm yours, Kyler,” she rasped.

His eyes blazed with his dark grin. “You're damn right you are.”

Hot and hard, Kyler gripped Ella's hair, pinning her where he wanted her. He hooked her leg onto his arm and his hands bracketed her ass; her petite body pressed tight against his.
Threatened
. Last night,
his
woman had been afraid. And she fucking tried to do what she did all the time when she confronted hard times, push him away. He might be considerate of a lot, but that was one thing he would never allow. She could be mad. She could be fearful and fighting against what he needed from her, but those words to him sent his world crashing around him.