Raw Bloody Power

Chapter 35

35

CROW

Ivory

“Do you want a drink?” Rio asks from somewhere in his kitchen while I stand there gawking at my surroundings.

The dark walls and floors fit his style without question, along with the smoky, sleek decor. But it’s the wall of windows overlooking Central Park that has me stunned to silence. I’ve seen the park from the Empire State Building countless times in my life, and that view has nothing on this. Beautifully unobstructed, darkened by the raven blanket of night, yet illuminated by all the elements of the concrete jungle.

It’s kinda fucking magical.

“Ivory?” His voice sounds closer now, snapping me out of the trance.

I spin to find him beside me, holding up a bottle of wine. “Do you want a drink? ”

I definitely need one after how hard you just made me come.

“Depends. What kind of wine is it?” Judging by the label and the color of the bottle itself, I’m gonna say red, but I’m not exactly a wine connoisseur.

I’ve got you on coffee, though.

“It’s a Ripasso,” he states, as though I’m supposed to know what that means.

“No, I mean like red or white.”

“Ripasso is red.”

My eyes go for a spin at the laugh tacked on to that matter-of-fact statement as I scan the damn label myself. “Is it the dry kind?”

Rio ducks his head to my level, lips dancing sensuously beside my ear. “I’m pretty sure it’s wet,” he husks out.

Goosebumps instantly prickle my skin, rousing a shiver that uncoils from my neck, spreads to my shoulders, and rushes down the length of my spine. He’s not talking about wine at all…

I swear I relive the entire performance on that roof in the span of five seconds, my thighs clenching in response. “If that’s all you have, then fine,” I breathe, turning enough to find those razor-sharp brown eyes already watching me.

I don’t know how he does it, but they sear into me, fully capable of bringing me to my knees should he ask. I’m like putty in his expert hands, and he’s not even touching me.

“I have a Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, if you’d prefer one of those,” he says softly. “They’re both white. ”

“Surprise me.” I swallow deeply, barely resisting the urge to say fuck the drink and climb him like a tree.

Again.

“Coming right up.” His lips fuse to my cheek, lingering for only a whisper before he taps my ass with an encouraging hand. “Go grab a comfy spot on the couch for us.”

I settle on the large, circular loveseat positioned beside the wall of windows. It’s so big, I literally have to crawl on it after undoing the laces of my boots and kicking them off in a heap. My body falls lax against the soft, shadow gray cushions, gaze automatically fixing out the glass once more. Small droplets now pelt against it, rolling down its length in a steady, peaceful tempo. All I’m missing is a blanket, a fire, a good book, maybe some music.

I could easily get used to this.

“The view is what sold me,” Rio muses thoughtfully, handing me a glass. “Feels like a different world up here sometimes.”

“I can see that,” I concede.

Plopping himself down on the opposite end of the couch, he sets my feet on his legs. And as with the Crocs from that night in the bakery, he doesn’t miss my socks. A lone finger skims beneath the thin seam, pulling the material away from my skin. “So the Princess has princess socks, huh?”

They’re Belle in her signature gold dress with all of the side characters randomly spread around her, and they’re very well loved. The once perfectly bright baby pink background has faded to an almost white .

“Shut uppp.” I try kicking him, but he catches my foot without missing a beat. “They’re old as hell, okay? My laundry day socks. One of them even has a small hole on the bottom.”

Lifting the glass to his lips, he takes a generous sip, then sets it aside onto the small table beside him. “They’re adorable, Princess. Just like you.”

If he hadn’t just pulled the damn thing off my foot and promptly kissed the arch, I would’ve tried kicking him again.

“I hate you so much right now,” I grumble, glaring at him over the rim as I take a sip of my own.

“Lie to yourself, Princess. Like I said earlier, we’re a little past that at this point, so rather than play pretend over there, why don’t you skip to the part where you tell me what Koshka did to you.”

Should’ve seen that coming.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

Rio rocks his head and peels off the other sock, flinging it somewhere behind him. “Not in this lifetime. I need to know—for science and all that. Can’t say I’d mind taking another little trip to Jersey.”

“Don’t even think about it,” I warn playfully, taking another tentative sip of the wine. “You already did enough damage, I’m sure.”

A titillated shiver courses through my body just thinking about it. Knowing Rio gave Benedikt what he deserved appeals to the soft feminine in me. Not having a clue as to what he did exactly, allowing my imagination to run wild with different scenarios and methods, appeals even more—especially when he himself is none the wiser to what Benedikt actually did, either. He just went balls to the wall, no questions asked.

There’s a tantalizing symmetry to the whole situation, and the fact he’d go back should the punishment not match the severity of the crime— all for me —makes me completely feral.

It’s like he’s my very own morally gray book boyfriend come to life. He always has been.

My Crow . In part, the pet names were a way to hide our identities. Our families would never have assumed Rio was Crow, and I was Petal. But Crow always suited him on a more wicked level, too. My ominous shadow, always lurking, never far behind should any harm come my way.

God, I need to stop reading so much. There’s something seriously wrong with me.

“I’d let the world burn to ash for you, Petal. Every last inch of it.” The way he stamps a trail of kisses from one foot to the other pulls me out of my head. “Now, go on; tell me what happened.”

I bite my lip, listening as a small wave of thunder rumbles in the distance. There’s no way around this. If I don’t tell him, he’ll just hound me until I do, so with a defeated sigh, I regale him with the sordid tale.

From Benedikt showing up out of thin air.

To how he dragged me into the alley and pushed me up against the brickwork.

With each and every detail, I can feel the way Rio’s body tenses beneath me, see the way his jaw tics as he both watches and listens intently.

“It was fine at first, I guess. He was grilling me on the fact we hadn’t spoken and how I wasn’t making an effort to see him. But then…” I trail off, hesitant to continue.

We lock eyes and he swallows harshly. “Then what? Go on…”

“He tried to kiss me, and I turned away from him.” I actually do the same now, eyebrows pinched as a flash of that moment goes off in my mind’s eye.

“’Cause those lips are mine,” Rio murmurs with surety, his thumb tracing mindless circles along the top of my foot. “I know that can’t possibly be the end of the story, though… Go on. Continue.”

“He got really mad. Slammed me up against the bricks so hard I saw nothing but white specks for a few seconds. I’m surprised I didn’t bleed, to be honest.” My pulse picks up speed as the memory resurfaces, and when I glance over at Rio, he doesn’t even look like he’s breathing.

“Is that it?” he grits.

“No…” My throat bobs. “He choked me out to the point I almost passed out. There was a brief moment where I thought he might not let go at all.”

Silent and controlled, he reaches for his glass and knocks back the contents in one gulp, the rain pelting the glass a bit harder now. “I should’ve killed him.”

Hell could likely freeze over at the arctic drip in his tone. I shudder all over again and exhale a shaky breath, uncertain if I really want to know the answer to my next question, but unable to control it as it forms its way into existence. “What did you do to him?”

Rio observes me for a moment, probably debating how much he should reveal, then drags his pinky nail from his forehead down his jaw. “One clean slice.”

I gasp, horrified—panicked, even. “Rio, are you fucking crazy? He’s got his dad’s whole army behind him!”

“Koshka isn’t gonna do shit .” He waves me off, completely unfazed, curling his lips and all. “His dudes couldn’t even handle their own. Alvaro and Leandro took them out with their eyes closed.”

Alvaro…and Leandro? As in… “Your brothers went with you?”

Rio nods and returns his attention to my feet, running his thumbs along the arch. “I might be reckless, baby, but I’m not stupid. Back-up was necessary.”

“Did they, um, know the reason why behind your little…trip?”

“Not at first, no. Once they realized, they had questions. I told them to keep their mouths shut.”

Unease blooms further within the pit of my stomach, fingers drumming against the stem of the glass. “You think they will?”

“One hundred percent. I wouldn’t have taken them with me otherwise,” he affirms, deepening the pressure as he continues kneading.

My eyes fall shut under the heavenly sensation, an appeased hum bubbling in my throat. “Maybe we should’ve told them sooner,” I mumble mindlessly. “Like before Jonathan, I mean. Might’ve made it easier on us to have some sense of familial support.”

I don’t realize the gravity of my mistake until all movement ceases and Rio releases me. My eyes immediately snap back open and dart to his form.

He’s not pleased.

“We were young,” he says simply. “They probably would’ve blabbed. It’s a good thing we didn’t.”

I’m not surprised he ignored the part about Jonathan. Last time I tried to bring it up, he shut down the conversation real quick.

Will he again?

Draining my glass, I keep it situated on my lap for something to hold onto and inhale a fortifying breath. “Wanna talk about it?”

Rio arches a dark brow and cocks his head aside. “About what?”

“That night,” I hedge breezily.

“Nope.” He pops the p, not considering it for so much as a second.

“Rio, we have to talk about it.”

It’s a giant elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. Bold, underline, period, point blank. How are we ever supposed to truly move on from it if we don’t?

“It’s old news. Said and done. Why rehash it?” he counters, and it’s so nonchalant, I almost throttle him, almost growl and pull at my hair in pure and utter frustration.

“So, what? Are we just going to pick up where we left off and pretend it never happened?”

“Sounds good to me.” He shrugs. “So, tell me… Why law school? You’re like the worst liar ever.”

On the inside, I’m screaming at him for being so stubborn, begging him to stop changing the subject, to just rip off the Band-Aid, and get it over with—for both our sakes. I’ve had this dark cloud looming over my head for eleven years, and I would very much like to be free of it.

He needs to know the truth, but I’m not daft. Pushing him isn’t going to help. If anything, it’ll make things worse, so as much as I want to demand that this conversation happen right now, I cave without rebuttal and follow his lead.

“I didn’t go with the intention of actually practicing. I just wanted to be prepared, have the knowledge and resources to help and give proper counsel in the event something went sideways for my dad or my brother.”

“And by sideways you mean me.” He smirks, the cocky bastard.

“Not entirely, but yes… you were a deciding factor. I didn’t know what lengths you’d go to after everything,” I admit, my mind then drifting off to his little brother and the mess I had a hand in, directly or not. “You know, if you ever need help where Dino’s case is concerned, all you have to do is ask. I’m sure your dad’s fitting him with the best attorney money can buy, but still. It’s the least I can do.”

Rio’s entire demeanor softens at the offer. I watch it happen, never once wishing for the power of telepathy more than in that moment. It doesn’t last long, though. All too soon that intoxicating, dominant air arises, stealing my breath as those heavy-lidded eyes hone in on me.

“Get the fuck over here and get on top of me,” he demands, crooking two beckoning fingers.

The same fingers he had inside of me not two hours ago.

My body responds on a dime, free of any hesitation. Rio’s lips spread in that sexy as sin smile as I bend to his will and slither my way onto his lap, his head dropping against the cushion to accommodate the smattering of kisses I trail along his jaw.

“You rang?” I purr, relishing how his hands instantly adhere to my skin like a magnet drawn to its pair.

“Mmm, I did.”

“What can I help you with, Mr. Guerra? Are you about to accept my offer of legal counsel for your baby brother?”

“No. I’m done talking. I want round two.” He shifts, pulling something free from his pocket. A quick glance reveals my panties. I try grabbing them, but he yanks them out of reach and swiftly stows them away once more. “Nice try. Those are mine now, too.”

Too—because I never got the last pair back.

“What? Are you hoarding a collection now?” I quip.

“Damn right. The last pair has come in handy a few times.” Sinking his teeth into his bottom lip with purpose, he rolls his eyes to the back of his head as if overcome by an intense wave of pleasure.

And the way his dick slowly hardens beneath me fully corroborates that story.

Not entirely sure why the idea makes me feel so damn powerful, but I lick at his lips teasingly, wondering how exactly he’s used them. “You’re insatiable.”

“Your fault.” His mouth finds mine—nipping, biting, and kissing. “This pussy could make me do anything. Homicide included. ”

“Murder is frowned upon, you know.”

“I don’t give a shit. Lock me up and throw away the key. This,” a long finger runs through my pussy lips, “is mine.”

I hum at the contact and roll into it easily, still wet from our earlier festivities. Every last nerve-ending reignites as he sinks that same digit inside me, rubbing lazily against my G-spot.

“Say it,” he demands.

“Redundant at this point. You know it is.”

“Not just it… you. You’re fucking mine, Ivory. Let me hear you say it.”

I can’t.

I’ve avoided it this long, always biting my tongue and biding my time , because once I admit it aloud, there’s no going back.

There’s already no going back, Ivory. You’re both so deep into this, it’s ? —

I shove my subconscious into her closet and refocus on Rio, guiding the soft fabric of his t-shirt up his chest in an attempt to distract him. He complies without protest, helping me remove it the rest of the way. I take the unprecedented moment to appreciate him like this—beneath me, wanting, waiting. Tracing the lines of his pecs and the defined grid of his abs with the tip of my claw, I keep on for his belt and lean in to whisper, “Drape your arms over the back of the couch and don’t move.”

His grin is palpable as he heeds my little command and responds with a throaty, “Yes, ma’am.”

Starting at his neck, I work my way down his body, leaving heated kisses and light scrapes of my teeth in my wake. His stomach flexes and shudders beneath me, especially when my tongue comes out to play, tracing the same lines my nail explored moments ago. A light hiss of satisfaction sounds as I drop to my knees between his spread legs and smooth my palms up his taut thighs, undoing the obstacles keeping him decent. When I pull his cock free, it stands proudly at attention, ready for me in any and every capacity.

Licking my lips, I wrap my hand around the thick base and flick my tongue tauntingly against the tip, that familiar, all-male musk hitting each of my senses in its own way. Another hiss of approval splices through the air, spurring me on like gasoline to a fire. Sealing my mouth around the head, I take my time, moving lower and lower at a tortuously slow place. Rio tries to thread his hands into my hair as my tongue swivels against the underside of his shaft, but I swat him away and pop off with quickness, a thin web of saliva keeping us connected.

“I said don’t move,” I scold him, gazing up at him beneath my lashes. “Arms on the couch.”

“My bad.” He smirks wickedly and repositions himself as requested, slouching further into the cushions. “I’ll be a good boy. I promise.”

Oh, shit. That’s hot.

My clit pulses in response, almost as much as it does when he calls me his good girl.

Wrapping my lips around the tip, I begin the process all over again, dropping lower and lower until my gag reflex engages. Throating an almost nine inch cock isn’t as easy as romance books make it seem, tears springing from the corners of my eyes much in the same way drool leaks from my mouth with every gag that follows. My stomach flops in warning, but I keep on, inhaling breath after breath as I relax my throat.

“Fuck, Petal. That mouth of yours.” I can feel his heated stare on me, beholding my every move. “That’s it, just like that,” he praises, groaning as I bring my hand into the mix and play with his balls.

I glance up just in time to watch his throat bob, his head dropping back against the couch in pure bliss.

“Fuck yes, just like that, baby. That’s a good fucking girl.”

Forget my clit. My pussy is throbbing right now, begging for relief. More still when his cock jerks within the confines of my throat, and he blurts a litany of expletives that only make me that much more intent to fling him over the edge before he even sees it coming. Relaxing my throat all the more, I withdraw to the tip and swallow him whole once again.

Over and over and over again.

His balls clench in my grip, drawing another husky moan off his lips. “Shit, shit, shit—I’m gonna come.”

Yes. Let me have it.

A few more swivels of my tongue and he’s exploding, flexing up and into my mouth as he death grips the couch. Spurt after hot spurt, his cum shoots down my throat, and the sounds he’s making for me combined with the salty tang of his taste only ensures I’ll be jumping his bones the second he’s done.

With a relieved sigh, Rio falls lax into the cushions, staring down at me with satiated eyes in nothing short of adoration as I pop off and lick my lips clean.

“That’s twice you’ve gotten to come tonight,” I purr, going straight for his lips as I climb back into his lap. “You owe me an orgasm.”

“I’ve got you, baby girl. You’re coming more than that, don’t worry.”

“Am I now?”

Rio hums and eagerly plunges a finger deep inside me. “Absolutely. You’ve more than earned it.”

“Then you better get started,” I urge him, all too keen for that to happen, grinding into his hand. “Faster, please.”

But he shakes his head and pulls out of me, locking an arm around my waist and rising onto his feet before I can protest. “Not here.”

“What? Why?”

“‘Cause I want you in my bed.”

He’s throwing me on it like a rag doll minutes later, my entire body bouncing on the mattress. I’d laugh, but the clink of his belt as his pants fall to the floor have me rapt on his shadow-cast figure looming at the edge of the bed.

“Strip,” he orders gruffly. “Take it all off for me.”

I do, in record timing. Skirt, shirt, bra—everything’s gone and on the floor, leaving me exposed to his hungry stare. With the few men that came after him, I was truly uncomfortable being fully naked in front of them, always covering up with my arms or finding safety beneath the sheets—especially when I started putting on some weight .

But with Rio?

None of that matters, my size sixteen irrelevant to the six I once was all those years ago. I want him to see me, all of me. How can I not when he looks at me like I’m the Hope Diamond, like I’m the greatest prize to be had, and he’s already won it? He makes me feel beautiful and so damn sexy without saying or doing a damn thing.

“You’re fucking perfect, you know that?” he rasps, crawling over me in that predatory way that leaves me a quivering mess. “Every damn inch of you. These thighs…those hips…that ass… this…” Squeezing the soft pooch of my tiger-striped lower belly, he sinks his teeth in for a second. “And these…” A groan rumbles in his throat as he encases as much of my breasts as he can manage in his big hands. “I’ve never been a tits guy, you know this…but yours?” He presses his face between them before sucking a nipple into his mouth. “I fucking love them. Pretty damn sure I’m still in love with you, too.”

And I’m pretty damn sure the world around me ceases all movement as my brain tries to absorb the last bit. Tries being the keyword here because when he shifts onto his forearms and slides inside me with a single thrust, his chain dangling above my face, my brain turns to mush. He doesn’t give me just a few inches, either. No.

Every.

Last.

One.

Stealing my breath. Sending my eyes to the back of my head. Obliterating any and everything that isn’t him and me in this moment. There’s not a cell in my body that isn’t on fire for this man right now. The way he rolls his hips into me, driving his cock in and out in a delectable rhythm, has me out of my right-fucking-mind.

“Holy fuck,” I moan, reaching out to the fist the sheets. “Don’t stop.”

“I wasn’t planning on it, trust me.” He rolls into me again, dropping his face to the crook of my neck as he groans. “This fucking pussy. So warm, so tight, so fucking mine.”

“Yours.” The word escapes me before I can stop it. Not that I could, really. I’m too overcome, too consumed, too obsessed. Too irrevocably in love to deny it anymore . “It’s yours, Crow. All yours.”

Rio growls this time; there’s no mistaking it, slamming into me full force. “There it is. I’ve been wondering when that name was gonna slip again. I’ve been waiting for it”— thrust— “almost as long as I’ve been waiting for you to admit you’re mine.”