Madison seems just as stunned into silence as I am.

The weirdest part is that I feel like what he did was a good thing. He cares about the boy’s safety and that only tells me that his heart is still there somewhere.

It may be broken and in pain, shattered from loss and hurt, but it’s very well there and in the right place. I just hope I can find it before it’s too late.

I have no idea what this man is doing to me, but I’m afraid for it to stop . . .

“FUUUUCK!”

Screaming out in frustration and complete hatred, I grab my desk and flip it over, before kicking my chair against the wall, leaving a dent.

I’m so fucking heated and disgusted that I can barely breathe right now from the anger that is running through my veins.

I never meant for her to see me threaten a man’s fucking life, but when I saw the kid all bruised up and beaten, my head filled with rage and I lost it. It’s not the first time I’ve seen it either.

It’s fuckers like that abusive piece of shit out there that provoke me and eat at me, creating the dirt that I’ve become.

Pressing my hands against the wall, I hang my head low and take a few long, deep breaths, before I end up going back out there and pulling the fucking trigger.

There’s too much darkness inside my head to stop it if I get one more look at the kid.

Standing here, my whole body stiffens when I hear the door open and see the light spill into the small room, but I’m too tense to pull my eyes away from the wall, so I just close my eyes to the sound of her heels echoing throughout the room.

I tilt my head back and suck in a deep breath, when I feel a set of dainty arms wrap around my waist and hear the sound of her soft breathing as she rests her head against my back to comfort me.

We stay like this for a few minutes, before she slides around my body and into the space between the wall and me.

Avalon’s eyes are deep as she takes me in.

Her hands run up my body, opening my jacket to expose my gun. She runs the tips of her fingers over it, while looking me in the eyes.

“You helped that kid tonight, Royal.” She grabs my face, pulling it closer to hers as I stiffen. “Someone needed to protect him. He had a lot of bruises.”

“I wanted to kill him,” I admit. “I almost did.”

Giving me a pained look, she grabs the back of my neck and brushes her lips over mine, calming me. “But you didn’t. Instead, you gave him a reason to fear hurting his son again. That’s probably the best thing anyone has done for that kid.”

Fuck me . . . this woman.

Closing the distance between us, I tangle a hand into her long hair, crushing my lips to hers.

Feeling the tenderness of her sweet mouth against mine brings me back to sanity, making it easier to see clearly and let go of some of the anger that’s burning inside of me right now.

She does shit to me. She makes me feel less like a monster and more like the man I once was; the man I wish I could be.

“Fuck,” I whisper against her mouth, while pulling her hair back and tasting her sweet breath against my lips. “I need you . . .”

With strength, I flip her around, pressing her body against the wall. She moans out in surprise and places her hands against the wall for support.

Wrapping one hand around her tiny throat, I yank her dress up and pull her panties down below her ass with the other, before undoing my pants and reaching inside to pull my hard cock out.

Her breathing picks up and she cusses under her breath, as I rub the length of my erection across her ass, before reaching in my pocket for a condom.

I hold my cock against her ass; working her up as I stroke it a few times, before ripping the wrapper open with my teeth and rolling the condom over my length.

Gripping her waist, I brush the head of my cock over her slick pussy, teasing her and making her whimper, before entering her in one deep thrust.

“Ah . . . fuck . . . fuck . . .” she screams against my arm, before biting it. “Holy shit . . . that hurt.”

I yank her neck to the side and graze it with my teeth, while repeatedly pulling out and thrusting back into her, making her move up the wall and bite me harder with each hard thrust.

“Harder,” I demand, causing her teeth to dig into my arm. “Hurt me as much as it hurts you to have me inside you.”

“I can’t,” she says, while fighting to catch her breath. “Nothing can compare to what it feels like to have you inside me, Royal. It hurts more than you know.” She leans her head back and moans as I push in deeper and stop. “But I want to feel you so badly,” she whispers.

Her words cause me to yank her head to the side and suck her bottom lip into my mouth, while fucking her hard and fast; so fucking hard that all you can hear are the sounds of her screams, mixed with our sweaty bodies furiously slapping together.

I’m so fucking close to losing it, her cries of pleasure only bringing me closer to the edge.

Grabbing her tightly, I hold her up as her pussy clenches hard around my dick, causing my own orgasm to fill her throbbing pussy as I push in as deep as her body will allow.

Our ragged breathing mixes together as I swallow her moans and claim her mouth as mine, just wanting another moment to feel her again.

In this moment all I feel is her in my arms and taste the sweetness of her mouth against mine.

The darkness around me slowly fades and a new fear takes over as I realize that she’s my calm after the storm. She’s like a poison to my heart, slowly leaking her way inside and killing me in the worst way possible. She’s the salvation that I seek but know that I can’t keep forever, and that’s what scares me.

Closing my eyes, I lean my head back and wipe the sweat out of my eyes, before leaning in close to her ear, breathing heavily. “Come home with me tonight.”

Without hesitating, she nods her head and whispers, “Yes. I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.”

Slowly pulling out of her sensitive pussy, I moan out and grip my dick, pulling the condom off and tossing it into the trash while keeping my free hand on the back of her neck.

I look her beautiful slick body over, before bending down and pulling her panties back up while running my lips along her slender legs on the way up.

Her body shudders from the feel of my beard against her flesh, and her head tilts back as she bites her lip. “Your mouth hurts in the best way possible,” she breathes as I pull her dress down to cover her ass.