Criminal Affinity [18+]

Chapter 28

I feel it running though my vein.
I need that fire just to know I'm awake.

| Until We Go Down - Ruelle |

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Ava shuts her eyes, muscles taut with tension and arousal. She sucks in a shaky breath. "You are so sick."

"I'm just as dirty as the shit you see around me." William drawls. "But that turns you on, doesn't it?"

"No." She says as firmly as she can.

"I would have made it heaven and hell for you. Making the pain pleasure. Get you hooked like an addict." He whispers.

She meets his eyes defiantly, mouth curling. Her eyes are daring. "What's stopping you, then?"

He brings up a finger, tilting her chin enough to bare her neck to him. He bends his head, his hot breath sending a tremble down her spine. "Nothing."

Ava stares at him. "So you wanted to do to me exactly what Neil did to me."

William holds her gaze. "Much worse. Without drawing a single drop of blood."

"I hate everything about you." Ava grinds out.

His eyes heat as if he liked hearing that. Ava's stomach surprises her by clenching in excitement. She questions both of their sanities.

"Before you judge me, remember what Dale allowed to happen to you. How he abandoned you when you needed him. How everyone you love doesn't give big enough of a fuck about you but you still play into the role of a victim. He's still not here, is he? But I am."

"What did he ever do to you?" Ava asks.

"More than you can fucking imagine. If you don't stop believing these lies, it will get you killed. Even I won't be able to save you." William says before standing up, shirt still unbuttoned.

"I will never take a knife against you again. You don't need to hide those scars here. If anyone says anything to you, you come to me."

She just nods, and he leaves. She takes the wretched dress off and decides to sleep naked. She shuts her eyes and covers herself with the thick blankets but her mind doesn't allow her rest.

Ava can't wrap her mind around William Chevalier. His hot and cold flashes are becoming unbearable. She knows what this is, how easily she can get hooked on him like a drug. It makes her head spin. He kidnapped her, but hates her and wants to destroy her. He berates her, but is kind when he feels like it. He wants her, but only because he likes to play with her.

Maybe it's like what he said. He is trying to break her for whatever Dale did to him.

Dale has to know she's taken by him. He has done nothing once more. He's not come for her. Viral's not coming for his daughter, or his wife. Or Dale hasn't allowed him to. Either they are dead, or they just really don't care.

And Ava is here, hunted by the same evil of her past. Something Dale didn't protect her from then, or now. He had told her he made a promise to her mother to keep her safe, there was a time he was kind and soft to her. But that was all before she became his soldier.

Her reality rips from the seams and she understands that the only thing that's keeping her alive is William and his people. Neil would have killed her by now and Pandora would have done nothing.

She belts her arms around her but no tears come. He will pay in blood for what he did.

A promise. It's all she can hold onto.