Chapter 163: Nothing is fair in love and war

Malachi

It was a hard and punishing kiss, taking every ounce of rage inside me.

"Mhmmp!" Her fists beat against my shoulders, and she made a muffled, furious sound against my lips, biting my lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

I didn’t care. I didn’t want to dammit, I needed this. I kissed her harder.

You hurt him. You hurt all of us. Why couldn’t you just have chosen us?

I couldn’t say that, so I poured it all into that kiss. All of it. The nights I stayed awake, listening to Roman pace around his room, every single surface at home reminded me of her. I had missed her every single fucking day and had no one to blame but her.

Why wasn’t I enough?

Ivy whimpered against my lips, melting eventually. Her fists stopped hitting my chest, and her fingers curled into my jacket, instead pulling me closer.

A soft and broken moan slipped out of her throat as her whole body went pliant against mine. She kissed me back like she was drowning.

"Kai,"

For a few seconds, I let it all go and let myself pretend. I walked her backward until her spine hit the porch post and kissed her hungrily, my tongue tangling with hers, devouring every inch of her soft mouth.

My hips rocked against her in a slow, grinding rhythm that made her gasp into my mouth. My cock strained painfully against my pants, throbbing for her. My hands roamed everywhere, her waist, her hips, the curve of her ass, kneading her through that thin, useless night dress.

Her little moans and the breathy, desperate sounds she made, Kai, Kai, please, they were driving me insane. I was losing my mind.

Just once. I just want to touch her once. Just this one time, then I’ll stop.

My hand slid under the hem of her nightdress, up the warm skin of her thigh. I broke the kiss watching her tremble, arching into me.

Her nipples puckered, begging to be plucked and pinched, lips swollen and wet from my kisses, her pretty eyes glazed over with that sexy glint in them.

Mine. My little Ivy.

"Want me to stop?" I rasped, teasing her, brushing my fingers lightly over the right nipple.

She trembled, arching into me. "N-No, please Kai,"

"Oh come on now Ivy, make up your mind," I teased, kissing her again in a slow languid kiss.

I didn’t give a single shit that we were on her porch in the open air with a photographer ten feet away. I didn’t care about anything except the heat of her skin and the sound of my name on her lips.

My hands slipped under her nightdress, finding her panties and she whimpered, keening when my fingers pressed against her drenched cunt.

"Still so wet for me-"

My phone rang. The buzz against my thigh was like a bucket of ice water.

I tore my mouth away from hers. We were both panting. Her lips were swollen and wet, her eyes dazed.

What the fuck am I doing?

I leaned in and nipped the shell of her ear. She shuddered against me. "Thanks for the extra pictures."

Her body went rigid.

"Pull that shit you pulled on Roman again," I murmured, "and every single one of them makes its way to the public. Every. Single. One. Everyone gets to see you, my dirty little slut, moaning for me on your own porch." I pulled back just enough to look her in the face. "You don’t want that, do you?"

Her amber eyes were swimming with pain, not the anger I had been braced for. She stared up at me, and her mouth opened and closed wordlessly before she tore out of my arms.

She wrenched open her front door, bolted inside, and slammed it so hard the windows rattled.

A low muffled sob reached my ears and it was the worst sound I had ever heard. I had made that sound happen. I had done that.

My mood went from foul to fucking septic. My hard on deflated.

I pulled out my phone, ignoring the buzzing, and stalked down the porch steps, down the driveway, toward my bike. I jerked my chin at Marty, who was still hovering, his face red as beets. "Get over here."

He jogged over, practically vibrating. "Man, that was incredible. Seriously, the lighting, the angles, I got some real art out of this. Should I send the pictures over to-"

I snatched the camera off his neck, popped the memory card out with my thumb, slipped it into my jacket pocket, and dropped the camera on the concrete.

Then I brought my boot down on it, stomping hard on it several times, until the lens shattered and the casing cracked in half.

"HEY!" Marty yelped, leaping back. "What the hell, man! That was four thousand dollars!"

"I’ll wire you the money for a new one." I kicked the shards aside. "Say a word about tonight to anyone, and I’ll skin your balls."

He scurried off down the street, terrified.

I swung a leg over my bike, jammed the key in the ignition, and looked down at my phone. "Shit, I’m screwed if he knows I was here."

I thumbed the screen and pressed it to my ear.

"Where are you?" Gideon’s voice was deadly quiet. That was bad. "You’re not home."

"Wow." I scrubbed a hand over my face and forced a playful tone into my voice. "Checking my room now, G? You’re such a mom, you know that?"

"This is not a joke, Kai."

"There’s never a joke with you."

"Where. Are. You."

I glanced back at Ivy’s house, feeling much worse with each second. Was she still crying?

My chest ached. "I’m on my way home. Don’t worry about it."

Gideon sighed. "Fine. We need to prepare for Saturday. And our informant just reported something interesting."

"Yeah?" I kicked the engine to life. It roared under me. "What?"

"Something is going on between Anthony and Felix. Something big."