Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

I’d failed…

Tears blurred my sight. I’d failed them. In one fucking split second, I’d failed them. Why did I step out into the traffic like that? Not when I knew it was goddamn pouring down? I should’ve stopped it. I should’ve stopped it…

Would it have made a difference?

I sucked in a breath, trying to quell the fire in my lungs, and slowly lifted my gaze to the door, where the only hope I’d had of finding Hale had disappeared, taking his brother with him.

You fucking know her?

I could still feel the rage in those words.

You could say that. She's one of my clients.I shook my head as all the sessions with Dr. Kane Cruz surfaced.

We’ve made good progress today, Helene. But I think we could make even more if we went through some of those after-hour sessions I talked about…it could help with the dissociation you feel when you cut.

I could still feel the weight of his stare down my body as he told me just how close I was to exploring how deep my abandonment issues were. He’d made it well known what kind of extra sessions he thought he could provide me, and just how that would benefit both of us.

He could help me feel something more than the release.

And I could help him feel…me.

But it wouldn’t help me, would it?

Because he had no idea who I was…

Not then.

But he did now.

I closed my eyes and bowed my head until my forehead touched the cold tiles. Yes, he was beginning to, at least. It wouldn’t take long for them to know the rest, and then…then, what? Then they’d kill me?

I tried to search for the answer, tried to let instinct lead the way. What would they do? They couldn’t very well let me go, not once they’d figured out I was Ryth and Vivienne’s sister. They might kill me, or they might use me.

If they knew my last name was King.

I lifted my head, my breath caught. If they knew I was a King, they might let me go, or use me as bait. That could work…that…could work…right?

I sat there, staring at the door, waiting for some voice inside my head to comfort me. But it never came, and as that silence in my head became too much to bear, I rose. It was the only card I had left to deal. The only one of any use…apart from my body.

I lowered my gaze, hating how even just the idea of that made my skin feel flushed. I hated him. I hated all of them…but still. I swallowed as my brain admitted I wanted him. I wanted his cruel fucking hands on my skin. I wanted his savage, brutal nature.

There was no hiding with him.

No dark rooms to hide in.

No clothing to cover my skin.

He wanted me bare and raw.

So fucking raw, the mere brush of his fingers made me shudder.

So raw I craved his touch.

I shook my head as my belly howled.

These walls were going to be my undoing. I headed for the closed off section where there was a toilet and a sink and tugged my pants down. This place may as well be a prison, but there was no sentence here, was there? No other inmates I could see to pass the time. I wiped and flushed, then rose and made for the sink, washing my hands and cupping water to drink.

A cold trail dribbled down my chin. I swiped it with the back of my hand and stared at the door. That’s all I did, even when I started to pace yet again. I walked and stared, never once taking my eyes from the glass panel and the empty hallway outside.