Rectify (Return to Us Trilogy #2) Read Online Free Page A

because," she points at me, "you said so!" She knocks her forehead with her hand. "Oh, I'm such a silly little woman. I forgot what you say goes."
    "Watch it, Ivy." I raise my left brow as a warning. One more chance. After that, I can't help you. He gets what he wants. My fingernail buckles under the force on the rough denim.
    "Watch what? My mouth? Does the truth hurt, Jacade?" Her neck moves with her attitude.
    "Calm. Down." I rasp out the only words I can manage.
    "Tell me the truth right now or the door is that way." She flings her hand out and points to the door. "Don't let it hit you in the ass."
    He parts the curtain of jungle leaves in his path and charges her.
    "You think it was easy? Trying to keep you safe and protect an innocent woman from a nutcase holding her at gunpoint? It wasn't, by the way." I run my fingers through my hair and pace three steps left, spin on my heels, and lean toward her. "I told you last night she was safe. Is my word not good enough for you anymore?"
    "Last night?" If her face could morph into the shape of a question mark, it would. She has a knack for not remembering critical information when it comes to me.
    Too late to stop him. He pounces and knocks her to the ground in one swift movement. He tears into her left bicep, dragging her in the dirt. She wails in agony.
    A frenzied cackle escapes my throat. "Yes, last night when I fucked the shit out of you on that couch." I wave my hand in the direction of the couch.
    He rips into her thigh muscle. Blood shoots from her femoral artery.
    I narrow my gaze on her. "I could've fucked you any way I wanted, and you would've begged me for more."
    "I thought you were a dream." She drops her head and stares at the floor.
    The panther looks back at me with his sooty face covered in her crimson, shreds of muscle and tissue hanging from his jaw.
    I march over to her. She raises her head and backs up until she hits the chair. She stumbles and sits on the arm. I'm centimeters from her face. Her frightened eyes search mine for answers, but this isn't Jeopardy.
    "Am I real enough for you now, sweetheart?"
    Smack !
    I grin and crack my jaw. I've had weaker women smack me much harder than that, honey. I knew my question would push her over the edge. I wanted it. Needed it. It was the only way to fend him off.
    Her bright, wide eyes look at me like I skinned her pet rabbit for stew. I can't tell if she's surprised by my aggression or because she smacked me. Probably a little of both.
    She wiggles out from under me and sprints to her bathroom. The door slams shut like the worn steel gates of a prison cell. My own personal hell.
    The slap stirred the panther from his morning meal, and he returns to my side. Together we hike back into the jungle. I loop the frayed rope he's accustomed to around his neck and re-tether it to a tree, but I know it won't hold him. It never does.
    ***
    Ivy
     
    Darn right, I smacked him. He deserved it. No man talks to me like that. He spit those cruel words at me with intention to wound me. He knew where to aim his knives to pierce my heart.
    My thighs stick to the lid of the toilet seat as I slide to the edge. The strands of my shag rug tickle the sensitive skin between my toes.
    I bury my face in my hands and can't hold back the few tears that escape. The image of his features morphing into wrath will always be ingrained in my memory. The taunting sneer of his mouth reveled in hurting me. I take a deep breath and force myself to stop crying.
    Why did he get so furious at me? I have a right to know what happened. He can't expect me not to ask.
    Carmine dots emerge on my forearms and thighs. Please don't tell me the way his pulse throbbed in his neck and his eyes ripped through my body excited me. What is wrong with me? Oh, I'm not opening that assortment of problems.
    Jacade opens the bathroom door and stands with one arm clutching the frame above his head. Crud, I forgot to lock it. He shoves his other hand deep in the front pocket