TIGERLILLY- THE BRAVO BOYS [book two]

Chapter FORTY SEVEN

River O'riley

I am mortally tired when we make it back to the safehouse apartment, beyond my usual limits of exhaustion.. I feel like I'm falling apart as I flop down on the living room floor to lay sprawled out flat on my aching back as Frankie shuffles around, changing Lovey into her pyjamas and fixing her a bottle before putting her to bed..

I don't know how I am supposed to do all of this.. How to forgive Amberley's long running list of fuck ups, or how to pay for her treatment.. How to deal with my impending meeting with The Red Dragon, or how to convince Frankie to reconcile with her father.. The weight of it crushes me from above as my eyes drift closed and I begin to fall into a dream world, sleep pulling me deeper and deeper..

"River? Get up." A firm command has my eyes opening obediently.. "I am not done talking to you."

"Aye.." I heave a tired sigh, hauling myself up to sit.. When I look up at Frankie, she is wearing an expression I have never seen before.. Furious and forbidding, the darkness in her eyes glows like obsidian and onyx-stone, sultry, shiny and so indescribably sexy..

I can see she is in a mood and maybe even a little pissed off at me but some twisted and depraved part of me likes it.. The fire inside her burns more intensely than ever and the sly smile that spreads across her lusciously full lips promises a punishment that I can hardly wait to experience..

"Do you know what you need, Tiger?" She coos, low and lusty as she takes a predatory step towards me.. "Because I do.."

When she leans down to push the jacket from my shoulders I don't hesitate to assist her, shrugging out of it before reaching over my head to pull the shirt from my back..

"Ney.. Please, tell me what I need--" My muscles tighten beneath her lingering midnight regard..

"Patience.." She points to the living room wall as if to send me into a childlike time-out and I shake my head in confusion..

"What'd'ya mean?" I feel like a scalded school boy.. My skin crawls with a blaze of humiliated delight beneath her chastising gaze as she prophecises to a compulsive need in me, the one that demands I serve her every desire..

I will do anything she asks of me and I am inescapably excited by the opportunity to prove myself as a worthy slave..

"I said get up, Tiger.. Now.. Move!" She snaps her fingers sweetly and I am spurred into action by her harsh yet flirtatious order.. I am made of flesh and bone that is built to obey her, hardwired with a need to please.. Frankie knows just how to exploit my weakness for her, as if she were designed by angels themselves to be my mistress..

"Yes, Princess.." I climb to my feet and cross to the place by the living room wall where she directs me, puzzled by her powerful demand but still intrigued.. A shiver runs down my spine and the chilled air washes over my bare skin, cooling my flushing, overworked temperature..

Fuck..

When she is mean, It turns me on and makes me want her even more.. It's hot as hell when she bosses me around so unexpectedly, unwinding my string of insecure thoughts to set me free from the prison of my own mind..

Without a word she reaches into my back pocket and takes out my wallet.. Not that there's much in there, but she's welcome to what little I have..

Sifting through the contents as I watch her, she finds a small, silver nickel and places it against the plaster with one finger.. "Will you hold this here for me? Just like this.."

"What? Why?" Confused but compliant, I reach up to place my index finger over the coin and she takes a hold of my wrist to drag my hand outward, until my left arm is fully extended at a right angle to my body.. Her fingertips trail down the length of my forearm and over the swell of my bicep before she steps around behind me.. With a rough little push she shoves me closer to the wall so that my nose is pressed to it..