Free Malice's Possession by Jenika Snow

hours. Surely he had a life to get back to, maybe even had a wife or girlfriend and children? Turning so she was partially facing him, she licked her lips and saw the way he had a tight hold on the steering wheel. “Thank you so much for the ride, and for everything else.” Looking away from him and out the passenger side window she saw a few people walk into the bank. “Please tell everyone else I said thank you, and if not for you and them I would probably be dead right now.” She heard him grind his teeth and glanced at him again. “I tried finding the other guys to tell them thank you as well, but the inside of the club was deserted.”
    He was watching her , but still had that white knuckle grip on the steering wheel. “No problem. I’ll let them know.” He smiled, but it looked a little forced. “You sure this is what you want?”
    She nodded. “I don’t know if it is what I want, but it seems like the smartest thing to do right now.”
    He nodded. “You take care of yourself.” He shifted so he could grab something out of the inside of his leather vest. It looked like a small piece of paper. He grabbed a pen from the center console and wrote something down on it before handing it over.
    Adrianna held the small slip of paper in her hand and looked down at the phone number written in a masculine scrawl on it. “Your phone number.” She didn’t state it like a question. He would never know how much those ten digits would mean to her.
    “You need anything at all just call.” He nodded once more and faced the front once more.
    “Thank you again.” She reached out and placed her hand on his bare forearm, felt the hard musc les clench under her touch, and felt the tendrils of desire fill her. She quickly took her hand back because her desires were unwarranted and totally inappropriate given the situation. She grabbed the door handle, about to leave all of this behind her, when a sight from across the street had her stilling. Coming out of the convenience store was Phillip. He had a stark white bandage wrapped around the side of his neck, but other than that he seemed fine. Had she totally thought she hurt him far worse than she actually had? She must have, because compared to her he looked in fit condition. Her hand not holding onto the door shook slightly, but it wasn’t because she was afraid of Phillip, not really. Her nerves were already shot, and seeing him walking around and laughing with the woman he was with was kind of a relief. She had worried she had killed him, and despite all the things he had done to her, and how she had fought to stay alive, having someone’s death on her hands was still a heavy burden.
    It seemed like the world might have stopped and gone in slow motion for as long as she stared at Phillip and the half-dressed woman he was with. But then everything came rushing back when strong fingers pressed into her jaw and she was forced to look at Malice. He wore this very concerned expression on his face. She saw his mouth moving, but there was this buzzing in her ears and she couldn’t hear anything aside from that. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Phillip start to walk toward them. Although he was across the street and wouldn’t be able to tell that she was in the passenger’s side, or at least she hoped not, this fear that he would still be able to sense her like he was some kind of rabid animal filled her.
    “Adrianna? Christ , what in the hell is the matter?”
    Malice’s deep voice finally came through the buzzing in her head, and she blinked rapidly. Not telling him that Phillip was right across the street was at the forefront of her mind, but she knew that was foolish. Malice deserved to know why she was acting like a freak. But when she looked over at the prick that was acting like she hadn’t affected him in the horrifying way he had changed her, the tears from her anger burned hot in the corner of her eyes. She glanced at Malice again to answer, but she saw that