But for now, I’m here.I’m here and I’m hiding.
Because there’s something out there that wants to bring me back too.
Something dark and dangerous and evil.It wants to possess me, drag me back to Sleepy Hollow and hold me there so that I can never leave.It’s hunting me down in my dreams, I see the shadows on the street, I see the eyes in every painting I pass following me, tracking my every move.
But how do I explain that to this man?
“You carry too much guilt with you,” Crane says, running his fingers up and over my shoulder blades.Soft as a breeze but carried with precision.
I swallow thickly, feeling anger flare inside me.“What do you know about guilt?”I grumble.
“More than one man should, perhaps,” he says gently.“I grew up with six sisters in a tiny house in Kansas, my father was the town pastor.”
So maybe he does know.
“I grew up hearing that sodomy was a sin,” he muses, his fingers tracing shapes on my skin.“The problem is, I’m so good at sinning.”I can hear him smile.“It took time to dissect what it all meant.My attraction to men being on the same level as my attraction to women.It can be terrifying living in a world that is primed to not accept who you truly are.Isn’t it?”
I find myself nodding.I want to tell him what happened with the pastor, but I want to leave Sleepy Hollow behind me for now.I want to be Abe, not Brom.I want to hide.Disappear.Become someone else entirely.
His hand trails up to my neck and wraps around it, holding me gently.
“I want you to sin with me,” he whispers, his voice raw with desire.
My cock immediately hardens.
Yes.Yes, I will sin with you, sir.
His grip on my neck tightens and he pulls me back down into the bed.
1
Crane
The ride back to Sleepy Hollow Institute is bound to be interesting.
I have Kat riding Gunpowder with me, her body snug in front of mine on the saddle as she nestles in my coat.Brom and his stallion Daredevil are in the lead.I want him where I can see him, just in case the horseman comes into possession of him again.What would happen if the Hessian in his spirit form and Brom met face-to-face?Would the ghost kill him?Or could he take over Brom completely, merging their souls until only the Hessian remained in Brom’s body?
My gut churns at the thought, and Kat stiffens.
“Are you all right?”I ask Kat as she’s cradled back against me.I press my lips on her neck and close my eyes to the feel of her soft skin against mine.“Cold?”
“Not with your coat,” she says quietly.“I’m just exhausted.And scared.”I barely hear the last part, her focus up ahead on Brom.The night is still and quiet, just the hoofbeats ofour horses and the snort of their breath.Our conversation carries.
Don’t be afraid, I say to Kat using the voice.I’ve got you no matter what happens.And as long as Brom is Brom, he’s got you too.
I hope he doesn’t make a liar out of me.
She doesn’t answer.Instead, she leans against me, turning her face so that she looks up at me over her shoulder and meets my eyes.She’s been through so much tonight.I don’t know the specifics of what she did with Brom and what Brom did to her before I got there, and to be honest every time I think about it I’m tempted to reload the gun and shoot him in the other shoulder.He may remember now what happened to him, he may be the Brom that I knew, but as long as he’s possessed, this isn’t over.
In fact, it’s only just the beginning.
I promise, I tell her.I’ve got a hold of you and I’m not letting go.He’s not going to hurt you ever again.
The look in her eyes tells me she doesn’t believe me.I want her to believe me, I need her to.I might be making promises I can’t keep, but I’ll die trying to be right.
I hold her tighter, leaning in to kiss her gently on the cheek.I want nothing more than to get her in my bed and make her feel safe again, erase everything that happened to her tonight, let her succumb to a gentle touch for once.I want her open and raw beneath me while I let my mouth and hands and cock bring her peace.But I don’t want to impose myself when she’s this vulnerable.Her heart and her body need space to heal.
Besides, when we get back to the school, I’ll have to put her in Brom’s room for the night where she’ll be safe, and keep Bromwith me in mine.If the horseman comes out through him, I foresee things turning violent between us in order to keep him in line.It should bother me that I feel my cock twitch at the thought, but it doesn’t.Part of me thinks he needs real punishment.And that’s something I’ve always been good at.
