I wasn’t doing that, but keeping my savings was proving to be the right call. David still hadn’t given me his decision about us. I’dneedthat money if this was over. “I’m just being practical.”
“You said, just now, that youwantedme. Past tense.” His next step gave way to a prowl. “In your mind, this is already over.”
I’d let my guard down with David. Completely. The only defense I had now was bracing myself for impact. “I still want you,” I breathed as he stopped at the end of the couch. “No matter what happens . . . for me, this will never be over.”
Everything about him tensed, including his expression. He grabbed the undersides of my knees and dragged me to the edge. Back in his possession, after keeping my distance all day, my coiled desire sprung free, sending a thrill up my spine.
Positioning my pelvis so it was vertical against the arm, David licked his lips and looked into my eyes as he undid his pants. In his eyes, I saw his need for me, and he needed me bad for whatever he was going through. Not just physically, but emotionally. And I could fill those needs for him. Something told me I’d been the only woman who ever had. With my nightgown bunched around my waist, he removed my panties and flung them aside.
He propped himself over me with one hand next to my head and grabbed his cock in the other. I opened my legs wider as he fed himself into me, grasping at tiny breaths as I took his length slowly. I clutched desperately at each inch, as if it were the last time. He rooted himself as deeply as he could before his thrusts began.
“You want me to leave you?” he asked solemnly.
“No.”
“Want me to throw you out with nothing?”
“No,” I said, and his drives grew harder, mashing me into the couch.
“Want me to break you, once and for all?”
I gasped as he hit a spot that sent tremors of pleasure through me. “No.”
“Then tell me so,” he said through his teeth.
Above me, his beautiful face blurred with my tears. His pain, on clear display, hurt worse than my own. “I love you.”
“Tell me you want me to stay.”
I put my hand to his cheek. “I want you to stay.”
“Beg me,” he commanded with hardness in his eyes.
“Please stay,” I breathed.
“That’s not good enough.”
Salty tears fell down my cheeks, and I bit my lip. He’d never tell me no, and he’d never let me sacrifice myself for him. Asking him to stay meant asking him to give up a life he wanted and deserved. For me. It was selfish, but he needed me to be selfish now.
He wrapped his large hand at the base of my throat to pull me onto him harder. “Beg, Olivia.”
“Don’t . . . leave me,” I choked through a sob. “Don’t ever leave me, David, please. I’m begging you. I couldn’t take it. I love you and I need you, God, I fucking need you more than anything in the world—stay, stay forever, David. Don’t leave me.”
As the pleas tumbled out, he straightened his back and levered my hips up in the air. His hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me into each harsh thrust. His eyes glazed over, but I trusted him, and I let him take me how he needed until I was squirming under him, fisting the couch, arching my back and mewling, sobbing, begging him to stay, and finally, climaxing with shudders that were lost in the aggressive way he fucked me.
“I’ve asked, I’ve begged, I’ve fought to give you everything. I want everything from you now,” he growled. “I’m sick of asking for it, and now I’m taking it.” He fucked me faster, my body just a receptacle now, each thrust with a louder grunt until—as if he was going in for the kill—his jaw set, his grip tightened, his head jerked up to the ceiling, and he erupted into me. He held me there a while longer as his eyes remained fixed upward, his wet cock sliding in and out of me slowly, leisurely.
He pulled out and dropped me back on the couch. I’d done hardly anything and I was breathing hard, but his chest heaved. Without a word, he turned and left the room.
I stood shakily and pulled my underwear back on. In the bedroom, David had sprawled out on his stomach, over the comforter, in just his boxer briefs. He was already passed out. I climbed in next to him and shut my eyes.
* * *
In the darkness of night, the rebelling tide threatens to pull me out to sea with each lap at my ankles. A presence behind me tries to both protect and consume me. It slides itself around my neck, pulling me close until it’s so tight that I can no longer get air. I try to pull it away, but it’s not the presence anymore that’s strangling me—it’s a snake with rough scales that slither along my bare skin. I open my mouth to scream, but I’m voiceless. As the presence dissolves, the snake untangles itself and swims away into the night. I dive in after it.
I jerked awake. Despite the cold, sweat trickled down my temples. I’d forgotten to close the blinds and moonlight streamed through the bedroom window, striping the comforter. David slept serenely, his back rising and falling evenly in the position I’d found him earlier.
I took my phone from the nightstand and opened Lucy’s e-mail.
