“I know you need me, Livie,” Trace says as he follows behind me. “Say it. Tell me you need me.”
“I don’t need you,” I state without stopping.
But I’m forced to a halt once more. Trace pulling on my arms, a little more gently this time, as he pulls me off to the side, pushing us both up against a tree—a position we can’t seem to escape.
He softens his tone as he watches me with fevered sincerity behind his eyes.
“Yes, you do, baby.” He brushes his fingers down my cheek and I shiver, reveling in his touch. “Stop being such a fucking brat and tell me you need me.”
“Trace,” I breathe out. Everything collapses within me. Every harsh word and threatened stare. Ever soft whisper and heated touch. Every ounce of pain he’s inflicted, every time he’s told he wants me. It all folds up into each other, over and over again until I don't know what is what any longer.
He’s right. Maybe I do need him. Fuck, maybe I have all along. But I don’t want to give in just for him to take it all away again.
“Fucking say it, Olivia.” He watches me. Watches the way my chest rises and falls. Watches the way my eyes cloud with the threat of tears. Watches as I struggle to keep my boundaries in check, knowing that I will always give in to him.
Is he manipulating me? Maybe, but what it really is all for a purpose, just as he said. What I’m realizing more and more is that we are infinitely fucked up, him and I. And as much as I hate him for the way he’s gone about this, I can’t deny that I crave every single ounce of it.
I look up at Trace. I’m still fucking terrified of him but I’ve never been good at lying to him. Especiallywhen all I can remember is how remarkablyhisI once was.
I say it. I admit it. Letting the words freefall in a daring confession.
“I need you.”
Trace leans in and presses his mouth to mine as he says, “That’s a good fucking girl, Olivia.”
And then he kisses me.
20
TRACE
“What I took before in kindness, I will take forever in revenge.” — Matilda Dixon, Darkness Falls (2003)
Ipush her supple body into the trunk of the tree; she doesn’t even put up a fight as I grind my dick into her center. My need to ruin her is visceral and fierce and I don’t hide it as I grab her by the neck, my thumb pressing into the soft hollow of her throat. She moans as I stroke her skin, causing my cock to twitch against her, and even between the clothes we’ve got on, I know she can feel how badly I crave her. I know that she likes being caught in the rapture of fear and pain; her body betraying her by inciting arousal. But it’s not betrayal, it’s greed. It’s a craving she just denies she has, but I’ll pull it from her. I’ll make sure she realizes what she’s missing.
My little fearslut.
I capture her lusty cries with my mouth, first taking a second to gently glide the metal of my tongue ring against her top lip before slipping my tongue into her mouth and devouring her.
I can sense her surprise from the use of my piercing, likely not knowing I had one. But if she thinks that it feels nice now, she’s in for something else entirely. She melts into me as I fuck her mouth with my tongue, licking her teeth and biting her lip. Both of us starved for this moment.
“Fuck, Reckless,” I groan into her mouth. I can’t tell where I end and she begins right now and even though I might have been gentle with her before, I can tell she craves the roughness and the darkness that exudes from me in violent waves.
I disconnect the kiss to reach up and tug her beanie off before sliding my hand around her head and tangling my fingers into her pretty pink strands. I tug her head to the side and she makes a scene out of the sting, hissing as she looks up at me with those devilish blue fucking eyes of hers. She bats them at me as I hold her like this, head tilted by the force of my grip in her hair as cold air escapes her parted lips.
“Tell me you’re mine, Olivia. Tell me no one else can fucking have you. Tell me that you belong to me.” I can feel her heart thundering against my body as I let the heat of my carnal glare light her up.
I expect my little rebellious flower to put up more of a fight, to be the reckless fucking girl I know her to be. But she submits, because she’s so fucking good for me. Because she knows what’s good for her.
“I’m yours. No one else’s,” she says with absolute confidence but there’s a slight hint of reticence layered in her tone—innocence swallowed up by a viper—causing me to damn near lose it. Before she can make another sound, I lean in for her neck.
My teeth scrape the surface of her skin—not quite biting—before I dart out my tongue, letting my piercing slide over her soft, cold flesh for a moment. And then, I start to kiss and suck. There’s no hope for her right now. She’s mine and I plan to mark her porcelain skin purple just to fucking prove it.
Olivia reaches her hands out between us and grips onto my hoodie, clenching the fabric between her closed fingers which subsequently yanks me further into her. My dick is fucking hard, painfully needing release. Especially as my desperate little fearslut instigates me, displaying just how badly she needs this. But she doesn’t seem so scared right now. She seems just as greedy as I am.
I take my unoccupied hand and reach between us to unzip her jacket again, only this time she helps to strip the whole thing off her body. She shivers instantly, likely feeling the cold air seep through the little holes in her sweater. She immediately returns her grasp on me and I grip her waist, pulling her into me as I continue kissing her neck.
I press myself into her even further, certain we can’t get any closer. She lets out another lusty, but loud, moan and I chuckle against her skin as I smile.
