Even now, the darkness taunted me. It was restless, and it moved along my skin in search of someone that wasn’t here.
Julius.
The gremlin had done something. I didn’t know what, but it was almost like there was more of the darkness inside me now, a new darkness overthrowing the old one. Something was imbalanced. Some sort of internal battle was happening, and I hated that I didn’t know what it was. All I had was a gut feeling and the darkness rolling underneath me to guide me.
One part sought out Sebastian and the other raged to be free.
I clung to him even harder. He rubbed his hand down my hair. “We’re almost finished here, you two go on back to yourplace,” Melanie told him. Sebastian inherited his mother’s hair and eyes while the height and sheer mass of him came from the Grim Reaper. Every single one of the men in the metal cave was over six feet tall, it was overwhelming when I really looked at all of them together. Sebastian seemed to be several inches shorter than his brothers, being closer to the Grim Reaper’s height. As for Barron, August, and Payne I didn’t know what they ate growing up but they were definitely rounding up toward seven feet.
Sebastian scooped me up in his arms from where we sat on the ground. “I’ll check in later.”
Melanie nodded and walked away while Sebastian faded us to his place. He placed my feet on the ground. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“My leg’s fine,” I croaked. “Your mom has a great healing ability.”
He frowned. “She does,” he agreed. “But that wasn’t what I meant.”
I shifted on my feet. “Just don’t leave me, and I’ll be okay.”
He gripped my shoulders firmly. “I’m not going anywhere. I already told you.” He rubbed his thumbs soothingly across my collarbone before twisting me around and leading me toward the hallway. “Let’s give you a bath.”
“You just want me naked.”
He laughed but didn’t deny it. Flipping on the light switch once we were in the bathroom, he maneuvered around me and went to turn on the faucet. Once he twisted on the hot water, he came for me next. “Here.” I lifted my arms and up went my shirt, next came my bra. The rest of my clothes followed, and electric heat soared through me when he cupped one of my breasts, a mischievous massage, almost like he couldn’t help himself.
“Are you getting in with me?” I asked softly, lulled by the sweet ache his teasing fondle brought to my skin.
Instead of answering, he led me to the tub and helped me into the scalding water where I moaned as soon as the water caressed my skin. Only my head and shoulders remained above the water. I lifted my arms out of the water and lay them across the edges of the tub. Sebastian's eyes roamed over me appreciatively as he bent down next to the tub. His hand traced the top of the water. “How does it feel?”
I reached for his shirt and pulled him toward the water. “Better if you were in here with me.”
His hand disappeared into the water. “Tell me, Izzie, can you feel him right now?” I caught his heated expression, trying to decipher if his mood was darkened with thoughts of Julius or was it—I gasped and spread my legs as far apart as I could in the tub when his fingers slipped between my folds and wasted no time in burying one inside me.
I shook my head with a fever crawling up my neck and face. “No,” I panted, and it was the truth. The darkness held no control when Sebastian was pulling pleasure from us—it even seemed to fall victim to Sebastian’s lingering stamps on my skin. So no, I felt nothing—no Julius, barely even the darkness—but what he was making me feel.
“He had no place inside your body or mind, you know that?” Sebastian asked me. I closed my eyes and arched into his fingers. One circled my clit while another pumped in and out teasingly, just enough so that he withheld the pleasure. “Every time you shake in fear of him, my blood runs cold because of the desperation I feel at being unable to help you, then it turns into rage with the need to go hunt him down and tear him limb from limb.”
Opening my eyes, I saw anguish echoing in the depths of the pale blues staring at me. I blinked, falling harder for him rightthen and there. He felt pain and fury for my sake, and I adored him more because of it. “Sebastian,” I murmured, in the throes of passion. He abruptly stopped and when I saw him retreating, disengaging his fingers from my body, I leaned forward and grasped his arm. “Don’t stop.”
“Tell me how to make him go away,” he whispered hoarsely, leaning over me in the tub and placing one of his hands against the back of my neck to lift me while the other rested on my stomach. “I can’t handle the fucking shit I saw you go through earlier. It’s like I could feel Julius clawing at you from the inside and taking you from me when I was right there beside you.”
I swallowed heavily and pressed my forehead to Sebastian’s, aligning our mouths with one another. “You do make him go away.” I kissed him softly. “You always make Julius go away, the moment you touch me, he fades away completely.”
Sebastian sucked in a breath, and electric tingles raced over my skin as his exhale came down over my lips. “I don’t want him there at all.”
I leaned my head back so I could see his eyes better. “Will you grow to resent me because of the darkness inside me?” I went ahead and asked straight out, terrified of his answer. “I might never truly escape from Julius.”
“Never say never.” Sebastian’s blue eyes shifted into the same shade of black I witnessed before. I was mesmerized by it for a second. “I’ll free you completely.”
And with a darkened glimpse at my lips, he dived in and stole my breath with a kiss. His hand slid down my stomach, finding that place that craved his touch so much. He invaded me at once with a finger. He started gentle before he got a little callous, wanting me to squirm, then when he pulled it out, he pressed back in with two. I moaned into his lips and brought my hands around his neck, pressing him so tightly into my body, his shirt was getting soaked. I wrapped a leg around the arm betweenmy thighs and he used that as leverage to anchor my body up for his display and to increase my pleasure.
“Go on,” his voice was raspy between our kisses. “Slide yourself against my arm while I finger-fuck you.”
Oh, fuck.
I did as he said, grinding my pubic bone across his arm as he pumped in and out of me with two fingers. Pleasure built up like a hurricane inside me and soon I was seeing the stars behind my closed eyelids. “That’s it,” he encouraged me, and I whimpered and bit into his lips because I felt so out of control. He groaned, and I dived into my orgasm completely with the hunger I felt with the way he kissed me and the sounds he made as he worked me into the most satisfying pleasure of my life.
My arms went slack around him, and my head would have smacked against the tub if not for his hand still holding the nape of my neck as he eased my head down as my body twitched and I moaned because he was still driving me mad with his fingers. The best thing about intimacy with Sebastian was the way he looked at me before, during, and after. It was always the same like I was some sort of jewel and he couldn’t have been luckier to have me.
