Panic brewed, a small ember I tried to snuff because hewouldn’t. It was simply a trick, and I swallowed the uneasiness in my timbre. “Thorne?”
His reply hit a part of me that I didn’t know existed. “See you back at base, Valens.”
See you back at base.
My throat tightened, and I tugged on the belt holding me. Fuck, it wasn’t budging. “T-This isn’t funny.” I twisted my head, a stupid cry leaving me at the impossibility of turning to face him.
A trick. A trick. It’s a fucking trick.
“You’re playing, Thorne. You wouldn’t fucking leave me here.” Despite the anger spewing from my lips, a shiver coaxed itself up my spine at the silence brewing in the darkness.
“I warned you,” he stated calmly, almosttoocalmly, his footsteps becoming quieter with each passing second.
He was leaving me. He was…leavingme.
Desperate to unleash the hold around my wrists, I struggled to escape, to run after him. “W-Wait. You can’t… You can’t leave me here like this.” Panic settled, deep and fast, and any remaining pleasure evaporated into the heated air.
“You wanted to doubt me? Oppose me?” The distance of his voice only made things worse, a confirmation of his willingness to leave. “I don’t entertain brats, Oren. You wanted to test that? Bask in your fucking consequences.”
My chest heaved, and my breaths were fast, rugged. He would discard me here for the evening, and the thought alone brought tears to my eyes. I couldn’t even wipe them away as the deafening silence lingered between us.
A silence that was disrupted by the sob in my chest. “I-I didn’t mean to. I don’t doubt you. I wanted you, always you, and I don’t want you to leave. Please… Please don’t leave me alone again.”
Stillness.
No reply. Not a word. Not a comment.
No reassurance.
Nothing.
And that? That bitter emptiness? It clung thick to the tears that raked down my cheeks. “I-I’m sorry. P-Please… You said… you said you’d never—” Another sob shook me, the fear of being discarded, abandonment once again settling in my heart.
Hands met my hips, warmth caressing my back like a grounding cord. “Beg me. Tell me what you want, dove. What you need.”
My shoulders slackened as much as the restraint allowed, cries pouring from me. “You. I want you, always. You’re everything… everything I ever need. P-Please don’t leave me again. I can’t… I won’t survive if you leave me.”
Lips.Hislips met my cheek, kissing me with the gentleness he only seemed to harbor for me. “I’m not leaving. I would never leave you. And I’m sorry I scared you…” His breath danced across my throat, his hands, ungloved, trailing down my bare upper half. “I am going nowhere. Never. Not in this life or the next.”
I leaned into the ghost of his touches, closing my eyes to relish the feeling of his soul against mine. It mended something never torn nor broken, just defeated. Something buried beneath layers of crusted paint—love. A deep, unyielding love that had me believing every syllable spoken.
A small sniffle. “You can’t leave me. I-I won’t allow it.”
“Good,” he groaned, pushing into me, his hardness apparent. “Because even if you tried to run, I’d never let you escape me.”
I bit my lip to keep my whine at the feel of his cock contained, my hips automatically shifting back to chase him. I gave him a nod, and it served as my agreement, because I never wanted to run from him again.
In response to my commitment, his fingers caressed my waistband, teasing. “Is there something you want, dove?”
“Mhm.” Everything was hot beneath the pads of his fingers, igniting every sinful thought I’d ever had about this man. “You,” I breathed, squirming to chase that rising heat. “I want you.”
“Yeah?”
Tucking his thumbs under my belt loops, he tugged, my pants and briefs coming off in one sweep. His body pressed fully into mine, and with my clothes no longer in the way, the realization flooded me immediately.
He was already naked.
Without missing a beat, his calloused hand found my cock, pumping me as his words continued. “Where? Where do you want me, baby?”
