Lucien stares at me and grins. He's been smiling a lot lately, and it makes my heart so damn happy. "Don't worry, baby," he says, using his newest nickname for me that makes me melt right on the spot. "I won't ever share you with anyone else." His teeth nip my bottom lip as he growls, "You're mine. All mine."
The rest of the shower is spent with Lucien seeing how many orgasms he can draw out of me.
And the answer is seven.
Lucky number seven.
CHAPTER 13
LUCIEN
THAT NIGHT I'M lying in bed next to Adeline. She's already asleep on the other side of the mattress, resting peacefully on her stomach with her hands curled under her chest and her pretty face turned towards me.
I watch her sleep…her eyelids fluttering softly…her deep even breaths causing her back to rise and fall.
She's devastatingly beautiful, and I still can't believe I was lucky enough to have her walk into my life. It's almost as if she's some kind of serendipitous gift, something perfect to reward me for surviving the first half of my life, the light at the end of a very dark tunnel that was my youth.
And if fate truly led me to her, then I would gladly suffer through everything again just to be here with her now.
Gently, I brush my fingertips over her soft cheek, grasping a stray, dark lock and tucking it behind her delicate ear. The fact that I can touch her now without panicking is amazing. I never thought there would be a cure for me.
But Adeline is my cure.
I believe that to be true.
I become so fixated on her when she's near that nothing else can permeate my thoughts. There's only her.
Hesitantly, I move closer to Adeline. I never wanted this type of intimacy with anyone before. But when it comes to her, it's like I can never be close enough. I want to crawl inside of her and live forever.
I want to make her mine…because I'm already hers.
As if sensing my nearness, Adeline snuggles up against me, laying her head on my chest as I wrap my arm around her, protecting her. Keeping her safe with me.Always.
My lips kiss her crown, and I memorize every hair on her head until my eyelids begin to grow heavy.
As I begin to drift asleep, I can sense the nightmare coming before I can stop it.
It's the smell that always hits me first…the overwhelming stench of cigarettes, booze, chemicals, cat piss and burnt toast…
It's early when I wake up to the smell of burnt toast.
My stomach clenches with both hunger and nausea at the same time. Mama's only nice before something terrible happens.
And if she's making me something to eat for breakfast, then it's probably gonna be a bad day.
I stand up from my small, dirty mattress on the floor and get dressed for school. I just started sixth grade this year, and so far it's going okay. I just wish my mama would let me go more.
Today's Thursday, which means it's pizza day. My belly growls loudly at the thought of food, and I grimace in pain when my stomach cramps up from being empty for so long.
Mama didn't make dinner last night, not that it was out of the ordinary for her, and my search for food in the cupboards left me empty-handed.
After shooing away Lucy, a black cat with yellow eyes, off of my book bag, I slip the straps around my shoulders and walk out of my room, pushing past the shower curtain serving as a makeshift door. It's almost time for the bus, and I don't wanna be late.
The acrid smell of burnt toast grows stronger as I trudge through the cluttered living room, littered with beer cans and boxes of junk that Mama buys for next to nothing from yard sales and auctions.
We live in an old, single-wide trailer, and there's not much room for even the two of us, let alone Mama's numerous boyfriends and friends that come over all the time to party and crash on the ratty couch or recliner.
Her current boyfriend must still be in her room sleeping off his hangover from drinking all night. At least all he does is drink and occasionally hit or kick me. Her prior boyfriends were much, much worse.
