A long pause stretches out.
He must be undressing, taking his time, drawing it out to make me ache for him.
That would be just like him.
Still, the quiet lingers, long enough for a sliver of unease to slide down my spine. Just a ripple, barely there, but impossible to ignore.
The mattress dips, and a rush of heat skates up my spine.
Then hands slide around my throat. Big and rough. Not gentle and playful.
A startled breath catches in my chest, the sound small in the dark.
Oh. We’re doingthis. Breath play.
His fingers tighten. A little more. Then too much.
Air snags, trapped without movement. My mouth opens, but nothing comes out—not even his name. “Bas—” becomes a rasp swallowed by the pressure at my neck.
Stop.
Stop.
Stop.
This is too much.
My hands fly up, clawing at his wrists. Nails dig and scrape, trying to pry even a sliver of space to breathe. His grip only locks down harder.
My legs kick at the sheets, and my vision pricks with bright spots, blooming at the edges. A pulse pounds in my ears.
The room folds in on itself. Sounds narrow. Everything tunnels into the brutal, undeniable truth pressing against my windpipe.
This is too far. I don’t like this.
My lungs burn, and my fingers slip. The world tilts, and everything goes thin.
Then the weight on me is ripped away so quickly the mattress bucks beneath my body. Air rushes into my throat in a jagged scrape that burns all the way down.
A crash follows. Something slams hard into the dresser. Wood splinters or glass shatters. The room explodes with sound.
Another crash. A grunt. Flesh hitting flesh. The thud of bodies colliding with walls.
I roll onto my side, sucking in air that barely cooperates, lungs stuttering. My vision swims, bending the darkness into smeared shapes and shadows.
The fight is everywhere. Heavy breaths. The sharp smack of a fist landing. The strained scrape of feet sliding across the floor.
My hand reaches blindly toward the nightstand, fingers knocking against the lamp’s base.
Everything blurs. Tilts. But I find the switch.
Light.
Light.
Please. Light.
My strength wavers, but I force my fingers to curl around the switch and twist as the sounds of the fight crash around me. The lamp flares to life in a shaky burst of light.
