My throat feels tight.
This time, it’s my turn to be quiet.
He doesn’t move toward me though. Doesn’t stalk to the bed like I desperately wish he would, but he keeps speaking.
“You cuddled up to me last night, your cheek pressed to my back, like I wouldn’t absolutelydevouryou in the worst way if I could have stayed awake.”
“Do it,” I whisper, unquestioning. Brainless? For him, I might be.
“You follow me into every danger, put yourself in all the worst positions, only so… what? You can add me to the list of Writhe men you’ve conquered?”
I narrow my gaze and resist the urge to stick up my middle finger. “Fuck off,” I snap. “Don’t degrade yourself like that.”
He looks surprised, brows raised, but he clearly catches my meaning. “Are you saying I mean more to you than Cosmo de Actis? Because I’ve watched the two of you fuck, you know, more than just for the Night of Lies. I hope he meant at least a little something to you, the way you let him treat you.”
I don’t ask for specifics. I don’t wish to hear them. Instead, my face red and hot and my body flushed, I say, “Did you like it? Watching him inside me? Pulling out and coming on my thigh?” Every time he did that, or my chest, if I gave him head. I’ve never swallowed cum before, but for Sullen, I would. “Did you like how I wasbrainlessfor him? A puppet, a doll? Something for him to use? Nothing more than a warm, wet?—”
“Get up.”
I straighten my spine, lifting my chin, but I don’t do as he said. I just stare back at him, watching the bones of his jaw jump, the white bandana around his neck just blocking out what I know are stark tendons in his throat.
“Karia,” he says, his voice raspy.“Get up.”
“First you tell me what Sanford said to you to make you like this, then I’ll consider your request.”
“I havealwaysbeen like this. For all you know, Sanford Rule could be a corpse desecrated on golden sheets across the hall. And I know you’re being a sarcastic little brat, but itwasn’ta request. Get.Up.”
I think of Sanford’s insides clawed to the outside. His tattered suit ripped to shreds.
Sullen must see something in my eyes because he smiles cruelly at me. “Yes, you forgot for a moment I was a monster.Now,remember.Come here.” He nods, indicating the space before his feet, black high-tops on which I saw him dry with the hair dryer after I emerged from the shower this morning. “Or do you want me so badly, you can’t obey a simple command, Little Sun? If Cosmo asked, would you?—”
I move so swiftly from my position on the bed to standing on the floor in my bare feet that I’m dizzy, my knees wobbly beneath me. “I don’t give a fuck about Cosmo,” I say, teeth gritted, the walls spinning a little around me but I don’t care. “Now, do you want me on my knees before you, or can I stay on my feet?” Without waiting for an answer, I slowly stalk toward him, wanting to run my fingers through the thickness of his hair. Drag my fingertips along his cheekbones, feel the split skin of his face under my nails. I want to press up onto my toes and bite down on his bottom lip. I want his blood in my mouth. His muscles beneath my hands. His breath against my ear and my name on his tongue.
I come closer, moving deliberately, my hips swaying with every step. My breasts are full and aching beneath my shirt, my fingers relaxed at my sides, but the tension inside my bloodstream is painful.
His lips are parted but he doesn’t speak. He only watches me, eyes on my face, moonlight cascading over his smooth skin.
When I am toe-to-toe with him, my bare feet less than an inch from his shoes, I stop, my heart racing erratically inside my chest. I feel as if I am vibrating with energy, lust,want,need, and something eerily close tolove.
I want to reach up and touch him.
I want him to eat me alive. Push me against the wall and fuck me just like that, make me promise I won’t ever let anyone else touch me how he does again in my life.
I would, too.
I would damn myself for his obsession.
His chest rises high, then higher still before slowly, it falls.
He doesn’t stop staring at me and I at him.
I am wearing next to nothing compared to everything he has on, and while I want him naked before me, I will take this. In fact, for us, it feels right, and I don’t mind.
But I can’t wait in submission forever.
I reach for him, my hand coming to his face, fingertips gently resting over his cheekbone. I feel the jagged cut beneath my ring finger, my thumb close to his pretty mouth, but I don’t push too far.
Still, I press up on my toes, wanting to lean into him, wanting to kiss him, bite him, lick him.
