It’s a fucking explosion.
Pure ecstasy paints her face as the orgasm rips through her, so potent I can almost taste the way she comes with my name purring from her sweet lips.
Aname.
Nash, not Carter like I’m dying to hear her moan.
She’s falling apart at the seams, her eyes shut tight, head thrown back. Her hands give out and she thuds against the hood, her spine arching.
My orgasm follows almost instantly, cramping my thighs as I fall forward, bracing on both hands.
“Fuck,” I snap, resting my forehead on her chest. “I could do this for hours, pretty girl.”
“Maybe not here,” she chuckles. “Although... do you think that one day, not now, but some time in the future, we could—” She stops talking when I straighten, the adorable shyness in her tone piquing my interest.
“Keep going, Hailey.”
“I thought it could be fun if you kept the rope...?”
Ijustblew my fucking load into the condom, but the picture Hailey’s words paint makes my cock twitch. God, she’s perfect.
“You want me to tie you up?”
She blushes harder, answering with a curt nod.
“The minute I take you home,” I promise. “We’ll start with your hands, and if you like it, there’s a lot more fun to be had with rope.”
She gives me a small smile when I peck her nose and adjust her clothes. Her feet hit the ground, and I step away to discard the condom and clean up with a wad of paper napkins.
By the time I’m done, Hailey stands by the tree where we started, her back flush with the rough bark.
It’s almost dark out now. The Pontiac’s headlights illuminate the near vicinity, reminding me of Jensen thrashing in the chair.
“Go on,” Hailey urges, holding the rope ends. “I can’t tie knots.” She doesn’t look as worried as she did fifteen minutes ago.
I secure her against the tree, then grab the Glock from the car, moving ten, fifteen, twenty feet. Twigs snap under my boots as I position myself in her sightline, aiming the gun forward, away from her, at the angle she described on our way here.
“I was looking at it from the side. Not into the barrel, not like I stood behind the shooter, but from the side. Does that make sense?”
Perfect sense.
I flip the safety, my finger sliding to the trigger and it’s like I’m reunited with the part of myself I had to bury when I arrived at Lakeside. The cold metal, the anticipation of the recoil... fuck it feels good. Familiar. Real.
“Watch the gun,” I tell Hailey. “We’re only doing this once.”
As soon as she looks at the Glock, I pull the trigger. The gunshot shatters the quiet, sending a flock of birds scattering into the sky.
The echo dies away, and it’s just the gun, my girl tied to the tree, and me, feeling more myself than I have in weeks.
And Hailey’s gone... sucked into the vortex of her past.
Her eyes grow wider, the sharp concentration of a moment ago morphing into fear. She’s staring at the smoking barrel without seeing it.
I hate that look on her with everything in me. Flipping the safety on, I tuck the gun away, stopping beside Hailey. I’m itching to drag her back from whatever hell she’s witnessing.
But I don’t.
This is important. Too important to interrupt. She’s not thrashing or trying to run. She’s not whimpering or crying. She’s silently shaking, her gaze fixed far beyond the here and now.
