Chapter22
Take All of It
ELLIOT
My head is killing me,my chest hurts more than usual, and there’s a smell hanging in the air so potent I can’t breathe.
Like mint and honey. Or cinnamon and smoke.
It’s intoxicating.
I want to bathe in it. Drown in it.
Devour it.
On my hands and knees, I crawl. Down the shadowed hallway, through a doorway I recognize but have never crossed before, and into the plush comfort of a warm bed.
This is where the smell is coming from, somewhere between these sheets, where a quiet voice begins to grumble as I burrow into them.
“Ergh…” she says. “You’re heavy.”
A low growl churns in my chest, and she quiets.
It’s here. I know it’s here. I can almost taste it.
My hands roam over soft skin and cool fabric, touching and scenting every inch. The voice makes no protest, though she starts to squirm as I draw nearer.
I find the source between her thighs, and I breathe deep as her knees part for me.
“Baby…” I groan, nuzzling her panties. “You smell like…like us.”
“I know.”
The moonstruck haze lifts as her words ring in my ears, and I look up to see her watching me with puffy eyes.
She’s been crying. My fault, I assume. She ought to drain me for that.
“Are you hungry?” I ask her.
She lies.
“No.”
“Please, Iris. Just take it. I don’t need it.”
“Elliot, you’re not thinking clearly.”
Yes, I am. Nothing’s ever been clearer in my life.
I’m responsible for her pain. I’m the reason she’s hurting. And this is the only way I know to make it better.
“Please, Iris. Just take it. Take all of it. I don’t need it.”
I wrap my arms around her waist and rest my head in her lap as I plead with her. She takes pity on me and slips her hand down the back of my neck, stroking the space above my dampener. With every pass of her fingers, it constricts, but I ignore it in favor of keeping her close.
“Elliot,” she whispers. “I can’t.”
“I want you to. I want you to have it.”
