I began moving, and with each thrust, I could feel my entire reality burning. The plans I had for her, the assumptions of who she was—all of it charred, along with my will to suffocate whatever magic she possessed. Instead, a smoke-filled euphoria filled my mind like nothing else I’d ever experienced. Before I knew it, I was doing everything I could to not completely lose myself in her.
At one point, she tried to push me away and signal that shecouldn’t take anymore. I simply readjusted, taking more of her weight. Catching her eyes, I watched as the flames built one last time. I could feel a change then, the exact moment she fully submitted to me. In doing so, she hit her biggest orgasm yet and screamed out my name as her body thrashed.
10
Ember
No words described how I felt the next morning.
Not only had my body refused to wake up from whatever coma Silas put me in, but my mind kept trying to convince us that we should be mad about it.
Were we?
No.
Especially not when all my focus was needed just to move. Every muscle of my body seemed unconcerned with the fact I needed to be able to function today. Last night had been anythingbutaverage, and my body was still reeling from the experience. I had walked into the club with the intent to cause some issues, but never in a million years did I expectthat.
Now I found myself stuck between a wall of self-loathing and leftover ecstasy. Accepting Silas’s demands had been a special kind of stupid in the first place, something Iprobablyshould have fought back harder against. I knew that now, considering I could still feel him in all the spots he had touched, like my skin was still burning from his grip. I couldn’t compare that experience with him to anything else.
The way he made me feel—I had never had thatreaction before,ever, to anyone. I had given him the control he so desperately sought, and I reaped many benefits because of it—nine, to be exact.
A wave of heat flooded my cheeks and suddenly, I felt stupid. Wrapping the comforter tighter around me, I buried my face into the pillow underneath me. That one word bounced around in my head.Stupid. Could I just use that as an excuse? Chalk last night up to ovulation and stupidity? No.
Before I entered the club last night, I had made decisions I knew would push every one of his buttons. Every choice was intentional, and it all started the moment I asked the receptionist for a different mask. So I couldn't blame this on stupidity. I knew what I was getting myself into.
Thinking about it now, I probably could’ve handled things differently. Icould havewent in with the full intention of just doing my job. However, that’s not what I’d wanted. I wanted to do my job and see him suffer, to beg. Two steps into the club last night, and I was a goner. My camera was instantly out, and I was capturing shots Ineverthought possible. I’d instantly been transported to heaven, operating on pure adrenaline by the time Silas showed up. I squeezed the blanket around my head as I felt a pulse between my legs at the mention of his name.
What he had done—What had happened in that room—
Everything I hated about him had been the very things I let unravel me. The control he needed, the arrogance he always wore—every sharp edge of him repulsed me, and yet somehow, I had practically begged for them to carve into me.
I closed my eyes and tried to swallow whatever emotions were trying to form. I had no idea what he looked like, and even more so, I’d left that room in a state of pure delusion. He had fucked me stupid, and all I could picture now was the mask over his face.Thatimage, and the feelings he evoked in me while wearing it, seared into my mind. Everything else about the night had turned hazy.
I knew Silas drove me home. I remembered him helping me into the car when my body started to feel heavy. The drive had been quiet, until he said my name once, low and certain. I also vaguely remembered a warm hand on my thigh at one point, but that could have been my imagination.
After leaving his car, the blurred fragments dissolved into nothing. I had no idea I’d even changed my clothes. And yet, when I shifted to look down, I was wearing my pajamas. My eyes scanned over the tiny, frosted donuts scattered across the fabric on my body. The irony wasn’t lost on me, in fact, it hit more like a cruel joke.
Last night, Silas uncovered a side of me thatIdidn’t even know existed. I’d offeredmyself to a man I barely knew and thought I hated, with his brother watching us from only a few feet away. Now here I sat, the very same girl, wrapped in cloth confections and absolutely no regret.
Taking a deep breath, I let myself stretch out under the thick blanket and opened my eyes to the almond-colored ceiling.Almond, a color very different from dark grey. The smoky grey that had been behind Kyrin, the color that surrounded us aswe—
I pulled the blanket off me and pushed myself upright.
No. He did not get to just snap his fingers—or in this case,usethem, and think he could have me. The whole reason I was in that room to begin with was because I was proving that I was the one in control. He had thrown me over his goddamn shoulder like a bag of trash. He probably thought he could do that to just about anyone, and they would melt. A familiar irritation rematerialized for him and replaced everything else that had begun to manifest. I wasnotthat type of woman, one that he thought he could manipulate. I was not just a toy to play with.Despite the fact that he could play really well.
Silas Solstice was the farthest thing from special, and someone needed to prove that to him. Persuading myself to never partake in anything with him again, I shifted off the bed. As I moved the blanket and turned my body, I immediately noticed something strange.
Facing my window, I noticed it was open.Not completely, but wide enough to let the air in from outside. The curtain swayed gently with the light morning breeze, as if mocking me. I straightened my spine as I watched it move again.
Ever since a rogue bird had flown into my room, I never opened that window. Not at night, notever.In my mind, it had been glued shut.
A chill crawled up my spine as I continued to stare at it, my mind scrambling for excuses. Maybe I had simply forgotten. Maybe Kinsley had been in here while I slept. Maybe I’d beentoo out of it last night and opened it, just needing some air. All I knew was that it couldn’t have been Silas.There was no way.Dismissing me from his car, he had watched me just long enough to see me unlock the door. Once I closed it, he drove off.
I knew that for sure,right?
Rubbing my temples, I let myself settle on one of the explanations and forced myself to stand. My bare feet made no sound as I crossed the room to my window and grasped the bottom of the pane. Pulling it down, I locked it, letting my fingers pause on the latch. After looking over it for a few more seconds, I let go and moved the few feet to my closet. Convincing myself to forget about the window, I decided to focus on the day ahead of me and grabbed some jeans with a light blue shirt.
I had just pulled the fabric over my head when I caught a swirl of color in the corner of my eye. Turning toward the vanity, my eyes landed on a pile of flowers that had been haphazardly laid across the top. No vase and no wrapping, just a variety of petals and stems stacked on top of each other. My eyes moved back toward the window as I pulled my jeans up over my hips.
