Page 21

twenty-one

Dove

D ays pass and things fall into a normal rhythm. Well, as normal as they can be right now. Night after night I wake up in a cold sweat, thrashing in Rowan’s arms as the nightmares take up more and more space in my mind. I dream of the tunnels, of the corpses and their stench, of the chains wrapped tightly around my wrists and ankles. I wake up screaming, not knowing what to do with myself.

But Rowan is always here, reeling me back into the present moment, into the strength he provides to me and the warmth radiating from his bare chest against my back. He holds me, then he makes me come. And I let him, because it’s the only thing that puts me to sleep. I don’t wake again until the sun is up.

And I see him… I see him fighting his demons every day when he doesn’t think I’m paying attention. I can feel his kisses getting more tense, like he’s afraid he’s going to wake up one day and I’ll be gone again. We’re back to square one, where he’s stressed and worried about me, and I worry about him just as much.

Matthew, the doctor Rowan hired to see me, keeps coming here. They don’t tell me what’s wrong, and I never ask. I already know that whatever it is, it’s bad. The IV drips I receive keep me stable, though my condition is only getting worse. Just last night, I fell down while brushing my teeth, my legs no longer being able to support me. I got up and went to bed early, making sure Rowan didn’t find out about the incident.

He also took me to the hospital to see my mom and never let me out of his sight. He said the EFW wouldn’t be on our tracks this time, that they are waiting for us to give them what they want. Still, my brother didn’t come—he didn’t think it was a good idea to tell her he’s alive. And I couldn’t argue with that. My mom already lost her son once, and if Cole continues to put himself in danger the way he just did by leaving to meet in secret with one of his men, I’d rather she doesn’t know he’s alive for now.

But I went to see her, and the sight of her in a wheelchair broke my goddamn heart. They think she’ll make a full recovery, but it will take time. I already know that as soon as they let her out, I’ll use all my savings to get her a full-time nurse. Anything to get her back on her feet as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, I’ve been working almost nonstop. Reading articles, writing down names who I think might know more than what’s in the public eye, linking events together and trying to prove the EFW are guilty, just like my boss taught me. I feel powerful doing it, and it reminds me why I chose this line of work.

Except… the job I had is gone. I know it is, and I don’t need to read the long string of emails I got from Miss Pratt to know that. In fact, I’ve been avoiding it. I know it will be just another thing the EFW took away from me, and fuck, I worked so damn hard to get that internship… the internship no one else in my class got. Anger surges through me, and I use it as fuel to keep researching while ignoring everything else.

Everything except…

Rowan walks out on the front terrace and, without a word, his hand moves with deliberate ease, lowering my laptop lid with a soft click. My eyes snap to his, and my hands extend to open it up again. But he puts pressure on it with his fingers, and I have no choice but to give up.

I tilt my head back to catch his gaze, my breath hitching and my lips parting in frustration. He looms above me, his broad frame silhouetted against the soft moonlight.

“Rowan…”

His eyes darken as they hold mine.

“That’s enough,” he says. “What did I tell you?”

Rolling my eyes, I cross my arms at my chest, but he doesn’t falter.

“I know what you told me, and I have been taking care of myself. I was just reading something that—”

His voice goes down an octave as he says slowly, “You barely ate your dinner. You haven’t slept enough. And you didn’t come into my office this morning, like I told you to.”

Told me, not asked me.

I breathe out, my thighs pressing together. He asked me to go into his office every morning at eight sharp. Because he needed to eat… and he wanted me to be his first meal of the day.

My frustration suddenly vanishes into the starry night. The garden is alive with the hum of crickets and the faint whisper of an early fall breeze, stirring the leaves of the willow trees and making me pull the edges of my blanket tighter around my body. It smells like fading blossoms, as if the world is clinging to the last traces of warmth that the season offers.

“How did you even know?” I ask. “You were busy all day. You didn’t pay attention—”

“I pay attention to everything.”

I squirm in my chair, defending myself. “I wasn’t hungry. And I’m too eager to get this research done to spend my time sleeping. I’ll have plenty of chances to do that after it’s all over.”

He hums, a dark smile stretching across his lush lips as he pushes my laptop to the side, then stands upright and disappears behind my chair. A shiver runs down my spine, and I know it’s not from the breeze this time. His muscular arm snakes down my naked collarbone, dipping beneath my silky nightgown until it reaches my soft nipple. I gasp, the need for him building fast.

His breath tickles the shell of my ear as he says, “We made a bargain, angel, did we not?”

When I don’t answer, his fingers pinch my nipple and I let out a whimper.

“Did. We. Not.”

“Y-Yes,” I whisper, my eyelids growing heavy.

“ Yes ,” he mocks, his hand sliding down, down, down, until it goes past the edge of my gown and his skilled fingers pull it up. The breeze blows softly against my pussy, now covered only by the thin layer of my panties. “You can work all you want, so long as you follow the simple rules I laid out. So help me understand, then, why is my good little angel not taking proper care of herself? And why did she not bend over my desk this morning with her beautiful pussy out on display?”

“Had work…” I mumble, my chest rising and lowering with heavy breaths. “…to do.”

He hums in understanding, but I know there’s no sympathy in that low growl. I’m about to be punished hard. Anyone seeing us could tell. His middle finger presses into my pussy, feeling for the wetness already pooling there, behind the thin lace. But he doesn’t go any further than that. I yelp when his other hand comes around me and he grabs my thighs, making me bend over the table in front of me. My head turns to the side, face pressed to the wood. The chair is removed, and I lower my bare legs to the heated floor, my blanket now a mess at our feet.

His fingers hook my panties and pull them down to the middle of my thighs. I try to wiggle out of them, but they won’t slide down unless we pull them down—which Rowan doesn’t do. He wants me restrained.

He lifts my nightgown, letting it rest on my lower back, exposing me to him fully—my pussy, my ass, and my trembling inner thighs smeared with my arousal. I bite my lower lip expecting him to play with me, to have the meal I denied him earlier. But he doesn’t do any of that.

Instead, cold liquid makes shivering contact with my tightest hole, and my eyes widen at the realization. He’s been patient and caring and offered me all the pleasure I was willing to take. But we had an argument about this the other day, when I told him he should stop holding back. I told him, once again, that I didn’t want to be treated like a victim or like a wounded person—it would only reinforce it in my head.

He listened. And now… he’s going to fuck me in the ass.

“My, my ,” he drawls, spreading my ass cheeks with his warm palms. “Look at this precious asshole opening and closing for me. That’s so very naughty of you, Dove. Don’t you think?”

Shame burns on my face with the force of a thousand suns, making my pussy wetter.

The sound of a zipper reaches my ears, and he positions his warm, throbbing cock against my hole. I whimper, moan , and he has barely touched me. I arch my back, and—

Tap.

Tap. Tap.

His fingers tap my closed lips, a silent command to open my mouth. Hesitantly, I obey. And when I do, they push to the back of my throat, silencing me. My eyes go wide at the intrusion, but I do nothing to push them out.

“I’d pacify you with my cock if I could… but it’s a bit too ‘eager’ to fuck your ass.” He huffs a taunting laugh as he repeats my words from earlier back to me. Then his cock pushes against my tight hole, and pain trickles through, burning, then subsiding, then burning again. I thrash, trying to get away. I know he won’t hurt me, but I can’t fight the instinct overpowering me.

He chuckles, then says, “You know that won’t work with me.” He grabs my ass cheek with his free hand and digs his fingers into my soft skin. The first inch of his cock enters me—velvety and hard as a rock. “I own you, angel. So you will stay. And you will come with my cock buried in your ass when I tell you to. Yes?”

I nod as best I can, my body sagging onto the table as I try to relax my muscles.

“Good girl. Don’t thrash, don’t shout, simply bite my finger if you want me to stop, and I will.”

I nod one more time, then his cock spears me further from behind. The hand on my ass extends to my hair, caressing me in gentle strokes—a sharp contrast to remind me he can be gentle when he wants. My face scrunches in pain, but my pussy throbs, begging to be touched. Arousal drips down my thigh, coating my skin with the proof of my innate submission.

“That’s it,” Rowan whispers above me as he continues to caress my hair. “What a good little cum hole.” He praises me through it until finally, my face relaxes, and I wait.

Neither of us is moving anymore. He just stands there with his cock in my ass and I’m bent over this table with my panties down my thighs and his fingers in my drooling mouth.

I’m completely at his mercy, and all I can do is wait for how he wants to take me.

Will he be gentle? Or will he fuck me hard?

Thrust.

His balls hit my pussy when he enters me to the hilt, and his abdomen clashes against my ass cheeks. He hums in pure pleasure—a decadent, sultry undertone streaming through the ebb of his voice.

“Oh, angel…” he laughs. “I simply can’t decide when I like you better—when you’re a sweet, obedient girl or an undisciplined little brat.”

Thrust. Thrust.

His belt buckle jingles with every movement. I moan and grunt as he pushes me higher on the table. My ass feels full as he slides in and out of me with ease now, after it has somewhat adjusted to his size. I grip the edge above my head with my hands, holding on tight. Except I can’t hold on tight—my hands are sweaty and my pussy has found the much-needed friction now that my hips are making contact with the wooden corner. It takes but a few seconds before it turns into a slippery mess from my wetness being smeared around.

All my breath leaves my lungs when my orgasm spreads through me like a gigantic wave, drowning everything in its path. Simultaneously, Rowan pulls his drenched fingers out of my drooling mouth, this time gripping my hair forcefully instead of caressing it. He yanks my head back, stretching my neck to its limit as my body trembles with my pleasure dripping out of me. My scalp burns from the force of his grasp and he bends over me, burying his lips in that exact spot.

His muffled voice reaches my ears. “Did I tell you to come?”

My breathing is shallow and uneven as my worried eyes roll back to meet his.

His cock is still in my ass, and my cheeks are hugging it shamelessly.

Oh, God…

“Breathe for me,” he says.

I take in a big heap of air, and he pulls out as I exhale, taking the last remains of pain with him. He flips me over to face him and sits me down on the table. My ass hurts already, but I don’t flinch. The next thing I know, he’s on his knees and his soft mouth is on my slippery pussy.

“Rowan—” My head falls back, a groan escaping me as I look up at the starry sky.

“Oh my fucking God, angel,” he mutters, mouth full of pussy and my cum. “I should tie you up as my glory hole for the rest of the night. I should punish and discipline you right now. But you’re so sweet— this is so sweet. Fuck…”

The idea excites me more than I’d like to admit. I love it when he uses me without asking. I love it when he takes, takes, takes, and doesn’t get satiated with me. This was supposed to be a punishment, but his self-control often shatters when he’s around me. A shy smile spreads on my face, my fingers diving into his dark, velvety hair and fisting it as I bring his tongue closer to my clit.

He licks me fast and tenderly, savoring me. The meal I denied him this morning in his office.

My pussy grows slicker, and I barely feel it when he pushes one finger inside me. Then the second one follows suit, and I lie on my back, watching a shooting star fly by as the man I love licks between my legs like he’s been starved.

“I love…” I whisper, my eyelashes fluttering closed. “I love you.”

He grunts, his voice vibrating through my core as he murmurs something I don’t understand.

But I don’t ask for clarification. Because the weighted band he just slipped up my finger says it all.