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13

SHILOH

A searing pain in my scalp jolts me out of my deep slumber.

Or is it the pressure between my legs that woke me up? This inexplicable need to come?

Confusion settles into my bones, hot and thick.

But it still isn’t as agonizing as the need to come. I’m wound up tight, and I haven’t even touched myself. I couldn’t have.

I’ve been out until this moment.

After I was grabbed in an alley.

That prick in my neck…

I was drugged.

By him. My stepbrother.

Flashbacks come and go. They’re blurry. Unclear. Bits and pieces of them.

They seem like a dream.

They aren’t .

God, this ache. This craving. This tugging on my hair.

This strange angle of my head. It should be tilted upward when someone pulls on my hair. Instead, it’s twisted to the side.

That thought is a fleeting one.

My need for relief is back. I’m overwhelmed by it. Can’t breathe from how intense it is.

The pressure in my lower belly makes me feel hot and desperate.

I’m on the verge of losing my mind. Or throwing up.

Definitely losing my mind.

I’m about to give in to it. I’ll open my eyes and truly wake up to this sweet, painful hell I’m in.

I won’t.

He touched me while I was out; there’s no denying that. The sting in my breasts means he did something to them. And my pussy, fuck, I’m soaked.

It’s too good. It’s hell on Earth.

I don’t open my eyes, pretending to be asleep.

Kaleb isn’t having it. He’s pulling so hard the roots of my hair burn. He’s hurting me.

A part of me—the sick and depraved part—screams from within to just go with it. Let him have me.

Let me have him.

The sane part of me is furious at him for many, many reasons. It knows that losing this battle could be the end of both of us.

He has to learn to treat me right.

He has to realize this could end up with him getting caught, damn him .

I won’t clench my thighs. But I want to. It’s humiliating, how much I want it. This degradation. This abuse.

I hated it when those kids forced themselves on me.

I can’t bring myself to hate it now.

I can’t even bring myself to care about it. To worry about what it says about me.

With every passing second, my desire grows. Multiplies. Lust makes me dizzy. My lungs are on fire.

The nausea is all but gone. So is the drowsiness.

I’m in the process of listening to my body. Of checking on my arms that feel stretched. My wrists.

They’re held over my head, but?—

“I know you’re awake.” His voice is demanding.

Tap, tap, tap on my lips. The blunt, smooth head of his cock. A metallic piercing, too, slapping my mouth in a consistent tempo.

It’s the worst. I’m the worst for being unbelievably hot for this. The urge to slip my tongue out, to have just a little taste?—

No. Even though the pain in my scalp is gone. Even though I need to come so bad I could cry.

I feel awful enough as it is. I’ve already forgiven him for killing my friend. Acquaintance. Whatever.

He has to learn— fuck, my mouth waters to taste the tip of his cock —he seriously has to— what will his piercing feel like when it hits the back of my throat? —that I have boundaries.

Boundaries I’ve set up for him.

For us.

My eyes fly open, taking in the dimly lit room .

At the edge of my bed stands a masked man, holding me down by my forehead while he rubs his precum on my lips. His black eyes aren’t focused on my face. He’s scanning the length of my naked body.

Shame washes over me, burning me worse than my rage. Than my desire.

His hand slides down to the back of my head, slipping between my head and the pillow. Making a fist in my hair again.

I gasp at the rough tug. His cock demands entry inside my mouth, the barbell grazing my closed lips.

His gaze moves to my face, sending shivers up my spine.

“Kaleb.”

No verbal reply. But the torture continues. My pussy is soaked, my head is a mess.

My hands. I need them to grip him. To get Kaleb to release my hair. When I yank at them, nothing happens. He has me bound to the bed.

I twist my head slightly to the side. He won’t allow me much more than that. He’s forcing me to talk with his dick in my mouth. “Are you going to violate me again?”

He tilts his head. “Shiloh.”

At the sound of his rugged voice, the ache in my pussy intensifies. It’s not fair that he can do that.

Crawl inside my head. See through me the way no one ever has.

“You tied me up,” I murmur while he taps the corner of my mouth with his cock .

“I did.” He teases me by pushing in an inch. Taunting me by rubbing a bead of his precum on the tip of my tongue.

I hate him for tasting so good. I hate his piercing for making the need to come worse. I don’t focus on that in the slightest. Or the thought of when he got pierced, and if he let someone else in the hospital suck on it.

I don’t. I turn my head again.

“You used my clothes to tie me up.” This is as much clarity and fight as I can muster. I can feel the texture of my bra. My panties. I’d know them anywhere.

“Observant little thing.”

I am, and it’s not just about my binds.

I notice everything about him, too. His mask. His shirtless body. His sculpted abs, all eight of them. Those V-shaped hip muscles that lead down to his dick.

His big, menacing, and goddamn intoxicating dick.

He’s playing with me. Pressing the crown of his cock deeper into my mouth and pulling out.

I might be tied up, but I will get back at him for this. I have the power to torture him back.

While giving in to my desires.

I dart my tongue out and lap the head. Flick it against the piercing.

He groans and my pussy clenches on air. Over and over.

Then I push him out of my mouth.

“Let me go.” That’s the right thing to say. That’s what I’m supposed to say. He’s wrong to treat me like this. To dare ruin everything. He is. As much as I’m wet for it, he has to stop. “Untie me. Now. ”

“I don’t think so.” His grip on my hair intensifies. I bare my teeth at him, threatening to bite. Knowing I won’t. “See, you’ve had years to do it your way. By yourself. Others took advantage of you. Manipulated you while I was gone. So no, I’m not letting you go. I’m done being your kind, older brother. You don’t need that crap. You’re a mess. I’m here to fix you. To remind you who you were always meant to be.”

“By killing Marina.” Tugging against my binds isn’t getting me anywhere. “By taking an unnecessary risk. You could’ve gotten caught. I hate you.”

I mean to use my harsh voice. I try to sound like I have a goddamn clue about my life.

I fail.

The lie that I’m mad about him is out there, in the air between us. I heard it. He sure did.

Kaleb tsks behind the mask. His cock throbs for me. Jerks against my lips as more precum trickles on my tongue.

My entire body pulsates for him. Electricity flows through me. They change me into this person I don’t recognize. I no longer care about getting caught. I don’t care about anything other than this elusive orgasm that’s driving me insane.

And pleasuring him. God, it’ll be so hot if I could make him come.

He won’t let me.

“What did you do to me?” Frustration spills out in the form of tears. I can’t focus on anything other than that. “I need to come, Kaleb. Why does it hurt? Why did you leave me like this? ”

“I drugged you. I touched you.” His cock is still resting on my mouth, his voice a sharp whip. “You’re drenching the sheets like the horny slut that you are because of me.”

“Why?” Truthfully, I don’t care why. I care about him. I care about this orgasm that won’t come. Fuck, it’s messing with my head.

“First, I thought it was about getting even. I needed to get under your skin. You’ve burrowed yourself deep under mine. It was only fair.” No, it isn’t fair. Nothing about this is when he’s calm while I rub my thighs together mindlessly. “But in light of new information, my goals have changed. This, what I’m doing, is giving you what you need. And that’s me. So no more of that I don’t want you BS. I know for a fact that it’s a lie. You’re going to listen to me. You’re going to get what I’m telling you through your head. The hard way. Then I’ll fuck your virgin pussy. You asked why? This is it. You. It’s for you.”

“Stop it.” Please, more. Please, I’m sick and you’re my cure. “Stop it.”

“This”—the last tug on my hair has me swallowing a scream—“is how it’s going to go. The world as you know it ceases to exist today. The rest of the people? They’re nothing to you. To us. Fucking shadows. There’s only me. No one else. Fuck Marina for trying to rip us apart. Fuck your dad for poisoning your head.”

I figured he overheard Marina. But—“How did you find out about my dad?”

“You’ve been asleep for a while.” He has one hand on the base of his cock. The other is no longer on my hair. He uses it to tug my bottom lip down. Bending me to his will. “Let’s just say I made myself at home.”

My letters. He read them. All those words I wished to tell him but never could. All those feelings.

Humiliation floods me. Kaleb’s invading in every possible way.

My body. My heart. My privacy.

A feral, unhinged bulldozer.

The one person who’s ever truly cared about me.

However, what he’s doing is wrong. He can’t expect me to lie here and take it.

“You’re hoping for an explanation. Maybe wishing to be normal .” The thick head of his cock pushes past my lips. Just the head, and Kaleb grunts. Even without seeing his face, I can tell it’s costing him to hold back. “There’s no normal for either of us. No explaining what we have. No stopping this, either. We are happening, little sister. Sick and fucked-up and real. Do you hear me?”

I’m baring my teeth again, ready to bite. He shakes his head. So slow and terrifying. A turn-on that has my sore nipples peaking.

“Good girl.” Heat rushes down my body at his praise. At the fact that I’m one of the rare people he chooses to talk to. This beautiful monster keeps choosing me. “However, as good as you are, you haven’t learned anything yet. I’m going to teach you, Shiloh. Going to hurt you.”

My lips part wider. A scream rises in my throat.

And Kaleb shoves his thick cock inside my mouth, shutting me up .

“No screaming unless I tell you to.” He moves his hand to my jaw, squeezing it. Tilting my head to the side so he can go deeper.

I thrash against my binds, whipping my body in his direction so I can kick him. He’s unmovable—standing there, strong and unrelenting.

Mine.

I stop trying to kick him. Can’t bring myself to hate how he fills my mouth. The weight of him on my tongue.

His piercing is almost there, almost at the back of my throat.

“No calling for fucking help. Try and…” He thrusts his hips forward, slamming into me again. I cough around him. I hate him. God, I’m so hot for this. “I’ll choke you with my dick for being a brat. Is that what you want?”

What I want is to kill him for humiliating me. For punishing me as if I’m a little girl. For controlling me. For shutting me up.

What I want even more is to suck him off.

The ache and need in my pussy demand that I give him pleasure in return.

After years of missing him, he’s finally here. He risked everything to come back to me.

I stop resisting him altogether, pressing my lips to his cock. Glaring at him. Begging him to go on.

I’m losing my mind.

“Ah, there she is. My Shiloh.” He pummels into my mouth, over and over. His piercing grazes my tongue, my palate. He fucks my throat, harder, faster. I let him. I get off on it. “That’s my girl. Oh, fuck . Fuck. Your lips wrap around me so beautifully. Your fucking throat. Fuck. You’re a whore, you know that? My whore.”

My moan and submission are his. But I need him to touch me. I need his hand there. I?—

Too fast, too abruptly, he stops. Kaleb holds perfectly still as he runs his knuckles along my jawline. They’re rough and demanding, just like him, and I shiver. A full body tremor.

What more could I give him? What would make him touch me? Tears rise again. I’m sick, aren’t I? Desperate for my stepbrother’s cock and degradation.

I arch my back for him. Twist my body toward him.

Please. Whatever it is you’re doing to me, I need it. Please.

“I’m going to bury my cock in your virgin cunt.” Each word is delivered slowly. Strained with the effort to hold back. This cruel man and even crueler lover. “I’ve been saving myself for you, little sister. You’re mine.”

He sinks into me in a brutal shove, and I hollow my cheeks, swallowing instead of gagging. His cock jerks in my mouth in response.

“Stop that.” This new, vicious hold on my chin is a brutal punishment. “I’m done coming in my jeans. Or on your pussy. Or anywhere other than inside your cunt.”

My surprised gasp earns me a rough chuckle. Another shove of his cock down my throat.

“You get it now, don’t you? Why your cunt is soaked? Why you’re willing to do anything I tell you to, just so that you can finally come?” He rubs his thumb on my jaw, but there’s no comfort in his touch. Only more threats. It’s so fucked that I’m melting for it. “Such a needy little thing. You know, you were dripping when I edged you. Your eyes were closed, and your pussy wept for me. You squeezed my fingers, and that’s when I stopped pleasuring you. I meant for you to wake up in pain. With need. You’re exquisite when you’re humiliated.”

We stare each other down, and I hate myself. He’s telling me about how he violated me while I was unconscious. How he gets off on my shame.

Instead of being repulsed, all I think about is coming.

“And guess what? I came. You have my cum on your clit. On this pretty swollen pussy.” He gathers the spit that dribbles down my chin and rubs it on my cheek. “I’m going to bury myself inside you next. You could choose to let me take you, be a good girl, and not cry for help. Or…”

He thickens in my mouth. His precum is the most delicious, the most horrible thing.

“If you make a sound. The smallest one—anything louder than a whisper, trust that I won’t be merciful.”

His threat takes on a physical form when he drives his hips forward, blocking my airways. Gagging shouldn’t be such a turn-on.

It is a turn-on. I do want him.

My cheeks heat and tears sting my eyes.

“I’ll spend hours deep-throating you. Emptying myself inside your mouth. Waiting to be hard again and start all over. That’s how you’ll spend the night if you’re bad.”

When he removes his mask, it’s another assault on my senses. The sharp lines of his jaw. The insane, possessive glint in his eyes. The sexy scruff. Every part of him is gorgeous. Exactly what you’d expect of a predator.

“You’ll be quiet for me,” he warns. “Or you’ll learn to be quiet. Hum once for yes.”

He’s not fucking around. He’ll take me. Choke me. I bet that if I black out, he’ll just keep fucking my mouth harder. Rougher.

I don’t hate it. I just need him inside me. So I hum.

“Good fucking girl.” My breath hitches as soon as he leaves my mouth. I cough as he shoves his jeans and boxers down, as he’s climbing onto the bed.

Kaleb pushes my legs apart, settling between them. I’m bare to him, and that, too, is mortifying. No one’s ever seen me like this but him. I had his mask there, but this is something else.

His golden eyes on my sex. The hunger in them. Nothing can or will compare to this.

I don’t think I can take the tension anymore. I think my lungs are going to burn. Explode. He’s the reason my breaths are labored and the nerve endings in my body spark to life.

I’m going to die like this. Of anticipation and fear.

Except he won’t let me.

Kaleb climbs higher up my body, and I watch him flattening a hand on my navel. Lowering his mouth to my breast.

Biting me.

Pain slams into me, and I cry out. I might be saying something like why, though I can’t be sure. Can’t be sure of anything other than the sting .

“I marked you with my teeth. Am marking and will always fucking mark you like that.” Menacing eyes snap to mine. “I get off on that. More importantly, though, it’s a way to make you see.”

“S-see what?” I ask, sounding raspy from the drugs.

He lets out a huff, the corner of his mouth quirking up slightly. As if that should explain everything.

I arch my back. Demanding his touch. His voice. His words.

Anything but his silence.

I get exactly what I’ve been asking for. His cock thickens on my wet thigh. He growls as he sucks my nipple into his mouth.

Then he gives me a real answer.

“That you belong to me. Before I left, other people thought they could have you. Thieves. Motherfuckers who had their hands on what was mine. That’s you. You were mine to protect, and they took you. The world took you from me next. No more of that. Fucking ever. Every part of you is mine. I’ll hurt your breasts. Bite your nipples.” He does just that, wrapping one in his palm, sinking his teeth into it. Mercilessly slapping the other. “Mark you. Me, their owner.”

“Please.” Words fail me, but my body doesn’t. I fight my restraints, fight the concept of right and wrong in my head, putting everything into pressing my body to his.

It happens at the exact moment that Kaleb grinds his hips into mine. The pierced tip of him rubs my clit, and nothing else exists in my world. I’m shaking and biting the inside of my cheek, and, oh God ? —

The orgasm that’s been building inside detonates. Heat washes across my body, pulsating through me.

Leaving me boneless. His.

He watches, rocking and grinding against me through it. Then, when I’m almost down to earth, almost landed, he grabs my jaw and crushes his lips to mine.

This kiss is visceral and out of control. This kiss is lust and craving so powerful that it’s hard to breathe.

Hard to think.

Still, I see this. I feel this. We’re fighting each other.

Me, to survive him. Him, to ruin me. The only way he knows how to love.

I should’ve realized it sooner. Shouldn’t have denied him anything.

Or maybe I should’ve.

Maybe it’s good that I did. Every muscle in his body is strained, hard rock against my soft curves. He won’t stop this harsh, delicious movement of his hips.

His need is a living thing between us.

Fighting him turns him on.

“Gonna fuck you good, little sister.” His crude words set me on fire. I’m fucked in the head for spreading my legs wider for him. For my stepbrother. I’m sick, but I’ve finally accepted it. He made me accept it. “I hope it hurts. Hope you’ll remember how mine you are for the rest of your life.”

Begging him to be gentle is pointless.

He’ll hear the lie in my voice.

“Hurt me.” The pierced tip of his cock lines my pussy, another threat out of many. “Hurt me, Kaleb. I’ve never been anyone else’s. I never wanted anyone else. I was wrong to think that you hated me. I was wrong to let you suffer.”

A sound that’s every bit of a threat is accompanied by his hand on my throat.

“But it’s taboo,” I continue, breathless. Needy. Scared. “You’re a murderer. A serial killer. You violated me.”

His thick eyebrows crush together. “I didn’t violate you. You’re mine.”

He’s right. Maybe that’s the worst part of it. The best. The one explanation I could never find in any textbook.

“What’s wrong with us?” A tear slips out.

“Nothing.” He licks it, groaning against my skin. “It terrifies you to see that, but don’t worry. That’s where I come in.”

My pulse beats fast and loud. My blood would burst through my veins if it could.

Nothing separates us. No masks, metaphorical or real. The air crackles in the room. So much violence. Anger. Passion. We’re drowning in it.

“Kaleb—” I start.

“Enough talking.” He slams into me. No warning. No tenderness. None of that.

Not from him.

I press my lips shut to suppress a scream of agony. Of pleasure. I’m being stretched, torn, and owned. Thoroughly. Completely. Without regard or care.

Kaleb just takes.

Even if I could scream, I wouldn’t have told him no .

“Fuck. Fuck, Shiloh.” He curses as he stares at me, his eyes narrowed. Brow pinched. His cock throbs inside me. As his free hand cups my cheek, he buries his fingers into my skin. “You’re so goddamn tight.” He pulls back, pushing back in. “Jesus. Oh, fuck. Sucking me in like that. Your pussy is such a dirty fucking girl, you know that?”

“It’s too much.” I’m unable to control myself. To stay still and take what I asked for. What I need. I need him. I need the pain. Can’t. There’s so much of him. I thrash against my bindings. Squeezing my legs against his lean ones. “Out. Get out of me. It hurts.”

“You don’t mean it.” He grows harder and thicker inside of me. Pushes in deeper. “This.” Kaleb drags his cock out, slamming into me again in a way that has me gasping for air. “Is mine. I have nothing else. I have no one else. All I have in this goddamn world is you. You’ll let me take you. You’ll let me fuck you. All you need to do is breathe through the pain.”

This last stroke of his cock pins me down to the bed. Slivers of pleasure layer over the sting, but fuck, it’s a lot. I never thought—never imagined?—

“Hard. Fast. Slow. Painful.” When his lips brush mine, it’s a stark contradiction to his rough thrusts. Another way to mess with my head. “I’ll fuck you however the hell I please. I’ll decide what’s best for you. And here’s why.”

My nipples are taut, breasts swollen. The ache to be defiled is like nothing else.

The soreness is lessening as he keeps thrusting into me.

So. Wrong .

So right.

“Why?”

He smirks at the change in me. Such a rarity. Like a black diamond.

“You’ll like it. You’ll end up on your knees, day and fucking night.” His lips coast along my jawline, my throat. His cock impales me, demanding that I submit. That I let go. “Begging for me like the sweet whore you are.”

“Oh God. Oh my—oh— oh —fuck.” This orgasm isn’t an orgasm I’ve experienced before.

It’s a seismic wave that steals my breath from me. My senses. Kaleb’s talking, but I don’t hear him. I barely see or feel anything. I float, float, float.

Then I slam back down to earth.

“Beautiful. Yes. Yes, keep coming for me. Don’t you dare stop.” I hear everything and now it’s loud. His hoarse voice. The slapping of our bodies. “I could look at you for days. Years. Make you come just like that and I’ll never have enough. I’ll take care of you. No one else. Me.”

His confidence is intoxicating. His thumb rubs my throat. The ripped muscles of his stomach roll against my clit, elongating my climax.

He’s giving me pleasure like nothing I’ve ever experienced. How is that even possible? He’s a virgin. He told me so.

But Jesus. I can’t stop coming. I’m delirious with it.

“That look you’re giving me. Wipe the surprise off your face, Shi.” His lips twist in a snarl. Despite how much he cares for me, he’s still Kaleb. Harsh. Relentless. Ruthless as hell. “I didn’t need to fuck anyone else to know how to fuck you . ”

His fist tightens around my throat.

“Please.” The lack of air is giving me a heady feeling. I’m hurting everywhere, my wrists, my breasts, my pussy. I think I might black out. I think I might love it. “Please. I’m sorry. You. You know how to fuck me. How to take care of me. You.”

“That’s my girl,” he groans, his mouth pressing into mine. Our tongues swipe against one another, and there’s nothing wrong with us anymore. How could I believe there ever was? “Come for me. Again. Milk my cock fucking dry. Want to fill you up with babies.”

Babies.

It’s crossing a line. Worse than that.

There’s no line at all.

We’re burning it down.

Both of us. Because, as crazy as it might sound, I want it. Him. A home together. When the time is right. I’d exchange my soul to have it. For years, something has been missing from my life.

Then Kaleb said babies , and everything made sense.

The timing isn’t right, though.

You know what, fuck the timing. I don’t care about anything else right now. Just him.

“Help me,” I beg, the need turning me into a mindless woman I don’t recognize. “Help me. I need you.”

An evil glint flashes behind his eyes. He destroys me with one last kiss before getting up on his knees, lifting my ass and railing me. Deeper, somehow. His barbell. His cock. His touch. Fuck .

When his gaze cuts to the place where our bodies are joined, his jaw tightens.

“What?” I haven’t done this before. Maybe he’s disappointed. I won’t be able to take it if he is. Anything but that. “What’s wrong?”

He pulls back, pausing to run a finger over his length. Getting blood on his fingertip.

Then he brings it to his nose.

And inhales the scent.

Before I have a chance to be mortified, Kaleb sucks it into his mouth, groaning as he drags it in and out of him.

I’ve never witnessed pleasure on anyone the way it spreads over his face. He slams his eyes shut. Scrunches his brow. It’s the pain of wanting something so much that it hurts.

He releases them with a pop and pinches my clit, flicking it with his thumb. Rubbing it in maddening circles and soaking me with his spit and my blood.

He’s a feral man. Brutal. Completely deranged. Unbearably handsome with his etched muscles and hands that drive me to the brink of insanity. He’s?—

“Mine.” He completes the sentence in my head and returns to fucking me. “Nothing wrong. Nothing could ever be wrong when it comes to you.”

“Yours,” I moan as he commands another orgasm from me. “I’m yours.”

“Going to fill you up.” He’s back to leaning over me, hand wrapped around my throat. “So close. God, I want you. This…This is the most I’ve wanted anything. Take me. Please, Shiloh. ”

He barely finishes his sentence when he empties himself inside of me. He pounds his heat into me, groaning, pressing his forehead to mine.

I’m shaking while he’s there, still and powerful, grabbing both my cheeks. I’m limbless and sated, while Kaleb’s muscles feel like they’re made of stone.

He’s protecting me, I realize. Grabbing onto me.

“We need to talk,” I whisper once I’m no longer floating in outer space. About the letters I couldn’t send him. About boundaries and our life together. About Dad and getting away from him. “Please.”

His eyes cloud.

“Stay. I’m begging you.” I lean up as much as possible, pressing a kiss to his lips, which are red with my blood. “I’m asking you to stay. There are things we need to discuss.” I sigh. It’s a struggle to stitch one word to the next. I try, for him. For us. “So many things. We have to figure them out together.”

“We will. When I decide it’s time.” His deft fingers work the binds above my head. His mouth presses on my forehead the entire time. “I have other plans for us.”

“What plans?”

His response is to shove himself deeper inside me.

“Tell me.”

“Not going to ruin the fun. This time around, we’re doing things my way.”

Relief rushes through me when he releases my first wrist, then the other. He massages them, soothes the skin, then pulls out of me and sits on his heels. I lean on my forearms, flushed and hot and naked .

“You know what, Kaleb?” I’m determined to protect him. He won’t stop me. “No, we aren’t. You’re going to listen to me.”

He raises an eyebrow.

He’s hauntingly beautiful. Terrifying.

I won’t lose my nerve.

“You can’t be seen in public. At least promise me that. They’ll take you back to that place.” My protectiveness of him pushes through the sex haze. That’s what I was angry about all along. Not that he forced me. That he hurt me. I like that. What pisses me off is how careless he’s being. How he’ll ruin his life again because of me. Again. “Where do you even sleep?”

Sticking to his silence, he shakes his head.

“You owe me answers.” I lean up another inch.

He pushes me back to the bed, his hand flat on my chest. “Tomorrow.”

“What happens tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.” He gets up, grabbing something from his jeans. One of my black thongs. It looks used, and I gasp, knowing exactly why.

“What’s tomorrow?” It’s the more important question.

One he won’t answer.

Kaleb bites my thong. Shrugs into his clothes. His boots.

Everything he has on looks new.

Where did he get it from? It’s imperative that I have this piece of information. Without it, how can I protect him?

I jump out of bed, gripping the sleeve of his hoodie. “This isn’t funny. You getting caught isn’t fucking funny to me, Kaleb. ”

Tilting his head, he takes my thong out of his mouth. “You see me laughing?”

“No.”

His lips press together. His jaw works.

“What?” I ask.

He huffs, pulling me into him. Locking me in his arms.

It’s the strongest hug. The warmest embrace.

It’s over way too soon.

“I’m fine.” He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. My scar is on the other side. I’m grateful that he doesn’t see it. Not tonight when everything’s volatile. When he’s such an enigma to me. He’ll demand answers while still not giving me any, and I won’t have that. “Don’t worry about me.”

“I do worry.” Eleven years. That’s how long I’ve been worrying over him. Over a goddamn decade.

Now he’s back. He promised he’d stay. Except he’s leaving. Why?

“Please, stay.”

While I look at him—while I beg—he shoves my thong between my legs, rolling it from my slit upward. “Mmm.”

His touch and the satisfied sound are my undoing. My knees buckle and he hooks his arm around me, holding me upward with my thong in his hand while he leans over to pick his mask off the floor behind him. He’s strong enough to do both. Tall enough to reach.

“Go to bed.” He pulls it on, my monster. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not done with you. I’ll never be done with you. I won’t leave you a second time. That’s a promise. But we’re playing a game and it won’t be over until I say so. ”

I open my mouth to argue, to demand that he spend the night. To beg him to stay with me.

Despite everything, I don’t want him to leave me ever again.

He won’t let me. There’s no arguing with him when he presses a finger to my lips. When he renders me silent by stuffing my soaked thong into his mask.

We’re both silent after that. As he helps me into the bed. As he stuns me further by going to my bathroom and returning with a cloth, wiping me clean.

I reach out to him when he pulls the covers over me. He only shakes his head.

One last look, and he’s gone.