by C. J. Thomas
Suddenly, he dropped to his knees, taking my underwear with him. He lifted my left foot and draped my calf over his shoulder. He licked the inside of my thigh, tracing figure-eights with his tongue. Skittering across, he pecked at my erect clit before closing his mouth over my mound. “Your pussy is fucking gorgeous.”
I giggled and gasped for air. “You think so?”
With his face buried between my legs, his tongue delved deep into my vagina. “Oh, fuck yeah.”
With my body shuddering, I bit my bottom lip and breathed in his kisses. Giggling against his whiskers, I fisted his hair and rocked my hips forward. Together, we found our groove and soon I was convinced that tonight was the night he would have me orgasming again.
His big hand moved up my body.
He continued fucking me with his tongue.
I read his muscles like a blind man reads brail. Kelly took his time. Frustratingly slow, it only tilted my axis further off kilter. When he rolled my nipple, I whimpered.
I breathed harder. Soon my legs quivered like jelly.
I was so close to climax, stars flashed and I could taste the bittersweet flavor gathering on my tongue. Pebbles of sweat formed on my brow, my body a fiery pit of hell. With eyes closed, I panted heavily as my heel lifted off the floor. I thrashed and rocked as Kelly kept my pussy smashed against his face, but I couldn’t get past the edge. Nothing gave. Convinced it wasn’t for me, I cried out with cheeks burning as I faked my way through an orgasm, if only to take the next step forward.
Kelly pushed me back onto the bed.
I fell back with a squeal.
Covering my face with the back of my hand, I couldn’t look him in the eye. I feared he knew—would be mad at me, and disappointed in himself.
Kelly crawled on top of me and kissed my neck. Pinching my cheeks, he turned my head to face him. The look in his eye had me wondering. But before he had a chance to speak, I rolled off the bed from beneath him and pranced to the mantel near the door.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
I cradled the candle between my hands. The flame still flickered with life. Moving carefully back to the bed, a sharp grin pulled my lips up. “Lean back,” I said.
He gave me a questioning look. “I don’t know about this.”
“Trust me.” I dipped a fingertip into the hot wax.
Kelly scooted back on the bed, leaned against a pillow, and laced his fingers behind his head. I smiled as my eyes raked over his exposed chest. Tilting the glass to one side, the melted wax pooled into one corner as I slowly dripped it onto his skin.
Kelly’s stomach clenched.
His eyes squinted with sudden pain.
He kept his hands gripped behind his head as he breathed it all in.
I moved down his body. Filling dotted lines between the ripple of his abs. Just looking at him had my nipples tightening. My heart hammered as I glanced to his face. Then I moved to his breast, pausing for a second before pouring a thick dab of wax directly onto his right nipple.
Kelly growled as he snapped his hand around, taking my wrist in a tight grip.
I felt my eyes harden as he locked his stare on me.
“My turn,” he said, loosening his grip.
A moment later I was on my back with Kelly’s broad shoulders hovering over me. He teased first by placing the warm glass candle bottom on my skin. My heart hummed, my spirit elevated. Then he covered my eyes with his tie and my world went black.
Excitement rushed through my veins.
Bright flashes of light filled my vision as I anticipated what would come next.
He surprised me with taking away my sight. I liked it. Loved not knowing what was coming next. Eagerness filled my belly as he raked his stiff fingers over my supple body. He was playing me like a piano.
Pinching my nipples until they screamed in agony, he then let go as the blood flooded back to their capillaries. He did that again and again, sucking my nipple then blowing it cold, as he finger-fucked me until I moaned. Then, without warning, the searing pain of hot wax scorching my skin had my brain screaming. The pain was as intense and surprising as a wasp sting.
Clawing at the bed sheets, my chest expanded and contracted through heavy breaths as I begged for more. Sticking his thumb inside my mouth, Kelly continued thrusting his finger against my vagina walls while somehow finding a way to continue dripping wax over new areas that hadn’t been touched.
I sucked on his knuckle as if it were his dick. Milking it, I wrapped my tongue around his bone like a candy wrapper, twisting it tight. As soon as the wax cooled, he slapped my nipples sharp. And before I had time to respond, he was inside of me, thrusting himself deep into my core.
His thick cock stretched and filled me completely. Hooking my ankles around his waist, I felt whole when hanging on to him as he rode me. He rocked slow, then fast. Changing up his speeds on a whim, I kissed him passionately, loving the feel of his cool tongue against my lips.
Kelly was doing everything right. Hitting all the correct spots. Pacing himself around the bases to ensure himself a homerun. Except I couldn’t get there. I bucked harder, needing to take him deeper. From behind the blindfold, I wondered what was wrong with me. It had to be me. Not him. This was my fault.
Kelly grunted in my ear but all I could hear was Alex’s advice to let go. You’re thinking too hard. I knew I was but I didn’t know how to turn off my mind.
Kelly sat back on his heels and flipped my leg around his front without his cock ever leaving me. His hips thrust long deep strokes and his aggressive but controlled moves had me believing he was ready to work me the entire night. Play me like a toy, tossing me around until he tired. Two lovers locked in a union of spiritual growth.
“I want you to come inside of me,” I breathed.
He paused for a brief second and it wasn’t difficult to imagine his eyes darken. Twisting me to my stomach, he pinned my thighs together with his knees and began taking me from behind. First it was soft and kind, then slowly it grew harder, more intentional.
Three intense thrusts hitting my cervix had me crying out. He smacked my ass red. I cried out again. It was the pattern and pace he settled into as I grinded my teeth and listened to his grunts.
“This is what gets you off?” His hand hit my backside so hard a ripple of pain scattered across my body.
I nodded my buried head in the pillow. The musty scent from the damp walls where Madam and Oscar had me chained filled my head with memories of struggle.
Kelly gripped my elbows and pinned my arms behind my back. It was quick, hard, and pinching. I flinched with sudden fear. It wasn’t him. This was something else. A feeling of isolation closed the walls around me. I breathed hard, hyperventilating. No matter how wide my mouth was, I couldn’t gather enough air to calm my strangled heart.
Stop.
A black tunnel closed around my vision.
I didn’t know who the man behind me was.
Everything hurt. The pain sharp. I yelped like a small dog as he continued to pound me harder. It was too much but I held my breath, feeling him swell inside of me. And just when stars flashed behind my eyelids and I thought I was about to blackout, Kelly grunted a quick fuck as he shot his seed inside my torn womb.
26
Kendra
It was impossible to know if my eyes were opened or shut.
The room was pitch black and had a cool breeze swirling around my ankles that kept my body shivering. It felt like it was coming from a whirling fan, but the angle was wrong. Pitter patters danced around me, the sounds of scurrying bare feet shuffling over a polished floor.
A hot sticky breath fell over my face like a suffocating blanket.
I jerked my head to the side and looked the other way toward more hot breath. It stuck to my skin like humidity after a summer’s rain, making my blood quake.
Shrieks and laughter echoed off the walls as dozens of hands began grabbing me. Yanking on my wrists, I was pulled to one side, then harder on the o
ther. The center of my chest split down the middle as I screamed for them to stop.
Their ears were deaf. Fingers prodded. Nails clawed and ripped.
Soon, they made my body theirs. Darkened faces popped in and out of the light. There were too many to count. Men of all shapes and sizes.
I screamed and thrashed but felt powerless to stop it. My fight went unheeded.
Frozen, my skin turned cold.
I couldn’t move.
Couldn’t breathe.
Then, as the sea of heads parted, Maria Greer’s face appeared in the light. Her eyes smiled as she looked down upon me and said, “How does it feel to be dead?”
I sprang, wide-eyed, up in bed.
Dripping with sweat, I gasped until my lungs were completely filled. I blinked. Swallowed. Wiped my face with both my hands before coming to realize where I was. A glance to the digital clock let me know it was quarter past six, the sun greeting us with a new day.
My lips rounded as I sighed.
Wrapped in a nest of pillows and sheets, Kelly’s bed swallowed me whole. His spot was cold and empty but he wasn’t far. Staring at his bare back, Kelly was hunched over on the opposite side of the room. With his head down, he never moved.
I feared my dream had made its way into the real world he was so quiet, uninterested. I wasn’t sure where the dream had come from. I didn’t feel like myself. Didn’t even know who Maria Greer was before I met Kelly. Never met her in my life. But she did get it right. I felt dead.
Reaching across the bed, I snatched a t-shirt from the floor and slipped it over my head.
I didn’t know who I was anymore, or what I wanted to be. I questioned everything. Debated the dangers and consequences, acting as if everything was a matter of life or death. That wasn’t who I was. I was free. I acted without thinking.
Not anymore.
My insides knotted.
Then there was all that talk about motherhood. Just thinking about yesterday had me regretting nearly everything I’d said.
“Kelly?” I felt my brows lift with hope.
He didn’t react.
Reaching out for him, I was afraid that he would leave me. Last night’s efforts to bring me to orgasm nearly exploded in another trigger. I was sure he felt it coming like the rumbling of a freight train. I had too much baggage. I wouldn’t blame him for not wanting to deal with me.
I stared at him with glazed eyes. “Kelly, baby. Can you hear me?”
Again, he acted as if he didn’t hear me.
Scooping my hair off my shoulders, I tied it into a messy bun on top of my head and padded hesitantly closer to him.
What was he doing? Why wasn’t he answering me?
Kelly wasn’t one to ignore me unless something was seriously wrong. It began last night when we cuddled under the covers, keeping our thoughts to ourselves. It was my fault. I’d asked to be put in a vulnerable position I knew could spark a trigger. Wanting so bad to move on, I wasn’t sure I ever could.
I paused mid-step.
Squinting, Kelly was completely immersed in the sentences my father had written.
The inside of my head filled with intense pressure. “Where did you get that?” I growled.
As if suddenly coming back to the present, Kelly turned his head and faced me. His round dry eyes blinked. He was looking directly at me but I could see the distant gaze that stared right through me.
It’s me, I wanted to say. It’s me, Bella. Look at me. I’m here.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Kelly’s eyes squinted as he flapped the note in the air.
My eyes drifted to the paper, watching the air flap beneath its wings. Feeling my throat close off, I thought about the condition of Dad’s health, how inquisitive his eyes were—how they never left me. But, mostly, I thought about what he’d written.
Lunging forward, I snatched it out of Kelly’s hand. “You shouldn’t have read that.”
“Bella, he clearly wants to reach out to you.”
“Why are you going through my things, anyway?”
“It was sticking out of your bag.” He folded his arms across his chest. His muscles bulged as his brow deepened. “Did you see him?”
I lowered my head into my hand and pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Why didn’t you tell me? You should have told me.”
“You don’t understand.”
His nostrils flared. “Not if you don’t tell me.”
Unable to look him in his eye, a part of me wished that we were fighting over last night’s sex. It sounded so much easier than having to explain the confusion of my family. “I don’t even know what I want.”
Kelly tipped his head back, holding my stare for another pause before moving to the bed. He sat on the edge, the mattress sinking under his weight. Kelly leaned forward, dipped his head between his shoulders, and stared in the direction of my feet.
“This isn’t easy for me, Kelly.” I glanced to the note. “I’ve been so royally pissed at my parents for so long, and now my father is close to death. I want him to die. I want him to live. But what I mostly want is to surrender to my feelings and move on with my life.”
The lines on Kelly’s face twisted into several knots as he stared and listened. “I thought we were doing just that with the challenge to your inheritance.”
“Fuck the money,” I cried.
Kelly’s eyes lifted to my face. “What about Marvin?”
My gut flexed. “Fuck him, too.”
Kelly stood and moved to me. Taking me by the waist, I swayed inside his tight grip. Kelly pulled me against his solid chest. I relaxed, knowing he only wanted to protect me from the evil that filled this world. “Bella, he was part of the plan to steal your inheritance.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“There are too many unknowns with your family’s behavior to make me feel comfortable with you visiting your parents’ house without my knowledge.”
I reached up and pressed my palm against Kelly’s unshaven face with my free hand. A knowing glimmer shined in his eyes and filled my heart. “You read what he wrote; would you forgive him if you were me?”
“What he did to you isn’t forgivable.” Kelly didn’t miss a beat.
Freeing myself from his sheltering arms, I turned to the dresser mirror. Gripping the ledge, I stared into my puffy eyes, haggard face, noticing my appearance had changed. My wrinkles were more defined, my eyes heavy with guilt. Kelly followed and stood behind me. Catching his reflection over my shoulder, I said, “He’s so pathetic.”
“He’s ill.”
I shook my head. “That too.” Turning on a heel, I said, “He’s not the same man I remembered.”
Clamping my arms between his fingers, Kelly smoothed them down to my wrist, ironing out the kinks hiding beneath the surface. “You have a good heart.” He grinned. “You’re right, though.” He pulled his head back. “I’ve been in my own world. Haven’t been focusing enough attention on you.”
I felt my heart jump and me palms begin to sweat. I was excited for Kelly to tell me the truth of all he had been up to, while also fearing that I might not like what he had to say.
“I went to the scene of the accident.”
I pressed my fingers over his heart. Its beat strong, I could feel the amount of life it still had left to live. “I would have gone with you.”
He chuckled. “Like you, I needed to do this alone.”
“Are you okay?”
His gaze drifted above my head as he gathered his thoughts. “I’m afraid that their deaths will never be ruled a homicide.”
“I’ll mention it,” I blurted out. “When they put me on the stand at Madam’s trial, I’ll share what she told me.”
He took my face inside his hands and smiled. “I know you will.” Then he kissed me. I felt lighter when he was around. Safer, more confident—complete. “We can’t do this alone.” His pupils focused. “I have your back, understand?”
I wanted to trust him w
ith my latest secret, but just when I was about to pull back the curtains and tell him about Dr. Hall the house phone rang. Kelly released me and reached for the receiver. “Hello.”
Feeling like something wasn’t right, I watched Kelly’s face tighten. He didn’t say much, but he didn’t have to. It was all in his eyes. Then he ended the call and turned to me.
His eyes bounced between mine as I held my breath.
“That was Nash.”
My heart stopped.
“He’s on his way up now.”
27
Kelly
My heartbeat grew louder in my ears.
Taking a step back, I could see the same nervous fear playing out in Bella’s eyes. Hiding the mixed bag of emotions knocking around inside my chest, I turned to the closet and riffled through my shirts until finding the perfect jet black, short sleeved, buttoned up.
“Kelly, don’t tell him about Alex being pregnant.” Kendra had followed me inside the walk-in closet.
With my shirt on, the front still opened, I bent and slipped my legs through an ironed pair of khakis, giving Kendra a look.
“Promise me, Kelly.”
Looping my belt, I stepped toward her. “Where is my gun?”
Her gaze hardened. “No.” She shook her head. “You don’t need it.”
I was concerned she had done something with it. Tossed off a peer into the ocean. Stashed it somewhere I wouldn’t find it. Or, worse, was hanging onto it for when she needed to use it herself. “And you do?”
She turned her back and stomped back into the bedroom.
Stepping out of the closet, I asked, “Do you have it with you?”
“No. I don’t have it with me, and I’m not telling you where it is.”
I admired her, but sometimes she could be so damn hardheaded. “Fuck it.” My gut clenched with the instinct to dig out the toys and punish her for misbehaving. Except I knew if I did, it would be more reward than punishment. Reaching for the phone on the nightstand, I picked it up and called Wes. “Get dressed.” I barked to Kendra. “We have company coming.”