I screamed as I spit down the middle, fireworks spilling from my core, sparking and hissing around the room as I exploded.
My elbows buckled, sending my cheek to the carpet. His hands latched around my hipbones, holding my ass high, driving his cock over and over again.
He felt so good, so dominating, so furious.
He felt wild…exactly what I’d become.
Yes! Yes. Yes.
I went loose in his hold, allowing him to manhandle me, use me, fuck me as elixir reached the second stage…the freedom stage.
I let go entirely.
I was his.
No one else’s.
I was the goddess of fucking and I crackled with superpower.
* * * * *
I moaned with bruises and burning skin as he slipped inside me again.
A few hours had passed. Our bodies held no more secrets. We’d claimed every inch of each other in a carousel of fellatio, copulation, and kisses.
No denial of our fate. No argument of what we were here to do.
We were two animals who no longer had to vocalize our thoughts, we felt them.
I knew he loved me.
I knew he worshipped me.
We’d stepped out of the role-play and no longer mentioned his son.
We were just us.
Together.
Free.
Stripped to our core, removed from our humanity, coupling and rutting, chasing the same unattainable goal of blissful, bonding tranquillity.
By the time my body had splintered through copious orgasms and broken any remaining pieces I had left, I had no muscle, no bone, no more elixir-given power.
I was a puddle of pleasure.
Curled up in my fantasy’s arms.
Finally succumbing to another call of basic nature.
Sex had been my cruel, sadistic master.
Now…it was merciful sleep who owned me.
In some shadowy pocket of my heart…I would miss this guest. I would miss the way he idolized me. I would miss his incantations of love.
But…I missed another—someone who was real, even if he would never feel the same way.
I closed my eyes.
I cuddled closer.
And it was over.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I STOOD OVER HER.
She hadn’t woken when I’d carried her from Euphoria. She didn’t open her eyes when I placed her gently on the bed and removed the sensors from her fingers, eyes, and ears. Calvin had followed me, there of his own accord and not at my request.
He stood in the shadows, his judgement once again thick. He never took his gaze off me, seeing every tattered breath, every heavy stumble. His scorn poured acid onto my bleeding, open wounds.
But he wasn’t the only one who judged me.
Another pair of eyes bored into me. Black and brilliant, belonging to a tiny parrot that’d chosen this girl over anyone.
Skittles roosted in the villa’s rafters, staring down at me while I stared down at Eleanor. The glow of green feathers and fluffy white chest reeked of innocence and faith. Faith that Eleanor would love her in return. Belief that nothing would come between them now she’d chosen her mate.
Regardless of species or sex, Skittles was Eleanor’s to the day that tiny parrot died.
I hated that.
I didn’t know how to cope with that.
Eleanor had been in my life only fleetingly, yet she’d upheaved it in the most painful of ways. She’d smashed through my convictions. She’d wriggled her way into my devotions. She’d stolen my goddamn parrot.
As well as my motherfucking heart.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, warding off the headache brewing, knowing it was too late. The pressure had been building since Eleanor rowed away from my prison. Compounding with agony as her disappearance showed me just how far I was prepared to go.
I did my best to do what I’d always done and segment myself off from such weakness. Affection for me only came with pain. Every time I’d fallen for a stray or given my heart to something that needed me, I’d ended up losing a piece of myself when they left. And those pieces shattered into dagger-sharp shards when I found out their fate in my parents’ lab.
Love had made me blind. Weak. Oblivious.
I would never become so again.
And because of that, I’d reached an ending that only had two options.
Keep her.
Or…
Get rid of her.
Eleanor held more power over me than anyone. More than my brother. My board. My company. In two weeks, she’d changed me, reverted me, dis-evolved me into the kid I’d left in my past.
She had the power to make me fall head over fucking heels for her, and then, it would be all over.
I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions if anyone tried to harm her.
I wouldn’t be controllable if she ever tried to leave me.
I would kill to keep her and kill to protect her.
I would kill her…eventually.
All the things I’d ever loved had perished.
Dropping my hand, I sighed heavily.
I couldn’t keep doing this.
She was mine. I’d paid good money for her servitude. Yet she was costing me far more than I was prepared to pay.
Regardless of her value, she couldn’t stay.
I wanted her gone.
Before it was too late.
Chapter Thirty
SULLY CUPPED MY CHEEK.
Unlike his touches before, his hand was gentle, idolizing, burning up with need.
His eyes no longer held barriers and locked doors but were as clear as the sea after a storm. Refreshed, reborn, free from old hurt. “Jinx…fuck.” He pulled me into him, kissing me, tasting me.
My belly fluttered with fireflies, their light illuminating me from within. I moaned into his kiss. I kissed him back. Our tongues touched and stroked, slow and sensual.
Pulling away, he kissed his way down my throat, sending whirls of desire over my skin. “Jinx…I need you.”
I smiled as he placed me on my back, his nakedness against mine, our souls stripped bare.
Jinx.
That name was no longer a demotion to my stature as a goddess, but a nickname born in truth. Once upon a time, I’d been a girl called Eleanor. A girl who was normal and naïve.
But Jinx?
She was a goddess with control over a god.
I was immortal because I’d found the person I was meant to find.
He’d bought me.
But I’d jinxed him.
I’d cast a spell, summoned voodoo, conjured the most powerful hex to ensure Sullivan Sinclair became mine.
I wore that title with pride and honour.
I shivered when it fell from his mouth because it sounded as if he’d accepted my power. I’d become a charm, a priceless, irreplaceable piece of his heart.
His fingers entered me.
My back bowed.
His mouth devoured mine as his body hardened, and his fingers slipped away to allow entry for his cock.
As he aligned us together, he fisted my hair and kept me locked in his stare. We never looked away as he sank deeper and deeper, giving ourselves completely, both tumbling into a void where only we existed.
As he sheathed himself fully, his lips found my ear, and he whispered, “You’ve destroyed me.” He groaned as he thrust into me. “Every piece now belongs to you. Broken and bloody but yours.” His cock thickened, his teeth caught my throat. “I’m yours, Jinx. I always will be.”
I shattered.
I came.
I woke up.
My eyes flew wide as my body clenched around nothing. I moaned and dug a fist into my lower belly as the lapping waves of an intense climax faded.
I’d come from a dream.
The elixir remained in my system, heightening my lust, ensuring I had the capacity to keep orgasming, even though I’d been wrung dry the night before.
The dreams we
re the worst side-effect. The constant craving for sex. The endless want for more.
Only once the final dregs of pleasure left my system did I brace myself for aches and bruises and sit upright in bed. The sheet fell from my breasts, pooling around my waist. I didn’t remember how I got there. Who removed the sensors. What sort of state I’d been in after I’d passed out from too much sex, but I was unbelievably grateful to finally be in my villa.
Away from cages and nightmares.
Away from Sully and his demands.
Twice, he’d given me to other men.
Twice, I’d thought he’d change his mind before it was too late.
I knew he had feelings for me.
I know he does.
But his desire not to feel such things overruled the reality of our connection. I could fight for him to love me, but I couldn’t fight him to accept it.
My body was bruised and battered from a stranger’s touch. My insides throbbed from being used so thoroughly. My lips cracked from kisses. My throat sore from moans. But it wasn’t just exterior parts that carried my battle scars. My heart also shadowed with bruises. It’d turned purple and blue with how Sully had played with it.
But…no more.
Today, I had a new goal. Trying to escape had allowed me the hard-swallowed realisation that this was my home for four years. It gave me a scapegoat and excuse if I never tried to run again.
And last night…that allowed me to accept that Sully was and always would be my master. That was it. That was all he’d ever permit. He would never tell me he loved me. He would never hold me as delicately as he had in my dream.
It was time to accept that. To stop standing up to him. To fade away into his happy harem and disappear from his attention.
It’s the only way I’ll survive.
Hissing between my teeth, I hobbled out of bed and into the bathroom.
Just like last time, a warm bath waited to soothe away my suffering. I slipped into it with another hiss, tensing as the water lapped against my sore pussy. Ten minutes passed before I had the strength to reach for the smoothie that waited with painkillers and vitamins.
Green this time.
Mint and apple, spinach and spirulina. The flavours punched through the taste of day-old kisses, helping to freshen my mouth and body, bringing me back to life.
After a few painkillers and vitamins, I crawled from the bath in much better condition than the last time I’d faced Euphoria. Either my body had begun to increase in stamina or the first fantasy had been more vigorous. Either way, flashes of being bent over the couch, having a man press his fingers inside me, thrusting his body into mine…they came and went, casting my skin in shame and puckering my nipples with need.
I dried off and cleaned my teeth, avoiding the sorest parts.
Doing my best to walk as normally as I could, I dropped my towel and piled my long hair onto my head in a messy knot. I had no energy to brush the tangles today. Maybe after food I would.
For the first time since I’d woken, I looked outside. I expected to see bright sunshine. A welcoming afternoon just waiting for me to flop into the sand and allow its rays to heal me like last time. Unfortunately, twilight cast the island in dying sunlight, shadows crept from their corners, etching palm trees with darker colours and the sand a muted gold.
I slept all night and day?
I frowned, trying to work out timeframes. It’d been late afternoon when Sully stuck his tongue between my legs, then loaded me into his new guest’s illusion. He’d made me come then sent me to be molested by another man.
My heart folded into itself.
How could he?
Shaking away the question, I balled my hands.
He can because he owns me. I’m nothing…even if I’m something.
I didn’t know how long the fantasy had lasted or when I’d been brought back to my villa, but I could’ve slept for eighteen hours or so.
Turned out the kayaking adventure, cage, and Euphoria had all taken their toll.
Heading into the walk-in wardrobe, I tried not to focus on the hangers missing clothing that I’d taken and lost in the storm. With a shaky hand, I chose a loose-fitting black maxi dress. The soft material kissed the top of my feet while the straps rested low on my shoulders, creating a floaty boho look. With tendrils of my hair escaping my topknot, I looked so young.
Young but ancient.
Innocent but well-fucked.
Tearing my eyes from the mirror, I walked to the centre of my villa. Outside on the deck, an array of delicacies waited to be eaten. My stomach growled to devour every morsel.
But…last time I’d stay cloistered in my villa after Euphoria, Sully had visited. We’d eaten together. We’d stolen moments from our otherwise clear-cut existence and muddied them with desire.
If I wanted to avoid being emotionally tortured anymore, I had to become something he avoided at all costs.
I had to become Neptune and Calico and Jupiter. I had to turn my back on Jealousy who had secrets about Sully, who genuinely believed something could happen between us, and become a goddess he couldn’t care less about.
That was my protection.
The space I needed to survive.
With my hands balled, I stepped from my villa and headed toward Divinity.
* * * * *
“Jinx…”
I sucked in a breath, freezing in the middle of the path.
A male voice, not female.
Tears pricked my eyes for no other reason than I’d had my fill of men. My body still carried two men’s marks, one physical, one emotional. My mind wasn’t ready to face more turmoil.
Footsteps quickened, linking the detached voice with its owner.
Roy Slater.
The man from the beach when Sully and I had arrived from Serigala. The man who probably heard me ask Sully to like me as an animal before he sent me away so he could negotiate my service.
Roy Slater was the guest who fucked me last night.
All colour drained from my body.
I stared at a total stranger.
A stranger I knew absolutely nothing about but had been extremely intimate with. He seemed normal, kind even, watching me with concern and affection. But…the fantasy last night? God, why did he have such twisted desires to sleep with his son’s girlfriend? Was that true in real life or simply an erotic daydream he’d acted out with me?
He was handsome for an older man. Trim and healthy with a perfect white smile. He raised his hand as if to touch me.
I couldn’t control my response.
I reeled backward, almost tripping into a spray of purple orchids. Orchids that gave their magic to Sully to make his foul elixir.
“Whoa, careful.” He reached for me again, cupping my elbow with gentle fingers. “You okay?” Once he knew I had my balance, he let me go, retreating to a more appropriate distance.
I didn’t speak. I choked on words and had nothing to share. I didn’t know how to unscramble the fact that this man had been inside me. He’d been on his knees with his entire face between my legs. He’d made me scream. He’d driven into me over and over again.
Yet he’d covered up who he was by choosing the face of another. He’d asked Sully to program him as slightly younger, slightly taller, and probably a lot more endowed.
“Jinx, I—” His cheeks pinked. “I’m glad I found you. I’ve been searching for you all day.”
His embarrassment granted a salve to my own shame. My knees locked, and I stood straighter.
Just as he’d camouflaged who he was, my goddess name deleted everything I’d ever been. Would he still stare at me with lust and awe if he knew I’d only finished school a couple of years ago? Would he still remember touching me, fucking me, with satisfaction and pride if he knew I’d been stolen from my family and friends?
My stomach clenched on self-pity.
I’d promised myself I wouldn’t wallow. Catching up on sleep ought to give me courage to keep going in this torturous ex
istence, but my heart was drained. My heart that gave me a well of strength and optimism was empty, wrung dry by a man who cared more for an ant than he cared for me, and cracked thanks to this guest who took what he wanted from me and now had the audacity to believe there was mutual affection.
“How…are you?” he asked softly. His gaze staying on my face rather than trespassing on my body.
My nostrils flared with a blend of fury and frustration. Fury that this guy was nice. That he’d done something as gross as paying to sleep with me but had the compassion to check up on my well-being. And frustration because, it seemed Sully was right. Humans couldn’t be trusted. This man probably had a doting wife at home who believed he was at some work conference. We were all liars and selfish to our own gains…over other’s misfortune and pain.
At least my temper gave me my voice back. Squaring my shoulders, I replied, “Do you honestly care how I am?”
He flinched, dropping his gaze awkwardly to the sand.
Was I expected to ask about his welfare? To be grateful? Did Sully have a handbook on how a goddess was to treat a guest after Euphoria? Because in my mind, this man had taken all he’d get from me last night. Today, I hadn’t been forced to drink a drug or have my senses stolen from me.
Today, I wasn’t for sale.
I have another week until I’m up for rent again.
The morbid thought made me want to laugh for no other reason than helplessness. How many did Sully say I’d have to sleep with? One-hundred-and-ninety-two?
I still have one-hundred-and-ninety to go.
I sighed heavily, wrenching the guy’s gaze back to mine. He no longer looked at me with rosy-coloured afterglow but an honest, raw expression that made my stomach tighten.
“Look, I know you’ll think low of me. After all, I paid money to enjoy your company. I’m probably over double your age. And you most likely didn’t enjoy our night together as much as I did.” He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “But…I need you to know that I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved how eager you were. How receptive. How damn beautiful you are. I know your participation came from the serum Sinclair has created but I just wanted to say you gave me something I’ve been missing since my wife died ten years ago.”
Twice a Wish (GODDESS ISLES Book 2) Page 22