Black Forever

by Victoria Quinn

  Tom dropped me off at the house, and I used my key to get inside.

  “What did I say?” She sat on the couch with her legs crossed, her Kindle sitting on her lap.

  “You shouldn’t have taken off like that.” My relief at her safety quickly wore off when I remembered the little number she pulled. “Something could have happened to you.”

  “What?” she snapped. “Trip on the sidewalk?”

  My eyes narrowed. “Don’t be a smartass right now.”

  “Don’t be a jackass right now.”

  I wanted to fuck her so hard. I was pissed, but my cock was at full mast at the exact same time. “Whatever happens between us, taking off on your own isn’t the solution. Hank could have done something.”

  “Hank is no longer a problem, and you know it.”

  “We’ll never know that until he’s fucking dead.” I walked farther into the living room, feeling my hands form into fists. My need for control was outweighing my need for logic. I was thinking emotionally, not objectively. When it came to Rome, I couldn’t see straight. “So don’t pull that stunt again. I mean it.”

  “I can do whatever the hell I want, Calloway. You aren’t the boss of me.”

  I’d give anything to be the boss of her. I wanted to flip her over and spank the shit out of her. Now it was all I could think about, making her cheeks rosy red and inflamed. My fists tightened until my knuckles turned white.

  I knew I should apologize, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I knew exactly why I acted the way I did earlier, not that the reason justified the action. But the second she took off, she sucked away all my sympathy. “I mean it, Rome. Don’t ever do that again. You can be mad all you want, but don’t put yourself in jeopardy.”

  “Don’t be a bitch-face, and I won’t take off.”

  “A bitch-face?” I snapped. “What the hell is that?”

  “You.” She threw her Kindle down, showing her small rampage. “Why did you make a big scene like that at work?”

  “How can it be a scene if no one is around?”

  “Your assistant could have heard you.”

  “Who gives a shit if she did?” I threw my arm down. “It’s my building. It’s my office. And you’re my woman. I do what I want—no questions asked.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself, Calloway. You aren’t the king of the world.”

  I wanted to pin her down right on the couch. “All I wanted was for you to know that you’re the most important woman in my life. If you need something, you walk in there. I don’t give a shit what I’m doing or who I’m speaking to. You’re my priority, and you always come first. Sorry if that’s so offensive, but I fucking love you, and that’s how I goddamn show it.” I barely got a glimpse of her before I turned around and stormed out of the house. I slammed the door so hard the hinges nearly broke off. I hadn’t changed out of my suit or even taken off my watch. I knew exactly where I was going, and nothing was going to stop me.

  I was going to Ruin.

  I turned my phone off so I didn’t have to feel it vibrate in my pocket. Rome would call me all night long, wanting to work this out and subdue my anger.

  But it was too late for that.

  I walked into the underworld, the dark place I considered home, and I found Isabella as if I had a GPS on her. She was at the bar talking to some guy who was clearly interested in putting a collar around her neck.

  Not an ounce of jealousy.

  I felt nothing for her.

  If I asked her to be my sub for the evening and she said no, I still wouldn’t care.

  I walked up to her and locked my gaze with hers, silently telling her what I wanted. The guy sitting beside her was irrelevant at that point. Couldn’t care less about him.

  She held my gaze with the same dark expression. She finally gave a slight nod.

  That was the gesture I was looking for, so I walked off and headed to the playrooms upstairs, not concerned if she was standing behind me or not. I knew she would follow me—because she always followed me.

  Once she joined me in the playroom, I locked the door and finally felt myself come undone. I was out of my mind with rage. I was so livid I couldn’t see straight. Rome ticked me off, pushed me to the edge, and now I needed to release the frustration deep inside me. I grabbed the shackles and secured them around Isabella’s wrists. After a tug on the rope, she was lifted from the floor, her feet dangling inches from the ground.

  “Make me hurt, Sir,” she whispered. “Make it hurt so good.”

  I went to the display case and looked through the selections of whips and floggers. I found a particularly brutal one, with a big knot at the end that would mark her for days. “I will, Isabella. Don’t you worry about that.”

  4

  Rome

  This day just kept getting worse.

  He pissed me off.

  Then I pissed him off.

  Then he pissed me off again.

  And then he told me he loved me.

  He finally said those words to me, and instead of making me happy, they made me feel like shit. Sometimes Calloway turned possessive and controlling, and I knew I needed to be more sensitive to his behaviors. He didn’t know how to express himself like most people. He showed me he loved me in ways that weren’t completely transparent.

  Love meant something different to him than it did to me.

  And I chased him away after he finally confessed his feelings.

  I called his phone a hundred times throughout the night, but every time I tried to reach him, his phone was off.

  That was like a punch to the stomach.

  At two in the morning, I couldn’t stay awake any longer. I lay on the couch with a thin blanket and hoped I would hear the door once he came inside, if he came home at all. I was dead asleep when I heard his heavy footfalls against the hardwood floor in the entryway.

  I sat upright and pulled the hair from my face, relieved that he was home and no longer out on the town.

  He immediately stripped off his jacket and tossed it on the coatrack. He undid his watch and threw it on the table, not caring about protecting it from scratches. He stepped farther into the room as he unbuttoned his collared shirt.

  His eyes settled on me, just as frightening as they were when he stormed out.

  I kicked the blanket aside and left the couch. I hadn’t changed since I came home, and I was still in the dress I wore to work. My makeup was probably smeared because I shed a few tears after I got his voice mail.

  The lights were off, but I could still make out his hard features, full of unbridled anger.

  Now that I was face-to-face with him, I didn’t know what to say. Words left me at that moment. I didn’t know how to express myself, not after the roller coaster of emotions we experienced throughout the day.

  I finally found something to say, but it felt hollow in comparison to how I felt. “I’m sorry…”

  He didn’t drop his arctic glare. He stepped closer to me then cupped my face, both of his hands pressed against my cheeks. He forced my head back then kissed me, an embrace that was just as aggressive as he was angry. His tongue darted into my mouth, and he pressed me up against the wall, kissing me harder and groping my body everywhere. He yanked up my dress then pulled my panties down my thighs. When he couldn’t get them past my knees, he ripped them with his bare hands instead.

  I yelped when I heard the tear of the fabric, desperate to get him inside me now that I knew how much he wanted me. My hands went to his slacks, and I yanked them off as well as his boxers. The second he was free, he lifted me into the air and pressed my back against the wall.

  Then he shoved himself inside me.

  Instead of the tender lovemaking we should have had after he first told me he loved me, he fucked me so hard I screamed. I dragged my nails down his back and panted into his ear. I was still angry, but so grateful he was home. “Fuck me harder.”

  His eyes locked to mine before he did what I asked. He thrust his hips an
d pushed me against the wall, making my back thud against the solid material as he moved hard and fast. He gripped me by the ass and the thighs, groping me hard like this was a one-night stand rather than lust between two committed people. “I’ll make sure you can’t walk tomorrow, sweetheart.” He dug one hand into my hair and yanked my head back as he shoved his massive dick inside me, stretching me over and over.

  “Fuck…” I felt the explosion between my legs and had no time to prepare for it. It came suddenly and without warning. Calloway made me melt right into the floor, turning me into a puddle of desire.

  When he felt my pussy tighten around his length, he released with a grunt, keeping me pinned to the wall. We were a sea of tangled limbs, our bodies wrapped around one another so tightly it didn’t seem like we could ever be free.

  He pumped his seed inside me, claiming me as his once again. He rested his face in the crook of my neck as he finished, breathing through the exhilaration. His lips sealed over my skin, and he gave me a sexy kiss before he pulled away from the wall, his cock still inside me. He carried me up the stairs to the bedroom then lay me flat on the bed, his throbbing cock slipping out of me.

  He kicked off his jeans and boxers then climbed on top of me, his powerful body making the bed sink under his impressive weight. He looked down at me like he was nowhere near finished. “I know I’m an asshole sometimes. But I don’t know how to be anything else besides an asshole. It’s all I’ve ever known.”

  I knew that was as close to an apology as I was going to get.

  “I don’t know how to deal with these feelings I have for you. Ever since you walked into my life, it’s been chaos. When you were a virgin, I was patient with you. I’m a virgin too, but in a different way. Please be patient with me.”

  That was even better than an apology. All the anger I felt toward him disappeared in that moment. Somehow, I felt deeper in love with him. He was the one, the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. It might take us a while to get to a place where we were both comfortable, but we would make it there eventually.

  We just had to try. “I’ll wait forever for you, Calloway.”

  His eyes softened before he leaned in and kissed me. “I knew you were going to say that. But I wanted to hear it anyway.”

  Calloway and I didn’t talk much after our fight. He returned to his silent brooding, his face a mask of impenetrable stoicism. He didn’t seem angry with me, but he wasn’t as easy to read as he used to be.

  Something seemed different.

  Maybe it was his mother. His hostility seemed to come from nowhere, emerging from somewhere deep inside him. Maybe her well-being and lack of memory elicited this change in him. Now he was a bomb that had just gone off, but the aftershocks were still rolling in.

  I wanted to ask him about it, but I feared it would only make it worse.

  We had dinner together at the table in silence. Calloway wasn’t much of a talker, but he had less to say than usual. His eyes were either on his food or out the window, never on me. His mind was weighed down with thoughts. I could he see the cogs turning deep inside his mind. His mood reflected in his eyes like mirrors.

  When we finished, I carried the plates to the sink and started the dishes.

  “No.” Calloway came up beside me and scooted me over with his size. “I’ll take care of this.”

  “Calloway, you really don’t have to—”

  He silenced me with a threatening look. “I said I would take care of it. Now go sit down.”

  I dropped the argument because I knew I wouldn’t win. I sat on the couch in the living room and listened to the dishes tap against the sink as the water ran out of the faucet. He rinsed everything before he placed the dishes in the dishwasher and turned it on. He washed his hands then walked into the living room, looking hot as hell in the black sweatpants that hung low on his hips. His tight ass was defined, even in the loose clothing. He wore a black V-neck that showed his chiseled chest and his thick arms. He took the seat beside me then grabbed the book he’d been reading off the end table. He opened it and picked up where he left off.

  “Calloway?”

  He left the book open on his lap and faced me, his jaw stern and his eyes dark. Whether he was happy or angry, he still wore the same hard expression. Right now, I had no idea what was going on behind that beautiful face. Verbal responses from him were few and far between.

  “You’ve been different lately. Is everything okay?”

  He continued to stare at me, his eyes empty. His jaw was lined with a thick appearance of hair, highlighting the distinct angles of his face and his obvious masculinity. “Different in what way?”

  “I don’t know…short, angry, hostile.”

  He turned his head away and looked at the fireplace. The flames burned down to simmering coals, crackling once every few minutes. “I’m not angry with you, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Then are you angry at someone else?”

  He took a deep breath like he was about to give a lengthy answer. But instead, he had very little to say. “No, not particularly. I’m just…this is who I am.”

  “Yes, sometimes. But not all the time.” Lately, this was the only version of Calloway I’d seen. He was dark and brooding, seeming constantly displeased about something. Even though he didn’t issue threats or do anything to suggest he was unhappy with me, he still exuded this aura of threat. “Are you upset about your mother?”

  “No. She’s lost her mind, and she’ll never get it back. There’s nothing to be angry about.”

  Even if he was being sincere, I didn’t believe him. She wasn’t even my mother, and I was angry about it. “You know you can talk to me, Calloway. Whatever it is, you know I’ll listen and understand.”

  He turned his head back my way, searching my expression. For a moment, his features seemed to soften, he seemed to become more human. But like a light switch, he immediately returned to his former darkness.

  His silence ended the conversation, shutting me out like it had never happened.

  Now I suspected something really was wrong, but he didn’t want to tell me what it was. The only person he would confide in besides me was Jackson. So maybe I would need to speak to him alone.

  If I could figure out how to do that.

  When Calloway was in the shower, I made my move.

  Guilt flooded my heart when I grabbed his phone off the dresser and opened it. I felt like I was snooping around when I had no right to. It made me look like a jealous girlfriend who didn’t trust the man she loved. If he went through my things, he’d get an earful about it. I quickly found Jackson’s number then copied it into my phone so I could call him later. Just when I finished, the water in the shower turned off.

  I panicked and abandoned the phone on the dresser. Then I hightailed it out of there and returned downstairs where I would normally be. The food was still on the stove, and I did the best I could to stop it from burning.

  A moment later, he joined me in the kitchen in his sweatpants and t-shirt. He leaned against the counter and stared me down, his eyes cold. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood in silence.

  I felt the sweat collect on the back of my neck, the adrenaline powerful. Did he know? Was that why he was looking at me the way? Or was I just being paranoid? Since he was constantly inhospitable, I never knew what Calloway was thinking. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

  He continued to eye me in the exact same fashion, accusation heavy in his stare.

  I finally turned to him when I couldn’t handle the look any longer. “What?”

  He moved toward me and wrapped his arm around my waist as he stood behind me. His lips found my neck, and he kissed me slowly, showing me love when he’d just shown me displeasure. “You’re the only woman in my heart.” He kissed the shell of my ear before he walked to the kitchen table, leaving me standing at the stove.

  I was frozen in place, holding the spatula in my hand but unsure what to do with it. My heart was beating s
o fast it was painful inside my chest. My rib cage vibrated from the force of my beating heart. I could feel my entire frame shake. Did he know I looked at his phone? Or was that just a coincidence? It sounded like something he would say for no reason. But it was also a huge coincidence.

  I kept my cool and served dinner, doing my best to mask the terror gripping me by the throat.

  Calloway stared at me across the table, his gaze piercing. Like he could see right through me, he stared me down. For an inexplicable reason, my neck felt hot, and I squeezed my thighs together. Seeing him look at me like that made me both turned on and terrified. Something about his power, his natural authority when he entered the room, made me turn into a woman with carnal desires.

  I couldn’t explain it.

  Calloway continued to gaze at me with more intensity than ever before. He interrogated me with just his look. I already knew I was the only woman in his life. I wasn’t worried what Calloway was doing when we weren’t together. He was absolutely loyal to me, his hands reserved for my body alone.

  But I could never tell him what I was really doing.

  I dropped my napkin onto the table and came around the side, heading straight for him. I hiked up my dress the second he yanked down his sweatpants and boxers to reveal his large and pulsing cock.

  I straddled him as I pulled my underwear to the side, sheathing his cock the instant I lowered myself onto his lap. I gripped his shoulder for balance and breathed through both the pain and the pleasure.

  He pressed his face to mine, the thick hair from his jaw gently scratching me. He breathed into my ear as he enjoyed my warm, tight pussy. His hands moved to my hips, and he moved me up and down his length, impaling me the second he was inside me. “Rome…”

  My arms locked around his neck, and I rode his cock like I needed it to survive. “Calloway…”

  I waited until I knew Calloway had a meeting with the vice president of one of the biggest banks in the city before I called Jackson. Calloway rarely ventured to my office during the workday. The only time we crossed paths was during meetings or when I went to his office to discuss figures.