Fallen: (A Psychological Dark Romance) (The Dark Necessities Prequels Book 2)

by Felicity Brandon

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured, and he meant it.

  Lily was right. The whole thing was fucked up.

  “I don’t mean to overwhelm you. I just want to reassure you that this is real, and despite everything—despite all the crazy things we’ve both done—this love is real—these feelings are real, and it’s going to be a part of our lives now and forever.”

  She swallowed. “That’s still overwhelming, sir,” she whispered, but her lips were curling into a small smile as she spoke.

  Her answer made him chuckle. “Right again,” he replied. “I’m not so good at this, am I?”

  Lily shook her head. “It’s just a lot to take in,” she answered. “I always wanted to fall in love, but I never envisioned that the one would end up being a murderer.”

  She paused, and Ethan watched as the fact seemed to wash over her yet again. “And I never thought I would be capable of acting the way I did, either.”

  “Blame me,” Ethan told her in a soft tone. “I mean, I’m still going to punish you and all, but in reality, you do have mitigating circumstances acting in your defense. That’s more than I ever had.”

  She inhaled. “But you didn’t love the people you killed.”

  Her voice sounded cold. “I’m not making excuses for you, but that’s the difference. You already told me, you felt nothing for any of them, but I…”

  Her voice trailed away again, that lip disappearing between her teeth for a moment. “I have feelings for you that are so strong they frighten me.”

  Ethan shook his head, he was all for fostering their intimacy, but this conversation was only upsetting her, and that’s not what today was supposed to be about. “Enough for now,” he murmured as he placed a tender kiss against her lips. “I have better ways to frighten you right now, little one.”

  Lily’s eyes widened at his assertion. “My punishment?”

  Ethan rose from her body, straddling her chest as he gazed down at her helpless body. “Right again,” he replied. “By the time I’m done with you, you’re not going to remember why you love me so much.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Lily

  She’d been bound to that bed for hours, or, at least that’s how it seemed as the latest wave of euphoria slipped away from her grasp. Again. True to his word, Ethan had been tormenting her with his deft hands and mouth ever since he’d climbed back down her body after their impromptu pillow talk. At first, Lily had been skeptical about what he had in mind. Even when he’d fucked her earlier, she had still enjoyed the act, because Ethan had a way of always making her so hot and needy—many ways actually—and Lily craved them all. It had barely even concerned her that she’d not achieved an orgasm then, and the way he’d spoken to her afterwards had totally distracted her from the idea of punishment at all.

  But that was then. And now, as she lay in a tangle of sweaty sheets, the ropes still gripping at her wrists, Lily knew different. Now she knew he meant business, and that he was more than able to deliver on his threats to torture her with a pleasure she seemed doomed to never reach.

  “Sir!”

  Her mouth was free this time, at least, although Ethan had even managed to engineer a way that its liberation would work against her. Every time he brought her close to another mind-blowing orgasm, he would remind her of the reason she would not be allowed it in an infuriatingly calm tone, and then, to add insult to injury, he would promptly demand that she parrot the information back to him. It was singly the most humiliating ordeal of her life. It should have been bad enough being bound and naked for him—completely at Ethan’s mercy—but having to keep admitting her transgression, and the ramifications was fast becoming soul-destroying.

  As the latest high began to ebb, she twisted her head, vaguely aware that Ethan had moved from the bed to the dresser.

  “You need a drink,” he told her.

  She blinked at him. “Wine would be nice,” she quipped, though in truth, he was right. Her mouth had been thoroughly dried by all the excruciating highs and lows of the last hour or so.

  “I don’t think so, little one,” he mused as he headed toward her, water bottle in hand. “How about this instead?”

  Lily’s gaze fell over the bottle, and she licked her lips. “Please, sir,” she murmured, already despising how needy that made her sound. But she was needy. She needed the water, and she badly needed to come. The pressure between her legs was making everything else seem cloudy; muting out all other considerations until they become inconsequential.

  “Roll onto your belly,” Ethan commanded as he stood by the side of the bed. “And once you’re there you can ease yourself up to your knees.”

  Her head felt heavy as she followed his instructions, but somehow, she complied, finding herself on her knees by the headboard. Looking down at her bound wrists, Lily appraised the pink marks Ethan’s ropes had made.

  “Here.” He held out the bottle in front of her and tentatively, Lily leaned toward it, allowing him to tip the water into her mouth.

  She supposed that should probably be embarrassing too, having him actually administer the drink for her, but Lily was thirsty, and after all the torment of the time tied to this bed, she was almost past caring.

  Almost.

  “How much longer, sir?” she asked with a weary sigh after she’d drained about half of the bottle.

  “How much longer what, little one?”

  Ethan’s gaze was knowing as he shot the question back to her, and Lily knew he understood exactly what she was talking about. He was just bloody torturing her again. As per usual.

  “Will this last?”

  She sounded exasperated and emotional, and as the query left her lips, Lily hung her head. Was this really all it took to reduce her to a wet, sniveling mess? One man, a few ropes and hours of his wicked intent? She’d always assumed she was a strong person, but as with so much in her life, meeting Ethan had changed that perception.

  “I think I made myself clear on this point,” he told her, and she twisted her body to see him place the bottle back on the dresser. “Your punishment lasts all day.”

  Lily’s belly twisted. “All day?” she gasped, “But, sir, I can’t. I can’t handle it.”

  She’d been so close to coming the last time he’d used his experienced fingers to pleasure her, and while Ethan had never stipulated what the consequences of disobeying that rule would be, she could only imagine the horrors he had in mind. The last time she had defied him she’d ended up in this predicament, and before that, he’d introduced her to his belt, and even now, she could feel how tender her arse still was.

  “You’ll handle it,” he assured her in a dark tone. “Because you have no choice, Lily. I am going to teach this lesson, and I’m going to make sure you understand it.”

  “What lesson?” Her mind was whirring, barely able to keep up with his train of thought.

  Ethan was on her in a moment, mounting the bed behind her body so fast that Lily barely even had time to gasp. The first she really knew about his sudden proximity was the sound of the smack that resounded around her right arse cheek, and the impact of the hurt when her brain finally registered what had happened.

  “What was that?” he snapped.

  Shit, she’d forgotten to use his title again, hadn’t she? That kept happening, every time she started to relax and drop her guard, Lily would slip up and apparently it was starting to grate with Ethan.

  “Sir!” she practically hissed the word toward his body.

  His arm snaked around her waist, pulling her flush against his groin. The action made the length of rope still binding her to the bed tighten, and Lily found herself caught between the bondage and Ethan’s body. “You’ll do well to remember to use it, little one,” he told her in little more than a growl. “Pissing me off at this juncture might not work to your advantage.”

  She inhaled, struggling to process everything that was happening. His words were still echoing around her head as she registered the friction of the ropes
again, and now, the new sting at her backside. “I’m sorry, sir,” she whimpered. “I’m sorry for all of it. I swear I’ll never do anything as stupid as yesterday again. I’ll never walk out on you. I’ll never hurt you.”

  Ethan exhaled, the hand that had spanked her curling to her chest. “I know,” he murmured as he held her against his body. For a moment they were so close again that the deed seemed almost tender. “I know you never will, and do you want to know how I know?”

  Lily swallowed. She had an idea where this was going. “Sir?”

  He laughed, and she wondered if he’d been reading her thoughts. “Tell me,” he demanded in that silky tone that both aroused and infuriated in equal measure.

  “Because you’re going to make sure I’m sorry?”

  Her voice was croaky as she made the admission, but she swallowed the embarrassment down. She was starting to despise how he had the ability to do this to her, but even worse, was the way she knew it made her body react. Lily could feel the hot ache in her core burgeoning every time she was forced to say those things out loud.

  “That’s right, little one,” he purred into her right ear. “I am going to make you a trembling mess of need, Lily.”

  She bit down hard upon her bottom lip until she tasted blood. Fuck, wasn’t she exactly that way already?

  “Not yet,” he replied, although she hadn’t actually spoken. “But you will be, beautiful, and then—when you’re absolutely beyond desperate— I’m going to fuck you again, and again, and again, and I’m not going to let you come once.”

  Lily’s eyes squeezed shut at Ethan’s proclamation. There was no way. No way she was ever going to be able to survive this. Even his belt would have been better than this—wouldn’t it?

  “Ha!” he breathed into her nape with a chuckle. “I’m not sure you would have agreed if I’d have suggested my belt. I think you’d have thought this was a kindness!”

  A kindness? Was the man insane? It wasn’t the first time she’d ever wondered, but things were really getting out of hand now.

  “Please,” she breathed, deciding to throw herself on his mercy again, although Lily wasn’t sure why. It was obvious it wasn’t going to work. Ethan was just having too much bloody fun. But still, she had to try. She couldn’t endure any more of this. Lily knew that’s what she had agreed to do, but she’d been mistaken. There was no enduring this.

  “Please, sir. I’ll do anything. Anything else you want me to do? I’ll yield to your belt; I’ll beg for forgiveness—anything!”

  The arms around her body tightened. “Oh, my little gorgeous little one,” he murmured, and her heart sank because Lily knew. Just from his tone, she knew. Ethan was going to continue, and she was fucked. “You know I’d love to spank you, and believe me, if you defy my rules and come today, you will be meeting my belt again, but that’s not what today’s lesson is about, is it?”

  Lily wanted to cry. “No, sir,” she mewled.

  “What is today about?”

  His words vibrated over her in a soft goading tone.

  “Obeying you,” she whispered, finally conceding and resting the back of her head against his collarbone. “And enduring for you, sir.”

  “Good, yes,” he replied approvingly. “And, you should know. We’ve been through it three times this morning already.”

  She closed her eyes, recalling each agonizing moment in explicit detail. It had been frustrating to have been denied the first orgasm, but she had borne the loss fairly well, vocalizing each demand he made on her through gritted teeth. By the third missed climax, however, Lily had been desperate, on the verge of tears and utterly exasperated. It was cruel, just bloody cruel to intentionally take someone so high when there was absolutely no intention of taking them over the edge.

  “And learning what happens when I defy you,” she murmured, barely able to conceal the pain in her voice as she forced the words out. “Like I did yesterday. Like I did when I locked you down there and left…”

  Something seemed to give way in her head then, and the weight of everything Lily had been clinging to slammed down hard against her. Hot tears sprang from her eyes, and the water came as relentlessly as the orgasms might have done earlier, if Ethan had permitted it. He sighed, saying nothing about the release of emotion at first, but instead just pulling her tight against the warmth of his body, and then, when Lily’s head was almost drained, she heard him whisper.

  “That’s right, little one. Now you’ve got it.”

  Blinking back the tears as best she could without the use of her hands, Lily turned her head to try and catch his eye. Ethan seemed as cool and composed as she’d ever seen him, and reflexively, the realization made a shiver run down her back.

  “But you’re still going to make me suffer, sir?”

  A part of her didn’t even want to hear the answer, and another part already knew, but somehow, Lily still had to ask. She still had to hear it from his tantalizing lips.

  “Of course,” he assured her with a small smile. “I said I’d deliver on this punishment, and, Lily, I’m a man of my word.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ethan

  Lily had more fight in her than even he had given her credit for. She always looked like such a small and delicate thing, and physically, she was, but Ethan had the pleasure of being inside her on more than one occasion, and he knew the fierce strength that resided within. Even now, as he gently laid her back against the sheets, he knew she was more than able to withstand the things he had in mind. The only question was, would she find that strength?

  “Please, sir, just fuck me.”

  The small whimper stirred his cock. There was something undeniably rousing about hearing such crude profanity from such smooth, innocent lips, but a part of him still flinched every time it happened. Lily had been so virtuous, but he had come along and wrecked all of that.

  “Soon,” Ethan promised, as he checked the binds at her wrists. He sensed Lily needed something tangible to hold onto—to pull her through—and of course, he fully intended to fuck her senseless again later, but right now, he wanted to tease her again. He wanted to feel the heat burgeoning from all of her senses, furling at her core until she could barely take another second of his caresses. Watching her body come alive under his touch was mesmerizing.

  “Oh, God.”

  The mewl escaped her lips as Lily bucked her hips toward him. She was going crazy with all his lustful games of edging and denial—exactly as Ethan had planned.

  “Do you need your gag again?”

  The question was soft and sensual, but Ethan shifted his gaze to stare at her desperate face.

  “I-I don’t know, sir.”

  Lily’s answer surprised him. The gag was supposed to be a threat, and yet her response suggested that perhaps Lily didn’t see it that way.

  “I’d prefer to hear your voice,” he admitted as he moved along the bed, running an idle fingertip along the inside of her thigh.

  “Whatever you want, sir.”

  Her words were little more than a hiss, and Ethan grinned at them.

  “Careful now,” he warned her. “That attitude isn’t going to help you.”

  Nothing is going to help you.

  “I know,” she whined, jerking as his digit stimulated the back of her knee. “I just don’t know what to do, or say, or think anymore.”

  “Poor little one,” Ethan crooned in a mocking tone. “It will be over soon, I promise.”

  He lifted his wrist to check the time. They’d been at it for hours, and if he was going to get more food into Lily, then he’d need to call proceedings to a halt in the next hour or so.

  “Soon, sir?”

  Lily strained her neck to try and meet his gaze again.

  “If you’re a good girl,” he told her with a wry smile. “Good girls get rewarded.”

  “With an orgasm?”

  Bless Lily, she sounded so hopeful, and yet Ethan could barely believe she’d ask after all the rounds of denial he’
d delivered.

  “With some food and some rest,” he told her. “And my forgiveness.”

  She slumped back against the bed in frustration, an act that caused his smile to widen. A small part of him wanted to spank the impertinence out of her, but Lily brought out a more human side of him. A side that helped him to understand her predicament. She was exhausted at this point, and well beyond desperate for her pleasure. He supposed he couldn’t blame her for holding out on the idea that he might show her mercy in the end.

  But he wouldn’t.

  Ethan, on the other hand, had already enjoyed four orgasms today, and as he gazed at the slick, pink flesh of Lily’s pussy, he began to contemplate his fifth. He climbed back onto the bed, lowering his face between her legs.

  “Spread those legs, Lily.”

  She gasped as his breath tickled her sensitive flesh, and with a sigh her legs splayed in front of him. Ethan didn’t wait a moment later to take what he wanted. He pressed his mouth at her wet seam, tonguing her greedily. The time for soft ministrations was over. Ethan was more than aware how easily Lily could be toppled over the edge, and he intended to enjoy her. Reaching for her swollen clit, he lapped at it cruelly, relishing the way Lily’s body lurched at the contact.

  “Oh, God!” She was almost screaming. “Please, please, no more.”

  Ethan ran his tongue over his lips at her plea. “Yes, more,” he assured her, kissing her trembling flesh.

  “I can’t, sir.”

  He could feel the tension in her body, the pulsing need that was building with every lick of his tongue. His cock felt it, too, his erection straining against the mattress.

  “I can’t take any more. I need to come! I need to come so much.”

  Ethan patted the throbbing nub at her sex, enjoying the strangled noise that escaped her throat. “But you’re not going to come, are you, little one?”

  Lily panted. “No, sir.”

  “And why is that?”

  He lowered his mouth again, fucking her with his tongue while his fingertips continued their relentless pursuit of her clitoris.