Page 42 of Wraith
Chapter Forty
Present
He is sleeping soundly on the bed while I take the next watch. His story of how he upended Roman’s empire still heavy in my mind. So many questions plague me as I gaze out the small crack of the window covering. The main one still being, why didn’t I kill him? I don’t know. Part of me wanted all of this to end, the exhaustion of it weighing me down more than I expected. Was he a bad man? Yes. Did he deserve to be held accountable for all that he has done? Yes. Accountable for what he did to me? That is where I draw a blank. Part of me, the part that still holds the young girl that was given no choice, wants him dead. The other part of me, the part that just found out his intentions, is trying to figure out if there was another way. Some other decision he could have come to instead of the one he went with all those years ago. Then…then there is the small part of me, the part deep in my lower belly that heats at the memory of that night. The way he was forceful yet gentle. Whenever I would find myself thinking about it, I would push the feelings away. But now, as I look over to find him still sleeping, I wonder what it would be like. On my terms. So many times I have had that option taken from me. Maybe that is another part of me that resents him. Yes, when I was found I was no longer in Roman’s compound but I was in yet another place where my life wasn’t myown.
Just then he starts to stir, groaning like he did while he was dreaming, the blanket he had covering himself gets pushed away when his thrashing becomes more erratic. “No!” he bellows, jerking up from the bed violently to a sitting position. “Fuck.” His wild eyes dart around the small cabin before landing on me. Then his hands go to his hair tugging slightly before brushing the strands from hisface.
“You had another dream,” I state the obvious and force myself to look away from his naked sweaty chest and out the window oncemore.
“Are you going to stand there all night? Its freezing out there and snowing to beat all hell. Do you really think he is going to just showup?”
“Do you want to talk about yournightmare?”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought. So yes, I’m going to stand here and look out this window.” I keep my eyes focused forward when I hear the squeak of the bed then the soft footfalls of his bare feet as they step closer to where I’ve stationedmyself.
“Sebastian started fucking me when I was ten. Made me do other shit too, had me thinking I liked it. He manipulated me in a way I was too young to understand.” His words have the desired effect and I turn to face him. He doesn’t look sad or confused, simply a man telling a story. “It started out with him buying me things, clothes mostly, then he started to touch me. Made me feel wanted. Before I knew it, I started to almost look forward to when he came and visited my room. I had no idea what any of it meant until the day I saw you in Roman’s office. I pictured what Sebastian did to me happening to you and I couldn’t fathom it. I hated his touch and wanted it to stop. So, I made it stop by breaking his nose.” He lets out a light laugh. “When I got my new job as a contract killer, I found myself out in a world that I had no idea how to live in, I still don’t. You know I thought I was gay? I tried to screw as many women as possible but couldn’t bring myself to do it. Know why?” Trying to not let the image of him with other woman into my mind I shake my head, not trusting my words. “You.” The one word washes over me leaving a blanket of warmth that is unsettling yet wanted. “You were all I wanted, and when I killed you, it fucking brokeme.”
“Broke you?” Iscoff.
“Yes. You claim I didn’t break you, but you broke me. Every single piece of good that was left inside me broke the day I fucked up and killedyou.”
“You son of a bitch.” My words come out in a low rumble, before I lunge at him. My hand forms a fist before I slam it right into hisface.
“Shit!” he curses and reaches out to grip my arms in his palms. “Damn it, woman, you are always wanting a fight,” he booms out, whipping me around so my back is to his front, caging me in his massive arms. I keep up the struggle, kicking and clawing, but he doesn’t relent, only tightens more. “Calm down, tiger.” He presses his mouth to the back of my ear, breathing in and out, sending a scorching tingle down myspine.
“Steven,” I rasp out breathlessly as my limbs start to relax and give into theircaptor.
“Yes. It’s me.” His lips cascade down my neck, mingling with my wild hair. “If I let you go are you going to knee me in the balls? ‘Cause I kind of like them.” I can feel his smile on my neck and the one growing on my face so I shake my head. Slowly he turns me around to face him, brushing the wayward strands from my face. “Promise?” I nod again and find my hands, on their own accord, coming into contact with his hard chest. His head starts to tilt, coming down toward mine, clearly intent on kissing me. So, I instinctively raise my knee with every intent on connecting it to his groin, but before I can, he swoops down with a hand to deflect my attack then hauls me up his chest. “Knew you would go for it,” he growls, gripping my legs and positioning me around him before slamming his lips down onto mine with a hungry kiss that totally knocks me offkilter.
Tongues and teeth fight one another as my back slams hard against the cabin wall with a thud. It hurts, but I’m too distracted by the man possessing me with his mouth and pressing his hard length between my damp thighs. “You feel that?” He thrusts his hips forward ripping a moan from deep in my throat. “You are the only woman who has ever gotten me so fucking hard.” He stops the motion of his hips and starts circling them instead. “The thought of being wrapped up inside you is all that got me off, even before I had you, all it took was just the memory of your face. Shit.” He lets out a curse making my legs tremble as something I have only felt once long ago starts tohappen.
“Oh,Steven.”
“Fuck, yes. Say it again. Come for me, tiger.” His teeth make contact with my neck as a blinding light flashes under my eyelids and more moans fall from my mouth before he claims it onceagain.
It isn’t until I open my eyes that I find I’m on the bed, with him looking down at me. “Get some damn sleep.” With that he turns from me but not before I see him adjust his sizeable erection. Then he is pulling on a coat and goingoutside.
