White hot fire fills my vision as I begin to spasm. Screams and curses and moans and prayers escape my lips as I fall over than blissful edge, Zane following with me with a roar of his own as his cock expands and pulses inside of me.
Still panting, he slowly withdraws from me as I remove the toy.
He leaves the bed to the bathroom only to return with a couple of warm wash cloths. He gently cleans me then throws them to the floor. He lays down beside me, pulling me tightly into his chest.
That’s not what I meant when I told him to hurt me. He knows it. But I know he wasn’t going to do anything else. Not when my body is already nearly broken.
We lay there in silence and darkness for so long I think, maybe, he’s asleep until he kisses the crown of my head.
I’m so damn tired. My body is relaxed but my mind is nowhere near. “Tell me about Lacy,” I say into the dark quiet.
He rubs his hand absently up and down my arm. He doesn’t say anything at first, and I think he’s not going to until I hear him inhale deeply. “What do you want to know?”
“What was she like?”
He chuckles a little with a shake of his head. “She was a lot like you and the complete opposite at the same time. She was shy around people she didn’t know very well but warmed up quickly. She was quiet and a little bit nerdy. The first memory I have of her is sitting in the corner of the cafeteria in sixth grade with a book in her hand. But once she got to know you, you couldn’t get her to shut up. She moved in eighth grade, and I didn’t see her again until college. We fell in love fast. A couple of months into our relationship she learned her leukemia had returned. It was stage four, and it was the third time she’d relapsed since she first got it when she was seven. Fuck, I cried so damn hard when she told me. I was so pissed that she didn’t want treatment.”
I can’t stop the sob that escapes me. That poor girl that struggled most of her life with a disease that was so indiscriminate and so cruel. He pulls me tighter to him, consoling me because that’s who he is. “It didn’t take long for me to pull my head out of my ass. I was on borrowed time with her and didn’t want to waste a second. We spend the next four months doing everything we could together. Bungee jumping, rock climbing, you name it which wasn’t easy to do with school because she refused to quit or let me quit. We made love under the stars. By the ocean. On the rooftop. She just kept going and going until about two weeks before she died.”
“How?” I ask not really knowing what I’m asking.
But as always, he knows. He understands exactly what I’m saying. “I had to, Tori. She wouldn't have wanted me to be alone forever, and I knew what love was like. I wanted it again. I’ve had lots of hookups and one-night stands. Not because I refused to move on, but because I knew exactly how I would feel when I met the right girl. There was no harm in a little fun until I met her.And I learned the hard way how fucking short life really is. And the minute I laid eyes on you at that bar, standing in front of that stage watching your brother play, I knew it was you.”
“How could you know it was me before we even really met?”
“Didn’t you know I was the one for you before we ever spoke?”
I giggle a little. He’s right. The minute I saw him, I felt absolutely drawn to him. It was like destiny or kismet and absolutely out of my control. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fight the inexplicable need to be near him - with him.
A huge yawn escapes. My eyes are heavy, and my body is so relaxed it’s like I don’t have bones. “Go to sleep, Tori,” he tells me with another kiss to my crown.
“I love you, Zee.”
“I love you, Tori," he tells me. Then mumbles so softly I almost don't hear him say, "more than I’ve ever loved anyone.”
I hum at that comment while falling into the arms of the darkness of sleep.
Zane
I can’t stop myself from watching her as she sleeps. The way her hand is splayed next to her head. The way that long white hair tangles around her face.
She looks like a fantasy and dream.
Mine.
Everything about her is beautiful. Her smile. Her eyes. Her heart.
Mine.
She is bold and courageous. Fearless. Resilient. Loving. Loyal.
Mine.
It’s all I can think about. She’s mine. Every inch of her. Her mind. Her body. Her heart. Her soul.
Mine.
Her phone buzzes on the nightstand for probably the fifth time this morning. I pick it up to see what the deal is.
