Page 47 of Atonement

“I don’t want you to think.” His voice was nothing more than a whisper now, a mere suggestion in my ear. “I want you to come all over my cock so I can feel you clench around me as if you’re going to break it off inside that tight pussy.” He increased the pace with his fingers. “Do you think you can do that for me?”

I couldn’t answer, because it was unfolding inside me, spreading through my body like the tide coming in far too fast. My cries echoed off the walls of the bathroom as his fingers tightened in my side. It lasted forever as he kept stroking me, bringing me back for another round just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore. I twitched every time my pussy clenched around him. When I collapsed, panting, I didn’t get more than a moment to breathe before he lifted me off him and placed me on my knees, pulling my head back by my hair.

“Open your mouth,” he commanded. I did, along with my eyes, just in time to see him pump himself twice before he began to come on my face, the salty liquid splattering across my lips and tongue and cheeks as he moaned his release. I leaned closer, fighting against his hold, to put my tongue against the tip, and it earned me two more bursts of hot cum in my mouth. He palmed my cheek as he collapsed backward, eyes closed, and I licked my lips clean before crawling up next to him.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“Yeah.” I guessedMy dad was just shot in the head by my surrogate mothersex was the best kind of sex there was. Not one you could repeat too often, though. “Are you okay?”

“I am.” He opened his eyes and looked at me as he kissed me on the lips. “I needed that.”

I squeezed his hand. “I’ll be here to give you what you need. Whatever it is.”

He smiled as he kissed me again and I thought, for the first time, he might have believed it.

After we showered and I bandaged up his arm, we dried off and set about preparing for bed like any normal weeknight. I dug up some ancient face cream in the cabinets and mixed it up, spreading it across my skin with relief.

“God, my skin is dry.”

“I hadn’t noticed.” He kissed my forehead. He couldn’t stop doing that, leaving kisses everywhere on me he could find. I didn’t mind the extra attention, but it might make things weird when my dad showed up. “We’ll have to deal with family tomorrow, you know.”

“Shit.” He slapped his hand against his forehead, then winced and rubbed gently at the same spot. He’d hit a bruise. “Anita is locked up in the bathroom at my house.”

I couldn’t help snorting in laughter. “Are you serious?”

He grinned, almost hesitantly, as if he were afraid to feel joy at her misfortune. “Yeah. She tried to pull my own gun on me earlier, but she didn’t know Conrad had sabotaged it. She actually probably saved my life.”

“I guess we should send Joshua to go get her. Make sure she’s secure.”

With a shrug, he pulled a comb out of a drawer and ran it a few times through his hair. “I’m sure she’ll be fine until tomorrow. We can take care of it after we’ve had a good night’s sleep.”

The wind howled outside the window, reminding me of the steadily falling temperature. I pulled my towel tighter across my chest, wet hair clinging to my back. “I hope she doesn’t get cold.”

He paused, hand still pushing his cheek to the side as he looked at his stubble in the mirror. He caught my eye, and it was my undoing. I started to giggle. And amazingly, he threw his head back and laughed.

It was the sweetest sound in the world.

Meyer

I sat on the edge of my childhood bed and stared at the wall until the tiny imperfections in the paint started to swirl before my eyes. I was fading, and fast. I’d barely slept, barely eaten, for days. I’d lost more blood than I cared to admit. My entire body throbbed in pain. And despite the relief I felt, despite the comfort of knowing Eva and Maddie were both secure, one thought continued to bounce around my head endlessly.

My dad is dead. My dad is dead. My dad is dead.

It was as if I was seeing the world through two sets of eyes. On one side everything seemed brighter, more vibrant, more colorful than ever before; on the other, it was all shades of gray. I hadn’t realized until the moment I saw that bullet enter his head just how much I’d hoped that, one day, Conrad would realize just how much he’d fucked up. How badly he’d hurt me every day of my thirty years of life; the way he’d tried to kill me much more than I had ever tried to kill myself. That he would apologize. But that had never really been an option. I had a chance now, an opportunity for a real life, and maybe, just maybe, the woman I loved would be there beside me for it.

I set aside the plate that had appeared outside my bedroom door like magic, having devoured the sandwich in three quick bites. Madeline ate hers a little slower, but not much, and when we were done she put the plates back outside the door and disappeared into the bathroom briefly before returning with a tube of antibiotic. She rubbed the ointment over the raw burns on my chest, then placed a large bandage over them. I caught her arm as she started to walk away, tugging up the bottom of her shirt to look at the cut on her stomach.

“We should clean that again,” I said. I was unable to put any inflection into my voice, but I didn’t want it to get infected.

“I’ll take care of it,” she whispered, kissing me on the forehead like I was a child. “You sit here.” I tilted my chin up to look at her.

“I want to.”

She considered me for a second, running her thumb over my bottom lip. “Okay, then.”

I followed her into the bathroom, and she sat on the edge of the counter while I put the same ointment on her cut, then dug another bandage out of the first aid kit to put over it. I let my hands linger on her skin, still dewy from our time spent in the shower.

“Does it hurt?”

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