Page 228 of If You Give an Artist a Killer Muse

I fought the urge to grin. “You said we’re done, right? Okay, then. Off you go. I’ll find some other guy who would love—”

“In your fucking dreams.”

“Is that what we do in your dreams? Nasty boy.” I lean forward and suck on his throat like a starving vampire. “Well? Are you going to tell me?”

He falls silent. The only sound is his heavy, labored breathing.

“P-please, Briar.” He stutters as he confesses, “I’m s-scared. I… I don’t know what to do.”

I tense at the broken timbre of his voice and the tears spilling from his eyes. His facade falls away in defeat as he leans his forehead against mine, encircling me in his arms.

“Rurik…” I say softly. “What are you scared of?”

“He knows, Briar.” Rurik shakily says.

I freeze.

“My stepdad knows you’re part of those gangsters. He knows you’re after him. He threatened you and our friends. He’s going to come after you guys if we don’t end things now.”

“Then we’ll expose him ourselves,” I simply say, wiping his face with my thumbs. “I’m not scared of his threats, angel. You think we don’t know the shit he’s done? He’s done some bad things. People close to him have become our sources. Well — we've caught and coerced them, but still.”

But Rurik just shakes his head, “He’ll come after you and hurt you. I can’t… Please, don’t make this hard for me. I can’t have him hurt you.”

“Angel,” I murmur, kissing the tears away from his face. His arms tighten around me as he releases a heavy breath. “I don’t give a shit if he comes after me. I want him to.”

“I do. I give a shit. He’ll hurt you.” His words echo like a broken record, every word laced with desperation. “He’ll hurt you, Briar. He’ll fucking hurt you.”

“It’ll hurt me more not being with you.”

“Please.”

“No. You said so yourself, Rurik. You and I are infinite. We’re endless.”

“Briar, please.”

“We’re endless.”

“I was never scared, not even when I knew my heart would eventually fail me. But the thought of him causing you harm terrifies me beyond my death.”

“Stop talking like that. We’re endless.” I tell him. “Endless, remember? You told me.”

I reach up to kiss his chin, feeling his body shudder against me.

With each kiss, I whisper "endless" against his skin, tracing the word from his Adam’s apple to his earlobe, jaw, tip of his nose, cheeks, and tears trailing down his face, covering every inch I can reach.

Until Rurik finally nods and whispers, "We're endless, baby."

Then he catches my lips with his in a searing kiss, removes my bathrobe, and gently carries me to the couch to reconnect our bodies as one.

“I’m sorry about the plate,” Rurik mumbles against my mouth moments later, his thrusts slow and torturous.

I groan in both pleasure and disbelief. “Are you seriously thinking about that now while you’re inside me?”

The corner of his lips curls up slightly. “I promise to clean it up.”

“Goddamnit, Rurik,” I whine, meeting his hips with mine as I feel him go deeper. “Just fuck me, already.”

Rurik chuckles softly, kissing me as he slowly pulls out until the tip of his dick nearly falls out of my pussy, before driving it back in with force, making my body jolt with each thrust. He bites on my lower lip, his tongue tracing the sting away.

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