I recognise her tone.
It breaks my heart.
Gently nudging Lily’s legs apart, I seek to soothe her pain. My actions are powered by madness as I thrust two fingers inside of her wet heat. I make a strangled sound, the feel of her walls clenching around me sends my racing pulse skittering in my ears. My cock hardens to the point of agony. A straining length that weeps with the need to go home. When I grind my hard-on against her thigh to the same pace as I plunge my fingers inside her trembling body, we gasp in unison.
“Damn, sweet thing,” I murmur. Seeking her lips with mine, I kiss her deep. She tastes the same. Toothpaste and temptation. Reassuringly familiar. The fingers of my free hand tangle in her hair, then I cup her nape as I hold her tight, and make her absorb every pump of my hand between her legs. “Miss you, Lily... miss you so fuckin’ much.”
The sounds of metukà shelì reaching climax are music to my ears.
I press my thumb to her clit, rubbing the tiny nub until she scissors her legs to trap my arm between them. Hooking my fingers forward, I press the hidden spot on the front wall of Lily’s pussy. It drives her wild. She moans and shakes, holding onto me as I make her shatter. Tits pillowed to my chest, inner walls tightening and loosening around my fingers, I give Lily exactly what she needs.
Release.
Relief.
“Zeke. Yes. God. Yes.” I swallow her cries of ecstasy whole. My tongue explores the inner recesses of her mouth, savouring her like she’s an exclusive delicacy. Because that’s what she is to me—irreplaceable, fragile, too good for this horrible world. “I... love... you.”
Those three words send me over the edge.
I push her onto her back, pull her shorts down her hips, fist my throbbing cock, and pump my length like a madman. Erupting all over her exposed belly and her pretty pussy, I paint Lily’s skin with ropes of my cum, then I collapse next to her on the mattress. Every ounce of wariness is gone. I don’t care if she wakes up. In all honesty, I think I subconsciously want her to discover me.
As I breathe too fast, out of control for the first time since Gabriel started training me, I use a shaky hand to rub my release into her skin. “Love you too, metukà shelì... to Neptune and back.”
After Lily makes a sound that’s part giggle and part sob in response to my confession, she rolls on to her side. I swallow hard when she swipes her hand behind her like she’s searching for me. It’s such a recognisable move, something she’s done more times than I can count, and the sight of it now, while my defences are down, is a stab to the chest. We have a history that can’t be erased by Slash. It can’t be forgotten in a few months. We’re etched in stone. Permanent. Even death can’t separate us.
“I miss you,” Lily murmurs as she shifts restlessly.
I know that she’s not lying.
Lily loves me... and she misses me.
Almost as much as I love and miss her.
It’s a dumb idea, an unnecessarily risky move when I’ve already pushed my luck too far, but I curl up behind my sweet thing. One arm around her waist, the other in the crook of her neck, I hold her tight. Lily sleeps peacefully, her breaths evening out within a minute, leaving me wide awake and full of regret. The risk I took tonight was stupid. A stupid move by a stupid man. I lost control. Could’ve blown up everything I’m working toward for one taste of the sweet woman I died to protect.
As much as it kills me, I’ve got to go back into the darkness.
I’ve got to leave her to the light.
For now, at least.
The earpiece I’m wearing chirps an hour later, waking me.
I press a kiss to the back of Lily’s head, then I carefully move away from her.
Sorting through my pile of clothes, I pull the necklace I had specially made for her from my pocket and unclip the bracelet pendant I attached to it for safe keeping. It takes me a minute to move Lily’s sleeping form so I can fasten the necklace in place. The snake charm falls between her breasts.
It’s a subtle dig at her husband.
Petty as fuck.
So what?
He’s already fucked things up with her.
I’m not the bad guy for taking pleasure in rubbing that fact in.
With a steady hand, I pull out my phone to verify that the camera works, then I add the newest handcrafted pendant I’ve made for her to the diamond tennis bracelet. It’s a phoenix. Not something that will mean anything to her until I return, however, it will act as proof that I never truly left her. Tucking her arm back under the covers, I bite back a growl of annoyance when I see that my woman continues to wear Slash’s wedding ring.