Page 12 of The Cruelty of Thorns

But the other part, the rational part, practically screamed at me to get up and run away, only where would I go? I was naked in a possibly insane woman’s house far outside the city. There was no telling what form of punishment she would dream up if she caught me. My cock still throbbed from the assault of the thorns.

“I am not a patient woman, Julianus,” she warned.

I sat up and looked down at her, her deceptive beauty splayed across the velvety covers, her dark eyes watching me with feral interest. I raised up on my hands and knees and crawled over to her, pushing her legs further apart while I dipped my head between them.

I wanted to hurt her like she had done me, and determined to use my teeth on her, but one whiff of her scent drove that thought from my head. Her musk was intoxicating, filling my senses until I could think of nothing but having her. I dove into her, my tongue lapping at her lips before darting inside, finding the nub of her clit and massaging it until she started to squirm and moan. Her fingers tangled in my hair, urging my head closer, mashing my mouth against her pussy while I burrowed deeper inside her, getting to know all of her. Her clit was already swollen and extremely sensitive, judging by how she responded to my tongue’s attention, and as I continued to tease it, she became soaked with desire.

I could feel her body tense and knew she was close to climax. To help her along, I stuck two fingers in beside my tongue and pinched her clit. She sucked in a breath as her back arched, her hands clenched around my head, then she screamed and filled my mouth with her sweet juices.

Despite my predicament, I was pleased with myself for having satisfied her like that. She tightened her fingers in my hair and pulled me up her body, seeking my mouth, where she licked her own juices off my lips.

“Do you want to fuck me?” she purred, her voice still thick with desire.

I did. I may be crazy, I may regret it afterwards, but gods I wanted to bury my cock in her sweet pussy. I raised my hips and angled the head above her lips, waiting for her to signal she was ready.

“Do not wait for me,” she said. “Take what you want.”

With that I drove into her, burying myself in her until our bodies slammed together with a violence that would have scared most of the girls I had previously fucked. She responded by grabbing my ass and urging me to go harder, faster. I pummeled her cunt with all the anger and frustration and desire I felt, and she took it and gave back in kind, her nails scoring my back and sides while her legs wrapped around and squeezed against me to drive me deeper inside. The places where the thorns had pierced the skin of my cock were on fire as they rubbed against her tight pussy, but the pain only seemed to intensify the pleasure.

When she bit my neck, I returned the gesture, clamping onto her alabaster flesh with my teeth, wanting to mark her as mine. It was like madness, this need to possess, to claim her as my own. She was my captor, my lover, my savior, and all I could think about was making her cum again. To hear that scream again, to feel the walls of her cunt squeeze every last drop from me. Despite my own climax threatening to overtake me, I slowed my pace and waited for her to catch up, my thrusts no less deliberate as I tried to bury myself as deep into her as I could get. In response, she pulled herself tighter onto me, her teeth digging deeper into my neck as I felt the warm gush of her orgasm and I finally let go, my cock exploding inside her.

I felt like I had run miles, my heart pounding in my chest as my breathing tried to level out. I was vaguely aware that her mouth was still painfully clamped to my neck, but it suddenly didn’t matter as the world faded back and I slipped slowly out of consciousness.

CHAPTER 8

MYRA

Common ground

RON BEECHMAN WAS waiting for me when I got to class Wednesday. He watched while I settled into my seat and pulled out my notebook, an air of contained excitement in his manner. When I could bear the attention no more, I looked over at him and offered a hesitant smile.

“Did you have something to say to me?”

In response, he pushed his own notebook closer to me and opened it to reveal a pencil sketch of what looked like a dragon. It was rough and messy, but I could definitely see he had some talent as an artist.

“Did you just do that?” I asked, leaning over for a better look.

In response, he flipped the page to show me another drawing, then proceeded to page through several, some incomplete, others more polished than the dragon. All were of fantasy creatures. “It’s kind of a hobby of mine,” he replied. “I’m nowhere near as good as you, but I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.”

I accepted the notebook from him and leafed through the sketches. “I had no idea,” I murmured, looking up at him. I was surprised to see he actually blushed.

“It’s no big deal,” he said, taking the notebook back. “Like I said, it’s just something I do when I’m messing around.”

“Have you ever thought about writing a graphic novel?”

He shrugged. “I can draw the pictures, but I’m no good at writing."

“You could team up with someone to do the writing.” I stopped short of offering. While I wrote stories, they were more gothic love tales. Nothing that would fit these drawings.

He closed the notebook and smiled at me. “Let’s just keep this between us, okay?”

“Okay.” I wasn’t sure why he wouldn’t want his ability known, but it wasn’t up to me to advertise it. Still, the fact that he had shared it with me made me feel special.

“Did you finish the book?” he asked as Mr. Edmonds made his way into the class and looked around at the students, waiting for their attention.

“Yes,” I whispered, not wanting to draw the young professor’s eye.

“All right,” Mr. Edmonds announced. “I’m going to assume you’ve all finished Madame Bovary, so pull out your pens and paper and write me a one-page essay on how this is a study in neurosis.” A collective rumble of dissent went up from the class. “There are no right or wrong answers here, but whatever theory you present, I expect you to provide a valid argument to back it up.”

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