Page 142 of Shadows in Bloom

My heart is a calm lake—I’m in control now that the cards have landed where I needed them to.

“He’s been acting weird for weeks,” Dad confirms, scratching his brow. “The divorce knocked him for one.”

Mom’s face softens, and she palms Dad’s hand on the table. The empathy and compassion she exudes are emotions she selfishly kept to herself when I was in her womb. Watching it glisten in her eyes always sparks a curiosity in me.

I scoot my chair back and kiss Mom on the cheek before walking upstairs, knowing he’s waiting for me. Knowing I finally get to claim the last piece of him.

When I shut the door behind me and flip the lock, he looks at me over his shoulder. “Why did you do it?”

“Shut up, Marshall.” I cross the room, approaching him from behind like his worst nightmare. His shoulders stiffen, and his breath catches as I line my chest up with his back, but he stays silent, waiting to see what I’ll do.

My breaths tease the short hairs at his nape when I whisper, “Did it hurt to see her taste my cock?”

“I wanted to hurt her,” he admits, fisting his trembling hands at his sides. I curl my fingers around his and smile when he lets me interlace our digits.

“I’ve never wanted to hurt someone before, not like that…”

“Do you understand now why I can’t let you go?” I ask against the crook of his neck. “Why I’ll stop at nothing to keep you?”

“It’s wrong.” He breathes shakily and wets his lips. “Your parents will never accept us.”

I press my lips to his clammy skin, tasting the sweat on him, feeling his thudding pulse kick up beneath my tongue. I nibble and suck, marking him with my teeth as I reach around to rip his belt open.

Shoving my hand into his boxers, I palm his hard length. “Did you miss me, Marshall?”

His choppy breaths increase and he sinks his teeth into his lip, warring with himself. Spinning around, he wrestles with my top and pulls it over my head before discarding it on the floor.

Our teeth and tongues clash in a violent kiss, and he skims his hands over my chest, shoulders, and arms and then back again. My muscles ripple beneath his touch, and my heart slams against my ribcage while we undress each other with trembling hands and muffled moans, inching toward the bed.

“I need to be inside you,” I pant between kisses, pushing him down onto the bed and flipping him over onto his stomach.

Creasing the navy bedsheet between his fingers, he watches me over his shoulder as I climb on after him, massaging his pale ass and kneading the perfect skin.

“Fuck me,” I whisper through heaving breaths, my heart threatening to break free. The visceral reaction he evokes in me is an addictive concoction. I need more. “You’re perfect.”

Our eyes lock, and the glimmer of unease in his expression stirs the darkness in me.

“Will you hurt me?”

His skin erupts in goosebumps when I drag my tongue up the length of his spine, whispering against his shoulder blade, “Yes… Are you scared?”

“Always,” he replies as my veiny dick nestles between his ass cheeks. “I’m terrified.”

Fisting his soft hair and yanking his head off the bed, I bite his earlobe hard enough to make him wince while I grind into him. “I can’t wait to fucking feast on your fear.”

“I want you to hurt me,” he admits, wetting his lips, and I smile against the shell of his ear before biting down at the crook of his neck. My cock throbs when he whimpers. “I like the pain. Sometimes, I feel like I was dead before you set your eyes on me.”

“Tell me more,” I urge as I lean over the side of the bed to retrieve a bottle of lube from the nightstand.

“I finally feel again.” He stiffens when I lube up his virgin ass and my aching dick while whispering praises to the submissive side of him.

“Do you want my dick in your ass, Marshall?” I ask, breaching his tight ring of muscle with a finger.

Fuck, it’ll be nearly impossible not to hurt him.

“Yes,” he chokes out with a grunt, and I nip his earlobe again, whispering, “Relax, or it’ll hurt more.”

More lube. More fingers. Marshall’s breaths finally steady, the sweat on his back gliding over my chest with every thrust.

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