Page 34 of Raven

I can feel her shiver. That’s right, beautiful girl, I will make your body purr.

I could’ve touched her a dozen times by now. I could bend her over and fuck her just to prove my point. She would take it too. She would enjoy it, I’d make sure of it.

But that can wait.

I want her to think about me. I want her body tuned to my touch. To the point that when I don’t give her what she expects, she’ll need to get off. And she’ll do that to the thought of me.

I pull away and look down at her fingers on my wound. She puts the large Band-Aid on it and smooths its edges slowly. When she’s done, she simply lowers her hands to rest on my thighs, the move so innocent but calculated. I know that, and so does my dick that’s been hard for some time now.

Her eyes meet mine. “You are all set,” she says but doesn’t move away.

She is waiting for me to do something. I don’t look down at her hands, pretending this is normal. I lift my hand and tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. She doesn’t flinch, but her chest stills—she is holding her breath.

Good.

“You shouldn’t be working so much, Maddy,” I say, offering her a little smile. “Take some time off. I want to see you tomorrow. Your place. And I want you to play nice. Like the good girl of Zion that you’ve been playing all this time.”

I set my hands on her hips, gently shifting her away as I get off the examination bed.

Her hands fall off my thighs, leaving behind the feeling of emptiness where they just were.

Slowly, without looking at her, I put on my shirt then softly say, “Thank you,” and walk out the door.

I don’t want to leave, but I need to. I know she was expecting something, but I have other plans. I will drive her absolutely insane with want. Until she starts seeking out our meetings and eventually—I’m making it my goal—kisses me first.

14

RAVEN

“Maddy. Milena. Maddy. Milena,” I scribble in my notebook, then pick up a random book from a shelf, open it randomly, and read the first paragraph on the top left page:

“It was something completely new, capable of creating a whole world, a magical, rich world, and in an instant you forgot all the loathsomeness around you and felt so rich, so at ease, so free, so fine…”

If you want a message from the universe—open a random book and read the first sentence. It sure can mess with your mind.

The quote is from Süskind’s book about a gifted perfumer who is a serial killer and murders the women he is fascinated with for the sake of preserving their beauty.

Huh.

Some of the most beautiful words come from deranged minds. I wonder if that’s the key to understanding beauty—you simply have to know all the ugliness to understand beauty’s value.

I wonder if Maddy’s dark past is what turned her into the complete opposite—the girl everyone turns to for help or advice.

My fingers smell like her. So do my clothes. I feel like a dog, having licked her up, my body twisting inside out from the traces of her perfume that overwhelm my senses.

I imagine stripping her naked, my body simmering in the fantasy. The memories from our last encounter invade me again. The way my hand traveled up her warm body. The way she leaned into me. Her hummingbird pulse.

Control is a skill that can be learned, but one’s body often acts of its own accord. Maddy can’t hide it, not from me. I will push her until she gives herself freely and enjoys what I have to give in return. Maddy is a new beginning to a short story, but what a story it will be.

A message from one of my guys interrupts my thoughts.

The guy I sent to the port to pick up the latest shipment reports back—special deliveries are now brought via speedboats from Port Mrei Port to Ayana’s docks. I don’t exactly trust the road deliveries. Nor do I want to go to town more often than I have to. I used to go every day. Now, I prefer to do business from my office in the Center—I won’t take a chance of having sensitive info on my computer at home. I don’t even lock the house. But Port Mrei is becoming a real threat.

How did this island get so fucked?

The only nice thing about this lately is the girl who is starting to occupy my thoughts on an hourly basis.

I call my guy in the Center and get access on my phone to Maddy’s Ayana account. I am one of the very few who can do this without clearance from Marlow or Archer. I can easily log into the security dispatch board and find info and work logs for anyone working or living at Ayana.

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