When we retired to his bedroom, late into the night, after hours of playing Monopoly with his playfully argumentative family, I fucked Luca to sleep, slow and easy. His sweet whines lay buried inside the pillows, as I took him from behind, and decorated the back of his neck with hickey shaped promises.

His hole was hot, and wet. His hips arching to take me, eager, slutty—the way he was born to be. The muscles in his back bunched as he sobbed, those pretty tears I loved so goddamn much making my head spin as I watched my cock disappear inside him, enraptured.

The slower I moved, the harder he cried.

And when I was done, when he was a limp, sated, sweaty mess, I curled up around him protectively, and waited.

I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

His quiet snores signified the end to my limbo. With a heavy heart, my emotions jittery, I drifted out of his grip. Immediately, Luca clutched the sheets, hands passing through my body, searching for me as I floated away from the bed, a sick, terrified feeling making my skin grow tight.

I’d been feeling a lot these past few days.

Too much, really.

I’d had a lot on my mind.

Decisions to make.

Things I could no longer walk away from.

The Baker’s had a home phone in the hallway between the kitchen and the garage. I’d noticed it the first time we’d come inside, when I’d helped Luca pull his abused feet from his even more abused shoes. The rest of the house was silent and peaceful as I made my way downstairs. I stared at the phone receiver for a long…long time, building up the courage to do what I needed to do. Luca’s new sneakers lay haphazardly beside me, and I tapped one with the toe of my boot, leeching strength from it as I steeled my resolve.

I would do this.

I would save him from himself.

I would save him from me.

One phone call.

I’d memorized the number long ago.

One phone call and I could save him from the fate he’d agreed to.

I sucked in a breath, reached for the phone, and did the one thing I thought I’d never do.

I asked for help.

For one glorious day, everything was perfect. My family loved me. Prudence was by my side. The world was full of possibility—and then…then, it wasn’t. I woke up the morning after my birthday, my heart in my throat. My palms slick with sweat.

Today was it.

The last day.

Prudence’s last day.

Maybe mine too.

My hands shook as I patted the bed, searching for him, but he was nowhere to be found. My heart pounded an unsteady staccato as I rose sleepily and gathered my clothes for the day. I figured he was probably downstairs antagonizing Adam, or sweet-talking Mom like he had the previous day. So I took my time getting ready, prolonging the inevitable as I brushed my teeth, and scrubbed every inch of my sore body clean.

My ass twinged as I walked down the hallway toward the stairs, and I bit my lip, memories from the previous night making my head spin. The way Prudence had plowed into me. The way he’d gripped my hips, fingers biting into my flesh as he humped my ass, his balls slapping against the sensitive skin of my perineum as he drilled inside me.

I’d drooled into the pillow, holding the headboard tight as he circled his hips, his thick cock splitting me wide, the piercings that lined his dick lighting fireworks inside me every time they brushed along my inner walls.