Page 33 of The Bitterness of Venom

You’d thinkI would get used to being snatched, but I haven’t.

I blink, the room coming to me in slow, blurry pictures. My arms ache as they stay in place above my head, my toes scream as I balance on them. The room around me is black and cold, almost like a prison. My head aches and my mouth is dry.

It like a sex prison room with black leather furniture. Toys and whips on a shelf. There are no windows, only a solid black door. It’s cold, making my nipples pucker and my body shiver.

The last thing I remember, I was leaving work and then… nothing.

I’ve read many books, watched a lot of movies, and I can almost guarantee this is the last place I want to be.

The door opens, causing my body to stiffen as I watch the figure approach. But I slowly release a breath when I see Desmond. My body even relaxes as if he’s not a threat. As if he’s not enemy number fucking one.

“What is this?” I swallow around the words, my throat so dry I can barely get them out.

“My playroom.” His eyes dilate, the amber in them swirling as he takes me in.

“Why would you think I’d want to come anywhere you bring your sexual conquests?”

He smirks, tilting his head. “Because, my dear Freckles, I set up this room especially for you.”

“Awe,” I mock, “should I be touched?” To tell the truth, a sick part of me is.

He shrugs, trailing a finger down my sternum. “I don’t care either way.” I shiver at his lingering touch, just now taking notice I’m fully bare for him.

“Why did you set a room up for me,Desi?”

He lets out a little chuckle, rolling his tongue over his thick bottom lip. “Because we have unfinished business.”He smacks the inside of my thighs, surprising me. “I promised you’d pay.” The lethality of his voice is bitter like the taste of venom, fine in small doses but would kill you over time. “The day I woke up in bed alone, searching the town and coming up empty, I promised myself I would find you and exact revenge. Revenge for leaving me like you did.”

My heart jumps, and I feel guilty. “I’m sorry.”

For the first time in my life, I mean those two powerful words. I couldn’t change the outcome of that day, but I didn’t have to vanish, didn’t have to run from him that morning. All he ever did was piece me back together and in return, I abandoned him. It must have hurt, because leaving him was like a thousand stab wounds that never heal, I felt them daily until I learned to numb the pain. Until I no longer noticed the discomfort I walked around with.

His eyes narrow as he slips his pants off, tossing his shirt away to expose taut, powerful-looking muscles and golden skin. “You’re not, but you will be.”

“Do I get a safe word?” I whisper as he grabs my thighs, lifting me up against the wall behind me, my hands suspended above with the chains hanging from the ceiling.

“A safe word would imply that I care about you. That I care if I hurt you, break you, or even kill you… which I don’t.”

His words hurt, sting, and hit every wound he meant for them to. But I’ll endure it. Take what he gives me because deep down, I know I deserve it. That’s the thing about codependence at such a young age, it never truly vanishes, no matter how much time or space is between us.

“Whatever you need to forgive me.” I place a gentle kiss on his chest.

“Shut the fuck up,” he growls, thrusting into me. “So fucking desperate for me, aren’t you? Already wet and I’ve just begun to touch you.”

I nod, my eyes holding his as he fills me to the hilt, causing my body to arch and shiver.

“My desperate little whore.” He moans into the crook of my neck before sinking his teeth into the delicate flesh. His bite is piercing, and I feel the warm trickle as his tongue laps up my blood.

He looks up, his pupils blown as his tongue sweeps away the lingering blood from his bottom lip. “Are you ready to pay, my little doll?”

“Yes.”

And now he fucks me.

Hard.

With the room so dark,no windows or clocks, I have no clue how long I’ve been here. My arms are numb hanging above my head. My legs are sticky with my release since Desmond didn’t allow me to clean up. My head hangs on my chest.

I hear a tsking sound, but I don’t look up. I physically can't. I’m too tired, too weak. “You’ve made a mess, Freckles.”

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