Page 70 of Meet Me In The Dark

“And then what happens?” she asked Micah.

“The donuts are done. Some of them are a little…burnt, but I was prepared for that. I get the squeeze jar of jam out of the fridge.”

Kara laughed. In some ways he’d changed, in others he remained who he was. In the ways that mattered. “Because you knew I was going to ask to make them?”

“Of course I knew,” he hummed. “I’m your mastermind, remember? Anyway,” he continued. “We pierce little holes in the fluffy, cooked dough, and then we squeeze jam inside. Filling them up to the brim, and more…so that some juicy sweetness spills out.”

“Fuck,” Luke said. “I can’t tell if I’m hungry, or horny.”

“Both,” Conor suggested, and all four of them laughed, together.

“We turn off the stove. I don’t let you touch anything to clean, because I might let you cook in my kitchen, but I know it won’t ever be as hygienic as it needs to be.”

“Which is hypocritical,” Kara says, remembering back to other times in the kitchen. “Because we’ve fucked in there.”

“And we fuck in there now. Conor feeds you sufganiyot, then his cock, so the sugar and his precome mix together, and then his come washes it all down.”

“Fuck,” Conor said, and Kara was relieved that he’d briefly let go of what she’d declared, lost in the story with the rest of them.

“And Kara, I’m deep in your pussy, which is wet and warm and welcoming for me, because it knows it’s my home, that you’re my home. And pierced, by the way, because we pierced you as a way to prove our commitmentto each other.” He cleared his throat. “And Luke, you’re deep inside Conor’s ass, reveling in Conor’s brief submission to you while he masters our sweet baby girl.”

“Fuuuuuck,” Conor said again. “If I didn’t think there were cameras in here…”

“I know, baby,” Micah murmured.

Kara felt the same way, but she’d been naked enough, vulnerable enough to Christopher and his men. She wouldn’t share their intimacy, their love, with him.

“We fuck each other, in our kitchen, in our home, safe, and in love, and happy, don’t we?” Kara said, eyeing the corner of the ceiling where she thought a camera might be. “Even though we argue, even though we squabble for power sometimes, even though you all treat me like your little fucktoy, we fight together and we fuck together and we love together, and nothing will take that away from us.”

“Nothing,” Micah said.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Luke murmured.

“My good girl,” Conor added.

And Kara,oh god. She wanted that future so badly for them, she wanted to be back at the cabin, she wanted to be anywhere with them, as long as it wasn’t here, as long as they were together. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to thank Micah for what he was giving them, however briefly, or rail at him, because it almost hurt more, seeing it, when it might get taken away.

“Don’t lose hope, baby,” he whispered to her, as if he didn’t want the other two to hear and argue with him. “Don’t let him take that away from you. Because that would take you away from us.”

“I know,” she murmured back, forcing the tears down. “We just need to wait for the right moment.”

But what she didn’t say, what she couldn’t say, was thatwhen the right moment came, she’d give herself up, give anything up, just to make sure they had that future together.

Even if she wasn’t there to share it with them.

“Do we have a Christmas tree?” Luke asked. “Because not all of us are Jewish in this room, and I like Christmas.”

“A Christmas tree covered in sex toys,” Conor muttered.

“Just glass dildos. So beautiful.” Luke sighed.

“I can see it,” Kara giggled again.

She hadn’t known you could hold joy and fear in your chest at once, but maybe that’s what joy was: fully participating in your own happiness, despite the darkness surrounding you. Holding love tight to your chest, and not letting despair steal it away.

The moment was shattered when the door to their cell slid open, revealing Chris, leaning on his cane, guards with guns at the ready beside him, because the coward was too weak to face them alone.

“That’s a nice dream,” he sneered. “Truly beautiful. But I have a prettier one I’d like to share with you—and mine, unlike yours, is going to be your reality.”

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