Page 55 of Guarded By the Nightmare

“They attacked me, it was bad, the end,” I said, roughly truncating what had seemed like hours’ worth of agony. “They mostly took turns, except for Nolan, who went twice.” As if having his massive wall-like body over me the first time hadn’t been bad enough—having him flip me over and shove himself up my ass had been—I shook my head roughly. “I don’t want you doing that to him.”

Sylas tilted his head to look at me. “But murder is allowed?” he asked, with bemusement.

I snorted. “It’s different.”

“So be it,” he said with a nod. “And do you trust me now, Mina?”

I blinked. This was an awfully strange conversation to be having on the floor of my bathroom, but it was far too late to turn back now. “Do you actually care?”

He seemed to consider his answer before he gave it, like it was complicated. Maybe caring for him was like his dick—all muddled up with the rest of him. “I believe I do.”

“Then . . . okay.” I had no idea where he was going.

“Good. Take off your clothing for me, please.”

I made a face, but did it. Why not? Trent had already shared my nudes all around campus. My tits were practically public utilities at this point—accessible, overused, and taken for granted. And now that I wasn’t hiding the lambda, taking off my underwear didn’t matter either, really.

“Why?” I asked, as I was pulling it off.

“Because I would like to see the places that he hurt you.”

“Oh, God,” I muttered. I didn’t realize he wanted to turn me into one of those dolls they gave to little kids at the police station. “Sylas?—”

“May I touch it?” he asked, now kneeling on the same level I was, coming closer with his hand, reaching for the mark.

I nodded while frowning. I’d keloided like a motherfucker. “It’s so ugly. I think they did a bad job on purpose. So people would think it was me who’d done it—jokes on them, I never showed anybody.” I already knew there was no point in going to the police, so why bother?

“Till now?” Sylas asked, tracing a clawed fingertip around its ridges.

“Yeah.”

“Then I am glad you are trusting me,” Sylas said. “I think I’ll make this pattern on Nolan repeatedly, as I flay off his skin. What do you think about that?”

I bit my lips, as his fingertip continued tracing. “In general, I don’t think it’s a great idea to hurt people...”

“But in particular?” he pressed.

I didn’t know what it said about me—all I knew was I didn’t care anymore. “It’s kind of hot.”

“Hmm,” he said, as his finger stilled. “Then may I kiss you here, Mina?”

I stared down at the small point of contact between us. I’d just had his dick in my mouth, but somehow this felt more intimate to me.

Probably, because unlike all of the dicks in my past, it could actually mean something.

“Yeah,” I said quietly. He pressed his fingertips to cover my mark, and I felt a movement over it, although I couldn’t see anything. “What?—”

“I could kiss you—or taste you—with any part of me,” he said, and a forked tongue lashed out from where his fingertips were by way ofdemonstration, licking towards my slit. “I only maintain this shape so that you find me more comforting.”

I gawked down at his hand. “That’s not the word I would use for it.”

“Perhapsunderstandableis,” he said, and chuckled darkly. “So tell me the rest of things.”

I watched his hand, trying to parse what I was seeing and feeling simultaneously, before realizing I wanted to just give up.

I was tired of holding everything in—and everything back.

“I begged him to stop,” I continued, as the parts of Sylas that were not touching me became more diffuse, clouding the small space around me like fog.

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