Page 71 of Grotesque Love

I can practically taste her fear as it seeps into the air, tingeing everything with a delicious sweetness.

It’s taken us a long time to get here, back to the manor, just the two of us. I have been so very patient with her, keeping her safe and cared for as her mind fractured with grief.

Who bathed her and kept her clean?Me.

Who fed her?Me.

Who made sure she slept?Me.

Who kept her safe from everyone else?Me.

Who loved her, even when she was unlovable?Me.

It was always me, and it always will be. She was my reward, myraison d’etre.Nothing is going to ruin that.

“I’ve brought your medication.” Pulling out a small glass bottle from my suit pocket, I ignore the way her eyes widen as I tap out the pills onto my palm.

She needs this, and I need her.

“Open wide, darling.” I slip the bottle back into my pocket and use my free hand to reach out and gently pull her chin down.

I refuse to allow her the opportunity to pretend to take them, like I suspect she has been doing under Danvers’ loose care.

Useless man.

He had one task, keep my Rapunzel safe and locked up in her tower. And he obviously failed. If you want a job done right, youmust do it yourself. It isn’t time yet for her to be back to her senses, I need her docile, pliable for just a little while longer.Soon.

I put the pills on her tongue before using two of my fingers to push them deeper. Her mouth is hot and wet as it envelops me, and although there’s a defiant gleam in her eyes, she forces herself to remain still.

My cock twitches as her throat constricts and she swallows around me, giving me filthy thoughts. Wanting my step-daughter isn’t something new, but there is a time and a place. I have spent so long building up to this, I cannot allow my base needs to unravel everything – not when we’re so close.

Ari tries to suck in a breath, but struggles, her eyes watering beautifully, and reluctantly I withdraw from her body.Soon.

Soon, I’ll be buried in her so deep she’ll never be able to rip me out. I’ll embed myself in her core. Fuse myself to her bones. We’ll be bound forever.

For now, I’ll just have to wait and watch.

ARIANWEN

The freedom of the last week has been snatched away like it had never existed and while I thought I could handle it – thought I could play pretend until I figured out what I was doing – the reality is very different.

Hours later, I’m lying on the chaise lounge in the solarium, enjoying the warmth like a lizard in a tank as I lazily flip through a book I found in the library.

Outwardly I appear relaxed, with Carver reading the paper sitting opposite me in an oversized armchair, but inside my head I’m screaming. I’m fighting my body’s urge to throw up and forcing myself to stay still, otherwise I know I’ll fall apart.

Seeing him again, with a clearer mind, with all my faculties…it has brought back everything I’d buried in the haze of drugs and death. The way he’s always watched me. The lingering touches. The way he has to be in control of every situation – from what I wear, to how I style my hair. The feelings that I couldn’t name, that tore me up inside…now I’m seeing them for what they are – warning signs.

Giant red flags.

He hated the fact I’d emptied all the dead plants out of the solarium, I could see it in the way his jaw clenched, the little muscle in his cheek pulsing as he looked around with a lifted brow.

“I see you were…productive while I was away.” He takes one of the leaves of a nearby plant between his fingers and rubs his thumb over the waxy green surface.

I couldn’t stand being surrounded by death and decay any longer, that’s why I’d done it. But seeing him sitting amongst the healthy, thriving greenery feels…wrong. Everything about this, about him, is wrong.

My head throbs.

A dull ache settled in after I’d taken my medication this morning, and lying here, with my eyes half closed, the book now facedown resting on my stomach, I know that it’s not normal.

---