Page 34 of The Lies We Believe

I shrank back at his rejection, and an ache formed in my chest. How stupid was I to think he actually cared about me? His words were just pretty lies painted in promises that were dipped in poison. Beautiful, but deadly. I was a hole, a body to be used for another’s pleasure, not my own. Never my own.

Another clap of thunder rendered the air, temporarily deafening me, leaving a ringing in my ears. Bane’s lips moved, but I couldn’t hear anything he said. My heart beat so hard I thought it would shatter my ribs.

The rain was so heavy now I could barely see the lake through the steel curtains falling from the sky. Lightning illuminated the tumultuous clouds that churned above our heads.

Bane shoved me back and got off the bike. Ice slithered through my veins, my fingers and toes turning numb as he walked away. I closed my eyes, letting my head fall back against my shoulder, surrendering to the pain that fell as relentlessly as the rain from the sky.

Bane shoved a helmet over my head, and before I could react, he bodily moved me onto the bike, pulling me into him. But itwas too late. His arms wrapped around me, but they no longer brought comfort. Not after he’d shown his true colors.

Every thunderstorm was a church without walls—and we were the eye—because we were all sinners, and we needed to repent. No one was perfect, not even Bane.

CHAPTER 15

BANE

We’d barely made it through the connecting door from the garage before I was tearing at the jacket suctioned to his body. He was a vision. A dream. He was fucking everything. I couldn’t get enough of his plush lips. Tasting him felt like a sin, but it was one I’d burn in the eternal fires of hell for without a second thought. I backed him up until his back slammed into the door and pushed my knee between his legs, needing to be closer to him, to feel his slick skin against mine. I’d never craved another person the way I did River.

Even if all I ever got was to feast on his mouth, it would be enough. Liar. I growled against his lips as his jacket bunched and caught around his wrists. He looked up at me through water logged lashes, cheeks flushed, those deep green eyes burning with lust. He was a siren’s song, and I was bewitched.

I buried my head in the crook of his neck, gritted my teeth, and yanked at his jacket again while raining down kisses along his fluttering pulse. My cock throbbed in my jeans, pushing against my zipper, trying to break free. My hips rolled, dragging my length against his. River was hard and hot, even through layers of sodden material. He tilted his head to theside, baring the column of his throat to me, and whimpered when I nibbled along the straining tendons.

“Oh god, Bane.”

I groaned against his cool skin, tracing the goosebumps spreading along it with the tip of my tongue. His jacket finally fell to the floor with a resounding wet thud, and he flinched at the sound. “Shh, angel, I’ve got you. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” I soothed, stroking his sides. He shuddered under my ministrations like a shot of adrenaline to the heart.

My lips trailed open-mouthed kisses up his neck to that sensitive spot just below his ear, then sucked on it hard. I wanted him to have a reminder of our time together. If this was the only time he allowed me to touch him, I wanted my marks on his skin. So in the coming days, he’d remember this moment as he touched and traced it with his fingertips. He’d remember us and everything we could be.

River’s hands fell to my hips and pulled me into him as if he was trying to meld us into one. I wanted to bury myself under his skin. I wanted everything he was willing to give. I wanted him to choose me and never leave, but I couldn’t ask that of him. Not yet, maybe never, but I had to hope. It was all I had.

“More,” he whispered as my lips brushed the shell of his ear. “I want…I…” His fingers dug into my ass, holding me still as he thrust against me, his words dissolving into heavy, heated pants. Trepidation radiated off him, every touch tentative, scared, like he didn’t know what pleasure was. That broke my heart. I knew what he’d endured and suffered through. It was wrong that he’d only been used, never worshiped like he should have, every second of every day. I would change that. I would willingly get on my knees for him every day until he understood passion. Obsession. Until he knew how it felt to be the center of someone’s world.

I nipped and sucked my way across his jaw, his hot gasping groans flushing against my face until my lips stole the air from his lungs as they locked back onto his. His hands wrangled my jacket off, then traced the planes of muscles across my back before slowly working the damp fabric of my shirt up my back. It took every ounce of strength to break contact with him—to stop touching—as he pulled it over my head.

“I need to taste you. I want to give you pleasure you’ve never felt before. I want you to cry my name when you come. I want you to wake up dazed, feeling like liquid gold. I want to give you everything you’ve never had before. Please?” I breathed against his mouth, my lips brushing his, painting every word into his skin.

His thick eyelashes fluttered at my words, and he rolled his lips inwards. A broken sound caught in his throat as he screwed his eyes shut. Emotions warred across his features from pain to elation, as if he couldn’t believe the words he was hearing. Words I doubted he’d ever heard. River didn’t answer, just dipped his chin to his chest and stroked the hairs on my nape. It was the only way he felt comfortable communicating. A fissure opened across my heart that was bleeding out for this perfect broken boy in my arms.

Without giving him time to think, I dropped to my knees and pulled off his boots. His fingers curled into the thick strands of my hair, nails scraping across my scalp. My cock throbbed in time with my thundering heartbeat. Stepping into him, I pulled his arms around my neck, bent my knees, and hauled his smaller frame up against my body. He wrapped his legs around my waist, hips rocking against me, his tantalizing length seeking friction against my abs. I cursed the layers that kept us separated.

The house blurred around us as I moved, my lips finding his like they were the only things that would keep me alive. Eachbrush of their chapped skin sent pulses of electricity across me, lighting me up everywhere we touched. I took the stairs three at a time and stumbled on the top step, because I only had eyes for him. My bedroom door slammed into the wall as I kicked it open. River peppered my neck with white-hot kisses, and the tip of his tongue teased my ear as he panted against it, making a full-body shudder roll through me.

Starving, I pinned him against the wall and lapped at his mouth, blindly reaching for the door to close it. I wanted him cocooned in the safety only I could offer him, like this moment would evaporate before my eyes if I didn’t. River opened for me, and I growled into his mouth as his tongue tasted mine. Hot, wet, and sloppy, he consumed me, devoured me, a starving man finally tasting food.

Blindly, I crossed my room until my legs hit the edge of my bed, and we tumbled down onto the soft surface entwined. Hearts beating as one. Pulling back, I looked into his burning eyes, the exotic green consumed by his lust-blown pupils. I cupped his cheeks, brushing my thumbs across his flushed skin. I kissed him once, twice, before sucking his lip into my mouth. A promise of what was to come.

My fingertips trailed down his chest, my palm resting over his heart. I could feel it punching its way out of his body, and the air around us thickened. He’d never voluntarily bared his body in front of me. I knew his back was ravaged with scars, and I prayed that was the only part he had lasting signs of the abuse he’d suffered. But I wasn’t a fool. I knew that was an errant dream, but I wanted him to be comfortable with me in every way.

“You’re beautiful, River.” He scoffed, his eyes shuttering as I pulled his hoodie up, slowly revealing his stomach. He had filled out some since he’d been in my care, but it was still a stark reminder to see his hip bones straining against his skin. Adelicious trail of black hair led from his naval down to the top of his black boxer briefs. The cool air made goosebumps prickle his damp skin. I soothed them away with my tongue, licking and tasting every inch of flesh I uncovered while inhaling his deliciously sweet cinnamon and orange scent. My mouth watered, my need growing with each passing second.

River pushed up onto his elbows. The heady weight of his gaze tracked me as I worked my way up to his chest. His hoodie was bunched up to his chin as I toyed with the hard nubs of his nipples before sucking one into my mouth and circling the other with my thumb. The deep groan that rumbled in his chest had me leaking furiously into my boxers. No one had ever had this effect on me. I’d had sex before, but I always had to force myself to remain present and in the moment with my partners. I’d never been able to let go and be completely absorbed like I was now.

River was everything I’d ever dreamed of. One look, and I was under a compulsion only he could wield. I was done fighting myself. I was done fighting him. I would fight for us and make him see the truth that he was too broken to see, too scared to give credence to. I had enough strength and faith for the both of us to guide us into the light, one he could never refute.

“Up.” My voice was low, gravelly. River’s dick flexed under me, and I smiled against his chest before rising onto my knees and pulling his hoodie and tee off in one go.

My breath punched out of my chest as I took him in. His ribs and collarbone stood out in stark relief against his taut skin. He was littered with silvered scars that sliced into me. How could someone so perfect have suffered so much? Tears pricked my eyes as I traced them with my fingers and mouth. I worshiped every one, replacing pain with adoration.

His head fell back onto the twisted sheets, fingers twisting into them, holding himself back. Insecurity flickered across his face like he didn’t know if he wanted to push me off or pull me closer.

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