Page 55 of Brutal Empire

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I admitted shyly.

Bastian wrapped one arm around me, and my heart began to pound again. Excitement rushed over me, and I stilled my body so I wouldn’t shift my legs. He moved me so I was straddling him. My arms went to either side of his head, holding on to the seat while my legs held me up so I wouldn’t put my weight on him.

“No one ever does,” Bas replied in a husky voice as his face got closer to mine.

“I might freak out and punch you.” It was meant to be a threat, but it came out breathier than I expected when his mouth landed on my throat.

My head tipped back, giving him more access. I felt his smile against my skin and his words gently caressing me.

“I’ll take my chances.” His lips moved delicately, moving their way up. His beard added another layer of sensory overload. When he used the tip of his tongue to lick me, I couldn’t help but moan. His hands on my hips forced me to put my weight on him.

My mouth opened in a silent moan—or plea—when I felt his hardness against the part of me that was aching. Every feeling I had associated with sex was painful, made worse by the fact that I knew all of my sexual experiences belonged to a monster. The only reason the past defined us was because we gave it the power to do so. Our past wasn’t always a foundation but a hindrance, and I was tired of mine dragging me down.

Maybe this would hurt me, but I had already died once, so I was more than ready to let this kill me in the best possible way.

I tipped my chin down, and Bas wasted no time putting his mouth on mine. A low growl emitted from him, and there was a part of me that liked that I could get that emotion from him.

I was where I was today because of my stupid decisions. I just hoped this wasn’t one of them. My hands wrapped around him, and he hummed in approval. My hips started to move, or maybe Bas was doing the moving—all I knew was that the ache between my legs was now a burning inferno, and my lower belly felt coiled.

“Bas,” I managed to choke out.

“Shhhhh,” he whispered against my jaw. “Trust me.”

That was the thing—I didn’t even know how to trust myself.

Bas moved his hips against mine, and the friction between our bodies was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I was falling, and I didn’t know how to stop.

“Wait, stop,” I moaned at the strange sensation. I pulled back enough so I could meet Bastian’s gaze. He was looking at me with hooded eyes, so dark they almost looked like they shined. My reflection caught in his gaze, and I saw myself through his eyes. My eyes mirrored his; my lips were swollen, cheeks flushed, and that dead look that always haunted me was nowhere in sight.

“The moment I saw you…” He kissed down to the artery that was beating like crazy. “I knew you would haunt me for the rest of my life,” he admitted. His hips pushed up on me as he kissed all around my throat. My hips moved against him, letting myself fall completely. He touched my cheek with the backs of his knuckles. “I’m going to take from you all the things he never gave to you,” he vowed as I threw my head back in a silent moan.

Bas kept moving his hips as he grabbed the back of my head and forced me to keep looking at him.

“Don’t hide from your pain, because it made you who you are today.”

My pants were the only things I could hear in the cabin as I regained my breath. His words touched parts of me that had still remained frozen. Before I could say more, a throat clearing behind me startled me but not Bas.

“We’ve arrived,” the stewardess said without her flirty tone.

Judging by the way Bas looked at me, I knew he had been aware of her presence the whole time.

“Are you ready?” he asked me in a soft tone.

I felt the weight of his words—and he didn’t mean just for right now.

“I think so.”

“Good,” he simply stated. “Let’s fuck some shit up.”

He took hold of my hand as we walked out of the airplane.

Do you know how different places have distinct smells? Like the fresh fall of snow or being near the ocean. When the wind touched my face, something screamed at me that I was home.

My hands gripped Bastian’s, and he turned to look at me without a smile, but I couldn’t focus on that. Not when in the distance shining brightly was the Chicago skyline standing still as ever, as if the last decade had never happened.

My knees buckled, and the weight of the years came rushing up on me. All my puzzle pieces were finally on the board, along with my broken dreams, my new fears, and all my sins.

I was nothing like the girl I used to be.

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