Page 28 of Eden's Deliverance

“You’ve got me so fucked up, girl. I could wring your neck right now.” He’s panting into my mouth, but it’s hard to decipher what he’s saying when his cock is pressed so tightly against my pussy.

If I could just take it out while he’s in the heat of the moment like this…

I reach down to unbutton his pants, trying to distract him enough that he’ll let me get them undone. “So just fu—” His hand clamps over my mouth before turning my head to gain access to my neck.

“Shut the fuck up. I tell you what to do, not the other way around. I’ll fuck you when you start listening to me.” If he’s truly angry, he forgot the proper tone somewhere between biting my throat and grinding into me. “You said you’d come. You said you’d put on the mask.”

My words are muffled by his hand, but I shoot off to the best of my ability and ramble about how I only agreed because he pulled a fucking knife on me. I’d have said anything to avoid him using it.

He doesn’t seem too pleased with my defiance.

Pulling back to hook his fingers over my bottom teeth, he unhinges my jaw before spitting directly into my mouth. When I whine at the assault, he locks it shut again by pressing his palm to the underside of my chin with his fingers pinching my cheeks—not unlike Skylar did at our parents’ house.

“Doesn’t your mouth get dry from all the talking back?” he whispers against my temple. “Iwillbreak you down, darling.Wewill break you, so you’re better off surrendering now.”

Never.

Tucking my chin down has the exact effect I want it to; he relinquishes his grip on my cheeks and drops his guard. I rear back and return the spit with enough ferocity that it covers his mask and drips down his face.

My ass meets the floor in less than a second.

Kneeling in front of me, he furiously pulls at the chain until my vision starts to blur. He’s so angry, he can barely stop his lips from trembling when he growls, “Go home, and don’t you dare come back here unless you’re in red.”

Then, he turns and walks right out the door.

This time I cry on purpose, purging all my hatred through the hot tears flowing from my eyes as I gasp for air. I’m a weeping pile of patheticism, thinking this must be the end.

The end of the mystery man and his sulky friend. The end of my masked adventures. The end of the thrill. The end of the passion.

They’re never going to want me without that red mask, and I don’t want to put it on. I don’t want to know how much nastier they can get. I don’t want to find out how else they could possibly hurt me…because make no mistake, they have something much worse than this planned.

I hate them.

I hate them for making me want them so badly it’s become a habit to lie here and think of all the things I’m missing—to think of what it might be like if they got their way.

Would they be nicer? Would they really make me feel better than he already has? Would I like it? Is there some secret to the Red Room I’m just too blind to see, and they’re trying to show me the light?

I won’t be sticking around to find out. I think I’ll be much safer for the time being if I return to being a Pearl. If I can’t find someone new, maybe I’ll get lucky enough to run into the man I met after Casanova broke me the first time.

One can only hope.

9

Julian

The food at the cafeteria hall is atrociously bad.

Skylar doesn’t seem to mind—he’ll pretty much eat whatever’s put in front of him—but I have higher standards, so we head to the courtyard and check out what the food trucks are offering today. It looks like a lamb and rice kind of afternoon for me while Skylar grabs a meatball sub.

We march our asses over to the nearest picnic bench, forcing the underclassmen sitting there to flee. Sometimes I’m grateful for our social standing, because I’m on my last nerve and don’t feel like picking a fight.

I haven’t told him much about my session with Scarlett last weekend, but it’s time for us to come up with a plan for what needs to happen moving forward.

After we’ve settled into our meals and I get a few scoops of rice in my stomach, I say, “I think you’ve gotta take over this Eden shit, brother. I need a break from her.”

“What are you talking about? It’s working, isn’t it? You’re the one she built this fucking attachment to. You can’t quit now,” he scolds.

I could use some fucking sympathy here. Pointing my fork at him, I resort to raising my voice. “You’re not fucking hearing me. I need a goddamn break.”

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