Page 15 of Sinner's End

She thinks she might annoy me. That she might not like something about me. But the way she reacted to me in Harken’s underbelly, how she kissed me back at her house … there is nothing objectionable between us, and that is exactly how it will stay.

My boots pound the scarred flagstone steps, my blood heating as I complete circuit after circuit up the winding staircase. The echoes that fill the tower deafen me, an easy warning to the boss man of my presence, though after tonight he will cease to have any hold over me.

Good.

He’s been my keeper for long enough during my short tenure at Harken, the reason I don’t make deals with demons or angels or gods or fucking toadstools. Who knows what might bite me in the ass at some future point?

I’ve spent enough time in Harken to know the walls contain something worse than brick and mortar, and the inhabitants are just as cruel and tortured as those of its violent past.

“Can you try to make less noise? You might wake the deadwith that ruckus,” Mana calls as I near the top step, tucking his semi-thickened cock back into his leather pants and pulling the crotch strings until they squeal.

“Were you pissing or wanking?” I mutter, forcing my gaze to remain steady on his face. Anything else will be seen as weakness, and I have no doubt Mana sees far more than I will ever wish him to see.

“Does it matter?” He shrugs and gives his covered cock a rough squeeze.

I feel the touch like his hand is on my crotch instead of his own, and the second squeeze is gentler.Caressing.“Stop that,” I hiss, slamming my knuckles against the belfry’s stonework. The pain helps a little, but my cock still hardens. “You do not have my consent.”

Maybe it’s me who sounds like the broken record.

Mana stares at me, the corners of his mouth crooking up in a sly smile that douses me in ice everywhere other than where his phantom touch rests. “Is that so? Consent is a funny thing. I don’t remember you requesting to leave the premises this evening either, but you did, didn’t you? I think you took something from me.”

He rubs his cock, the leather straining as he swells. The man has endless endurance in his corner. My cock receives the same attention and salutes the unwelcome, ghostly touch no matter how much I hate the man and what he can do to me.

“I took nothing that wasn’t yours to start with,” I grate out. I slam my palms to the walls and drag my nails along the rough-hewn surface, staining it with streaks of my blood.

Mana hums his approval, his eyes hooding. “Don’t stop me. Not if you want me to release you.”

Phantom fingers brush my balls, tantalizingly sweet and gentle, like her—I banish the thought and let out an unwilling howl at the invasion on my favorite fantasy. Addi on her knees,my cock buried deep in her throat as I stroke her hair gently when she sobs for me, her fingertips stroking the underside of my balls until I rupture in her mouth.

The touch disappears and I drop to my knees, panting. Blood still roars in my ears as I slump over the stone, breath shuddering from my chest.

“You fucking asshole.”

“I’ve been called worse.” I canhearthe smile in Mana’s voice.

“I don’t doubt you’ve earned it.”

“Well, yes. But that’s the fun part, isn’t it? Look what you’re giving up if you walk away.” His voice hardens.

I laugh, though there’s no humor in it. “You make it sound like I have a choice.” I slowly force myself to stand once more, knowing this is far from over.

“Don’t you?”

His touch is back though his hands are well away from his body. The bulge in his pants remains, and I wonder how many more club slut throats he’ll jam his cock down tonight before he’s satisfied. Mana constantly chases the high, never acknowledging what any drug addict could tell him: the first high is the best. And the worst.

It’s a curse in itself, one that’s forever chased after and never met again, always culminating in a cycle of disappointment and self-loathing.

“Don’t drag me into your shit.” Raising my chin, I hold his gaze. “Do your worst, Manashesh Severn. If I walk away, she’s mine. You leave her alone. Forever.”

“Such stark terms.” Ghost fingers travel around my cock, squeezing enough to make my length strain for more, yet not enough to give me the climax aching through me. “Should I accept his demands, Bowen?”

“I think you should let me take care of that pain you feel.”Bowen appears at the edge of the bell tower’s arch, crouching there in his bare feet and white leather pants and singlet like he flew in.

Fuck knows if he did.

Wait—did he saypain?

“As long as you stay standing, you will have what you desire.” Mana’s voice breaks through my train of thought, but not enough to distract me from that little gem.

---