Page 149 of I Was Always Yours (RCA: Royal Crown Academy)

I shudder and let him continue to stoke the embers of my arousal. He removes his fingers and gets a towel from the bathroom, coming back and cleaning my sensitive holes. He pulls his trousers back on and gets me comfortable on the bed, placing a pillow beneath my head and the sheet over my body before he heads for the door.

His hand finds the doorknob and he pauses, turning back towards me. “I’m getting you something to eat. If when I come back you’ve moved from the position I just put you in, I’ll fuck your ass all over again. If you disappear like last time, I’ll burn down everything in my path until I find you. Understood?”

The sincerity of his dark promise echoes in his words and I nod. He leaves and comes back minutes later with a bottle of water and an energy bar. I eat it as I watch him pull on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with his back to me. It’s too dark so I can’t make out any scars or blemishes on his back other than the ink of his tattoos.

He makes his way back to the bed, lifts the covers and gets in beside me. His arm closes around my middle and pulls me against his warm body, flipping me so my head rests on his chest.

“The word “possessive” isn’t nearly strong enough to describe you, you know? You’re crazy.” I tell him, my hand closing over his ribs on the other side of his chest.

“It’s your fault.”

I look up at him, stunned. “How is it my fault?”

“Because it is. You’re the one who won’t get out of my fucking head. You think I like feeling this way? My mood being completely dependent on whether you smile or frown on any given day? Being nine thousand kilometers away and trying to focus but only being able to think about what you’re up to?” His hand tightens around my shoulders. “Coming home and wanting nothing more than to see you, talk to you,touchyou, only to find you in someone else’s arms?”

I cup his face and tilt it down to look at me. “Jude is gay, Phoenix.”

If I thought that would appease him, I’m wrong. “I don’t care if he’s gay, straight, or a eunuch. No man gets to touch you, especially when you’re not wearing your ring.”

I tense and look away. “At least I have a ring to wear, and I usually do. There’s nothing that warns other girls to keep their hands off you.” I say, bitterly.

He stiffens and I wonder if I crossed a line and he’s going to kick me out. I slide off his body as he sits up and my stomach drops as I realize that he’s the one who’s going to leave. I sit up and hug the comforter around my naked body, emotion clogging my throat as I watch him get out of bed.

But he doesn’t head for the door.

He picks up the throw that fell off the mattress and comes back to bed.

“I’ll get myself a ring then. In the meantime,” he says, pausing as he picks at the frayed edge of the throw blanket. He grabs the bundle of threads and tugs the longest one, carefully severing it from the rest of the cover. “Tie this around my finger.” He hands it to me and extends his hand at me.

I take it with unsure fingers and he tips his chin at me to do as he says. A small smile pulls at my lips as my eyes fall to his finger. I wrap the delicate thread three times around his left ring finger before tying it off.

He growls approvingly when he looks down at my handy work and lays back onto the bed, pulling me into him.

“Now everyone will know that I belong to you when they look at me.” His finger comes under my chin and tips it so I look up into his eyes. “This only works if you wear your ring though. Got it?”

I nod and he kisses my nose, then my mouth. “Good.”

He cups my ass and picks me up with ease, settling me back down so that I’m laying completely on top of him, our chests glued together. I try to move because this position can’t be comfortable for him, but he smacks my ass sharply.

“Stay. I want to sleep with you suffocating me like this.” He mutters, his eyelids fluttering as sleep calls to him. He wraps his arms around my lower back, one calm resting territorially on my ass and keeping me in place as he falls asleep.

Sleep takes me over moments after him and I drift off with a pleased smile on my face, secure in the knowledge that I love him.

I always have of course, but what that little girl felt for that little boy pales in comparison to what the woman now feels for the man.

Chapter 43

Sixtine

I’m hanging out in Thayer’s room with her when we hear Nera let out a piercing scream. We give each other a startled look before scrambling, tripping over each other in our rush to get to her.

“Nera?” I call as we burst into the living room and find her, freshly out of the shower and wrapped in a fluffy towel, standing in front of a wincing Phoenix.

“Jesus, Nera. I think you just burst my eardrum.”

Her mouth drops in outrage and she waves her hairbrush at him. “You don’t get to judge how loud I scream when youbreak into my house, Phoenix.”

He wiggles his finger in his ear, grimacing. “At the very least you’ve given me tinnitus,” he says, walking past her.

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