By Wednesday, it starts to work.
He tells me we’re hanging out on Thursday and takes me to his place. We have another swim lesson, then he takes me up to his bedroom.
At first, he’s gentle with me like he has been. He lets me climb on top of him, smiling in a softer, unguarded way that lulls me. He wraps his hand around my neck as I straddle his hips and lean in to kiss him. My pretty new hair falls in his face and he grabs a lock, rubbing it between his fingers.
“Tell me you love me,” he rumbles.
I feel a thrill in my tummy. “I love you,” I say softly, bending to kiss my way along his hard jaw.
“No matter what.”
My tummy drops. With anyone else, that would mean something entirely different. With him…
I swallow, knowing non-compliance isn’t an option unless I want to set him off. “No matter what,” I say, the words feeling like poison in my mouth.
He grabs me, switching our positions and throwing me back on the bed. I gasp at the impact, then he’s on top of me, between my thighs, looking down at me.
My heart pounds in my throat. He watches me for a moment, then he grabs a condom.
I’m relieved.
The night he took me in my bedroom after all the Hannah stuff, he came in me. He knows I’m not on birth control, and I was afraid that was going to be a thing he started doing, but it was the only time.
I don’t know if he wanted to mark me that night, or scare me a little. I do know it was risky, and as I’m in no way ready to be tied to him with a baby, not something I want to happen again anytime soon.
The crinkling of the foil packet reassures me that he hasn’t completely lost his mind.
I think he just wanted to see if I wouldlet himcome inside me that night because he could feel me slipping away. I didn’twanthim to, but I knew if I told him no, he would do it anyway, and I would just lose a chance to reassure him.
Once the condom is rolled over his dick, he pushes it into me. He closes his eyes, leaning over me and bracing his weight on the bed. I gaze up at him, still grimly aware of his beauty as his muscles flex while he fucks me.
His eyes open, and he looks down at me with that dark look I usually see mid-fuck, the one that felt scary evenbeforeI knew all the violence he was capable of.
Now, it feels terrifying.
What is he thinking when he looks at me that way?
Maybe it’s crazy that when he scares me like that I want to pull closer to him, but I think it’s what he wants. I can’t outrun him or outmaneuver him, so staying close to him feels like the only way to stay safe.
I reach up to caress his face. I bring him down to me, my touch gentle, and kiss his lips as he hammers into me.
I initiated the kiss, but when he kisses me back he dominates my mouth, tangling a hand in my hair and driving into my pussy harder. I cry out at the brutal impact, and he growls against my mouth, then kisses me even more ravenously.
His hungry kisses still make my heart flutter.
Knowing what he’s capable of, I don’t feel like they should.
He makes me come before he finishes, but in the aftermath as I lay curled in his arms, I feel sick to my stomach.
His low voice in my ear startles me. “You’re staying here tonight.”
“Okay,” I say softly.
His arms tighten around me and, before long, he drifts off to sleep.
I’m nearly asleep myself when I feel his body jerk. It startles me awake, but my blood runs cold when it sounds like he’s panicking. I pull his arms off me and roll over so I can look at him.
He rolls on his back, still tense, his eyes still closed.