Page 41 of Scorching Sienna

Damon pulls the covers over me and hands me the tea.

Then he moves around the bed to the other side, his grey sweatpants and white T-shirt-clad body, climbing in beside me but leaving a gap between us.

I tense, but he doesn’t touch me or edge closer. Without looking at me, he opens the book and reads where my little flower bookmark indicates my location.

Between the tea and Damon's voice, I don’t last long. But the sleep I have is fitful and plagued by The Reaper.

“I have been watching you.”

Thrust. Pain.

“The way you look at him.”

Thrust. Thrust. Grunt. Pain.

“He doesn’t care for you in the same way.”

Thrust. Squeeze neck. Thrust. Pain.

“Not the way I care for you.”

Grunt. Thrust. Pain.

“Fuck, you are so tight, baby. That's good. It must stay that way for me.”

Thrust. Squeeze tighter. Pain.

“He is a bad man. But I am worse. And if you let him touch you one more time…”

Thrust. Thrust. Thrust. PAIN.

“Soon, Sienna. Soon you will be mine.”

Thrust. Shudder. Squeeze. Reaping. Raping. Because everything is taken.

I wake with a start and then lean over, vomiting all over the floor next to the bed. Tears are streaming down my cheeks.

“Sienna, breathe.”

Damon is beside me, his hand stroking my shoulder while his other holds my hair back.

I am hyperventilating.

Damon hands me a glass of water, coaching me to take small sips.

Minutes pass as my breathing steadies. It isn’t until half the water is already down that I realize how strange it tastes. Then, I start feeling off—dizzy.

“Don’t worry, Sienna. It’s a sedative to help you sleep. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere, and I won’t let anything happen to you.” His voice is coming from a distance now as my eyes close. And then I am gone, into blissful darkness. A place where nothing exists. A place I want to stay.

When I wake up again, the room is still dark, but the bathroom light is on, shedding some light.

The bed beside me is empty. I smile and stretch out, the sudden pain from between my ass cheeks and around my neck flooring me as memories flood back. It really happened. I thought maybe it was a bad dream. But no. It is reality.

I eye the half-drank water next to my bed and toss the whole lot down, waiting for the darkness to take me back to the place where no memory exists. Minutes tick by, and then it comes, wrapping me in its fuzzy, comforting blanket and taking me away.

When I wake up again, I feel cloudy. Hazy. As my eyes adjust and the groggy feeling dissipates, I make out a figure beside me. Damon. I could tell even before his form came into view. I can always tell whenhe is near. He is my magnetic counterpart.

He is sitting up and awake from how he is breathing.

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