Page 60 of The Black Lotus
He holds up his hand. “I had to dislocate it to escape.”
My mouth falls open. We took too long. We couldn’t find him.If Zephira’s programs just ran faster, we could have saved him.Maybe… maybe he wouldn’t be so broken. He looks skinnier than usual, and his complexion is paler. He has healing cuts along his arms and abdomen, fading bruises.She really did a number on him.
He grabs my hand, his thumb rubbing gently back and forth. “Hey. Come back to me. I’m here. I’m alive; that’s all that matters.”
I shake my head looking down. “If we’d just found you sooner, then you wouldn’t be so…”
“Broken.” he finishes for me.
I snap my head up, a wave of sadness washing over me for what he thinks of himself. “You arenotbroken.”
“I let my guard down. I got caught, tortured, and barely escaped with my life. That isn’t very Morbid Monet of me.” He laughs sadly, a faraway look in his eyes.
Looking at him, seeing a side of Aster I’ve never seen before only makes me want to bring back the person he fears he lost. The one he always was.He doesn’t look like the killer I fell in love with.He looks like a shell of himself, and my soul is shattering.Can the broken parts of him be put back together?Can I be the one to rearrange the puzzle pieces and bring back the man everyone cowers from with just a stare?
Sitting on my knees in front of him, I straighten my back and place my hands on his legs. “You’re home now, and you came back stronger than when you left. Yeah, you lost some weight and you have some new scars.” I cup his face, forcing his eyes to meet mine. “But they’re a part of you now. You went through something terrible, but if I’ve learned anything, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” His eyes burn into mine, the same look of defeat I had when he was missing.He needs tough love right now, not soft.“Plus, that just meansIget to trainyou. And I won't go easy on you just because you’re injured.” I crawl off the bed, reaching my hand out to his. “I’m going to make you swea–”
My words are cut off, his hand gripping my wrist and pulling me onto the bed. He lays me on the bed as he crawls over me, my cheeks heating from the sexual tension. His cock presses against my aching cunt, my hips move to create some kind of friction weboth desperately need. “I can think of other ways to make you sweat,” he teases.
I watch his arms tremble as he struggles to hold himself up. All thoughts of making love evaporate as I give him a sympathetic smile and lean up to kiss the lips I’ve missed so much, feeling their dry and chapped texture. They’re not the soft smooth ones I remember, but that doesn't deter me from consuming him.
When our lips part, his eyes glaze over and I slip out from under him. As much as I would love to be devoured, he is too injured to do anything.
“You need to heal,” I say, standing at the end of the bed.
“I can heal later,” he counters, sitting up so he can wrap his arms around my waist, pulling me into him.
I push against his chest, shaking my head. “As much as I would love to feel your cock deep inside me,” I groan, my core clenching around nothing, “We can’t. You look like you have been starved of everything and, as your vixen, I am going to make you a hearty meal and get you some electrolytes.” I sniff the air around him, my nose curling. “And a nice bath because you smell like death.”
He chuckles. “That’s what being locked up and killing someone smells like.”
I step out of his embrace and walk us to the bathroom.
“I’ll shower, but only if you wash me.”
I shake my head, pushing him into the bathroom. “Nu-uh mister, I know as soon as we get under that water you will shove your dick in me and that is the opposite of healing.” His hand braces the top of the door as I try to close it.Even weakened, he's still stronger than me.
Standing on my tiptoes, I give him one last kiss. “Please bathe and get some rest; I’ll wake you when the food is done.”
He grunts but relents, releasing his grip on the door and closing it softly behind him.
I hear the water turn on and it takes everything in me not to turn around, to not run back into his arms and give into the temptation ofhim.
Zephira is standing outside the door when I walk out, causing me to nearly fall over, my hand pressed against the wall to hold me up. “Holy shit, Zephira! Warn a girl next time you’re stalking around.”
She reaches her hand out to mine and I gratefully take it. “Sorry. I just wanted to make sure big bro was okay.”
I smile.She's worried about her brother.Spent days searching for him only to come up with nothing. She has to feel like she failed. I know I do.
“He’s taking a shower right now, and I told him to rest after. I’m going to make him something to have for when he wakes up. How did he get past you without you noticing?”
“I was in my room with the door shut.”
“What about the alarms? The cameras?” I ask, with my head tilted to the side.
“With all the programs I have running, I only set up the alarms to my phone and that was… away from me.”
My back stiffens, her confession causing a knot of anxiety to form in my stomach. Anything could have happened. Anyone could have come in unnoticed. I had my phone on silent because I wanted to wallow in my misery and I thought Zephira was keeping an eye out for anyone. But, I should have known better, she is working for Cynthia after all.
