Page 37 of Velvet Thorns
“Fuck, Shannen, what do you think I am?” He’s glaring at me like I’ve just slapped him. “You think I’d force you and take what wasn’t given? No. Not like that.Neverlike that. But I’ve watched you when you thought you were alone. When your thighs were spread and your fingers disappeared between them. When your lips parted and you whispered my name in the dark. I know I should’ve looked away, but god, you’re not just beautiful when you come, you’re fucking transcendent.”
His eyes drag over my face like he’s memorizing every single reaction. “You don’t even know what you do to me. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to fall to my knees and beg for you. Not just to fuck you, but to belong to you.” I stare up at him, completely frozen, and I can see in his eyes that it’s killing him to keep his distance. “I know what undoes you and what you need, and I’ll give you all of it. Every filthy, depraved, beautiful fucking thing your dark little heartwants. I’ll crawl inside your fantasies until you can’t tell where they end and I begin, but only when you ask for it.”
Silence crashes down on us like a hammer.
Crushing. Deafening. Absolute.
And then I explode.
I thrash, kick, and lose my shit like a fucking psycho as rage tears through me until I’m half screaming.
“What the fuck, Phoenix? What the fuck—what the hell is wrong with you?!”
“Get it out of your system,” he says quietly. “I’ll be right here when you’re done.”
Chapter 10
Phoenix
Breathe,Phoenix.
It’s just another guy, just another warm body in her bed, another temporary mistake she’ll regret the second the door shuts behind him.
He means nothing.
He’s nothing.
He’s not you.
The laughter from upstairs died out a while ago, and now I’m left in the dark with my phone in hand, camera angled at Shannen’s bed. I watch again as some worthless nobody touches what’s mine, never knowing how close he is to the edge of it being the last day of his life if he so much as does something she doesn’t allow.
She doesn’t know it yet, but she belongs to me in a way no one else ever could.
In a way that defies reason, distance, and time.
And if it takes another six years of hiding in the dark—of watching her fill the emptiness with strangers while pretending she’s not broken without me—then so be it.
Because eventually, she’ll remember.
Eventually, she’ll realize, and when that happens, there won’t be any more pretending. No more running. No more names she can’t even remember.
Only me.
Only us.
The way it was always meant to be.
This dick’s name is Joshua. Fucking Joshua. Sounds like a moron, looks like an all-American, khaki-wearing, protein-shake-chugging, ex-jock piece of shit who probably still jerks off to memories of his high school girlfriend.
It’s pathetic, really, and hilarious, considering she’s always said she hated guys like that, and yet here she is, letting him peel her clothes off. But I know her better than anyone. I know the way her eyes glaze over when she disconnects. The way her hands go slack, like she’s not even in her body anymore. She goes through the motions, chasing something she’ll never find with him. Hell, I knew it the moment they met tonight. He was never going to be the one to give her what she needs.
Did he just fucking flex?
You’ve got to be kidding me.
I hate watching her with anyone. I hate the way they breathe near her, touch her, and pretend to know what to do with her. But him? This clown? Out of every dick in the universe, she's decided to let this cocky little fuck between her legs?
But then I see the way her whole vibe shifts. She clocked the flex, saw him for the joke he is, and that’s it. Thank fuck. She’s off the bed, panties and bra still clinging to that gorgeous body.
