Page 66 of Dance with Death

It felt like a goddamn privilege that only I knew what her true pleasure looked like, sounded like, felt like.

It feels so fucking good.

Just like before, the “oh” sounds lengthen, lose the harshness in their tone, become more like rushed breaths that have to come out each time she exhales. When she’s jerking more than rocking, I feel her pulsing pussy drag my orgasm out of me. She’s pulsing and squeezing around me until she lets out one last, long, purely satisfied “oh.”

I lower my hands from her jawline to her waist. I grip her hard, holding her in place. I bend my knees, plant my feet, lift my hips from the floor, and fuck and fuck and fuck until I explode inside her. I come long, slow, with a final groan as her spasming muscles clench tight around me.

We don’t move.

We just breathe and exist together.

The bubble of serenity we were granted the privilege of hiding inside while we made love to each other gradually fades away.

In its place returns the cold concrete beneath my ass, the damp and musty smell of a basement in a house in the bayou, the noisy clank of our chains as we shift into more comfortable positions.

Anya’s inner thighs are slippery and soaking wet from the both of us. I don’t want her to wear the evidence of our indiscretion, so I pull out my stupid blue pocket square and reach between us as my cock slips out from its place in heaven. I press it against her to soak up the liquid that’s dripping from her and it feels almost more intimate to take care of her this way than it did to fuck her.

She sucks on her bottom lip for a beat, watching me as I wipe away the wet evidence of our fucking.

“I love you, Ezra,” she says.

I breathe in the words as she climbs off me slowly, adjusting her dress and sitting beside me again. I put my cock away and I shove the pocket square down into my pants pocket as deep as it will go.

“If you love me, then promise you won’t try to leave me again. You’re strong enough to survive this. You owe yourself that chance.”

I turn to look at her as she slips her hand in mine and I lock our fingers together. I look deep into her eyes and see her there; I see her strength coming back, her survival instinct reviving and renewing itself.

I don’t kid myself to believe that the thought of ending all of this with her death won’t come across her mind again. I know it will. It will be present until I get her the fuck out of here, until I save her. I just need her to keep her strength long enough for me to figure a way out of all this.

“I don’t think I can promise you that,” she says so bluntly that it twists in my gut.

“Fine. You don’t have to promise me that. As long as you promise me that you’ll give me enough time to try, that you’ll stay alive long enough to give me a chance to save you.”

She sighs. “Ezra, I can’t—”

“Youcan,” I tell her, “and you will. I know you will. Even if you don’t think you can right now. Just…tell me you’ll give me time, Anya. Please.”

She closes her eyes before her head falls to my shoulder. “I’ll give you as much time as I can.”

I don’t feel great about the way she says it, but it’s agreement so I’ll take it. In truth, I don’t know how much time she has. I don’t know how long it will take for Vigo to grow bored with her or lose his temper and kill her or sell her to someone else. I don’t know how long she can continue to survive the kind of torture he inflicts upon her.

I lean over to kiss the top of her head. “I don’t blame you for wanting to end it all. Really, I don’t. But you went and made me fall in love with you, so I feel like you kind of owe me.”

There’s humor in my tone and I know she hears it. I can feel the joy from her smile even if I can’t see it all that well.

“If I owe you, then you owe me, too.”

“Hell yes, I owe you. I owe you too much to ever pay back.”

She looks up at me, her tone turning serious again. “Debt forgiven. I don’t think either of us stood a chance.” She smiles softly, but sadly. “We were doomed from the start.”

I hesitate before I ask, “Do you regret it?”

Her eyes brighten, shining a light in the dark space. “No. I don’t regret anything.”

I have a fight ahead of me.

I don’t know how I’ll do it, but one way or another, I’m gonna save my girl before she loses herself again.

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