Page 161 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

Chapter 38

The house was quiet. I slept an extra hour and felt amazing by the time I got out of bed and went into my home gym to exercise. I found myself enjoying the workout more than normal, knowing I’d need my strength to keep up with the little bug down the hall.

My mind went back to the events of last night. Her stunning body, the fight in her eyes, the sounds she’d made when she came... and the way she’d clung to me in the dungeon when confronted by her demons.

The girl was bringing me back to life. I could feel it. The numbness was fading. The past few years of high, thick walls built around the Beast was starting to crumble at the hands of a little five-foot fox in bondage.

I slept fitfully the night before, worried that Alice would have another nightmare. Eventually I caved to the temptation and snuck into her room, laying on the edge of the bed beside her and watching her sleep before drifting off myself. She slept through the night, and I woke up and left before she woke up and realized I was there. I tried to keep us in separate beds for now, mostly to resist the temptation to overindulge in her body.

The coffee was hot and breakfast was ready, but she wasn’t up yet, so I cracked the door open and peered inside.

Oh. She was awake alright. Wide awake and flushed, her eyes closed and her mouth slightly parted in pleasure, her hands moving underneath the covers.

“What are you doing, little bug?”

She jerked and rolled over, pulling the covers up to her chin and staring at me with wide eyes, her face flushed from her morning self-care.

“Nothing.”

“Oh... well good. Because breakfast is ready.”

She pursed her lips and I raised an eyebrow at her until she finally got up, rolling her eyes. She pulled on a crop top and a pair of the panties I’d bought her last week.

“What are we going to do today,” she asked as she heaped several spoonsful of sugar into her coffee.

“I have to go by The Weston House for a few hours, but then I’ll be back. I thought we could go out, take care of a few things I’ve been meaning to get to... and maybe swing by Simon’s shop when we were done.”

Her eyes darted up to mine and she grinned. “Really?”

“I confirmed with him last night. That half-finished tattoo looks a little odd. Don’t you want to know what it is?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m super excited to see what he designed. He wouldn’t show it to me.”

“Do you get a thrill from letting him do mystery ink on you? Or is it more than that?”

She thought about it while she sipped her coffee and attempted to nibble at a piece of toast. She was doing better about eating in the mornings, but she still didn’t consume much.

“I think part of it is the surrender for me. He’s making a decision for me aboutmy body, and it’s permanent. I trust him, because he’s an amazing artist and I love ink anyway, but he’s the only one I trust to do something like that. It’s thrilling, but also really emotional.

“He blindfolded me for the snake. Tied my wrists and blindfolded me, and did the three snakes around my belly. He ended up adding the part that goes up my chest and around to my back a little bit later. It started as just the three heads, and it was a surprise.”

“Does the snake mean anything to you? Or is it just art?”

“It means something to him. And it meant a lot that he shared it with me.” Alice looked down at her hands, and didn’t elaborate on the meaning of the snake, so I didn’t ask.

“Well then. I think that settles our afternoon plans then, doesn’t it?”

She bounced up and down in her seat, forgetting she was holding a coffee cup, and spilled it down her shirt. “Oops.”

“Oh, Alice.”

---