Page 8 of Don't Pray

I didn’t remember falling asleep as I thought about what I last remembered.

I recalled running through the woods after they told me to run. I remembered them telling me I had to give them something in return. From there, it was a blur of endless orgasms and being covered with their cum.

Just thinking about them made my core clench and heat rush through me. My cheeks flushed, and butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I rested my palm on my lower belly and bit my bottom lip.

“You’re ours,”murmured in the back of my mind.

I remembered someone murmuring that in my dream. Barely, but I remembered.

If that was true, then where were they?

Did it matter? I got what I wanted and gave them something in return, so why did I stand here, looking for them andmissingtheir touch?

“Ava, if you don’t get up, I’m waking you up with my head between your thick thighs again,” a man scolded from outside the bedroom. Seconds later, the double doors flew open, and in strode a large handsome man in a suit that only the rich wore.

I gasped and drew back a small step as I took in this strange person. He had blond hair neatly pushed back with gel. He was clean-shaven and had a dimple in the middle of his chin. His eyebrows were darker—bordering on brown—and raised as he turned his hazel eyes on me.

He widened his eyes briefly before they hooded, and his full lips curved into a sexy smirk.

He bit his lower lip and fiddled with the button of his jacket sleeve as he looked me over. It took me until now to realize I was buck-naked and showing off my goods. I gasped, snatched the thin sheet from the bed, and held it to my chest to block his view of me.

“No need to be shy, baby,” he purred as he slowly walked across the room to me. He roamed his eyes over me like a hungry lion looking over his next meal. He brought his hand up to rub the pad of his thumb over his bottom lip and raised his gaze to mine with the same cocky smile. “You still look fresh from a good fuck.”

I stepped back, and he followed with one step forward. My cheeks heated, and my ears burned with the blush. I didn’t know who the hell this man was, but he certainly acted like he knew who I was.

Even though I had wild sex what felt like hours ago, it wasn’t with him.

It seemed as if I had walked into a room in the middle of a conversation and had no context of what they were talking about. Obviously, there was a lot I didn’t know, and I was unsure how to find the information without looking like an ass.

“Umm,” I mumbled awkwardly and hesitantly stepped backward from the strange man again.

He grinned. “Ava,” he crooned as he closed the space between us. He shot his hands out and dragged me into him until I was flush against his chest.

I leaned my head back, peering up at his face as he gazed at me with hooded eyes.

The hazel of his irises was bright and held more green in them that sparkled in the morning light. The gold flecks had me staring into them, mesmerized.

He looked at me differently than any other man.

Except for the demons,whispered in my head.

Men saw women as possessions and wombs to breed and to continue the cycle of a miserable life. Their eyes were always harsh and held no softness toward women. They didn’t care about us and loved beating us to a bloody pulp. It became so bad that women were killing themselves to escape a life of pain.

Abortion was illegal, and there were no exceptions. So women who were raped and had complications in their pregnancy knew they were as good as dead.

Even the friend who I had to take my virginity held the same stern look in his eyes. He had internalized misogyny he couldn’t unlearn. At the end of our friendship, I knew he would be like all the others.

But this man? He gazed at me with gentleness and pure desire that wasn’t tainted with needing to enslave or possess.

This world may be better after all.

“Still waking up?” he asked teasingly, tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear. He cupped the back of my head while his other hand rested on my bare lower back, right above the crest of my ass.

He flicked his eyes down to my lips, and without warning, he lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me. I sucked in a sharp breath, shocked by the contact. It didn’t feel right, but it wasn’t bad either.

The faces of the demons flashed through my mind’s eyes, and guilt flooded through me. I didn’t know why I felt guilty. It wasn’t like I would see them again. I gave them something; in return, they brought me to this alternate universe.

The man’s tongue swept along the seam of my lips, and I shuddered. Sighing, I opened up to him and allowed him to sweep his tongue into my mouth and tangle with mine. Still holding the sheet to my chest, I wrapped my other arm around his shoulder and tucked myself closer.