She’s trembling as she nods, a quivering sob replaces her moans of passion and I gather her up and into my lap, petting her hair and kissing her face over and over, saying sweet and filthy things until she calms.
Her body stiffens in my lap and I pinch her chin, turning her eyes toward mine. “What is it?”
I see the change happen. Her eyes go from soft and accepting to tense and worried.
“I can’t give you everything you want right now.”
“You already have.”
She shakes her head. “Just, please. you can’t stay. Please don’t ask me why, just if you care about me, give me this night, but then you have to go.”
I nod, but in my heart, I know I’ll never let her go. “Okay, baby. But I’m coming for you. Soon. And nobody and nothing will come between us.”
CHAPTER 4
Anna
The knock at my door shocks me awake, pulling me away from dreams of Cyrus and his magical tongue, magical fingers, magical…
Just magical everything.
My bed feels so empty without him here, and I have a sudden moment of loss and longing, just wanting to feel his arm around me before the knock comes again, harder this time.
“Anna, open up. Why do you have the chain on the door. We need to talk.” My father. The sun’s barely even up. That doesn’t bode well. He’s not an earlier riser.
I pull myself out of bed on a groan and grab a robe, wrapping it around to cover both myself but also Cyrus’s marks.
Marks where his fingers gripped me, marks where his hands smacked me. Marks where his cum has dried on my skin. Marks where his teeth pinched my flesh as he told me I belonged to him. The marks he told me I would wear every day from now on. The marks I gladly and willingly accepted.
“Anna!”
“Geez, I’m coming. Give me a second!” I shout as I hurry from the bedroom, over to the front door.
As soon as it’s open, he’s barreling by me, stomping around. “Is he here?”
“Who? I don’t know—”
“You do know, Anna. And I know. He came to talk to me about you, so cut the bullshit and tell me if Cyrus is here.”
He looks wild, scared even. I barely recognize him, but he doesn’t even seem to notice me beyond his manic questions.
“I know you’ve been spending time with him. Have you opened your legs for him yet? Please don’t tell me you’ve let that man defile my—”
“What the hell, Dad?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “No, I don’t want to know. If you’ve…” He slams his fist into the wall, making me shriek. “If you’ve done that then it’s better I don’t know. Just hope your new husband doesn’t notice. It’s not like he’s demanded that you’re a virgin anyway. Probably just assumed that you were, since you’re my daughter. Well, that’s just as well.”
I’ve never known my father to be out of control. And as I think about that, I’ve never really been either.
I knew I was supposed to marry this man I’ve never met. I wasn’t happy about it but I guess I felt if I didn’t think it was real, it never would be.
Cyrus has changed everything.
Ugh. What a mess.
I never even wanted to get involved with anyone in my father’s world. This man, as far as I’ve been told, he’s just an accountant. I didn’t want to marry him, but if I had to marry someone at least it was someone who’d get me away from all this.
This thing with Cyrus… Every bone in my body is telling me that I don’t want it. All the danger, all the things from my past, he’s a part of all that and there’s no reason to think he’s even capable of change, even if he wanted to. But then how does he have this draw for me? Why do I want him so much?
Why does the thought of never seeing him again fill me with such existential dread?
“I forbid you to ever see him again. You hear me, Anna? Never. Again.”
I straighten my shoulders, grinding my teeth together. “Oh, you forbid me? Well, maybe I’m an adult and I can make my own goddamn decisions.”
“Anna. I’m your father and—”
“Then maybe you ought to start acting like one, instead of a salesman trying to get the best price for a piece of meat!”
My father’s eyes snap wide, his brow draws tight and I take a step back. I know he’s dangerous. I know who he is. I know he’s hurt people in his life or had them hurt.
Or killed.
If I push him too far, who knows what he might do to me? But fuck it. I’m scared. But mostly, I’m scared of losing the one good thing I’ve managed to get for myself.
“We’ve spoiled you, Anna. You’ve grown up in luxury. Had a life most in this country would kill for. This is how you repay me? By disrespecting me? You have no idea what I’ve had to do for you, the kind of people I’ve had to cross to give you all this. Well, it’s about time you learned a few truths for your own good.”