I can’t wait. I want— no, I need him inside me right now.
His heated eyes capture mine, trapping us both in an alternative reality. One where only he and I exist. He slowly stretches me. The mere sensation is enough to send my heartbeat into a maddened rhythm. I part my legs wider, granting him fuller access. When he picks up the pace, pounding into me fiercely, a tornado, stronger than the previous one, hits me. Jolts of pleasure invade me like electricity. I clutch Aaron’s neck for balance when I’m thrown over the edge.
Not long after, Aaron’s handsome face morphs into ecstasy. His length twitches inside me and he released a low guttural grunt.
He lies on his back and pulls me to his side, piercing me with a mixture of awe, contentment, and... fear? I encircle his chest, staring him back with the overflowing feelings I have for him.
In this moment, everything around us ceases to exist. Only Aaron’s enchanting scent. Aaron’s addictive touch. Aaron’s rhythmic breathing. Aaron’s exquisite taste. And Aaron’s heart-stopping smile.
I don’t care about fear or demons.
Nothing but death can separate me from Aaron.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Aaron
First rays of light rip through the clouds, announcing the beginning of a new day. I run a frantic hand over my face. Lack of sleep is catching up with me.
From my standing position beside the window, my gaze falls on Mae’s sleeping form. Peaceful bliss shrouds her soft features. I smile. At least one of us is worry-free.
Last night was the best thing that’s happened in my life. Mae is the best thing that’s happened in my life. I couldn’t resist taking her. The urge crushed my will-power. It didn’t help that Mae made herself impossible to refuse. But after the euphoria came the realisation of my mistake.
Not only did I defy the demons, but I also succumbed to feelings I should’ve been exempt from. A grey hole takes over my heart, submerging it with all the pain and fear I ignored thus far; my cursed childhood, the asylum, but mostly Uncle’s death.
In that moment, when I lost the one person who could’ve stopped me from going wrong, a black shadow took me over. All I could do was embrace my true self. I’ve never felt right since then. I stopped feeling. Full stop. That’s why, opposite to Tristan and Dylan, The Pit was easy and fun for me. That place was exactly what I needed to turn into the version Aunt Ariel and Father wanted me to become.
The version I thought was the right way to live.
Mae releases a soft moan, turning to her side. She throws her hand on my half of the bed and caresses it softly as if it’s my chest. A chuckle escapes me.
I’m in too deep.
When Mae came along, it was a mere obsession, but it soon possessed me. Mae is releasing the beast. The feelings. The fucking pain. And that doesn’t give her good scores with the demons. They won’t stop now. That’s the exact reason I haven’t slept all night. If I do, they will take over my body and disfigure her beautiful face. They will draw blood from her translucent skin.
I shake my head. No. I would never allow that. Even if it means a permanent lack of sleep.
“So you chose her over us.”
My head whips to the source of the frosty voice. Aunt Ariel, in the summer dress she died in, stands by Mae’s side. She watches her with a glare, so tense, so black, a shiver travels my spine.
I blink.
This isn’t real, right? I can’t see Aunt. I don’t see Aunt. She’s usually rambling in my head, why is she out?
I close my lids. “This is a dream. This is a dream...”
“No, it’s not.” Father’s calm voice fills the room. Not my head. The fucking room. “This is us coming to finish what you couldn’t.”
My eyes pop open. He’s standing next to Aunt, a hand in his pocket. He’s wearing the same suit he died in, looking at me with the same eyes he passed to me. What in the gates of hell are they doing out of my head?
“Poor girl.” Mother comes from the opposite side, her voice a notch above a murmur. “She’s another version of me.”
The three of them encircle the bed like pathological doctors ready to eviscerate a corpse. Only Mae isn’t a corpse. She’s alive. Her chest is rising and falling with the same tranquil rhythm, unaware of her surroundings.
I run to them to erase their heinous faces. My fingers connect with thin air, and I slump beside Mae. They stand their ground, three pairs of eyes pinning me down.
“Leave!” I shout. My head hurts. Their emergence from it weighs more than them being inside.