I reach down to play with her nub and she starts to tremble. The passage around me contracts. My cock throbs.
I stop teasing her and focus on my thrusts. I’m close. My balls feel hot and heavy. My muscles are all coiled. When Triss tightens around me as she throws her head back, I topple over the edge.
“Triss!” I shout her name as I thrust my hips forward and spill myself deep inside her. My grunts blend with her moans.
My hips jerk a few more times before I go still. My muscles begin to relax. I let Triss’s legs go and they drop at my sides.
As I catch my breath, I stare at Triss. Her eyes are open now but still half lidded. Her skin has a sheen of sweat now, her face a rosy glow that makes my chest swell.
I can’t believe she’s mine.
I kiss her lips before pulling out and tucking my spent cock into my boxers. Then I lie down beside her. She doesn’t move, so I grab the blanket and pull it over us both.
“Are you alright?” I ask her.
Triss nods. Her gaze points up at the sky.
“The stars,” she whispers. “They’re beautiful.”
I see them reflected in her eyes. I plant a kiss on her forehead.
“Not as beautiful as you.”
She turns her head. “Did you like your present?”
“You know I did.”
“Good.”
She snuggles against me and rests her head on my arm. We lie down in silence as we look up at the patches of the night sky through the branches. Their leaves rustle in the breeze. In the distance, I hear a cricket chirp.
When I look at Triss again, I find her asleep. I pull the blanket up to her chin, brush the strands of hair off of her forehead, and plant a kiss on the top of her head. Then I close my eyes as well.
I’ve been in this place many times before. I’ve spent the night here on a few occasions. But it’s never been as peaceful or as phenomenal as it is tonight. It’s just like the fairy tale I promised Triss.
Almost like a dream.
~
I wake up panting. My back rises off the mattress. My hand grips my chest as I struggle to breathe.
Beside me, Triss sits up. She places her hand on my shoulder.
“Antonio?”
I hear the concern in her voice. I see it in her eyes after she rubs the sleep out of them.
I run my fingers through my sweat-drenched hair. “I’m okay. I just… had a bad dream.”
“What was it about?” Triss asks. “The fire?”
I shake my head. No, it wasn’t the fire this time. It was something else.
“I was being shot at,” I tell Triss as I try to piece together the fragments of the nightmare. I wish I had my journal so I could write them down.
“Who was shooting you?”
I shrug. “I didn’t see. I was hiding behind a tree. The bullets just kept raining. One of them grazed me.”
I glance at my arm, half expecting to see a scar. I find none.
Of course not. That was just a dream. Or is it a memory?
“Do you think that happened to you before?” Triss asks the same question.
I don’t know. But it felt so real. Too real. Dreams shouldn’t linger for more than a few seconds, but this remains.
If it’s a real memory, though, it’s strange. Why was I being shot at? What kind of life is that? I have a feeling I was taught to fight in order to defend myself, but who exactly was I defending myself against? The same people who nearly succeeded in killing me?
I place my hand on my forehead. I know I can’t escape my past. I just wish I knew what it was.
“Hey.” Triss rubs my shoulder. “It’s okay.”
Is it? I thought marrying Triss would fill the hole in my life, but it’s still there. I thought I could shake off these chains binding me, but I can’t.
I look at Triss. “I’m sorry you married a man who’s missing fifteen years of his life.”
“And you married a woman who spent eight years fighting her way through the depths of hell.” She touches my cheek. “What a fine pair we make.”
Before, she said we weren’t the same, but I guess we are. We’ve both been robbed of something precious.
I narrow my eyes at her. “Eight years?”
Triss lies down. “I was fourteen when Harvey sold me.”
Fourteen? A pit forms in my stomach.
I don’t know who I detest more – the man who sold her even though he was supposed to protect her, his own flesh and blood, or the man who treated her like property for eight years. I wish I could kill them both.
Kill? Strange. I didn’t think I had a violent bone in my body.
Triss squeezes my hand. “I’m fine. What matters is that I survived. One day, I’ll be able to forget everything. And who knows? One day, you might remember everything.”