43. Amelia
Amelia
When I wake the following morning, Lucas isn’t in the hotel suite. I sit up, naked and still covered in sand from the night before. We arrived back late and collapsed into bed, tangled in each other’s arms.
But now I’m alone.
I get up, hurriedly showering and putting on a dress before I go back into the main living space, hoping that he’s there.
It’s still empty. His case is packed beside the door, and as I stare at it, wondering where he could be, it opens.
My heart lifts, thinking that he’s come back to get me.
But it’s a bellhop, smiling in a friendly manner, telling me that Mr. Crawford is already on the boat and for me to make my way there.
I stutter a thank you, walking down the boardwalk, staring around at our little slice of paradise, knowing with a certainty that I will never see it again.
This was his goodbye.
I’m so sure of it that I find it hard to breathe. As I round the corner at the end of the pier, I can see him in the boat. He’s lounging in the back seat, his face covered by his shades, looking up into the sky.
Why didn’t you wait for me? Why aren’t we walking to the boat together?
He turns, as if feeling my presence, but he doesn’t wave. He doesn’t even smile, just turns back again.
If I felt the sting of rejection before, it’s a punch to the gut now. Apparently, when he gets rid of a woman from his life, he does it without so much as a shrug in her direction.
I feel sick as I walk up to the boat and climb aboard. I don’t look at Lucas as I sit beside him.
“We’ll be flying out in about an hour,” he says in a monotone that chills my blood.
“Great,” I say, determined not to show how violently my heart is breaking. As far as he’s concerned, I’ve done my job, and now he can be rid of me. That’s his privilege, that’s what he pays me for.
But it hurts. More than I ever imagined it would.
Once we’re on the plane, he’s back on his phone, scrolling through documents, replying to emails, and I sit as far from him as possible without making it too obvious.
The euphoria I felt on the way out is gone. I can’t even muster a smile as the pilot greets us, and I’m asked if I want anything to drink. I choose ice water. I don’t want to owe him any more than I already do.
Halfway through the flight, I check my bank balance and want to cry when I see he has transferred 50k for this weekend alone. I have enough for at least six months of Annabelle’s treatment now. I should feel happy, but I don’t.
“Is it alright if I have a shower before we land?” I ask. I can’t be around him right now. I need some space. He barely glances up from his phone as he nods, and I practically run to the bedroom and slam it shut behind me.
The shower isn’t half as good when it’s just me under the spray and all I can remember is the last time I was in it with his cock ramming into me as I screamed with every thrust.
My body aches for him, and I come out of the shower as fast as I can.
I dry myself quickly, checking the time, knowing that we’ll be landing soon, and leave the bathroom.
I stop as I open the door.
Lucas is standing in the bedroom, waiting for me, his hands in his pockets, eyes like two blazing orbs of fury.
Without speaking, he walks over to me, yanks the towel from around my body, and pins me to the wall, slamming my wrists over my head. His eyes roam over my body as he licks my neck, biting my skin.
“Do I have permission to fuck your brains out?” he asks.
I’m already melting into him. One last time. “Yes.”
“I’m gonna fuck you so hard you won’t ever want another man inside you. Every cock you take after me will just remind you of how good you had it.”
This is his goodbye.
I’m trembling as he pulls me from the wall and bends me over the bed. I cry out as he stands behind me, leaning over me as he shoves two fingers into my mouth.
“Suck them,” he commands, and I do it, licking around his index finger until he grunts, wrenching them free and pushing them down between my legs and inside me in a blunt, angry thrust.
I can’t help but cry out, trying to muffle it in the sheets as he crooks his fingers, circling them, before I feel the blunt head of his cock against my entrance. I’m moaning uncontrollably like the slut I am for this man.
“You’ll take this,” he says, harsher than he’s ever sounded before. “You’ll take this and thank me for it while I make you scream.”
I grunt as he flips me over, gripping my ankles as he lines up his cock, looks me in the eye, and shoves his dick into me so hard I really do scream.
“Fuck.”
He pushes his hips against me, giving me barely any time to adjust as I grip the sheets beneath me. The lack of prep is driving me crazy, and when he lowers over me, pistoning his cock into my wet body, I can’t help but dig my nails into his back.
“You’re loud today,” he snarls as my body sucks him in. I can hear the wet slapping sounds of his dick inside me, and I moan. “Maybe I should ask the pilot if he’s free. Or the stewards. We can get them in here, and I can watch as they fill you up with their cum.”
“Oh fuck!” I shout as he laughs above me, the sound satisfied and possessive.
“Or maybe that’s what you wanted with Ambrose,” he says, his fingers gripping my hips so hard there will be bruises by morning.
“I saw him touching you at the gala. You wanted him to pound his cock into you, didn’t you?
Feel him fill you up and have me watch it drip out of you while you suck my dick. ”
I come so hard I see stars, and Lucas follows almost immediately, his body frozen above me, breathing heavily as he shudders.
The high I feel is like nothing else. That was rougher, harsher than any time we’ve ever had sex, and I loved every minute of it. I want him to fuck me until we land.
But he pulls free, flopping down beside me on the bed, breathing heavily, his beautiful tanned muscles rising and falling as he catches his breath.
The moment is so brief, I’m barely back to earth when he rises, stroking a hand lightly over my thigh before he frowns and walks into the bathroom, closing the door.
He doesn’t speak again for the rest of the flight.
Lucas orders Melvin to drive me home. I try to make him park up the street like he did before, but Lucas asks what number my house is, and I can’t help but tell him the truth.
I close my eyes as we pull up beside it, and to my utter mortification, I can hear shouting coming from inside. My mom and dad must be home, which either means one of them got fired, they’re drunk, or both of the above.
I glance at Melvin, who is staring through the windshield like he can’t hear the screaming match going on behind closed doors.
“This is where you live?” Lucas asks, and the derision in his voice makes nausea rise in my throat.
“Thank you for the ride,” I say to Melvin, unable to meet Lucas’s gaze. But as I open the door, a hand curls around my upper arm, and I have no choice but to look back at him.
“Do you need me to come in with you?” he asks, one hand already on the passenger door handle.
“No!” I say desperately, pulling away and shaking my head. “It’s fine. It’s just my mom; she’s had a bad day. It’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I get out of the car, looking imploringly at Melvin as I do so, relieved when, as soon as my door is closed, he pulls away.
I can’t see inside the back of the car, the windows are tinted, and I breathe a sigh of relief as the taillights disappear at the bottom of the road and turn away.
Standing there in my driveway, with my parents' voices echoing around the neighborhood, my suitcase caked in sand from the best vacation of my life, and the man I love disappearing into the night, I feel a sense of despair so acute I can hardly breathe.
Then, I look up at Annabelle’s window. The image brings me the hope I have been searching for. Lucas may be done with me, but one thing that I am certain of is that I can finally save my sister.
The elation and relief that eluded me on the plane when I saw the deposit from Lucas returns with a vengeance, and now the shouts of my parents don’t fill me with anger and shame anymore.
We are going to get away from them. I am going to save Annabelle. And all of this, no matter the pain it has caused me, will have been worth it.