Chapter 7 Sweet Sting
SWEET STING
SEVEN
Iset Aurora at the threshold of my door and push inside the dark space, feeling along the wall for the light switch.
It turns on the stained glass Tiffany lamp in the corner of the room that's worth more than some houses.
It casts red-and-amber-hued light over the dark surfaces of my room, glinting off my collection.
Aurora's hand in mine pulls, and I hear her intake of breath as she halts inside the door.
It takes me a few seconds to realize that even though she's been in here twice now, both times the lights were out and stayed that way.
Once last week, when she snuck in, crawled into bed with me, and rode me practically until fucking dawn.
And the other day when she fell asleep on the couch rewatching season four of Stranger Things and I carried her up with me.
Since there are no windows—because fuck being woken up by the sun—it's still pitch dark in the morning when we get up and stumble downstairs for coffee. She might've seen some of it, but not clearly enough to realize what she was looking at.
"What is all this?"
Aurora lets the door fall closed behind her as she runs her fingers over a Roman helmet complete with red plumage affixed to the wall, moving down the line to a horrific black mask carved into petrified wood, and then a framed coin older than most of civilization.
Each piece is near priceless, stolen from various collectors and museums.
Her steps falter as she comes to the next piece. It's new.
I hammered two long rail spikes into the beams to rest the metal bat atop. It may not have been anything special before, but now?
With her name carved into it and the blood of her abuser still staining the gouged lines, it's one of my favorites.
"Seven, you should get rid of this," she says, but by the way she's looking at it, I know she's glad I kept it, too.
I push my hands into my pockets and stand next to her to admire the work of art we made together.
"Nah." I shrug. "If someone comes looking, this bat may actually be the least of my worries."
She blinks, confused, until I jerk my chin to the rest of the wall. The ceiling. The surfaces of my dresser and the long table against the far wall.
Aurora spins in a slow circle, taking it all in.
The jawbones arranged in groups of four to look like morbid flowers and the teeth pegged into the empty space at their centers.
The ashtray forged of purest yellow gold.
The jewelry, rare books, sculptures, and instruments.
She stops to admire the woodwork in a Sugawara chair, and I smirk, recalling how fucking mad Atty was when I told him I wouldn't leave Paris without it.
"Eli calls it my cave of wonders." I lean a shoulder against the wall, watching her admire the spoils of my work.
She casts her gaze to the sweeping bolts of vicuna wool draped around the corners of the ceiling and the antique crystal chandelier that can only be lit with candles.
"Yeah," she decides. "It's like I walked into a treasure chest. A slightly morbid treasure chest."
I grin.
"Atticus must hate it."
I purse my lips. "He definitely doesn't like it."
Pushing off the wall, I let her continue to explore while I go to the tall dresser in the corner where I keep my shit from a past life, pulling out the metal box with my piercing equipment. I get out the things I'll need, setting them up in a neat line on the nightstand.
It's like muscle memory, and I remember how much peace I got from poking small holes in people when I was a teenager. Did I know then how much bigger those holes would become as I grew into my darkness?
I think maybe I already did, but I never tried to stop it.
When I'm finished setting up, I leave to use the en suite and quickly wash any remaining dirt from my hands and beneath my nails.
I'm drying them as I exit the bathroom to find Aurora already sitting on the edge of my bed, swinging her feet as she considers the tools on my nightstand with her lower lip caught between her teeth.
She perks up when she hears me coming back and turns to watch me with fixated attention as I set my phone in the speaker dock and hit play on my newest playlist. The one she and I have been adding songs to together.
Sleep Token's "Emergence" filters into the room, lending an eerie, haunting quality to the atmosphere as I settle onto my knees in front of Ro and grab the antiseptic, soaking some into a cotton pad.
She unzips the sweater and leans back on her palms, letting it fall open, revealing the delicate white gold necklace settled into the hollow of her throat, the sexy gap between her breasts, and the long, lean line of her stomach.
I take a minute to marvel at the sight of her on my bed. At her still red, still swollen pussy looking like a feast against my black satin sheets.
She grins at me knowingly, and I give her a cheeky look before dabbing and wiping at the area at the top of her navel. She sucks in a breath at the cold antiseptic, and I watch goosebumps erupt on her skin.
Is my baby a little nervous?
She doesn't need to be.
I'll take care of her.
When I'm done, I toss the pad into the trash and show her the two options I have.
"Traditional barbell." I hold up the simple stainless steel floating ball. "Or, something with a little more personality?"
Her eyes lock on the piece with the black diamond set into a white gold fixture on the bottom.
She grabs the traditional piece and throws it over her shoulder, swinging her feet excitedly.
"Good choice."
Her breathing turns shallow as I unscrew the top and set it down in favor of the forceps.
Her lips part as I bend over her, and hover with the forceps inches from her navel.
"It'll hurt," I warn. "But you can take it."
She lies on her back, her hands twisting in my messy sheets. "Do it."
"I'll be quick."
I have the clamp positioned, checked, and locked within seconds. Then comes the 14-gauge needle, expertly positioned a breath from her skin.
"Deep breath, Ro."
She inhales sharply as I slip the bit of sharpened steel through her skin, and she gasps at the sudden pain.
"Almost…"
I lock the top tip of the barbell to the base of the needle and thread it into the new piercing, deftly twisting the second bauble into place.
"There."
Her white-knuckled grip loosens as she pushes herself up on her elbows to look down.
Her face lights up when she sees it, despite the bit of blood.
"Does it look good?" she asks, her eyes bright as she shifts this way and that to try to look at it from different angles.
Fuck, could there be a woman more adorable than she is in this moment?
"It suits you."
"Yeah?"
"Definitely."
I clean my hands on the towel from the bathroom and then open my nightstand drawer to grab the small jar of honey I keep there. The antibacterial activity in the last batch of the season was off the charts.
"Is that safe?" Ro asks as I dip my pinkie finger into the honey and hold it over her belly button to let a fat droplet of gold fall, coating the fresh piercing.
"Do you think I'd do it if it weren't?" I lift my brow at her in challenge as the honey rolls over her belly button.
When I'm finished, I push my honey-coated digit into my mouth, sucking off the excess.
Aurora watches me through hooded eyes, her lips parting.
"You want a taste?"
She nods, and I pull her up to press my mouth to hers, delving my honey-coated tongue past the seam of her lips. She hums against my lips and then licks hers as I break the kiss.
"Thank you," she murmurs.
"Anytime, Ro."