Chapter 23 - Arrow
TWENTY-THREE
ARROW
I’m so fuckin’ lost. It’s becoming clear to me that with every day that passes, my perspective skews a bit more.
The methods by which the Collective achieves their goals hasn’t sat right for quite some time, but now?
Their recent treatment of Delilah has thrown my world into unending turmoil. I ache to break free of this place.
Swallowing hard, I blink into the dark as one disturbing thought after another tumbles through my head.
I’ve been in denial for a very long time.
I’m enraged and disgusted with the Collective, but also with myself for being so complacent and willing to simply let things happen right before my eyes for so long.
I sink to my knees at Delilah’s bedside and lower my head, clutching it with both hands. Guilt over what I couldn’t stop from happening to her pounds inside my head and threatens to crack my skull from the inside out.
How could I have thought it was okay to blindly follow the way I have all this time? A ragged exhale tears from my chest as I seek out the plump swell of her cheek and watch the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she slumbers. “Forgive me, Delilah,” I rasp into the dark. “Forgive me.”
How many nights will go by with her completely unaware of my visits? I’ve never been able to help myself when it comes to my siren. Am I scared I’ll be caught? Yes. I am, but I’m also irreversibly bound to her. I think I have been since that very first sucker punch.
There’s only one thing that quiets the chaos within me, and that’s being with her.
Just like this. Heat rushes through my veins as I reach out to feel her curves under my hands, and my cock stiffens in anticipation.
Peeling back the blanket, I take a quick second to unfasten my pants and lower them, allowing my erection to spring free.
I grip it with a firm hand, releasing a quiet groan as I give in and shuttle my fist from root to tip.
I ache to be one with Delilah again, and my dick twitches violently as if to ask What the fuck are you waiting for?
When my ears begin to buzz and the rough touch of my own hand is no longer enough, I reach behind me and haul my shirt off, then kick free of my pants. There’s a wild thumping in my chest as I crawl onto the mattress behind her and pull the blanket over us.
Fuck, she’s perfect. So perfectly mine. I bury my nose in her hair and inhale deeply, stemming the groan that almost erupts from my throat.
My chest jerks as hands unerringly find the hem of her gown and bare the lower half of Delilah’s body to my touch.
I like her like this. She’s soft and sleepy, and I don’t have to worry so much about what she’s thinking.
I squeeze my eyes shut, wincing. Would she want this?
Uncertainty rains down on me, my head a mess, the overwhelming drive to claim her body with mine close to crippling.
I’m one part heady lust, one part undeniable need. She’s under my skin now; I’m hers to own. Pressing my lips to her temple, I run my hand across the lush curve of her hip, then over her backside before letting my fingers wander along her blood-infused, swollen sex.
The more I explore, the wetter she becomes until the scent of her fills the air. It wraps around me, dragging me further into the wild with her.
I can’t wait any longer. Gritting my teeth, I nudge my cock between her legs.
Her body has readied itself for me without even being aware.
It knows me by now. I guide the head of my weeping, straining cock to her opening, and brush it back and forth along the slit.
Panting, I push just inside her and still, my thoughts twisting angrily, yet helplessly.
Her back arches, body seeking out our connection.
Without having to do a thing, my cock slips farther inside her tight, wet heat.
The feel of her muscles clenching around me has a soft groan rumbling up from my chest, and I drop my forehead to her shoulder, doing everything in my power to control the erratic way my lungs want to process oxygen.
A ragged exhale jerks from my lips as she whimpers in her sleep, and I tug her body more tightly to mine.
Tilting my hips, I slowly bury myself deeper.
I could stay just like this forever. My eyelids flutter closed as I breathe in her soft scent.
With her warm and safe in my arms, I relax for the first time in ages.
I don’t know how many minutes have passed in silent bliss when a startled cry tears from her lips, and her body goes rigid.
Fear races through me as I tense for her reaction.
Cautiously, I press my lips to her shoulder and whisper, “It’s me, siren.
Please—” Don’t scream, I finish where only I can hear it: inside my fucked-up head.
It takes several long seconds before she finally whispers, “You’re … inside me.” Her voice is sleep drunk but curious and maybe even pleasantly surprised. Not what I was expecting.
Fuck, am I imagining that because I want it to be true?
Swallowing, I rasp unsteadily, “I know. Is that okay?” And then before she has a chance to deny me, I hurriedly finish, “I-I needed you, Delilah.” After everything, how will she ever understand this?
Me? Shifting, suddenly it seems as though my entire life hangs in the balance as I wait for her to shut me out.
A funny sound leaves her lips, that almost sounds like a laugh.
My brows slowly furrow when she doesn’t pull away, doesn’t struggle at all.
Instead I’m left to hope against hope that I’m reading her correctly and she’s not about to scream the walls down around us.
Drawing in a breath, she murmurs thickly, “This shouldn’t feel right. ”
Her muscles contract around me, and I bite down on my lip, waiting with bated breath for whatever else she might say, all while my cock twitches with excitement at what I think I understand her to mean. Does this, us, somehow feel right to her?
“I feel safe when you’re here.”
At her softly spoken words, something inside me bursts wide open in triumph. “I would do anything to keep you from harm.” My inhale is ragged as I slowly withdraw my cock, then push back inside her. “I know I’ve done a shit job of it lately, but I’m trying—we’re trying.”
She exhales breathily, nodding. And then she’s twisting in my arms until she can nip at my chin, my jaw. “I hear you. And I get that these last couple days have been more than maybe … any of us knew how to deal with.”
Any of us. I turn that over in my head, and interestingly, it doesn’t seem odd to me. I squeeze her a little tighter.
Her chest expands on an inhale, but she nestles herself against me. “It’s been a real shit show around here.”
Shit show. I frown into her eyes at the oddity of the term, but pondering it silently, I realize it’s an apt description—a show of shit. “Yeah. everything’s been bad,” I mumble, eyes zeroing in on her lips.
I don’t have any idea if she realizes that her muscles keep clamping down on my cock, but it feels better than anything I’ve ever known.
The pull I feel toward her intensifies. I want to claim.
Devour. And suddenly, I crush my mouth to hers.
My heart stutters at the contact, unleashing a torrent of feeling within me. It’s not enough, I need something more.
Delilah shifts, slipping her leg over my hip and turning so that she can nearly face me, grasps hold of my neck and tugs me closer.
I groan at the change of position and involuntarily thrust deeper inside her, and those plush lips of hers part under mine.
A jolt of surprise shoots through me when her tongue touches my lip.
Our gazes lock, and as we stare into the depths of each other’s eyes, she hesitantly licks, almost as if she’s gauging my reaction. My heart races and races.
“Arrow? Have you never kissed anyone before?”
I blink hard, then reconnect our gazes. As a little boy, I may have kissed my mother’s cheek, and she kissed mine.
But other than that … I give a slight shake of my head.
My mother. I stiffen, my mind warring between wanting to remain in this moment with Delilah and crashing headlong into memories I’d rather tear from my soul.
“Hey.” Delilah’s hands cup my face as she steers my gaze back to hers. “Stay with me.”
My body shudders but I groan, nodding, then tentatively mimic her actions.
At the noise of satisfaction she makes, I grow bolder, licking along her lip.
Then farther. When I find her soft tongue and it moves against mine, a wave of desire nearly crushes me into oblivion.
I tug her closer, desperate for more of the way this is making me feel.
She whimpers into my mouth as I grow more ravenous with every thrust of my tongue. “I want you on top of me,” she mumbles against my lips, and I can’t do anything but comply. I roll on the tiny bunk, tucking her beneath my body, bracing myself on my arms.
A sudden desire to see what I’m doing roars through me, and I rear up onto my knees, and take my cock in hand.
It’s already slick with her, but much like I do when I’m pleasuring myself in the secret of the bathroom stall, I let spit drip from my mouth.
It lands on my dick, and I stroke myself.
She stares up at me, chest heaving as she lets her legs fall open.
My eyes lock on her, and I burn with need, the blood in my veins becoming a liquid inferno as I stare down at her sex.
“Do you still need me?” she says quietly. At my nod, her lips gently curve. “Then touch me. Make me understand this thing between us.”
I blink rapidly, unsure of myself. But in the next second, she takes my hand in hers and presses the pads of my fingers to her. The low moan that pressure elicits digs its way into my head, setting it to spinning. She guides my hand, writhing against it.
“That feels … good?” I ask, ashamed by the confusion in my voice.
Eyes wide, I stare down at the frantic way her body has begun to move.
Her breath is quick and choppy, and there’s this dazed look in her stare.
When I take a moment to really study her, it’s almost as if she’s searching for something so elusive she’s afraid she won’t find it.
Her body mindlessly chases whatever it is.
Watching her, my cock grows harder. Insistent.
“Don’t stop,” she gasps, “but I need you filling me, too.”
I exhale hard at the request but, thrown into motion by the desperation in her voice, notch my weeping erection at her entrance, continuing to rub her with my fingers like she’s shown me. And then she’s tugging on me, back arching as she accepts my cock inside her body.
Heat slams through me and, unable to stop myself, I drive forward. I’m an animal, rutting, groaning, taking what I need, and she’s doing the same, panting and clawing at me to bring me down on top of her.
She’s slick and warm and inviting, and her pelvis grinds against my fingers.
The gasps falling from her lips are practically my undoing.
“Oh my fuck.” The words shoot from her, untethered and raw.
“I’m—” Her chest heaves, and my mind scrambles at seeing the look of rapture in her eyes as they glaze over.
And in the next breath, she throws her head back, her tight little cunt squeezing the fuck out of my cock.
Not just once, but over and over again. The best part is she’s not in control of it.
She falls apart in my arms, and I fucking love knowing she’s shaking like this just for me.
This woman robs me of all breath. Turns me inside out.
Alters my brain’s chemistry. My balls tighten, tension building.
Blood roars through my head, and I’m hardly able to think as instinct takes over.
I rear up, grasp perfectly curved hips, and thrust as deep as I can get.
My cock erupts, my seed spurting into her waiting body.
“Delilah.” Her name is a vow, my heart hers for the taking.