35. Evelyn
For a long time, I felt like a huge pervert for even thinking about it, but I loved sucking on him.
Especially when he had just come, and I could take my time.
When he was working it was even better, because I could focus on licking and pleasing him in a slower way.
I pulled him into my mouth, closed my eyes, and suckled on him contentedly.
When he renovated the office, he placed a soft rug at his feet, pillows surrounding me, so I wouldn’t get uncomfortable.
My breathing was slow, my heart skipping into a more natural beat.
I found peace in this position, and it had nothing to do with submission for my husband’s pleasure.
I moaned as he shifted above me, clicking on his computer.
Sometimes I’d come into his office at night, when he was working late, and fall asleep with his cock in me.
I always had the best dreams on those nights.
My fingers traced along his bare legs, up along the star tattoos on his knees. He explained they meant he’d bow to no one, and that it was a symbol he was getting close to his goal.
“I gotta make a call,” Laszlo said, bringing a hand down to pet my hair. “Are you okay there?”
I nodded, my tongue lazily skirting his helm, gathering any lingering remnants of our juices from him. He let out a shuddering moan, then made his call.
“Scorpion?” That name was familiar to me. He’d spoken to him a few times, but we’d never met. I got the sense that he was someone Laszlo knew from before the Bratva took over his life.
“Eight kids?” There was a pause, but I couldn’t hear what Scorpion said in response.
My eyes flicked up at Laszlo, and I saw the storm cloud descend. I let him go from my lips, arching a brow at him, but he put his thumb back where his cock had been, and I sucked on that instead.
“And you sure it’s him?”
Laszlo wasn’t prone to anger. His was meticulous and controlled, one planned for, employed strategically. So when he threw his phone, and it smashed on the wall, I yelped.
“Sorry, sorry,” he murmured, stroking my cheek, his rage chased away by the sight of me, shocked, kneeling naked between his legs.
“It’s happening, isn’t it? What we’ve been waiting for?” I asked.
“Yea… this is it, Lyn. We have two weeks. Maybe a month.”
“I’m ready. Everything’s prepared.”
Autumn in Arkham was my favourite time of year. The leaves were crisp, the humidity faded, and the holidays were on the horizon. That also meant it was great for business.
“Annette, no, I got your package, but I asked for red diamonds, and you sent Burmese rubies. No, they don’t look similar, Annette, not for someone in your position.” The bell at the front of the store chimed, and I gestured to my best sales woman, Stephanie, to greet the customer.
“This isn’t acceptable. I’m shipping half a million through you per month, but I have other suppliers. If you can’t handle this…” I said, my words chased away with the appearance of Laszlo in my workshop door.
I held up a finger, and he leaned patiently in the doorframe.
“No, I’ll keep the rubies, but you’ll send me a fresh invoice with a twenty per cent discount. I don’t know, Annette, figure it out,” I said, ending the call and then rushing into my husband’s arms.
“Supplier trouble?” he asked as he entered my office, shutting the door behind him to give us privacy.
“Her father used to handle it. Now he’s in hospice, and I’m trying to be patient, but it’s a bad time for us to not get those red diamonds. Now I’m going to have to figure out another way for us to invest that money on short notice…” I trailed off, and he kissed my forehead.
“You’ll figure it out.” From behind his back, he produced a Chai Latte from across the street.
I graciously accepted, and he sat on the edge of my desk. He often popped in to visit me in my jewellery store on West Street, near the hospital and university. Silver Belle’s added legitimacy to our ludicrous income while I practiced my art.
It was the dream I’d confessed to him and he was eager to make it come true. Even if I wasn’t selling my jewellery yet. We would have to disappear soon, so I couldn’t start making a name for myself in the industry.
But working more on the supplier side and showcasing local artists was a great experience. Besides, the life he was going to provide me in Idaho included a storefront, and he wouldn’t let my life in Arkham be any less of a fantasy, even if it was temporary.
He stared at me as I drank, and my heart fluttered, just like it did when we first met, albeit for a different reason.
“What?” I asked over the lip of my coffee cup.
“You are amazing, Lyn,” he said, letting out a low, throaty growl of approval, and my body clenched with instinctual desire. His compliments never failed to stir me.
“What did I do?”
“Seeing how you handled that, how firm and confident you are now.” He came around my desk, cupping my cheek, and when he smiled, his dimples appeared.
I was the only one who got that smile, and I treasured it.
“You’re like a refined gem.” The tip of the snake ring I’d crafted him when I first got my studio was cool against my skin, and he teasingly dragged it along my jawline.
Pride swelled in me, and now, it wasn’t followed by the chiding voice of the cult, warning me against sin. It had taken a lot of therapy to get to that point, but it was working.
“If I’m the refined gem, you’re the stone that polished me,” I said.
He kept stroking my cheek, but there was something in the edges of his eyes. A wince, something almost imperceptible, but an expression I’d become intimate with since being with him.
“You didn’t come here to give me coffee, did you?” I frowned.
“No.” He didn’t drag out the upsetting news. “It’s about Caleb. He’s tried to reach out to you.”
My biological father. I refused to think of him as a religious figure anymore, but still, I slumped down in my chair. A few hours ago, I’d gotten out of a therapy session where I talked about how I wanted to be rid of my past and free for them.
But it hurt that they let me go.
Laszlo knelt at my side, his hand in my long hair.
“Hey, stay with me.” His voice pierced time, seeking me out as I receded back, but I was sinking. My body shrank, panic rising in my chest, setting it to pounding, blood rushing between my ears.
I was lost to the confusing web of my emotions until I tasted the pad of Laszlo’s thumb against my tongue.
Instinctively, I licked it. Tasted him. It coaxed me gently into the present, and I became aware of his voice, a soft Russian lullaby.
He’d sang it to his sister as a child, and now, he sung it to me when I needed comfort.
My eyes fluttered as they released some hot tears. It was ridiculous. This pain. I escaped the cult. Why did it carve me up inside, the reminder that they didn’t love me?
“It’s okay, Lyn,” Laszlo murmured, pressing his lips to my temple. “I’m here. Stay with me.” He held me, showing me endless patience as my breathing returned to normal, and my tears dried on my cheeks.
“Pathetic,” I cursed, swiping at my cheek, and he kissed my face all over.
“Hey. Hey, no. You’re anything but pathetic. Lyn, for better or, in our case, for worse, there’s always a connection with those who raised us. When they hurt us, it warps the bond, but it doesn’t sever it. You’re not weak for loving them. Wanting their approval.”
Laszlo read my mind, and my chest heaved. He stroked my cheek affectionately, his forehead pressed against mine. “Lyn, I’m sorry your family hurt you, but it’s not your fault.” My panic slowed, my hiccupping whimpers quieting. “Back with me?”
My nod was feeble, my words sullen. “I just wish I knew why no one could love me.”
“I love you.”
The words rushed out of him, taking me off kilter. We had been together for over a year, and he’d never said that before. I knew what I was getting into when I married a man incapable of love, but his sincerity couldn’t be faked.
My jaw dropped, and I met his gaze. He had a flush to his cheeks, and his eyes were wide with surprise, but he was smiling.
“I’m sorry, Lyn. I’ve been such an idiot.
All this time… I’ve been waiting all this time for something to change in me, and then I’d know.
But nothing changed, because I’ve loved you all along.
From the first second I saw you, staring down at me as I was trying to place a car bomb, my heart was yours.
My soul has been waiting for you before I even knew you existed. ”
I was crying again, but this time it was with joy. “Laszlo… I love you, too!”
“I’m sorry I ever made you believe you were impossible to love when loving you was the most natural thing in the world.”
He scooped me into his arms, holding me as he brought his full lips to mine. I glanced towards the sofa, a brow raised to him in invitation, when there was a knock at the door. I urgently swiped away my tears.
“Just a second,” I called out, pouting up at Laszlo as he set me back down on the floor. “Sorry, I wish we could celebrate. This weekend we’ll go to that sushi restaurant that opened last week?”
“Only if you wear that peach lingerie again.”
“You ripped the panties last time.”
“Even better,” he smirked. “I’ll let you get back to work. See you after your date with Roxy.” He opened the door for Stephanie, who had a tablet in hand.
She looked between us. “Sorry, am I interrupting?”
“No, it’s fine, come on in,” I said.
Laszlo slipped out, across the hall, into the office Aleksei and Ilya worked from. His voice was too low to hear, serious. My gut told me there was something else wrong. It wasn’t just Caleb.
But my husband loved me.
Nothing else mattered.