Chapter 51
51
I ’ve got two corpses hanging side by side, making quite the pretty pair dangling from their respective meat hooks. Bodies missing teeth and fingers and chunks of flesh, as they swing like silent flags, awaiting their disposal.
They deserved every second of writhing anguish for what they were responsible for.
A couple of sick fucking maggots who have been trying to buy children from smackheads around Port Macabre, in an attempt to sell them to traffickers and abusers. Both deserved their gruesome end for what they’ve done, and with their last breath, one more piece to the empire built by Andreas Noire has been dismantled.
It’s a piece of piss to make men like this disappear. Happens every day in the underbelly of society they scuttle around. Gambling debts and addictions, and god-awful decisions made by even more foul people, those are the calling cards of the bodies who end up sent to our pig farms to be disposed of.
An unforgiving end, the kind that my brother met when his own fucking stupidity left him chopped into pieces and dumped on my father’s doorstep in black plastic bin liners .
There’s no dignity in death for those who choose to reside amidst the sewerage of humanity.
As I finish cleaning off my hands, my girl arrives, gifting me an unexpected visit here in my basement, where the air remains ripe and full of a coppery tang. The all too familiar smell following a day’s work in my world.
Though her arrival might be a pleasant surprise, that chalk-white, shaky appearance is anything but. It only takes one glance, one second of assessing her, to know there’s a grim possibility I’ll have another body to dispose of very shortly.
No one survives if they’re found responsible for Poe’s trembling fear. That goes without question.
“Tell me who I’m hunting down.” My arms band around her, wrapping her soft little body against my chest before she’s barely set foot inside the room.
Poe quivers with whatever unknown shock has taken hold in the short space of time between when we were texting only moments before, and this sight leaves my teeth and chest clenched tight.
“I swear to god, if anyone has touched you, their hands will be mine before they’ve taken another breath.” Cupping her jaw, I stoop to look straight into her eyes, demanding to see directly into my girl’s soul because she needs to know how fucking serious I am about protecting her.
“ Vitto .” Her lower lip wobbles, and the name I’ll gladly set the world on fire to erase from existence drops between us with a sickening thud.
“Wait here. Do not leave this room and lock that goddamn door.” My teeth grind so hard that there’s every chance one of my molars will shatter. With my knife in one hand, I’ve hardly taken a step when Poe clings to my forearm, halting my murderous rampage from commencing.
I’ve imagined countless ways to slice that motherfucker open from asshole to apex, and today seems like the perfect goddamn day to watch that foul prick twitch on the end of my blade.
“No, Grey, don’t go.” She clings to me, holding me back from racing out there to fuck Vitto up. “Don’t leave me. I need you.” Poe’s voice croaks.
“Let me handle him. You’re safe here.” My thumb brushes the apple of her cheek, and I’m damn near vibrating with rage.
“I need—I need you to be here with me. I need you to take this feeling away from me.” My girl pleads with the deep brown depths of her eyes, and I’m entirely unprepared for how much it affects me to hear that particular tone in her voice.
The urgency to race out of here dissolves in a heartbeat, and I can honestly say I’ve never once felt such a compulsive need to take care of someone. To give anything to help ease whatever weight they might be carrying.
“What do you need, love?” I let my eyes flicker across her expression, trying to take in all the tiny fragments of emotion and unexplained terror hidden there.
“Get me out of my head. I can’t be in my mind right now.”
“Tell me exactly.” Fuck. I don’t want to do the wrong thing or make a mess of this. She’s already shaken up badly, and if I were a better man like Angel, I’d know exactly how to sweetly tend to her. If I were the Dom like Hawke, I’d know exactly how to control her emotional state and take away whatever is plaguing her.
All I have to offer is a basement of blood and terror and a heart full of scar tissue.
“I don’t care what you do… jab that knife into my leg… whatever you need to do, just do it.” With brows drawn together, her breathing shallows, and Poe grabs my arm to try and guide my knife in her direction.
“I’m not fucking stabbing you,” I growl, and my mind races as that pointed tip glides over her femoral artery. “But since you want my knife so badly, I’ll let you have it another way, little flower.”
Poe’s eyes flicker away from the blade of my knife to meet mine. She looks somehow relieved, like there’s a flood of sensation already taking the place of whatever hurt was there a moment ago. I’ll gladly chase all her fucking demons away, hunt them down and destroy them. All this girl has to do is ask.
“Hands on the wall.” Dipping my head down, I let my instruction brush across the side of her neck, and as I utter that command, there’s a visible shiver flowing down her figure. “Legs spread nice and wide.”
My girl either doesn’t notice the dead bodies as she dutifully does as I ask, or if she does, she simply doesn’t care. Something swells inside my chest at her resilience in the face of my bleak existence. Like she sees past all of the worst parts of me, the man I am day in and day out for the Anguis, and yet here Poe is seeking me out to help her with this.
I know for a fact she was supposed to be with Hawke right now. However, that shit will have to be resolved later because I’m certainly not in the mood to deny this moment. I’m certainly not going to deny her needs.
Covering her back with my torso, I tut at her ear and use my boot to kick her ankles much wider. “If you want this, you know what to do, love. But if you’ve changed your mind and you want to run along to Calliano, then now’s the time to make your choice.”
Poe tilts her chin slightly to cast her eyes over one shoulder. “I want you, Grey. I trust you with this.” It’s a quiet admission, but hearing those words is the final unshackling of the creature I’ve kept contained until now.
“Are you willing to bleed for me? Are you my willing little sacrifice coming to let my blade taste your blood when you’ve denied me for so long?”
As I let her shudder and drift—strung along by the filth that I can’t help but allow to spill forward—I ruck up the soft fabric of the dress she’s wearing.
“I remember exactly how perfect this ass looked after my knife finished tracing pretty little lines in your flesh. I think a slut like you enjoyed that a little too much, didn’t you?”
Poe’s fingers curl against the wall, and the way she pushes back against me says everything.
“Oh, yes. You’ve been thinking about it, too. Look at you chasing after that scrape against your skin.”
“Please, Grey.” She pants, and I use the tip of my knife to hook the fragile lace covering her ass. When the sharpened point digs in slightly against soft flesh, I feel her tense beneath me, but not in fear. No, my girl knows what she wants. With Hawke, it was his hand spanking her. With me, it’s that sting and welting of raised flesh just before the surface breaks. The high and the adrenaline rush that comes from that fragment of pain searing through her veins.
It takes almost nothing to carve up the fabric, with that razor-sharp edge slicing cleanly through until I’ve exposed exactly what I want. As Poe feels the cool air of my workshop hit her newly revealed stretch of bare skin, she sucks in a breath but arches the curve of her spine in an invitation for more.
Looks like my girl is equally at home in this place as I am, and fuck if that isn’t the hottest goddamn thing.
“You want my blade? Then earn the right to have it, love. Show me just how soaked that pussy is when you’re being a perfect little whore for me.” Flipping the knife around, I glide the blunt end of the handle between the apex of her thighs, tracing the delicate skin along the edge of her pussy lips, letting her tremble for me with anticipation. Allowing her the unfamiliar feel of polished metal and the ridge of the handle sliding along that sensitive, exposed flesh.
“Oh god. Oh fuck.” Poe whines as I press toward her cunt, and use the end of the handle to swipe up the slickness gathering at her entrance.
“That’s it. Swallow my blade, show me exactly how desperate this pussy is to please me.” I push the handle inside, slowly and methodically shoving deeper until my knuckles braced around the top of the handle almost fit inside her soaked channel. “Listen to yourself. A slutty little flower who can’t keep quiet. My perfect whore to ride my dick and my knife whenever I want.”
I keep slowly pushing in and out as Poe starts to tremble more and more with her palms braced flat against the wall. “Which do you prefer, I wonder? The stretch of my cock, or the thrill of knowing I could cut you open if I wanted to? I could make you spill an ocean of blood for me and have your pussy spasming and squeezing tight at the same time.”
My girl begins whimpering louder, and the slickness keeps on coating my hand as I carefully maintain my tight grip. I don’t actually want to cut her at this particular moment, but the thought of finding a special spot where I might be able to give her the kind of lasting memento of us is a thought that beckons wickedly.
“Goddamn, little flower. You’re soaking my knife and my entire hand. Are you full of cum? Who did you have filling you up this morning?”
I’m treated to a loud moan, the kind that tells me just how much that turns Poe on, but also tells me that she wants to play games.
“Let me guess.” I shove the handle deep, and there’s a filthy sound of wetness accompanying each glide in and out of her entrance until she gasps and writhes with pleasure. “Angel had his giant fucking dick rubbing you with those piercings until you lost your mind? Was it him?”
“Y—Yes.” She stammers and angles her hips so I can go even deeper on the next thrust forward.
“What position did he have you in, hmm ? Did he fuck you nice and slow in missionary so he could eat your soul alive when you came all over his cock while staring into his eyes?”
I’m picturing everything as I keep fucking in and out of her. With each moment I withdraw and then push inside her again, my hand gets wetter and wetter. I’m as careful as possible to keep my grip rock steady.
“Or was it Hawke? Did he have you from behind, and own you so deeply you forgot how to breathe?”
She whines and trembles. Completely out of her head as the blunt object keeps pressing in and out of her slickness.
“Or was it both?”
“Both.” She gasps and moans at the same time.
“ Fffuuuck. Little flower…” This time, I draw the handle right out to the very tip, and just as I’m preparing to push back inside her, just as I’m leaning back to enjoy the sight of my thumb and forefinger grasping the hilt of the blade, I see it.
Blood.
Bright crimson coats my hand, and I immediately pull away from between her thighs with a hiss.
“Grey, please. Please. ” Poe whimpers and tries to chase my hand.
“You’re bleeding,” I say thickly.
The evidence, painted in a sticky sheen of rouge all over the handle of my blade and my knuckles, leaves me staring for a moment. I’m trying to figure it out. It’s not on the sharpened point, not present on the flat end where I’m so used to seeing the smeared coating to indicate where the stainless steel has sunk into flesh. I’ve been careful not to nick her thigh, and as the crimson glistens before my eyes, realization dawns.
“I’m what?” My girl sounds a little dreamy and confused.
“Oh, fuck yes.” The feral growl bursts out of me. “You’re bleeding, love. ”
With a clatter, I allow the slickened blade to fall to the floor, and my fingers work to free my throbbing dick.
“No. I can’t be.” Poe tries to turn around, but I crowd her to stay in the exact position I want.
“You are… and not only am I getting the sweet scent of your blood to paint my cock, but I’m getting their sloppy seconds.”
“Grey. What are you—” Her protest dissolves into a moan as I grab her hips and shove inside, easily. Her pussy is so hot and slick it’s fucking incredible, welcoming me in on a plush glide to fill her completely.
“Jesus. Fuck.” I have to squeeze my eyes shut with how her walls ripple around my length, seated all the way inside her channel. And I hold there, impaling her as I swell and let her inner walls adjust to wrap me perfectly. “You haven’t bled since you’ve been here. Now I get to taste you properly, my slutty little flower.” As I keep hold of her hip with one hand, I bring the other coated in the streaks of redness to my lips. Sucking down on the coppery tang of her, it’s a heady rush of knowing that the taste bursting across my tongue is not only my girl but Angel and Hawke, too, from earlier on.
“You can’t—You can’t want to do this.” Poe claws at the wall, and her head hangs down, allowing the curve of her spine to give me access to precisely what she’s telling me I don’t desire. This girl might be trying to find excuses between her sultry, porny little noises of pleasure, but there’s no denying that she’s positioned herself at the exact angle to let me pound into her.
“You know what I want? I wanna watch them fuck you, I wanna watch both of them sink inside this pussy, and I don’t care when or where or what goddamn time of the month it is. Then I want to slip inside that tight little channel and feel all that slickness and know that I’m the only one who you get to be a risky little slut with. ”
“I need another shot. If I’m bleeding… I usually don't when I’m still on it…” She whimpers and squeezes my length like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
“First, you’re gonna stay right here bent over, and let me fill you up because I know that’s what gets you off. I know that your sweet little cunt milks my cock hardest when I’m buried inside you and feeding you my cum.” My hips shift against her ass over and over in a punishing rhythm.
“Oh my god. Grey. Stop. Oh fuck.” Her pussy starts spasming, and I know my girl is nearly where she needs to be. The words coming out of her aren’t meaning stop at all, because she’s gripping me like a fist.
Not to mention, this girl has a safe word, and she’s well aware that all it takes is to use it.
“You gonna let me fuck another man’s cum into you? Is that what gets you off, my needy girl?” Reaching around, I let my fingers find her swollen, slippery clit, and start to work her in the exact circles I know Poe needs.
“ Fuckohfuck .”
“I know your secrets. I know how much you secretly love the idea that I’m inside this pretty pussy raw when I haven’t had it taken care of like they have.”
My girl trembles, more whines escaping each time I slam as deep as fucking possible. The slickness of her, between the blood and slippery reminders of who else has already unloaded inside her, sends me out of my head.
With my mouth pressed to her ear, I give her the words I know will get her there, even if my girl refuses to admit it’s what spins her over the edge and makes her lose it while my cock is inside her.
“You gonna let me breed you and leave you with blood and cum running down these sweet thighs?”
Poe falls apart on a beautiful long moan, shaking and clamping down around me as her climax completely takes over, and holy fuck, I’m coming harder than I think I ever have before. My hips punch forward against hers with a jerk, and my dick swells, pulses, and fills her channel as my balls empty and give her everything she wants.
I’ll always give my girl anything she wants.
There’s a swirl of something bright and blazing hot inside my chest as I grip the curve of her hip so fucking tight, sealing us together, that I’m probably going to leave bruises in the shape of my fingerprints all over that delicate skin.
I’m not even sure I can see straight as we’re both panting frantic breaths, and I’m damn near crushing her against the wall.
Swallowing thickly, my lips trace hot, wet lines up and down the side of her neck as we both come down from the intensity of how incredible that just was.
“Christ… let me play with you and that kink of yours all day, every day, love.” My voice is hoarse as I kiss her neck and try to show Poe just how special she fucking is. It’s so much more than sex, and I don’t even know how to begin to explain any of that, so all I’m stuck with is being whatever my girl needs, even if it’s just a physical way to escape the nightmares haunting her.
“Grey,” she whispers. Letting those words hang unspoken in the air thick with the scent of blood and arousal and sex.
“I’ll sort it out with Doc, don’t worry,” I murmur, tilting her mouth to mine so that I can kiss her properly, and to my relief, Poe lets our tongues glide together in a way that tells me she’s with me in this. Whatever this unspoken thing is between us.
“Thank you,” she whispers against my lips, and it’s so soft, so layered with the emotion of it all. Her fear from when she first walked in, to the worry about her body. I inhale all of it, hoping she understands as I gently kiss her just how much I want to make sure she’s taken care of .
Poe lets me look after her, and I fetch a damp cloth to help clean her up. She’s still floating around and simply bites her bottom lip when she notices me tucking myself away without any effort to get rid of the blood smeared all over my dick.
Yeah, she gets the best possible position to take in the truth, that I want to hold onto a reminder of this for the rest of the day. And it’s only when I crouch down in front of her that those dark eyes go wide.
“No. You seriously cannot do that .” She points to the tampon I’ve got in my hand and tries to take it from me.
“Sorry, little flower. You’re in my workshop. This is my realm, and we do things my way… especially when you’ve bled so beautifully for me.” I give her a stern look from my position on my knees.
“I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“Good.”
My girl stares at me open-mouthed as I hook her knee and slowly insert it for her, and I swear to god she doesn’t inhale or exhale the entire time.
“Take a breath for me, love. I don’t personally have an interest in asphyxiation… those other needs I can help you with, but I’d rather not have you passing out on me.” I place a kiss on her inner thigh before sitting on my heels and guiding the soft jersey fabric of her dress back into place.
Her touch runs over my hair, and I snatch up one of her hands, placing a kiss against the middle of her palm while staring up at her. My Goddess, with doe eyes and flushed cheeks, stares down at me, looking like my entire future; if only I could figure out a goddamn way to safeguard it from the terrors that want to rip all of that goodness apart.
“Why do you have tampons?”
That makes me chuckle, and I quickly let my lips run over the inside of her wrist. “They come in useful in my line of work, you know… especially when it comes to plugging up wounds.”
“I can’t believe you just did that.”
“The words you’re looking for are, thank you, Grey. I’m obsessed with your dick.”
“God, you are…”
“Yes. I am. Whatever impressive descriptions you were about to hit me with, I’m all of those, and more.” My lips quirk watching on as she shakes her head and rolls those pillowy lips together.
“I—I’m serious. Thank you.”
She’s not talking about the sex, and even though it was part of it, I know what she means, except I don’t know how to express it either. There’s no roadmap for me in this territory. I’m fumbling along blindly and clinging to the only way I know how to do things.
“We’ll get Doc here for you tomorrow, ok. I promise.”
“Ok.” She breathes a little shakily, but looks relieved all the same.
“And you’re going to tell me what happened. Then I’m going to kill the motherfucker. Got it?”
She gapes at me. “I don’t want you getting hurt. We’ll figure something else out.” Her voice is so soft, so tender, it drifts straight through my ribs with a force that leaves me damn near swaying.
“Poe…” My throat bobs as I stand up and reach out to drag her into my chest. Right now, I don’t know if I can get any words out properly. If she’s looking at me with eyes that I’m liable to fall headfirst into the depths of, I’ll never stand a chance of getting out what I need to say. “Hawke and Angel, they can handle themselves. I don’t have to think twice about them. Yet, I know I could give you the knife, and you’d hold your own, no question.”
My girl quietly allows me to speak against her hair as her fingers flex against my chest, letting me know she’s listening .
My words are a pale attempt at what I truly mean, but are the best my scarred and fucked up heart can manage.
“Even though I know that… I need you to know that I want to protect you. No matter what.”