Chapter 24
Ihadn’t slapped him, but instead had thrown a punch at him. I wasn’t sure who was more shocked by my actions, but I quickly recovered. As I watched him rub his cheek, sense finally returned. I slowly backed up as he advanced toward me.
Anger flared in his eyes, and a kind I’d never seen from him before. Did it bother me that it was directed at me? Yes, but I was pissed off, too. This man had single-handedly ruined my entire life, and one I’d worked so hard to build over the years.
If it hadn’t been for him and his fucking uncles, I might’ve had some hope for my future. Now, if I didn’t get away from him, it would only end with me being handed off to a madman, who was likely even more deranged than Zarren, and forced to marry him and provide children.
I turned and fled to my bedroom, then slammed the door shut behind me. I heard a loud thud, and while I might’ve even smiled over him literally running into it, I had no time for that. The door flung open with such force that I wouldn’t be surprised if he had torn it off its hinges altogether.
“Aurora,” he roared out from behind me, and something inside my chest twisted over his use of my actual name instead of the endearment he always used.
I knocked everything in my way down to try to slow him as I escaped back into the hallway smashing into the table with the lamp and large sculptures.
They all fell in a trail behind me as I quickly rushed to the top of the staircase.
Wasting no time, I began to run down them, then yelped the moment my foot gave out underneath me, and I nearly slipped.
Had it not been for the wrought iron rail... My mind temporarily flashed back to the first time he’d fucked me, but I couldn’t concern myself with that. Needing no added distractions, I quickly wiped my mind free until it was devoid of any and all memories and righted myself.
Heavy footsteps came closer, and the loud thud of them as he raced down the stairs after me caused me to propel forward.
I cleared the last step, then tried to knock a few things over to evade him, but knew it was futile down here.
He could simply go around my trail of destruction and cut me off before I even made it to the door.
I had no idea what the code was, but when I reached the keypad, I started to type in any combination of numbers I could think up until his low chuckle made me tense. I had no time to react as I went from facing the door to being slammed against it.
A groan left me as my cheek was now flush level with the heavy oak. As if he sensed my discomfort, he quickly spun me around, but my back met the same fate as my face. It also caused a small amount of pain, and one I knew was lessened by the adrenaline rushing through me.
I tried looking around for what, I had no idea. Anything to avoid making eye contact. He made a sound of pain, or was it frustration? Whatever it was, my attention moved to him as I stared up into his face. The first thing I noticed was his heavy breathing, which matched mine.
The second was the redness in his cheek as the remnants of my blow could still be seen.
Was this when he would get payback for that?
Fear filled my blood, replacing the adrenaline that had been flowing through them only moments earlier.
A shiver raced down my spine as his lip quirked upward into a smirk at my terrified expression.
“Going somewhere?” he asked quizzically.
A sob escaped. “Please just let me go.”
“You and I both know that I can’t do that. And, that I won’t do that.”
“I hate you,” I lied because I knew he was right. His intentions had always been clear since night one, yet I’d been the one stupid enough to believe that falling in love with him would’ve altered his plans in some way. “I fucking hate you,” I repeated in a lie.
Although my voice had weakened, I found some buried strength and tried to push him off, and when unsuccessful, even budging the brick wall of muscle that was Zarren Brannington, I tried to strike him again.
This time, he anticipated my action, and it took him no time to restrain both of my hands above my head.
Now, my chest was heaving heavily as I struggled to breathe. The adrenaline from earlier returned with a vengeance, and I savored every ounce of it, knowing there’d be one hell of a crash to deal with soon. I refused to cower to him.
“Why do you hate me so much?” I asked again, seeing as he did not respond to my question earlier.
“Because you try my goddamn patience like you are right now.”
“Coward,” I seethed, and the unchanging hollowness in his eyes only angered me more. I tried bucking him off me, but his hold was too great, and his frame too heavy to move.
“I’m a coward because I hate you?” he asked me.
“No, because you really don’t hate me at all, do you? And that makes you even more of one because you won’t fight for what you want.”
“And you think I want you?”
Realization dawned on me that he’d never once even suggested that he had feelings for me.
There’d been moments—glimpses of time—but nothing I hadn’t assumed.
He’d never once made me believe he felt anything more than lust. Even now, his cock was like a hard rod of steel pressing against me. Arousal didn’t equate to love.
“You do,” I responded softly, more trying to convince myself than him.
His smirk widened. “And that’s where you’re wrong.
I don’t want you. I never have.” I gasped, but he kept talking.
“I sure as fuck need you, though... I crave you... I’m abso-fucking-lutely consumed by you.
.. And I hate you for it. I hate my uncles for bringing you into my life.
And most of all, I hate myself because you’re right.
As much as I should and need to hate you, I don’t at all. ”
My shocked cry was quickly swallowed by his mouth as his crashed down onto mine. Zarren tightened his grip on my wrists, then started to tug my shirt upward, only stopping once it had cleared my breasts.
My bra was one with a front clasp, and it took him no time at all to undo it, then squeeze one of my freed breasts with his large hand. Zarren flicked his finger roughly over the nipple until it hardened, and the other tightened painfully without so much as a touch.
The kiss went on, as did his exploration of my body.
After copping his feel of my breasts, the same hand slipped between my thighs and rubbed me through my pants.
Normally, I would’ve been embarrassed by how wet I was, but there’d never been a time around him that I wasn’t.
Even when he infuriated me... scared me.
.. teased me... All those emotions would coalesce into something I couldn’t fight.
His groans of approval were felt through the kiss. Something flared inside me at knowing I was pleasing him, even though his opinion should be the last thing I cared about. But I did. And I wanted more. Needed more.
My tongue began to move against his, wrapping around it as I sucked it deeper into my mouth.
Again, he groaned, and the sound made my pussy weep.
I became so lost in the need to please him that I hadn’t even realized he’d lowered my pants down past my knees.
A hard slap to my inner thigh had me wriggling out of them.
Once they were at my feet, I kicked off my shoes, then the pants.
When naked from the waist down, he tore his mouth from mine and lifted me effortlessly off my feet.
“This pussy,” he rasped before landing a hard blow on it, “ is mine. You’ll never take from me what is mine, Bellezza. Do you understand me?”
The very word he wanted to hear lingered on my tongue, but I couldn’t bring myself to give it to him. Zarren narrowed his eyes at my non-response, then quickly pulled my T-shirt and bra off before tossing them to the floor with my other clothing.
“One of these days, you’ll give me what I want,” he said to me.
“Never,” I seethed, but there was no conviction behind that word. The truth was that he owned me, whether willingly or not, and there was little I could do about it.
“Never is a very final word, and it’s not one you’d be wise to use,” he reminded me before moving away from the wall. I had no idea where he planned to bring me until my back hit something long and cold.
Once I was on the table, Zarren thrust into me, cutting off any response I might have had to him.
Fuck! The way his cock always split me open nearly made me see stars each time.
Not only thick and long, but each metal ring of his pierced shaft scraped against my inner walls, drawing even more pleasure from something I should’ve loathed.
Against my own volition, I began to move in rhythm with his thrusts.
They were so slow and methodical, but no less lethal as he continued to grin down at me.
I quickly closed my eyes, hoping it’d stop his sinful gaze from searing me alive, but I still felt the burn like flames lapping at my flesh before it melted over my bones.
And it was everywhere. Not just in his eyes, but also in his touch. A shiver erupted as goosebumps rose everywhere on my flesh at the same time his fingers left a trail of fire down my neck, across my shoulder, over my breasts, then lower.
“Stop teasing me and just fuck me,” I demanded, then nearly moaned in protest when he slowly withdrew.
What should’ve been something akin to relief felt a lot more like disappointment. At least until he slapped the side of one of my breasts, then slammed back inside of me. I arched my back off the table as small sparks of pain exploded from his strike, then morphed into something else.
My pussy squeezed his cock, tightening around the row of piercings. Then he stopped. “Tell me what I want to hear, Bellezza.”
“No,” I said point-blank.
He withdrew again. This time, he didn’t immediately slam back into me. Instead, he stared down at me and arched his brow. This man was infuriating enough when we were both dressed, but when naked beneath him like I was now, he was absolutely maddening.
Madness was a friend of mine, or had at least become one.
There was no other reason I could give myself to justify lying beneath this man night after night.
Well, maybe there was, but I’d never admit it to him.
The truth was simple. I loved him. God help me, but I did.
But was love truly what it was? Or was this some sort of delayed trauma response?
“Noooo,” I cried out, unsure if it was because of him or that latter thought.
“That’s not the right answer. I’d think a smart girl like you would know that by now.”
“Why must you torture me?”
“It’s entertaining. Do I need a reason other than that?”
“And you’re an asshole,” I muttered.
One of his hands came up under my chin as he tipped my head back so I had no choice but to continue to look at him. “Tell me that you’re mine, Bellezza. At least admit who owns this pussy... Who makes it come...”
I tried to wriggle against him, hoping I could draw his pierced shaft back inside of me, but he pulled his hips away enough that I could feel him, but not touch him, which made me groan more impatiently. There was silence until his chuckle split the air. It was low, but all amusement.
Damn sadist!
Before I could ask him what was so funny, he slammed back into me. I wanted to sigh in relief, but as he pounded my back wall, all I could do was moan. My hands gripped his arms as he drove into me, eventually settling into a rhythm.
Sex with Zarren was completely mind-blowing. Mind-altering, even. He controlled my body so easily, like a maestro would an orchestra. No matter how I felt at any given moment, he knew exactly how and where to touch me to reduce me to nothing more than putty in his hand.
My body had betrayed my head once more as he quickly brought me to the edge.
A few more thrusts would be all it took to explode, and my core already ached in anticipation.
My entire frame tightened, then shook as I trembled.
As I stared up into his face, I could see his normally stoic features as they twisted and contorted into pleasure.
Zarren was nearing his own release, which nearly sent me hurtling over the edge myself. But before I could, the bastard pulled out. I was too distracted by the way he roughly jerked his cock in rapid succession to protest what he was doing.
“I guess I didn’t make your pussy come tonight,” he said to me moments before he came on my belly and breasts.
“Zarren, you can’t be seri—”
“My patience is razor thin, Bellezza, and you’ve tested the limits of it. Next time, I suggest you think about whether an orgasm is worth stroking my ego or not.”
I couldn’t believe him. Actually, I could.
And the more I glared at him, the more amused he remained.
Finally, he leaned over and slid his finger through his release, collecting some of it onto his fingers.
My legs were still spread apart, so I thought nothing of it when he dragged his hand between them until he purposely skipped my clit and went much lower.
“Since your pussy doesn’t want to come tonight, maybe I’ll take you again later, but here. Fuck, you’re going to look so damn hot with my cum dripping out of your ass.” I gasped, and he winked at me. The fucking bastard. “Sweet dreams, Bellezza.”
And just like that, he stood up, then walked unabashedly to the stairs, leaving me here to fume.