11. Ava
AVA
I am an idiot.
I’m not a runner. I’m not even athletic.
So why did I tell Levi that if he caught me, he could fuck me? I mean, what sane woman does that? I knew he’d love the challenge just for the simple fact that he’s hellbent on punishing me for going through his room.
I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. Nothing with Levi Cross ever is.
Now, I’m pressed against a tree, a hand covering my mouth to silence my ragged breathing while I listen for the sounds of his footsteps.
It’s pitch black, save for the streams of moonlight through the thick treetops.
I can’t see more than a few inches in front of me.
I have no idea where I’m at or how far away from the house I am.
I’ve never ventured this far into the woods, and now a complete psychopath is chasing me, determined to make me eat my words.
The thought of Levi catching me and pinning me down in the dirt sends a shot of anticipation through me that I hadn’t expected. His rough words in my ear, his cock buried inside me, while he finishes what he started.
A shiver ghosts through me at the way he’d called out for me in the dark.
What does it say about me that the sound of his voice, leering from the darkness like a predator, makes me wet?
Maybe it’s just him, or maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t slept with anyone else in a long, long time, but I know a masochistic part of me, buried deep, deep down, wants him to catch me, so that I can see if he really lives up to the hype.
And maybe then we can move on and forget about this little cat-and-mouse game we’ve been playing for the last year.
My heart beats unsteadily as I strain to hear him. He’s gone silent and call me crazy, but I feel like that’s not a good sign.
Abruptly, something crashes a few yards off in the opposite direction, and I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Maybe he won’t catch me, after all . . .
But of course, I never get that lucky.
I turn and run right into his hard chest, letting out a screech in the night.
His hand snatches out, his fingers wrapping around my throat when I attempt to spin and dart away.
At the same time I try to run, he grabs me, and we both stumble over the roots of a tree, crashing to the dirt.
The wind is knocked out of me, and his weight pins me down on the rough forest floor beneath us.
“Please,” I whimper when he rolls me onto my back.
“Please, what, my little thief? Let you go?” he taunts, his fingers gripping my wrists and shoving them to the ground above my head.
I thrash in his hold, kicking and screaming, but I’m only hurting myself in the process.
Levi’s huge, and I’m a whole foot shorter than him.
Not to mention, probably a hundred pounds lighter. There’s no way I’m getting out of this.
Levi has the audacity to look bored with my antics in the pale glow of the moonlight overhead.
I can barely see him, save for the wicked gleam in his eyes that tells me he’s enjoying this.
His breathing is heavy, mirroring my own, but it’s his cock, hard and nestled against my thigh, that makes me pause.
I guess I’m not the only one turned on by our little chase through the woods.
“What were you after in my room?”
“You don’t understand,” I growl, arching against him, but it’s useless.
“Were you searching for something in particular, or are you just a little klepto?”
“Neither,” I pant, trying to roll him off of me, but my body is tired. After running through the woods for what felt like four hours, I can’t imagine why.
“Stop,” he commands, pressing himself between my legs. “You’re just going to hurt yourself.”
As if he cares.
“What’s it matter? You’re going to hurt me, anyway.”
“You think so?” Levi chuckles darkly, and a tremor rolls through me at the sound.
My nails dig into his hands, holding mine, and I hope I draw blood. Serves him right for the stick digging into my back.
“Now that hurts my feelings. I’ve been nice to you. Let you get a head start and everything.”
“You don’t have feelings,” I bite back.
“You’re the one who came up with this little game, sweetheart. ‘If you can catch me, you can fuck me’? You really think you stood a chance?”
For a moment there, yeah, I did.
Like I said. Stupid.
“Now, the question is, what am I going to do with my prize?”
At the same time he speaks, he shifts against me, rolling his hips against mine.
I grit my teeth to silence the sigh that threatens to rip free, the friction enough to draw goosebumps on my skin.
This is wrong. I should not want this. I shouldn’t want him. He chased me through the trees like a maniac, hunting me like prey, and yet I can feel my thighs growing slick with need.
He thrusts against me again, and this time, my breath catches, my eyelids fluttering at the delicious heat overpowering every other sensation in my body.
“That’s it,” he grins wickedly when I let out a soft whimper, shifting underneath him. “It turned you on to get hunted, didn’t it?”
“Fuck you,” I bite, and he laughs, the sound filling the clearing and silencing everything else around us. Figures. Even nature knows not to fuck with Levi Cross.
It would be nice if my vagina could get the memo.
Levi sits back, releasing my hands and takes my hips in his instead.
“Oh, I plan to.”
My pussy throbs in response to the rough edge in his voice, my heart beating unsteadily.
Looking down the length of my body, he slips his fingers under my T-shirt, over the planes of my stomach until he reaches my breasts. I didn’t wear a bra for this endeavor because I thought I’d be in bed by now, the flash drive tucked away carefully until I could get rid of it.
The moment his fingers graze my bare nipple, I let out a quiet hiss through my teeth. This shouldn’t feel good, but even as I think about how badly I hate him, I’m arching into his touch.
I try to fight it. I swear I do. Unfortunately, my body has other ideas. A gasp slips free when he rolls the hardened peak under his thumb. He grins savagely, thinking he’s won.
God, hasn’t he? He has won because now I’m not begging for his mercy. I’m begging for his touch.
“Fuck, look at you,” he murmurs, rolling his hips against me. He drags his denim-covered cock over the notch in my leggings, and I swear I see stars. At the same time, he pinches my nipples, and I drag my teeth across my lip. “I’m going to enjoy this, sweetheart.”
He shifts against me again, and I can’t hold it any longer. A moan claws its way up my throat, something fluttering low in my core. God, it’s awful, but I want to come so bad. With the way he’s grinding against me, the friction is impossible to ignore.
“What’s your safeword, Ava?” he rasps, his fingers tightening on my hips. He drags me closer, teasing me until I’m right on the edge.
“W-what?”
“Safeword. Surely, you’ve had one in the past?”
I can’t even form a coherent thought, much less worry about whether I had a safeword in the past.
I shake my head, sticks and leaves digging into my hair. “I didn’t have one.”
My pussy tingles with the sudden lack of friction, but it’s my skin that feels like it’s on fire from the way his eyes glide over me.
“Excuse me?”
I swallow heavily over the lump forming in my throat. Levi stares down at me, seeming to put the pieces together slowly.
“Never?”
Gingerly, I shake my head.
Something in his gaze softens, but only for a moment.
“Not very safe, sweetheart. Give me a word—anything you can say, and that will be your word if you want me to stop.”
He releases my hip and looms over me in the darkness, his frosty blue gaze searching mine. I can barely see him, and I’m glad. I’m sure if it were bright, this would be far more terrifying than it already is.
Being alone with Levi in the house is one thing.
Being alone in the woods with him is like volunteering to spend the afterlife in an eighty’s slasher flick.
“Ava.” A shiver ghosts up my spine at the bite in his voice. Almost like he’s pissed off that I’m making him wait.
“Purgatory,” I rush, without even thinking.
He stares at me for a moment before he nods.
“Purgatory.” Both hands slide under my T-shirt, over my waist, then higher. “Fuck, you’re so soft. I could break you. Make you bend to my every whim.”
“Screw you,” I breathe, but it’s lost on him. His fingers slide higher, twisting my nipple, and I bite my lip to silence my moan.
He knows exactly what he’s doing, because he does it again, his gaze locked on mine.
“Give me your sounds, Ava. Don’t try to hide from me.”
Asshole. He doesn’t deserve them.
Bending down, his lips latch around my nipple and he sucks, drawing his tongue over the hardened peak. I arch into his mouth, the pleasure forcing me to bite back the desperate cry that threatens to break free.
He watches me under his lashes, nipping the hardened peak between his teeth before moving to the other side.
“These are perfect,” he grunts, almost like he’s pissed off about it.
At the same time, his lips latch around my other breast, his hand slides between us, gliding under the waistband of my leggings. His fingers cover my pussy, and he slips my thong to the side to drag his finger through my folds.
“Fuck,” he rasps, his lips breaking free. Looming over me in the dark, he slides that finger inside me, and I’m powerless to stop the quiet gasp that escapes.
Levi grins, slowly pumping that finger inside me.
“There she is. Let me hear you, baby girl.”
I shake my head, and his eyes light with a challenge.
Sinking down, he presses kisses along my breasts and torso, stopping to run his tongue up my stomach before he moves even lower.
I shiver under his touch, my body tightening around his finger slipping in and out of me.
Wet sounds fill the air, and I know I should be embarrassed, but I’m not. It feels too good.