Chapter 35
Dash
“ When did she receive it?” Dante asks with a hint of worry.
“ I don ’ t know.”
“ What do you mean?” Cillian shouts over the incessant gossip of the cafeteria.
“ Exactly what I said.” I retort as I glance away looking at the small table where Mila is sitting with her fellow dancers. Directly next to Jared.
Rumor has it that Mila and I broke up. That ’ s what is being whispered all over the school this morning.
It ’ s funny that Mila thinks she can start a wildfire and not get burned.
She thinks she can ignore me.
Try again, little fox.
I know what she ’ s doing. The problem is, I should ignore her. I need to focus on my training because, in a matter of weeks, I will have to fight for my life in The Cleansing.
That note changes everything; it also answers the nagging question in my mind. Mila had been becoming so insistent I take her virginity. I knew it wasn ’ t so simple. It was because she doubted me. Mila thinks I ’ ll die during the fight.
I ’ m not sure if her desire to sleep with me due to my perceived proximity to death fills me with joy or a desire to completely destroy her.
“ You have one month from the day you receive the notice. One month, Dash.” Cillian informs me. “ Did she get it the other day or weeks ago? Everyday counts.”
I shrug. “ You ask her.”
“ What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I snap my eyes away from my little fox and arch a brow. “ Everything.” I reply to Cillian.
Does she know that I ’ m a virgin, too? Is that why she wanted to fuck me so badly, so I didn ’ t die this way?
It's like a chainsaw is cutting through my thoughts. Slicing, cutting, tearing, and reshaping them into something dangerous. That ’ s all I can hear and focus on.
My eyes drift back to Mila as if she were my center of gravity. She tips her head back and laughs.
It ’ s so fake. She ’ s lying, pretending, and if she thinks I ’ m going to allow that to happen, she ’ s wrong.
Standing abruptly, I walk to her table; each step closer, the room falls silent.
I watch her face turn pale, her eyes stretch wide like a bleeding heart trying to continue to stay alive. Her throat rolls as she tries to gulp.
My feet stop when I reach her, and then I give her what she has wanted.
Something real. A mixture of honesty, fear, desire, and corruption.
Me.
I grab her, pull her up, and kiss her so violently that it shocks every soul in the room. She has no option but to react as her tongue slips past mine, hands curl into my clothing. It ’ s like we ’ re ripping each other ’ s souls apart, and everyone is a spectator to our torture.
“ Mine,” I hiss.
“ Never.” She whispers back with a sadistic smirk.
Was she always this dark and gray, or did I gobble up all her colors?
What came first? Did good create evil, or did evil make good so it could relish destroying it?
She grabs the nape of my neck and brings her lips to my ear so only I can hear, “ You took all my broken pieces and rebuilt me, Dash King. You ’ re the architect of my life. Did you think I wouldn ’ t fight for our love?”
“ It ’ s not love.”
“ You ’ re right. We ’ re something much more complicated.” Her lips trail down my jaw as people hoot and cheer.
“ You ’ ll regret this.”
She snorts, “ I ’ ll live off the memories for much longer.” She pulls away.
Her words are a testament she has clung to. She still wants to escape.
This is all we will ever be: a marooned ship trying to escape rising floodwaters. Eventually, the tides will rip us apart, plank by plank. We will be swept away, then devoured by our world until we are nothing but particles adrift in an all-consuming current.
Why the fuck am I denying myself?
I ’ ve never been the good guy, so I stop trying to be. If my little fox wants a piece of my black soul, I ’ ll give it to her.
“ I warned you.”
She nods. “ I know, but you taught me how to not give a shit about warnings, Dash. I want to live in the moment and worry about the repercussions later.”
***
I close the door and turn slowly. The brave little fox has vanished. Now it ’ s just Mila and me. My body aches with a need so intense it can ’ t be measured.
Her small fingers grab the hem of her shirt as she lifts it over her head. An innocent-looking bra stares back at me, her nipples poking through, just begging me to suck them.
She takes her pants off next, then her underwear; I don ’ t miss the shake of her hands as she unclips her bra. Reaching up, she undoes her bun, her brown hair falling delicately over her narrow shoulders. When I don ’ t move, she does; closing the distance, she begins to undress me. Each layer removed has my chest heaving.
Her lips press against my chest; she pushes up on her toes, trying to reach my lips. She cups my cheek like a serpent wrapping around me, forcing me to accept her.
“ This is what you want from me?”
She nods. “ Yes, and it ’ s what you need.”
Oh, little fox, you have no idea what you just did and how I will use this moment against you if need be.
“ What is that?” I challenge her.
“ Love.” She counters. “ You need to be shown love before hate consumes you. Let me love you, Dash.”
I hear the splinters of my walls as they crumble. I grab her, hoisting her up as our lips collide. She tastes like sin and heaven combined. A devil.
Her hands comb through my hair as if she were trying to peel off the flesh and see the monster inside. Her hips widen, making sure I can fit between them. A sound vibrates up the back of my throat; it ’ s from the monster so eager to consume her, claiming every inch of her flesh for his wrongdoings.
Mine. She ’ s going to be mine now.
Is this what happiness feels like, or is it the final exhale before self annihilation?
"You were always my greatest mistake. I thought you were just a tool. I was wrong; you were a weapon that forced yourself into my hand to be used. You begged me to use you. Weapons destroy, remember that."
"Weapons can protect, too."
Oh, little fox, that's not what you're doing. You're not protecting me; you're stripping me bare, burning my walls, cutting open my flesh to look inside of me.
You won’t like what you find.
Our bodies fall into my bed, hands and legs intertwined in a painful embrace. I need to be inside of her. I reach down to her sex. Fuck. “ You ’ re so wet.” It makes my cock throb.
Her skin ’ s so hot to the touch. Is she sick with a fever? No, you ’ re the sickness. And the cure.
She grinds her sex up and down, riding my hand. “ Make me come first.” She begs me. “ Please, Dash, slip your fingers inside of me and make me—” she gasps loudly as I thrust three fingers inside.
“ Liar.” I curl my fingers, feeling her swollen core deep inside. “ You parade around as a fallen angel when all along you were just another devil roaming the earth.”
She tricked me and made me think she was this innocent little fox when, all along, she was a conniving little wolf.
I brush my thumb over her clit, her inner muscles tighten, and she shatters into my palm.
“ Dash,” her mouth parts. “ More.”
I snort and grin. Withdrawing my hand, I make to stand and get a condom, but she grabs my wrist. “ I ’ m on the pill. Are you clean?”
I hold her eyes.
You ’ re my first.
I don ’ t tell her. It ’ s not out of embarrassment.
I don ’ t want her to have more power over me.
I nod. She tugs me; I roll back in bed until I ’ m on top of her. She reaches down and takes a hold of me. My lips part. She ’ s so stunning when she thinks she ’ s in control. She arches up and claims my lips as she brings my thick cock to her sex. She moans when she glides my tip over her wet folds.
The definition of temptation.
She ’ s trying to drive me insane. Who knew a fox could kill a king?
“ Enough games.” I bristle. I grab her wrists, locking them over her head.
I hesitate.
She nods.
My willpower is completely gone as I slowly sink inside of her. It ’ s a feeling I can never describe. The first time you thrust your hard cock inside of a woman who wants you so badly. It ’ s so tight it hurts, so erotic I almost come from the first thrust.
It ’ s all a giant mistake I know I can never rectify.
If it were any other woman, I could just fuck her and move on.
It ’ s Mila; the woman who wants to run away from my world.
How can I let her go?
I push deeper, hitting her thin barrier. It ’ s going to hurt.
I don ’ t want it to hurt her. She will have to endure enough pain in the future.
I ’ ve watched enough porn to know how to help ease her suffering. Reaching down, I begin to rub her; her legs squeeze my hips. I keep circling her clit until I can see her on the edge of another orgasm. Then, when she screams my name, I sink all the way in.
There. It ’ s done.
She ’ s mine.
Poor little fox. I can never let you go now.
Mila doesn ’ t realize it, but I ’ ve just fulfilled the favor I promised her. I am no longer indebted to her.
I specifically asked her if this was what she wanted from me. She said yes. My favor has been paid.
I hope she realizes that. I hope my little fox knows there is no ticket to escape now. She sacrificed her freedom in exchange for sleeping with me.
A tear rolls down her cheek; I lick it away. I ’ ll own every part of her. Her moans of pleasure, her cries and tears, her regrets and joys.
Every. Single. Part.
Is this what all King men have felt when they claim another?
Obsession.
I see the slope and slide down it.
Mila is my obsession.
It was never about The Cleansing. That ’ s not what Mila feared or was after. She wanted to claim the title of killing me herself.
She did.
How will I survive without her? How can I think and focus when I know others will target her to get to me?
“ Dash, it ’ s too much.” Nails drag down my spine. “ You feel so good. Fuck, why did we wait so long to do this?” She meets my thrust.
I want to push her off of me and tell her to get out.
I want to sink so deep inside of her that we can never be separated again.
Madness.
We both come; her inner walls grip me so tight I see stars and touch heaven, but then I fall back down to earth. Painfully.
She tricked me.