Chapter 15 #2
You didn’t answer my question.
This whole conversation regarding consent, especially in the context of the kinks we’re talking about, has us on shaky ground, at best. I’m also not naive enough to think it's a simple black and white question.
But it’s still a conversation I need to have, even if just with myself.
Unknown
But you DID have a way out, little prey.
Me
How so? You’re twice my size.
Unknown
Stop being obtuse. You’re much smarter than this.
Unknown
You had a way out. That’s what safe words are for.
I stare at the screen.
Me
What safe word?!
Unknown
It’s been the same since that first night: thunder.
He can’t be fucking serious.
I look away from the phone to collect my thoughts. The girls are talking about Velvet Villainess, but I’m entirely too wrapped up in the conversation with Achilles to focus. Galina brings us another round of drinks, and I sip on mine as I glance back to my phone and type out a reply.
Me
As if I knew that?
Unknown
Same as you knew it that first night and 100% chose not to use it?
Me
OMG this is an asinine conversation. Your argument is that I should have remembered the safe word which you set up with ANOTHER GIRL?
Unknown
Would that be the girl you pretended to be when you assaulted me?
My jaw drops.
Me
That’s a gross perversion of what I’m saying and a bad faith argument.
God, I do sound like a law professor.
He doesn’t reply immediately. So I keep going.
Me
You’re telling me, HONESTLY, that if I’d said thunder the other day in the library you’d have stopped.
Unknown
I am. And I would have.
Unknown
So…something to keep in mind for next time.
Next time.
Heat pools between my thighs as a horribly giddy sensation slithers up my spine.
Me
There won’t be a next time.
Unknown
lol
Me
Is that funny? I’m telling you right now, I’m done.
Unknown
So say it. Say your safe word.
For a second, I start to type out “T” and “H” and even “U”.
Then I delete that and start again.
Me
No more, Achilles. I’m serious.
Am I, though?
Me
I don’t want to be part of your games anymore.
Unknown
They stopped being MY games and started being OUR games the second you made the conscious decision NOT to use your way out, i.e. the safe word.
Unknown
You, amusingly, continue to try and tell yourself—via me—that you’re “not like this” or “don’t want this”, but we’re both painfully aware how big a lie that is.
Unknown
I've told you before: every hunter needs prey, just as every prey needs a hunter. Otherwise they’re just wandering the woods, lost and alone.
Me
Who says I don’t want to walk alone in the woods without being hunted?
Unknown
Why don’t you step away from the firelight and into the woods, and we’ll find out together.
My spine snaps to attention. An icy sensation races down my back as goosebumps break out over my skin. I whirl, my breath catching as my eyes dart to the dark trees surrounding us.
Nothing there. But I swear I feel eyes on me.
Me
Are you watching me?
Unknown
When?
My brows furrow.
Unknown
You should probably be specific.
I take a shaky breath.
Me
Let's flip the question: when are you NOT watching me?
There’s a longer pause before he responds. When he does, my jaw drops.
Unknown
There is no answer to that question.
My pulse skips. My head snaps up again, my gaze roaming over the shadowy trees surrounding the ruins and the bonfire.
I still don’t see a thing.
Me
Why do you like doing this?
Unknown
Doing what, exactly? Again, be specific.
My brow creases.
Me
Spooking me. Trying to scare me.
I shiver.
Me
Hunting me.
Unknown
Because I’m truthful with myself about who and what I am. And even if you’re not truthful with YOURself, you’re still the same as me.
Unknown
You LIKE that I scare you. You LIKE wondering if I’m watching you at any given moment. If I’m going to be waiting around the corner, or under your bed when you go to sleep.
Jesus.
I should be terrified right now. Or at least thoroughly creeped out.
But I’m not.
I’m…turned on.
Clenching my legs together.
Biting my lip as I squirm.
Unknown
Again, I know what you like.
Me
Presume much?
Unknown
That mouth is going to get you in trouble, little prey.
Heat coils and ripples within my core.
Me
How so?
I know I’m baiting him.
That's not hyperbole.
This is holding red meat in your hand and shoving your arm between the bars of the lion's cage.
Unknown
It says one thing, but all I hear is it begging to be stuffed full of my cock.
I shiver, my nipples tightening to electrified peaks under my hoodie.
Unknown
Is that what you’d like me to do, little prey? Fuck your sassy mouth until your makeup is ruined and your face painted with my cum?
JESUS.
Unknown
But I digress. I wasn’t done telling you what you like.
I don’t respond.
I can’t.
Unknown
You like to have control taken away from you. You like to be chased, and pinned down, and used.
Unknown
You want a knife against your throat and the word “no” on your lips when I tear into your virgin pussy for the first time.
My panties are soaked, my core throbbing as I hungrily devour his filthy texts.
Telling myself he’s wrong.
Knowing he’s not.
I try to swallow the lump in my throat.
Me
What's to say I’m a virgin?
For some reason, it feels dangerous for him to know that.
Unknown
Everything about you says that, little prey. And I’m very much going to enjoy taking it from you.
I shudder.
That’s why it feels dangerous.
Dangerous, and way too electrifying.
Me
What about the safe word?
Unknown
It’s still there. It still exists.
Me
If I said it…you’d stop?
Unknown
Why don’t you put that pink drink down and walk into the woods so we can find out.
Ice shudders down my spine as my gaze snaps again to the tree line. Instantly, my face goes white.
My core liquifies, dripping heat through my body as my breath catches.
Because there, deep in the shadows of the woods, all in black, is a tall, built man with a gleaming sharp knife in his hand.
…Wearing a Scream mask.
A whining sound hums in my ears as my eyes stab through the branches to where he’s standing.
Watching me.
Pulling me apart.
Hunting me.
My throat bobs erratically as I start to type.
Me
That’s not happening.
Unknown
Then say the word.
Me
I’m telling you right now. Plainly. No more, Achilles.
Unknown
You’re sure there’s nothing else you want to say right now?
No.
Yes.
I don't know.
I put the phone down and try to ignore the tingling sensation of his eyes on me through a mask. I force myself to gossip with my friends and I finish my drink.
Finally, when I can’t stand the pressure anymore, I look back through the trees.
He’s gone.
But then my phone buzzes with one last text.
Unknown
See you soon, little prey.
It’s the combination of having had a little too much to drink and still being on edge from my text convo with Achilles earlier that has me stumbling with Wren back to Morvaine Manor later.
“Galina’s seeing someone.”
My brows skyrocket as we help each other up the stairs. “Seriously?”
Wren lifts a shoulder. “I think so.” She turns to grin drunkenly at me as we get to her bedroom door. “So are yooouu, you little sneak,” she giggles.
Heat fills my face. “Nope,” I laugh nervously. “No way, no how.”
“Liieees,” she breathes as I open her door and get her to her bed.
I plop her down on the edge of it and help her kick off her shoes.
“Okay, I love you, but take your own pants off tonight.”
Wren giggles and undoes her jeans, shoving them down and off. “Wait, teeth.”
I help her into the bathroom and wait while she brushes her teeth, pees, and shuffles back into her room.
“You were texting someone all night,” she grins as she wriggles under the covers.
I roll my eyes. She shakes her head and wags a finger in my face.
“Don’t gimme that,” she giggles. “You were. You had this big horny smile on your face the whole time, too.”
The darkness of her room covers the heavy blush that surges over my face, thank God. I go back to the bathroom and grab the Tylenol and a glass of water, putting both on Wren’s bedside table.
“I really don’t deserve you,” she sighs, closing her eyes as I sit on the edge of her bed and tuck the covers up around her chin.
“Sure you do, dorkface,” I grin. “Get some sleep. Love ya.”
I start to stand, but her hand lands on mine, stopping me.
“Lena.” Her eyes open a crack. “This person you were texting who you won’t tell me about?”
I sigh. “Wren—”
“I hope they deserve you.”
She's out even before I leave the room. I brush my teeth, change into PJs, and climb into bed. But even though I’m tired, and a little drunk, and should definitely go to sleep…I can’t.
It’s not just my thoughts keeping me up.
It’s what those thoughts do to me.
I shiver with heat as I squeeze my thighs together. My pulse accelerates as I let my imagination wander back to The Garrison, then deeper into the woods.
Where he might be waiting for me.
Ready to chase me. Hunt me. Pin me down, rip my fucking clothes off, and take whatever he wants.
I do know the difference between all this and what happened with Kyle.
Here, I have a safe word, and I’ve had it every time I’ve crossed Achilles’ path.
I’ve had it and made the conscious choice, every time, not to use it.
Right now in my imagination is no exception.
I squirm, my thighs rubbing together before I finally just push my pajamas and panties down. A soft moan falls from my lips as my fingers slide through the slick, eager lips of my pussy, and when I curl two of them inside me, I gasp.
I twist onto my side, kicking the covers away and then yanking off my t-shirt.
I spread my legs, lifting and bending one knee as I lie there and push my hand back between my thighs.
My clit feels electrified, and I gasp louder as I start to rub it in slow, deliberate circles.
I cup my breasts with my other hand, pinching my nipple and then doing it again, harder.
I twist the aching bud, moaning and rolling my hips as I start to let my fantasies run wild.
Achilles, chasing me through the woods.
Grabbing me by my ponytail and using it to yank me to the ground.
Your hair x my fist.
I picture him shoving me onto my side and coming up behind me, grabbing my tits just like I am now, and brutalizing my aching nipples as I writhe in dark pleasure. I imagine his hand circling my throat and squeezing, feel his possessive touch sliding down my ribs and over the curve of my hip.
I let myself drown in the fantasy, my fingers plunging in and out of my pussy. I can feel the heat of his body against my back. The ripple of his muscles as he grabs me. The scent of—
The scent breaks the spell.
Mint and cloves, masculine and spicy.
My body spasms, as if to lurch from bed.
But I can't.
Achilles’ hands—his real ones—wrap around my throat and grab my hip, yanking me close until my back is flat against the strong, warm planes of his chest, the rippled grooves of his abs…
…And the heavy, thick, bulging length of his hard, huge cock as it pushes between my thighs, dragging a haggard whimper from my throat as the swollen head bumps over my clit.
My whole world goes still as Achilles wraps his big arms around me, trapping my naked body against his.
“You'd better have been thinking about me, little prey.”