Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
W e did not manage to escape on day one, which meant the guards locked us up for the night as part of the scene before releasing us to get some dinner and sleep.
As far as prisons went, it was a little lax. Cushy, even.
Not that I minded. It gave me an extra night to spend in the upstairs wing before I’d have to move downstairs.
Both my Knights had a reprieve from cleaning because the escape room lasted longer than the other two, and since our time would be limited once the parents arrived, I wanted to see both of them.
As I headed upstairs, hoping to find my Knights, I fought off the dread from the impending change and focused on the Dread I wanted to have some time with tonight.
After everything in the bathroom with Vivian, one thing had been on my mind. And surprisingly, it wasn’t dick. Okay, it was a little bit, but there were other important thoughts that led to it.
Everyone had their secrets. Everyone had demons. Things we couldn’t share, monsters that came for us at night, but that we had to fight every day.
Alone.
Sometimes, completely unnoticed.
Over the last few days, I’d learned the truth about Kingston’s. And I’d pieced together that even my worst enemy—maybe even enemy number three now—had something she fought quietly.
My two Knights fought their demons, too.
Landon, with his memories, fought whatever haunted him in the dark. The same way I had.
And Max had something affecting him, too. He fought whatever drove him to put up walls and close off. At the end of the day, when he did that, he was just like Vivian in the bathroom. Protecting himself. Maybe protecting even more than that like Kingston had been.
Tonight, I wanted to find them and remind them they weren’t fighting alone, either.
I stopped at Max’s room first, but when he wasn’t there, I went to the bathroom. Even though I’d been thinking about his demons, I didn’t expect to find him the way I did.
He stood in the shower stall, one arm bracing against the wall, and his head bent forward to rest on it. Water sprayed his back, and steam billowed up around him. At first, he hardly moved.
After the long day, he could’ve been taking a moment. But with the way he’d acted earlier, I grew more concerned as I watched him.
Then, his shoulders shook.
And I went to him without thinking, sure that whether he’d admit it or not, he needed someone.
Needed me.
I undressed and opened the door to the shower. Max turned his head. His features drawn tight as he tried to contain whatever he was feeling.
“Max…” I stepped under the water and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into my body even as he tried to wipe his face and pretend he was fine.
“I’m fine, Princess. It’s nothing. You don’t need?—”
“Truth or dare.”
He blinked at me, clearing water from his eyes as I stared up at him, refusing to leave him. Refusing to let him deal with whatever this was on his own.
“What?”
“You heard me. Pick one.”
He heaved a sigh but rested his forehead against mine. “Dare.”
Stubborn brute.
My stubborn brute.
“I dare you to let me take care of you. Let me be here for you and ease this. Even if you’re not ready to tell me what it is yet.
I feel your pain whether you say the words or not, and you’re strong enough to fight it alone, but you don’t have to anymore.
So, I dare you to share it with me. Let me do whatever I can to take it away. ”
His expression twisted with more pain, his jaw tightening further and his nostrils flaring as he fought against the rising emotion threatening to consume him. “I can’t?—”
“You’re not alone. And I’m stubborn enough to know when you need me, even if you won’t admit it. I promise if you share it with me, we can get through it together.”
“I ruined everything before I knew—” He cursed and hid his face. “I want to believe that’s true, but I don’t know how…”
I rested my palm against his cheek, easing his face back so he’d look me in the eye. “You chose me, remember? That’s what you said today?”
His eyes filled with tears, but he nodded.
“Well, I chose you, too.”
He sank back against the shower wall, running a hand through his hair and staring down at me. His mouth opened and closed like he was trying to find words to say, but they wouldn’t come.
I ran my hands over his chest and his shoulders, trying to ease the tension in his body, but it wouldn’t leave.
When I ran my hands down his sides, squeezing him tightly, he sucked in a sharp breath. And despite the heaviness of his emotions, his body responded to mine. I leaned forward and kissed his chest, right over his heart. It pounded hard and fast against my lips.
“Quinn…”
“Don’t call me that.”
He huffed a laugh. “Sorry. Princess, we shouldn’t…”
The trail of kisses I left over his heart, leading down his body, silenced whatever argument he’d wanted to make.
“I don’t deserve you.”
My head snapped up at his words, and I searched his darkened, hooded gaze to find where that had come from. What demons he battled right now that still convinced him he wasn’t enough.
Whatever they were, I wanted them gone. I didn’t care about his past, his mistakes, or anything else. I wanted those parts of him as much as I wanted his strength.
“Yes, you do, Max.” And before he could argue with me, I pushed up on my toes and kissed him, pulling back to whisper against his lips. “Now, let me show you.”
I raised my eyebrows and waited for his consent. He drank in my features, hopefully sensing how much I meant those words, and he finally nodded.
As I slid down his body, I kissed every inch of him I could.
And then, I sank to my knees.
Taking his cock in my hands, I stroked as I stared up at him. Water rained down from the shower, and he cupped my face with his hand, shielding me from it.
But it didn’t distract me.
It couldn’t extinguish the fire inside me. The one that burned brighter whenever he was near. The one that raged between us whenever we came together.
I wouldn’t kneel to anyone who tried to put me beneath them. But I would kneel for him.
For them .
Because they’d never asked me to do it. Because they valued me enough to kneel first. And because I trusted them.
I trusted him .
Leaning forward, I wrapped my lips around the head of his cock, and he dropped his head back against the shower wall.
His groan lit up the force inside me, encouraging me to keep going. He kept one hand on my face, the other clenched tightly at his side.
And I took him farther into my mouth, running my tongue along his length as I pulled back. Swirling it around his tip. Before the taste of him, and the power I had on my knees, spurred me to take more.
I went slowly as I adjusted to his size. And as my jaw relaxed, I took more of him in, loving each time his breathing quickened, his moans escaped, and his fist clenched tighter.
Popping off, I panted as I met his gaze. “Do it,” I said. “I trust you.”
When I took him in again, he unclenched his fist and brought it to the back of my head. He gathered my hair in his hand, gripping tightly. Guiding me up and down his length. Urging me deeper. And pushing me the way he always did. The way I wanted him to.
He hit the back of my throat, and I gagged.
But the muttered curse that left his lips made me want more.
I did it again, reveling in the way his grip tightened further. The keening sounds leaving his throat. The tension vibrating through his hips as he held them steady.
Reaching for him, I pulled his body toward me as I swallowed around his length. Breathing through my nose. Fighting the reflex trying to keep me from what I wanted.
I wanted all of him.
I wanted what was mine .
And when I sucked harder, he gave it to me.
Hearing what I’d said and believing it, he thrust his hips gently, and I opened my mouth as wide as it would go to take him. Nodding and taking him deeper.
“Fuck, Princess…” His onyx eyes burned as he gazed down at me. “Fuck, I?—”
He shifted, his fingers weaving through my hair as he wrapped it around his fist.
I braced my hands on his thighs, stroking up and down as I bobbed on his cock.
And when he finally let go, quickening his pace and driving deeper, I kept fighting to take more of him. Kept going. Kept breathing.
A string of curses left his throat, and I met him stroke for stroke, finally taking him all the way in and holding there.
“Baby—”
I grabbed his hips, holding myself there, staring up at him so he’d see it in my eyes.
He was mine.
His release was mine .
And when he came with a growl, he gave me all of it.
I swallowed every last drop before pulling back.
But I didn’t release him. Panting through my nose, I sucked gently until he shuddered.
“Fucking hell,” he groaned, grabbing my shoulders and hauling me off his cock to pull me into his arms.
He palmed my thighs and lifted me higher, stepping forward to wrap my legs around his waist. Spinning us around to pin me against the wall. And pressing his head against mine.
“I’ve got you, Max Dread,” I growled.
Our chests heaved with ragged breaths, and I stared deep into his eyes. “Don’t you ever forget that.”
He nodded at my tone, the fierce intensity in my gaze, taking it all in like he couldn’t believe it.
“Now, show me you’ve got me, too.”
When I woke in the middle of the night, Max slept peacefully.
I didn’t want to wake him, so I crawled out of bed and left him to sleep.
I still had one Knight my heart needed as much as the other two. Another Knight fighting a quiet battle, who needed to know he wasn’t fighting alone.
As I climbed into Landon’s bed, he woke quickly.
He slept more soundly on nights we fell asleep together. I’d noticed that since the first challenge, and I wondered if it had to do with what Kingston had shared with me.
If he really did think of me as the light, and somehow that made it easier to rest in the dark.
I brushed his hair back from his face as he wrapped his arms around me.