Chapter 10
Ten
Nick
Three months later.
It had been three months since everything changed. Three months since Mya fell asleep on my chest in the quiet safety of my house, her cheek flushed, her eyelashes stuck together, her voice hoarse from calling me Master and then whispering my name like it meant something more than my past.
Now we’re in my parents’ backyard, with the smell of charcoal and the sound of someone blasting 2000s rock. It’s our usual summer cookout. The kind we’ve done a hundred times. But it doesn’t feel the same. I’m not the same.
I glanced over at Mya across the yard. Her hair was pulled up, legs tucked underneath her, and that ADHD sparkled in her eyes as she tried to follow two conversations at once.
She’d already dropped her drink, forgotten where she put her sunglasses, and asked me twice if she said something weird to my mom.
I loved her for it. I loved her in a way I didn’t think I was ever allowed to love someone. Only, I still needed to tell her.
“Hey.” Tyler clapped a hand on my shoulder. “You look good.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Thanks?”
“Dude, you used to show up to these things hungover and brooding. Now you’re clean-shaven and bringing dessert.”
“It was a store-bought dessert,” I grumbled.
“Still.” He handed me a soda. “You deserve good things.”
I didn’t say anything to that. Just nodded. Because I had fought to believe that. For years, I fought myself every single day, thinking I wasn’t worth saving. Then Mya showed up and stared at every broken piece of me without blinking.
I watched as Sean came over, one arm slung around Lilly, the two of them glowing like they belonged on the cover of a Nicholas Sparks novel.
He handed Lilly a drink, kissed the side of her temple, and then walked over to me with that unreadable expression he wears when he’s about to say something meaningful.
He stood beside me quietly, watching Mya. “You really did it.”
“She makes me happy.”
He smiled back but didn’t answer. Just patted my shoulder and went to help Ben burn the burgers.
“You proved all of us wrong,” Connor said behind me. “In the best way.”
“I know.” I muttered.
I watched as Mya went to sit beside my mom, both of them laughing over an old photo album. I saw my dad bring her a plate as he muttered something sarcastic that made her eyes go wide and then narrow in amusement.
She fit in. Not because she was trying to. Not because I asked her to. Because she was just Mya. Messy, brilliant, mouthy, soft-hearted Mya. And she walked into this family like she belonged from the beginning.
* * *
Later that night, when we got home, I kicked off my boots and watched as she pulled her dress off and changed into a little button-down sleep piece.
She curled into the corner of my couch like it was hers.
Truth be told, it was. Everything in this house was now hers, including Bear, who loved her almost as much as I did.
This house wasn’t just mine anymore. This life wasn’t just mine.
I stood at the counter, watching her. Thinking about how different my life would be had I not met her or if I had picked up that drink months ago.
“Mya,” I whispered, not knowing if she’d hear me.
She looked up, a smile already forming on her face. Her eyes were soft, tired from the day, with makeup smudged under them. She was all undone now… Bare skin, messy hair, wrapped in the blanket she dragged from the bedroom earlier. Meanwhile, I was trying to grasp how to tell her I love her.
“Come here,” I said. It came off a little more demanding than I meant, a little more growly.
She didn’t hesitate, though. If anything, she got a sparkle in her eyes when she heard the way my voice was rougher. She rose from the couch, letting the blanket fall back. I watched every inch of her move toward me, slow and quiet, until she was in front of me with nothing between us.
“You okay?” She asked.
I nodded once. Then I leaned in, brushing my nose against her cheek, my hands settling on her waist. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this okay.”
Her mouth turned up in a small smile, like she didn’t quite believe me.
I kissed her before she could answer. My grip tightened on her as I lifted her onto the counter and ripped her shirt open.
She gasped, but before she could say a word, I had her nipple between my teeth, biting down until she yelped and arched into me.
Her fingers clawed at my hair, pulling. I bit harder, dragging her nipple between my teeth until small red and purple bruises bloomed against her pale skin.
“You’re going to stay perfectly still for me.” I growled.
“Yes, Master.”
I grabbed her wrists and pulled them behind her back, securing them with one hand.
“Keep them there. No squirming. No touching. You move without permission, and I’ll punish you.”
Her chest rose and fell with fast, shallow breaths. She nodded, but that wasn’t good enough.
“I need words, Mya.”
“I understand, Master,” she whispered quickly, her voice soft with obedience.
“Who do you belong to?” I asked, my lips brushing her ear.
“You.” She whispered again.
“And who takes care of you?”
“You do.”
“Damn right I do.” I smirked.
I stepped back and reached for the knife on the counter.
It was dull, small, nothing dangerous on its own.
But she knew what it meant. Her breath caught.
I didn’t go for her first. I dragged the blade lightly across my own finger, splitting the skin just enough to bleed.
Her eyes widened as the blood beaded up, and a little slid down my hand.
“It’s not about hurting for the sake of pain,” I murmured. “It’s about trust. About giving me your fear, your body, and knowing I’ll always make it feel good.”
I stepped closer and smeared my blood along her lips. It left a crimson trail down her chin and neck. Her tongue darted out, licking the blood without hesitation.
I froze. That? That did something to me. “You didn’t ask,” I said roughly. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“I wanted to taste you,” she said, voice trembling with need.
“Fuck, Sunshine…”
Her thighs pressed together, and I caught the motion.
“Didn’t I say not to move?”
“I’m sorry, Master,” she whispered, going perfectly still.
I kissed her chin, then the corner of her mouth, tasting my own blood on her. “Do you trust me?”
“With everything.” She didn’t even hesitate.
I dragged the knife slowly across her thigh.
Not deep, just enough to bring the blood to the surface.
She gasped at the first sting, her body twitching, but she didn’t move fully.
My lips hovered above the mark, and then I lowered myself, tongue flicking out, tasting her.
I’d never done that before. Sure, I’d done this before.
But cutting was as far as it got. I never had the desire to actually taste it, but with Mya I did.
I groaned against her skin. “Mine,” I growled, sinking my teeth into the soft flesh of her inner thigh, hard enough to make her cry out. “Every fucking piece of you is mine.”
I grabbed her thighs and dragged her to the edge of the counter. Her legs were trembling, spread wide, wrists still locked behind her back like a gift.
“Stay,” I commanded and went lower, my mouth finding her clit, biting, and then soothing it with my tongue.
Her whole body jerked, but she didn’t move.
Good girl. She moaned, the kind of sound that made me want to take my time.
I held her open with my hands and dragged my tongue through her again and again until she was trembling on the edge.
Then I stopped, causing her to whimper. I stood and stripped quickly, pressing the tip of my cock against her entrance. Then thrust all the way in, hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs.
“You—” thrust. “Are—” thrust. “Mine.” Each word was punctuated by my hips slamming into her. “You bleed for me. You obey me. You fucking fall apart for me.”
Her voice was a wrecked cry. “I belong to you, Master.”
She shattered around me, squirting all over my fucking cock. That was new. And fuck, I wanted it again. I didn’t let up. She was sensitive, twitching, trying to squirm away, but I kept going, chasing everything she’d give me.
“You take me so well,” I breathed. “So fucking well. Sunshine, you were made for this.”
We’d stopped using condoms the week before, but I still wasn’t used to feeling her like this.
I wasn’t used to feeling this close to her.
It didn’t take me long to come, filling her instead of a condom.
I stayed there, deep and still, caging her in my arms. When I finally pulled out, my come dripped from her.
I couldn’t help myself; I scooped it up with two fingers and pushed it back in.
“Fucking mine.”
Mya whimpered, looking like a boneless sticky mess that took my breath away.
“Color, Sunshine?”
“A million different shades of green.” She sighed, content and very sleepy.
“You were perfect for me.” I brushed her hair back. “So good for me.”
She was still pretty boneless as I carried her to our bed. I could tell by the way she barely moved when I pressed the warm cloth against her thighs. Her eyes were half-lidded, her head tilted back with a small smile.
I kneeled in front of her quietly, soaking another cloth in warm water and brushing it over the marks on her inner thighs, the small bruises already forming and the tiny scab.
“You’re okay, baby,” I murmured. “I’m right here.”
She blinked slowly, the way someone does when they’re coming back to themselves. Her fingers flexed again, and I caught them in my own, kissing the tops of each knuckle one by one.
I dried her off and lotioned her skin. Checked every mark I’d left, every place I’d pushed her too far to make sure she knew I saw all of it.
That I loved all of it. The bruises. The raw edges.
The beautiful, wrecked girl who gave herself over to me like I was worth being worshipped when, in truth, she was the one I was worshipping.
When I stood, she moved forward instinctively. Her arms wrapped weakly around my wrist, and her cheek pressed against my thigh, and for a second, I couldn’t move.
God, she was everything.
I rolled her over and laid down next to her with the kind of care I hadn’t known I had in me until her. She reached for me instantly again, like muscle memory.
“You okay, Sunshine?” I asked gently, my lips against her forehead.
She mumbled a quiet ‘yes’, and if I didn’t know her enough, I might have thought she was lying. But she wasn’t. “You did so fucking good. I’m proud of you.”
Her breath caught, and she moved even closer. “I feel safe with you,” she whispered. “Like… all the noise goes quiet.”
That hit me harder than it should have. Because I knew what she meant. That noise, the storm in your head that never really shut off. The one we talked about the first night we met. How we both lived with it, just in different ways.
“Same here,” I admitted. “You turn everything down.”
She went quiet for a while. Just breathing. Letting me hold her. Aftercare was sacred, and for Mya, that meant feeling needed and safe. Knowing that I wasn’t leaving her. It wasn’t always words with her. It was actions. Like me holding her.
“You okay?” I asked again after a while, brushing my nose against her temple.
“Yeah.” Her voice was a little stronger now. “I think I dropped a little. But I feel better.”
I nodded. “That’s normal, Sunshine. You went deep tonight.”
“I like when you take me there. I’ve never trusted anyone like this before,” she whispered. “Not even myself.”
I exhaled slowly, trying to keep it together, but my throat was already tight. “Mya…”
She looked at me, waiting. She didn’t ask me to say anything and didn’t need a confession or some romantic speech.
But I had one anyway. “You see me. The ugly parts, the past, the control, the way I need things a certain way just to stay steady. And you don’t run.
Not even on the first night. The night that I poured everything out to you because I thought I’d never fucking see you again.
” I swallowed hard, my hand resting over her heart.
“And somewhere in the middle of all that… I fell in love with you.”
Her eyes instantly filled. I brushed my thumb under her cheekbone, catching the first tear before it could fall. “You don’t have to say it back,” I added quickly. “I didn’t say it to hear it. I said it because it’s true.”
“I’d be lying if I said a part of me didn’t fall for you the second you brushed my hair out of my face that night we met.
” She paused, swallowing hard. “We made that stupid pact. One night, no strings, but the whole time, I was already trying to figure out how I’d walk away without falling apart.
How I’d pretend like it didn’t kill me.” She looked up at me, her voice quieter now.
“I fell for someone I’d known for an hour…
and now? Now it’s not even a question. It’s deeper.
It’s real. And I am so fucking sure that I love you. ”
She loved me. Despite all the reasons I gave her not to. Despite my past. My temper. My broken edges and the weight I still carried. She saw it all, and she still chose me.
I kissed her softly this time, nothing like before. When I finally pulled back, her smile was waiting for me, and mine met hers without even trying.
It didn’t take her long to fall asleep. Her head was on my chest, curled into the side of me, and somehow it felt like she always belonged there.
Bear was sprawled out across her feet, like even he knew she belonged here.
And as I lay there, staring at the ceiling, I couldn’t help but think of how far I’d come.
This wasn’t how I thought my life would go.
But then again, I never thought I’d get a second chance at it.