Chapter 25
C H A P T E R2 5
LXIX
Cade
The Present
3:13 a.m.
G od, if I’m dreaming, please don’t ever let me wake up.
Awestruck, I glanced down, a slight twinge travelling in my chest where my heart, formerly broken, slowly mended itself one stitch at a time.
Finally, I could breathe again after months of suffocation.
Was this really happening? Was she truly back in my life for good?
Ella was on her knees in front of me, scantily clad in nothing but high-waisted black skinny jeans, gold hoops in her ears, and the remnants of her shiny lip gloss over those plump lips.
Looking extremely innocent and submissive, a far cry from the bloodthirsty goddess I’d come to know. And I was so aroused by the sight she created that I was losing my mind.
Ella yanked off my belt and lowered my zipper before reaching inside my boxer briefs for my cock. She fisted me from root-to-tip in a tight hold that had me hissing in pleasure.
Goddamn .
Not a dream at all.
Her devil tongue wasted no time collecting the pearly drop of cum. “Mm. I’ve missed your taste.”
My girl lavished the underside of my cock like she was frantic to get reacquainted with her favourite treat, licking me like an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. Then her skillful mouth greedily sucked more than half of me on a hearty swoop with delicious little moans that reverberated against my wet flesh.
My eyes rolled back into my skull.
Holy fuck. Holy fuck. Holy fuck.
This was actually happening.
After months of longing for her, Ella was back like she’d never left, sucking the life out of me, slobbering all over my cock, and looking so fucking perfect in the dark with the soft candlelight bathing her figure.
She never took her eyes off me, appraising my reactions—my panting breaths, my deep groans, my gaze watching her lovely face with adoration—and letting them fuel her. I threw my head back on a growl when she took the remainder of me into her hot suctioning mouth.
Stuffed full of my cock with tears gathered in her waterline, she was stunning.
Finally, I gave in to the urge and delved my fingers into her shorter strands, pulling her head back with a rough tug.
She released my cock with a pop sound. “Cade?”
I wiped the lone tear that streamed down her cheek. Fuck, I hated these contacts. I wanted to see her real gaze. The blue and brown swirling together in her right eye. The one that reminded me of the sky and the earth. It was arresting.
“You asked if I was ready to punish you.” I framed her jaw possessively with one hand. “Baby, I’ve been dreaming of punishing you. I’ve had filthy fantasies running through my mind since you left me. The kind one shouldn’t have about the love of his life.”
Chasing her around the city and barely getting crumbs of her attention made me insane with hunger, like a feral, unsatiated beast waiting centuries for his fated mate.
“Tell me.” She scored her nails down my abs, leaving marks. “I want to know.”
“I’ve fantasized about stealing you away from your ivory tower and taking you deep into my woods, princess.” My fingers skittered to her pulse, a crude grin curling my lips when I noted how fast it fluttered. “I’ve fantasized about chasing you while I wear my mask—because I know it turns you on—and catching you, pinning you on your back, then pounding your sweet, forbidden cunt like an animal.” I pressed my thumb over her lips and she sucked it into her mouth of her own volition. “And I’ve fantasized about dragging you to my cabin where I collar you, chain you to my bed, and do sinful things to your body until your voice is hoarse from begging for more because deep down…you crave those dark things, too. You want me to own you, ruin you, love you in every possible way.”
The way her eyes glittered with excitement, I knew I had her number. This was one of her fantasies. Mine too.
“You promise to make it happen?”
“Do I ever break one, pretty girl?”
She smiled with affection and nostalgia. “Never.”
“Now that that’s settled.” I tugged at her hair until she whined—giving her the pain she so needed with her pleasure—and dug my fingers into her jaw. “Open your mouth wide, sweetheart. I’m going to make you regret the day you left me.”
Ella dragged her long nails over my balls, a gentle reminder that she could be lethal but was choosing to be obedient for me. “Will you let me come afterwards?”
“If you behave, I’ll consider it.”
“Fine.”
“Don’t even think about touching your pussy while I face-fuck you. Otherwise, I’ll edge you all night long.”
She huffed dramatically and rolled her eyes. “Spoilsport.”
Fuck, I missed her.
“Open up, baby.” I ran my fingers over her mouth.
She caught my hand and pressed a kiss to my knuckles, lingering on the silver rings and taking note of the one that was missing. A bout of regret flashed in her expression. She knew she messed up by throwing my promise ring out of the belfry.
“It’s okay.” After tonight, I’d scavenge through the grounds until I found it. “We’ll get it back.”
Following my instructions, Ella parted her lips, and I took it as my cue to shove myself into her mouth with no mercy, knuckling the strands at her crown like a leash.
She cried out into the empty stillness of the nurse’s office.
I grinned cruelly. “Pinch my thigh if it becomes too much.”
Ella blinked up at me twice, her signal for consent whenever we did this.
Then I started thrusting, pounding deep inside of her throat, gratification zinging through my system. “Fucking hell, Ella.”
The sounds of our dirty act blended into a spectacular symphony, louder than the storm raging outside. They resounded in the room until I was sure someone might find us. But that’s what Ella liked, therefore none of us bothered taming the muffled moans and loud groans.
Brown eyes glanced up at me. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Saliva smeared all over her kiss-swollen lips. And her wild smile stretched around my girth.
Before I met Ella, I barely had time for silly crushes. Once our paths crossed, I knew why no one caught my attention for the first sixteen years of my life. I was waiting for her. Saving myself for her.
Her madness and darkness mirrored mine.
She was my match made in heaven and hell.
“Good girl,” I praised, moving faster and harder, revelling in the glugging noises coming from this overdue face-fucking. “You look so perfect on your knees, redeeming yourself by taking every inch of my cock like a properly trained slut.”
Her response came in the form of another muffled moan. I knew what that moan meant. She wanted more. So much more.
Unable to deny this girl, I kept dirty-talking, mixing praise and degrade with every sentence, driving her crazier with each drive of my hips.
“Nasty girl, you’re getting wetter with each thrust, hm? I bet you’d like nothing more than for me to bend you over and give you a few rounds of rough sex. We all know how much you loved it when I fucked you like I hated your guts.”
“Keep the black card, baby. Use it. Drain me of every cent. I won’t mind. So long as you repay me by keeping your thighs wide open so I can do all sorts of dirty things to this tight cheerleader pussy of yours.”
“I can’t breathe without you, Ella. My princess, my goddess, my religion. I would die for you, kill for you, live the rest of my life worshipping you.”
It had been so long since I had this—her—and I wouldn’t last long. I felt my orgasm hurtling forward, screwing my eyes shut. “Fuck, I’m coming, baby.”
Pulling out wasn’t an option. Ella liked to swallow, and that’s exactly what she did moments later when I shot down her throat. Holding on to my hips and sucking every pulse of cum like a sexual deviant. Grazing her teeth along my cock when I pulled out of her mouth.
I was overwhelmed by the powerful release, a culmination of missing her for months and my fist being unable to do the job right. Panting, I framed her face and wiped her tears, completely speechless and spellbound by her.
Oh, sweetheart. My mind can never do your memory justice. You’re even prettier up close, in the flesh. Sweet and controlled on the surface, but thrumming with fire underneath that steely armour. And it’s incredible that I’m the only man to have the privilege of experiencing you this way.
Finding my voice, I ground out, “Are you okay? Was I too rough?”
“I’m okay.” She held my wrists and took turns kissing each palm. “That was perfect.”
I opened my mouth to agree, but the mind-numbing orgasm dulled my senses momentarily. Ella stood up after grabbing an extra lollipop from my leather jacket’s pocket. She unwrapped it, stuck it into her mouth, and threw her arms around my neck. “Hi.”
The feel of her naked chest against mine sent a row of shivers down my spine. I banded my arms around her waist, holding her tighter to me, vowing to never let her go. I may truly die if she walked away from me again. “Hi, baby.”
“Did I behave, querido ?”
“Barely.” Once a heathen, always a heathen.
I yanked the lollipop out of her mouth. She giggled before I cupped her nape and drew her lips to mine, sucking and nipping them while that girlish, bell-like laugh chimed in my ears. It sounded like home .
She had a languid look when I finished smothering her with my love. For now. “You’ve really missed me, huh?”
“You have no idea.”
Ella’s face softened and she brushed gentle pecks on either side of my cheeks.
My heart beat rapidly.
She’s kissing my dimples and everything in the world feels right again.
“I meant it when I said I missed you, too.” She stole the lollipop and popped it back in her mouth, arching her brow playfully. “And I also miss the way you make me come.”
“Of course, you do, Ella.” I lifted her into my arms and strode to the single bed, depositing her on it. “Because nobody knows you like me.”
“Nobody, Cade.”
The reassurance patched up another wound in my heart.
She immediately raised herself on her elbows and split her thighs wide in invitation.
Ella Ximena Cordova was the most beautiful thing in my universe, hand-crafted by the heavens, and spread before me like an offering at a feast for a greedy deity.
Raven hair that barely caressed her shoulders, tan skin shimmering like gold, brown eyes denoting an intense heat, sultry lips curved in a come-hither smile, and saffron-coloured nails mapping the lines of her body, running over her pebbled nipples, down the valley of her tight middle, and disappearing into her panties with a naughty expression.
I couldn’t wait any longer to have a piece of her.
“Get naked, baby,” I ordered, my cock hardening again at the thought of her arousal on my warm tongue. “Now.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Ella snapped teasingly. “You’re not the boss of me.”
“When it comes to bringing your sweet little cunt pleasure? You and I both know I am.”
“You want me?” she goaded. “Come undress me yourself.”
Dark amusement tipped up the corners of my lips. I’d punish her insolence by spanking her pussy and ass before I gave her a single orgasm.
Pouncing on her, she laughed when I shrugged off her booted heels and tugged her pants down her sculpted legs with impatience. Grabbing the sides of her orange thong, I all but ripped it off her pussy angrily.
“You’ve ruined all this pretty silk with your cum,” I growled and slapped her pussy. “Horny little slut.”
Ella moaned, body arching, feet digging into the mattress. “Oh, God.”
I rubbed the wetness on my fingers and smirked. “You’ve been throwing insults and giving me attitude all night long, but it makes you fucking wet when I play back, huh?”
She glared at me, still sucking on that lollipop. “No, it doesn’t.”
“Let’s try that again, shall we?” I slapped her pussy again, the sound marrying with her hitching moans. “Have you been wet this whole time?”
“Maybe.”
“Don’t test my patience right now.” I slapped her tits and twisted her nipples with both hands. She gasped. I lifted her thigh and spanked her left cheek twice, pinkening the skin of her ass. “Tell me what I want to hear, Ella.”
“Yes! Yes, okay? I started feeling needy since…the tunnels.”
“You had a gun cocked against my jaw, but you still wanted me.” I grinned deviously, trailing my fingers over her slick pussy. “Bad, bad girl.”
“I hate you,” she said with little conviction, panting.
I climbed onto the bed, covering her body with mine. Pulling out the lollipop, I kissed her hard, indulging in her sugary taste. “No, Ella,” I whispered, our lips threaded together with a ribbon of saliva. “You don’t hate me at all. Far from it.”
She never answered when I said she couldn’t unlove me either. But her reply was sketched over the lines of her visage. One day, soon, I would get her to utter the three words.
“What were you thinking about in the tunnels?” I dragged the lollipop down her neck and circled her nipples. Ella moaned when my lips and tongue followed suit, her nails digging into my shoulders. “When you had me on my knees for you?”
She swallowed, watching me plant open-mouth kisses all over her stomach, stopping just shy of her mound. “I…I wanted to sit on your face while you licked my pussy…and let me lick you too.”
We hadn’t sixty-nined in ages. But now I couldn’t get the hot image out of my mind. “You want to sit on my face and make a mess, pretty girl?”
“Y-Yes, please.”
“First, tell me I’m the only one for you.”
Tell me I’m the only one—now and forever—and you can have anything.
“You’re the only one for me, Cade.” She caressed my jaw. “You’ve always been. I promise you.”
I smiled, finishing the remainder of her lollipop in two bites. “You’re the only one for me, too. You know, in case you were wondering.”
She tutted. “I know. You’re a little too obsessed with me.”
I wasn’t even going to deny it. Everyone knew it at this point. “But you love it.”
“I do, querido .”
When I flipped us into position so I was lying underneath with Ella on top, she yelped at my lack of warning. With her back facing me, she threw a glare over her shoulder. I winked and clapped her ass. “Come get what you need, sweetheart.”
I helped her scoot backwards. Now her sweet ass and ripe pussy hovered just above my face, dangling like a forbidden fruit. I licked my lips, dying to sink into it. Good Lord, this sight was a blessing. If I died right now, I’d die the happiest man on Earth.
Ella raked her nails down my abs before her hands closed around my dick. “What if someone catches us?”
Fuck the competition and fuck anyone who dared to bust through that door. “Don’t worry. My gun is loaded. I’ll shoot.”
“Cade!”
“Relax.” My palms roved over her ass, shaping and squeezing the thickness before slapping it hard. “I’m not killing anyone tonight. Now stop worrying about getting caught like that isn’t your kink, you little exhibitionist.”
“But—oh my God!”
Her sentence died short when I shoved her pussy onto my awaiting mouth.
Wasting no time, I flicked my tongue across her wet slit a few times until I was engulfed by her sweet and tart essence. Fuck, I was in paradise. I ate her out with zeal, my tongue alternating between circling her clit and battering it with fast jabs that had her moaning loud enough to raise the dead. “Mm, you taste so good, baby. Just like I remember.”
When my lips closed around her clit and sucked, Ella screamed in abandonment.
“You like that, pretty girl?” I did it again and she quaked above me.
“Y-Yes.”
“Beg me for more.”
Ella panted as she jerked me off faster. “ Pleasepleaseplease .”
I skated my hand down her back and clasped her neck in warning. “If I don’t feel those lips wrapped around my cock in the next ten seconds, I’ll stop.”
Ella didn’t need to be told twice. My girlfriend—yes, we hadn’t made it official again, but sixty-nining was basically the definition of being back together in my book—spat on my dick and licked the entirety of my length. Then she sucked the tip before slowly taking all of my inches to the back of her throat, sans gag reflex.
My eyes rolled back into my skull and I groaned, commanding hoarsely, “Don’t you dare stop until I’m coming down that tight little throat, Ella.”
I resumed my ministrations on her delicious pussy and she proceeded to hoover my cock like a superstar.
The smell of our desires and the filthy noises as we pleasured each other caused pure euphoria to rush through my veins. I pistoned my hips upwards to meet each one of her downstrokes, grunting into her creamy flesh. She bounced her ass faster on my face to chase the thrusting fingers inside her hot cunt, muffling her sobbing moans around my cock.
“I’m c-close,” she whined when I switched to mercilessly tonguing her hole while my thumb rubbed her clit. “I’m going to come.”
“Not without me.” I smacked her ass and watched it shake beautifully. I bit into it like a juicy peach. She cried out. My teeth marks looked sexy on her. One day, this ass cheek would boast my ink too. “And make sure you swallow every drop of my cum like a good girl, Ella.”
My girl’s reply was another trembling moan as she returned to sucking my cock and surfing her pussy over my face. Her cum glistened on my chin, lips, and tongue. She was right at the precipice, her body coiled and ready to let go. Any other night, I would have edged her—I loved eating her out for hours on end—but tonight I was a desperate man, ready to taste her soft surrender on my palate.
“ Cadecadecade .” Ella was tightening and pulsing. “ Please .”
“Come for me,” I growled. “Drench my face, mo chuisle .”
Thunder and lightning struck outside as we came together. Ella orgasmed with a mouthful of cock, her cries muffled. I groaned as I emptied down her throat, lapping at the arousal pouring out of her like it was my sustenance.
Fuck, there was nothing like Ella coming undone from my touch. Wild, demanding, and so hot that I couldn’t help but press lingering kisses all over her flesh in veneration.
The strong release had Ella panting like she’d run a marathon. She rolled sideways and fell on the bed next to me, completely limp and speechless.
Smirking, I trickled a finger through her wet pussy and brought it to my mouth for another taste. “Who would have known South Side’s princess could be tamed with a good tongue-fucking, hm?”
“I’m sorry, but who are you, what year is it, and where are we?”
A genuine laugh burst out of me. “Come sit on my face again and I’ll remind you.”
Her head snapped, a lopsided smile curving her lips. She looked so cute and so much like my Ellie that my heart twisted. Happiness bloomed in my chest.
I think…I did it. I revived the old Ella I fell in love with.
“Is that so, princepin?”
“Princepin?” I arched my brow. “Look at you already remembering who I am.”
She chuckled and crawled closer to me, kissing my lips to taste herself before positioning her knees on either side of my head.
Sifting her fingers through my hair, she gazed down at me tenderly. My breath caught in my throat. “I could never forget you. No matter how much time we spent apart. You’re branded inside of me, too.”
“Good.” I swallowed and kissed the K tattoo on her hip bone. “Because I’ve never forgotten a single detail about you, Ellie.”
Then she proceeded to sit on my face like it was her personal throne and I made her come again, loud enough for everyone in St. Victoria to know what we were doing.
And I did it all with my gun next to me.
“I can’t believe you got my name inked on the inside of your bottom lip.” Curled beside me in post-coital bliss, Ella traced my lips, almost in a trance. “It’s so possessive. I love it.”
“I’m glad you do.” I burrowed her deeper into my chest, pressing a kiss to her forehead and inhaling her scent. Orange blossoms and jasmines mixed with rain. It calmed me down. “Though I hear the tat won’t last long.”
“Guess you’ll just have to redo it in a few years.”
I smiled like a fool. In a few years . That meant she was back and in it for the long haul, right?
Everything could finally go back to the way it was.
Well…not completely to the way it was.
Many things were different now. Yes, we were still the same Ella and Cade in some ways, though we had also changed due to the indelible marks we left on each other. Miscommunication was the root of our separation, but many external factors morphed us into the versions we were today. Ella’s miscarriage was a harsh dose of reality, yet she overcame the pain and was stronger than ever. As for me? Losing her forced me to immerse myself into the family business. Lonely nights spent working alongside Josh to build our empire and punishing dirty rats who crossed us made me colder, harsher, and more ambitious.
We grew and learned how to survive without one another.
But just because I knew how to survive without her didn’t mean I wanted to live without her.
“Guess I will.” I kissed the tip of her nose.
Now she traced the tattoos on my right arm. It was difficult to hold back my beaming grin. Ella was enamoured with all the ink in her honour. It was a way to never forget us and manifest her return.
“What else did you do over the summer, besides getting all this ink?”
“I spent a lot of time with Livvy, who made me have daily tea parties with her. She said it was the fastest cure to stop feeling sad.”
Ella laughed. “Basically, a ploy to get you to play with her dolls, eh?”
“Oh, one hundred percent.” I didn’t mind, though. There were three girls in my life that I would do anything for: Olivia, Aunt Julia, and Ella. My mom, too, when she was alive.
Silence stretched between us. Ella was pensive. I didn’t like that. I smoothed the furrow between her brows. Was she thinking about me? Was she regretting kissing and touching me?
I was afraid that once we left St. Victoria, all the magic we found tonight would be lost and her walls would go back up.
“Ella, I…”
“Yes?”
Will you take me back?
Will you love me forever?
Will you vow to never leave me again?
Tongue-tied, I was unable to echo those sentiments. Sensing my unease, Ella rose on one elbow and stared at me. She must have seen something in my transforming expression because she rushed out, “We should get going before someone finds us.”
“Do you want to leave?” I whispered. If we walk out of here, will I lose the parts of you I found in the dark?
Ella placed a hand on my cheek. “We’re way past the timer, Cade. We should leave.” Glancing at my watch, she confirmed, “Crap, it’s three thirty-three a.m.”
I sighed. She was right. “Will you let me drive you home?”
“Did you bring an extra helmet?”
Fuck, I hadn’t. “No.”
“Then I’ll have to go home with Callie.”
“I can give you my helmet. I don’t have to ride with one.”
Ella shook her head and smiled like I was being silly. I was dead serious. “You’re adorable.” She kissed my cheek and she swung off the bed. “Can you hand me my clothes, please?”
I picked up our discarded clothing. We put our armours back on and grabbed our torches. I blew out the candle and surveyed the nurse’s office, ensuring nothing was out of place.
Baseball bat in hand, Ella headed for the door, but quickly halted in her tracks. “Cade?”
I held my breath, tucking my gun into the back of my pants. “Yes?”
“Thank you for coming to Initiation Night. Thank you for telling me your truth—despite the fact that I didn’t make it easy for you to be heard—and for listening to my side of the story. I’m really glad we finally aired out our dirty laundry.”
Why did this feel so final? “Ella…”
She opened the door and stepped out, before letting loose a bloodcurdling shriek.