Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Autumn Crocus: “It is a highly toxic flower infamous for its involvement in the case of the last woman who was publicly hanged in the UK. . . She gave them lethal doses of colchicine… effects are similar to arsenic."
-Fen Inkwright, Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow Lives of Plants-
Ace
Her words had hit me like bullets, each one meant to cause more damage than the last. But the kill shot was her body and the brand that decorated it.
The second I saw it I knew that Royce Ripkins III was going to die.
I’ll even let her carve his heart out if she wants to, she can hold the beating appendage in her hand while it finishes its last cycle of life.
She can watch me while I carve him up and feed him to the pigs.
Thea tastes like the summer rain and her lips feel like a homecoming that I’ve been desperate for.
She doesn’t yield to my kiss and I fucking love her for that right now.
The fight she has in her fuels the fire raging in my soul.
I’ll take her hate and rage, she can pour it into me.
I earned them both. I feel her teeth pierce my lip forcing me to break the kiss.
The coppery taste of blood fills my mouth, but it’s the sight of it on her lips that has my dick painfully hard.
“Fuck you look good with my blood on you.”
Her pupils blow wide, and I see the way her chest heaves and nipples press against the wet material. “Let me go Ace, I’m not doing this with you!” She spits towards the ground, her eyes full of heat.
Fuck that.
Dragging her into my body again I hold her steady, even as she fights against, forcing her to look at me. “I claimed you a long time ago, Thea Montgomery. I’m just reminding you of it now.”
I can see the rage and pain and arousal all fight to take up residence in her body.
The feelings battling it out to see which one will prevail.
Tears fill her eyes as she shakes her head.
“You didn’t want me!” Her fist pounds against my chest. “You don’t get to come back now and pretend you didn’t fucking break my god damn heart!
Or that you didn’t just fucking break it all over again now!
” She unleashes her rage against my body, her fists unleashing against me as tears pour from her beautiful eyes.
“I ALWAYS WANTED YOU!” My voice bellows out, freezing her onslaught of anger. “I always fucking wanted you Thea.”
“No you didn’t.” She says, albeit with less heat.
Frustration and rage drive my body into movement. She screams as I hoist her up and over my shoulder stalking off towards the one place that can communicate my feelings better than words.
“LET ME GO YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” Thea screeches.
My hand finds her ass and the smack reverberates through my whole body. “Knock it the fuck off Cricket! Hold still.” My legs burn and the rain makes our bodies slick as I near the sacred space.
My skin feels electric as I use my boot to kick through the short, picket fence gate.
The scent of roses, lilacs and lilies fill the air, just under the scent of the neighboring woods.
If it wasn’t raining the sound of the fountain in the center of the garden would fill the air with twinkling elegance.
Thea slips further down my body and I give up the fight, dropping her to the ground.
She lands hard on the soft patch of grass glaring up at me with so much rage that it can only be fueled by one thing, pain.
When the wind shifts ever so slightly she catches the same scents that I find comfort in and her attention is drawn to the space I deposited her into.
“What… what is all this?” She asks with disbelief.
“Why would you think that I didn’t want you?
Because I hesitated when you told me you were a virgin and wanted me to fuck you?
! I had promised Logan and Law that we would be together when we finally claimed you and here you were, fucking perfect, standing right in front of me and I couldn’t decided if I should break my promise to them or say no to you.
” I curse as I start to pace back and forth, swiping my wet hair from my face.
“And you know exactly what this is Thea, even when I thought you were fucking someone else I couldn’t get enough of you.
I needed something to remind me that you were fucking real!
” It happens in an instant. Her body pressing upward and into my space before her hands grip my wet shirt and she’s kissing me again.
Claiming my lips in the middle of the garden I built for her memory.
Her hands grapple with my body as she tries to get as close as she can to me.
I pull back, needing to say all the words still in my mind.
Needing to tell her exactly who, and what I am.
So many god damn words within my brain and yet the lust that is burning through me won’t relent.
Thea must see the struggle because she covers my mouth with her hand.
“Don’t.” She commands. “Don’t ruin this with words.
If this is my garden I make the rules and the rules state reality does not exist here.
” She waits for confirmation, her hand pressed against my lips.
After a breath I give her the nod she seeks, recognizing this probably isn’t smart, but yet unable to say no.
Slowly she drops her hand, freeing my lips once more.
My lips find her neck, worshipping her skin with my tongue.
“I wonder if I touched your pussy how wet it would be.” I groan before pulling back to look her in the eyes.
Her cheeks are flushed, lips full and eyes blown wide with lust. I chuckle, dragging my hand down her body and hiking up the long, soaking wet dress she has on until my fingers find her core.
I groan when I swipe over her pussy and feel the heat and wetness radiating from her. My mouth drops to her neck once more as I start to play with her, slowly pressing down on her clit before dipping one long digit into her.
“Oh fuck.” She groans as I pump in and out. My thumb drags to her clit, pressing and rubbing. Her hips buck forward at the sensation. “Ace! Please don’t stop!”
“Fuckkk my name sounds good coming from your lips.” I huff into her neck. “Wrap your leg around my hip.”
She follows the command, spreading herself to me in the middle of our pasture.
All around us the rain beats down, lightning and thunder crackling across the skies.
It's a dangerous game we are playing, being out in the field like this during a storm. But the two of us seem to flirt with death like it’s an old lover.
I press two fingers into her core now, enjoying the tight feel of it and imagining how my cock will feel when it finally finds it home deep within her.
I feel her channel spasm, her breathing hitch.
She’s so responsive. So easy to get there.
“That's it baby girl, give me what I want.” I pick up the pace, wishing it was my cock fucking her tight little pussy. Her nails dig into my arms and I feel her tip over the edge, her orgasm slamming into her and soaking my hand. “Good girl.” I purr, continuing to pump my fingers in and out.
Her head drops to my shoulder as I slowly pull my fingers free of her. And for a moment I’m the happiest I’ve ever been but when she pulls back from me the feeling fades.
“You said there is no reality here.” I remind her.
She offers a sad, small smile before looking around us. “You really did all this for me?”
“I needed to remember you, remember the feelings you gave me. It kept me… grounded.” I say, unsure how to tell her that the times the darkness ate at my soul the most were the times I found myself here.
It was like this was my church and she was the god I needed to worship.
Her body moves around the space, ignoring the rain and focusing on the flowers I’ve planted.
The silence stretches on and on until it hits a crescendo.
“Thea please tell me what you're thinking…”
“I’m thinking I need time. And space” She says finally, turning back to me. Slowly she starts to back away towards the gate and despite her asking for space and time my feet follow. “Ace, please. Don’t follow me.”
“Cricket I’m sorry for earlier, I’m sorry for what I said.” I try.
“I know.” She says and yet she doesn’t stop. Instead I watch her sprint towards the house.
Thea
My mind is a mess.
Ace has always overwhelmed me. Ever since we were little.
But now that feeling feels ten fold and it’s at war with the anger and hurt I feel for the words he spat at me.
Despite that, my body feels alive, every nerve is awake and firing, needing more of whatever Ace injected into my veins through that orgasm.
My lips still tingle from the kiss that could have sucked my soul free of my body.
And had I stayed in that garden I think I would have begged him to fuck me.
Even now I can feel his eyes on me. Feel that burning stare that seems to see every little thing in my soul.
Or at least he used to. Ace saw me more clearly than anyone ever did, which is maybe what made the word vomit in the barn all the more painful.
Because if he saw me, really saw me, maybe some of what he said was true.
“It is true. You wanted me. But you got bored. I understand. You needed to slum it for awhile.”
A sob rips from my throat as I run. My feet pounding into the path leading me up to the backdoor of the house before I’m throwing myself through it and running straight into Law’s chest.
“Whoa, are you okay?” Law asks, his grip on my arms a steady pressure as he keeps my body upright. He takes one look at my face, the state of my general appearance and frowns. “Answer me now, darlin'.”
“Ace… he uh…” The words tumble out but I can’t seem to make them make sense. I haven’t organized it in my mind yet, cannot even begin to fully verbalize what just transpired. My silence, however, does not help ease whatever tension is moving through the man holding me.
Law looks over my head and back at me, eyes narrowing before he’s handing me off to Logan who had appeared suddenly from the back bedroom.
“ACE!” His voice bellows out, the sound startling me.
“Law! Wait!” I cry out after him. But he doesn’t listen.
He’s gone from the house and down the stairs, rushing towards the figure who is now standing in the rain and in full view of the door.
“Logan, you have to stop him!” I look up pleadingly at him.
His face is set in a grim line so uncharacteristic of what he normally is like.
When he doesn’t say anything I rip myself free of his hold and sprint back out towards the man I just fled from. I watch as Law’s fist connects with Ace’s mouth.
“What the fuck did you do?!” His voice shakes with anger. Ace goes to open his mouth but Law cuts him off with another punch.
“Stop!” I scream out, but Law doesn’t. He grabs onto Ace who has yet to fight back. “Law stop!”
Ace’s eyes catch mine over Law’s shoulder and a sob catches in my throat. I see it all in a flash. And understanding hits me in the gut as I realize Ace is taking the hits as punishment for what he said in the barn. He is using his blood as atonement.
“I told her she wasn’t welcome here. I told her to leave and to go back to her boyfriend.
” The words come from him all while he keeps his eyes locked on mine.
I wait for him to continue, to explain that it’s fine, everything is okay now but instead he digs his grave deeper.
“And then I fucked her pussy with my fingers.”
Law hits him again, the punch landing to Ace’s hardened stomach before he lets his body drop to the ground. I feel frozen in time as Logan brushes past me trying to get between the two. Law goes to launch himself at him once more, only for Logan to grab him from behind.
Ace keeps his eyes on me, only occasionally glancing at the other two. He looks at me like he knows I know exactly what he’s doing. I shake my head and fresh tears well in my eyes. Ace may have jumped to far too many conclusions but this violence is unnecessary.
“Stop fighting!” I yell again, my voice louder and stronger this time.
My body finally kicks into gear and I jolt forward, pressing between Logan and Law before stepping back and looking at the three of them through the rain.
Lightning cracks overhead and wind whistles around us, the previously beautiful morning gone.
He spits on the ground again shaking his head as Law steps backwards. For a split second I think I did it, I stopped the fight. That is until Ace opens his mouth again. “Have you two seen what she looks like under that dress?” The statement opens up a wide, yawning chasm in my soul.
“See, I told you they wouldn’t want you. No one will want you but me.”
Law growls low, the wind ripping at us as he goes to launch himself at Ace again.
“God damn it you two, knock it off!” Logan yells. His chest is still bare from waking up and his muscles ripple as he holds Law back. “Go cool off, you’ve got your shift soon!” He shoves Law back who keeps his eyes locked on Ace.
Finally my body seems to unlock and I press closer to him, my hand delicately resting on his forearm.
He looks down at me, concern shining in his eyes.
“I’m okay, Law. I promise.” Law drags his hand through his hair clearly not believing me so I reach up on my tip toes and dust my lips across his before pulling back again.
“Take me inside?” I loop my hand in his and gently start to pull him away from Logan and Ace.
Law takes one last look behind us at Ace and Logan. “Don’t even think of coming in this fucking house until I’m gone. You got it?”
If there is a response I never hear it, instead I focus on getting Law in the house.