CHAPTER 34 - Noah Black
Appearing, disappearing
On the edge of paradise
Every inch of your skin
Is a Holy Grail I have to find
Love me like you do – Ellie Goulding
Blood.
Red.
Vibrant.
Alive.
My eyes land on blood everywhere.
Floor, walls, furniture.
The room looks like a slaughterhouse—in fact, it's become exactly that.
Gavin hangs by his arms from the wall ahead, both hands missing chunks of fingers.
His body is unrecognizable, raw flesh.
I'm certain all three layers of skin were torn off while Bryan tortured him.
I lower my gaze and see nothing between his legs.
There's only blood gushing from where his penis should be.
A shiver runs through me, and my heart pounds harder with the realization that he'll never touch another child.
He'll never get near Sadie.
I don't know what this says about me, but staring at Gavin's mutilated body fills me with ecstasy.
There's no fear.
Even less revulsion.
Only the sweet satisfaction of revenge.
“Butterfly…” The nickname comes out hoarse, and I tear my gaze from the body to look at Bryan. His eyes are dark, clouded with something I can't decipher. “You said that…”
I shake my head, cutting him off.
I take a step forward.
He does the same.
In seconds, we're face to face.
“You shouldn't be here…” he says, and I look at his clothes.
Bryan is dressed head to toe in black.
Overcoat, shirt, pants, and combat boots.
Even so, the blood stains are visible on the fabric.
“I love you,” I begin, and his pupils dilate. “I love you even more than I did minutes ago.” I press our bodies together. “Thank you for this,” I say, letting him hear the gratitude in my voice.
“I thought…”
“That I'd be scared, think you were a monster, and run away?” I ask, and he gives a slight nod.
“I'm not a porcelain doll. Yes, I have my issues and I need to deal with them, but what happened here doesn't fill me with anguish. On the contrary, it fills me with an indescribable sense of pleasure and freedom.”
He tilts his head to the side, examining me.
My body is trembling, but not from fear.
It's pure excitement.
The metallic smell still hanging in the air washes over me like perfume, and somewhere inside me, a dark part awakens.
“Are you sure?”
“Bryan, this bastard touched me when I was a child, hurt me for twenty-three years, was an accomplice to what Joshua did to me, and hurt our daughter.” His eyes become a turbulent sea at my words. “Knowing that he suffered every pain you inflicted on him fascinates me.”
He stares at me, and I know he sees the change.
The broken girl he met is finally feeling avenged, and with that, something new is being born inside me.
I was molded by pain.
Deformed by abuse.
But now I'm rising from revenge.
From my tormentor's spilled blood.
“No one will ever hurt you again,” he says firmly, and I trust his promise completely. “I'll take care of you, Noah. I'll help heal every wound in your heart.”
“Then tear him out of me,” I say without thinking, listening only to my heart's frantic beating. “Remove Gavin and Joshua from my mind. Rip out the last memories my head still holds.”
“How?” he asks, and I notice his breathing falter. “I'll do anything to erase those monsters once and for all.”
His body exudes tension.
Mine exudes desire and a desperate yearning to imprint only the touch of the man I love.
“Make me yours again. Only yours and no one else's!”
“Here?” he asks, as if he can't believe my words.
“I don't know what this says about me, but seeing you like this and knowing that you destroyed him, that you did it for me, set my body on fire.”
My eyes drop to the spilled blood.
It's as if each drop on the floor is a scream I couldn't release over the years.
I turn my attention back to Bryan and notice his lips are parted.
His breathing falters when our eyes meet, and for an instant, the mask of control he wears crumbles.
Desire pulses across his face.
He breaks eye contact, deliberately lowering his gaze over every inch of my body.
The inspection sends a throb through my belly, and I press my legs together.
The gesture draws a low growl from him.
“Are you turned on, Butterfly?” The question comes out in a tone I’ve never heard before, not even when we had sex at the lake.
It’s dark, voracious, sibilant.
Loaded with shadowy desire.
“I’m aching for you to make me forget. To erase any trace of another man from my body, and I can’t wait another second.”
His hands find my waist.
I gasp when my chest presses against his torso.
When I feel his hardness against my belly, I’m not afraid.
“You’re hurt,” he says, eyes scanning my body covered in scratches and bruises.
“I don’t care,” I answer without hesitation. “This is nothing compared to what I’ve been through.”
“I’m a sick son of a bitch for being turned on, and even sicker for considering fucking you here, in the middle of all this blood, with your father a few feet away, all mutilated.”
“Then I’m sick too. Maybe our new versions aren’t so different, my love.”
He looks around, then turns back to me.
I know he’s going to do exactly what I asked when he starts removing his overcoat.
I hold my breath as he pulls off his shirt, leaving his torso bare before me.
“How many tattoos do you have?” I ask, reaching out to touch him.
His abs make me gasp.
Beautiful.
Bryan Trevor is divinely beautiful!
“I stopped counting at the tenth,” he answers hoarsely, his stomach tensing under the brush of my fingers.
“Why?” I look up, curious.
“Because only those matter to me,” he says, and every hair on my body stands on end. “The others are just empty drawings to fill space.”
“Promise to tell me the meaning of the ten?”
“I promise,” he agrees, stepping closer and lifting me in one swift motion.
I let out a little scream but wrap my legs around his waist.
My back slams against the wooden door.
My injuries protest, but they’re no match for the throb of desire consuming me.
“I’m not putting your body on that filthy bed,” he warns, and I nod. “But we can start right here and finish somewhere else later.”
“Sounds perfect to me.” I bite my lip, my body thrumming with anticipation.
“First, I need to tell you something.” His forehead touches mine.
“I don’t want to know.” I shake my head. “I’d rather pretend you didn’t touch anyone else after you disappeared,” I say hurriedly, fighting the uncontrolled jealousy.
The pain of knowing he probably took several women to bed.
That he touched bodies that weren’t mine.
“You don’t need to pretend, Butterfly.” He raises the corner of his mouth, and my expression hardens at the mocking gesture.
“Yes, I do,” I interrupt, trying not to get irritated. “I hate knowing you touched another woman,” I confess, and his smile widens.
“And who told you I touched anyone?” I hold my breath at his words. “There was no one. No woman after you.”
I blink, trying to process what I just heard.
Trying to understand if he said what I think he said.
It’s not possible.
How can a man like this have gone five years without sex?
Women must throw themselves at him.
“Are you telling me your last time was with me?” I ask, needing to confirm I’m not going deaf.
Ever since I stopped speaking, I feel like my hearing has sharpened beyond normal, but right now I’m doubting it.
“I never forgot you, and deep down, I longed to find you again,” he says, as if this isn’t making all the butterflies in my stomach take flight.
“But you believed I hated you, Bryan. How could you not get involved with anyone else?” I continue, still incredulous.
“You still don’t understand, do you? My obsession with you knows no limits—not time, not distance,” he confesses, his voice low, almost a growl. My heart races so fast I fear it will explode in my chest. “It knows only love and unbridled lust for you. Only you exist for me, Butterfly.”
“I loved you every damn second I spent crying over your death,” I say, letting the emotion take over. “Knowing you kept loving me too makes it all worth it, including every beating.”
“I’m all yours. Always have been. Always will be. There’s nothing inside me that isn’t yours, Noah.” He rests his forehead against mine. “And I’d carry hell on my back again if it meant having you like this in the end—in my arms, looking at me this way.”
“I’m yours, completely yours!”
“I have no doubts about that.” The corner of his mouth lifts, smug and certain.
“You don’t get to not be mine—not now, not later, not in any life to come.
There’s no other story but ours, and if anyone tries to separate us, they’ll meet the same end as everyone who’s crossed our path.
” I bite my lip, fascinated by the dark tone.
“You belong to me from the tips of your toes to the last strand of hair. Your body is mine, every beat of your heart is mine, even your soul belongs to me. It’s you and me forever, understand, Butterfly? ”
“I understand…” I whisper, my voice trembling with desire. “I’m yours. Only yours,” I repeat, loving the way his pupils dilate.
Bryan doesn’t wait for another word. His fingers grip the back of my neck with an almost savage urgency, and his mouth finds mine in a brutal, hungry kiss—the kind that doesn’t ask permission, only claims.
Our tongues tangle and I moan, feeling pleasure spread through every cell, every nerve.
The heat of his body burns through the thin fabric of my dress.
It’s like coming home after years of being lost, and the feeling of finally being free from the chains that were forced on me is overwhelming.
His mouth consumes mine and I give back just as much, just as hungry, craving more, wanting more as every touch of his lips sends heat straight between my legs.
I close my eyes when he releases my lips and starts kissing my freckles, then trails down my chin, my neck, my collarbone. I tilt my head back, savoring the heat of his mouth on my skin.
Each touch feels like he’s stripping away my painful layers, leaving only what belongs to us. His free hand slides along my side, slipping beneath the thin fabric of my dress, pushing it up slowly, his fingers grazing my skin and drawing a sigh from my throat.