51. Theo Fairview
My suspicions that this was over proved correct when Cass didn’t follow me out into the hall.
I stumbled into her bedroom and pulled open one of the drawers she’d let me keep my clothes in before dragging my gym bag over so I could start shoving shit into it.
I winced at the sight of the empty wine bottles I’d yet to dispose of, and took the time to make sure they were separated by a t-shirt so they didn’t clink together when I walked.
Ignoring the lump that was steadily growing in my throat, I closed the drawer and got shakily to my feet.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and took a moment to grieve the fact that whatever this was, it was already over.
At least I got to have her for a little while…
My pity party didn’t last long.
There was a screech, and suddenly, I was yanked backward. Strong fingers curled into the back of my sports bra, and with a surprising amount of finesse and force, Cassandra launched me backward across the room.
I dropped my bag in an effort to keep myself from tumbling back onto her bed, but the effort was futile.
She slammed into me in a crimson and black streak of fury, and I let out a surprised bark of pain as she pinned me down to the bed.
Straddling my hips, she wrapped her hand around my throat. Her silky dark hair cascaded around us in a wave of ink as she leaned over me with a snarl.
“C-Cass… Wh-what?” I stammered. My head was pounding from the minor whiplash I’d sustained from being tossed like a rag doll, and my stomach roiled with nausea as she crushed her sharp fingernails into the sides of my throat.
She didn’t answer me. Her pupils were blown so wide they’d eaten the brown of her irises, and I had the distinct feeling that I wasn’t looking at Cassandra anymore.
That cold part of her was floating near the surface, and she seemed to actively be fighting it.
“NO!” she screeched. Abruptly, she released my throat and tore at her own hair instead, crushing her eyes shut as she shook her head. “No! We’re not doing that! SHUT UP! Shut up, shut up, shut UP!”
“Cass…” I croaked.
She looked… distraught.
Forgetting my own anger, I instinctively reached up to try to cup her cheek, but that seemed to be the wrong thing to do.
The second my fingers touched her face, she lost the battle with whatever she was fighting, and she was on me again.
Wrapping both hands around my throat this time, she squeezed, and I groaned, unintentionally rolling my hips up into her as my body reacted to the pain.
She let out one of her adorable little growls, and before I knew what was happening, she was kissing me.
Her lips slammed into mine, and she bit and sucked on my bloody and swollen bottom lip… hard.
I moaned again, my body immediately submitting to the overwhelming feelings of euphoria and peace that always came with this kind of pain.
The second her tongue slipped into my mouth, my brain went fully offline, and I went limp beneath her.
I was drowning in her own personal brand of violence and vanilla. She squeezed the breath out of my lungs, only so she could steal it for herself through the hot clasp of her mouth…
Time stood still and for one blinding moment of clarity… I thought… This might be a really nice way to die.
“Mmm…Cass…” I hissed as her tongue continued to stroke me into submission. She made a possessive, rumbly sound in response, and it made my skin sheet from head to toe with goosebumps.
Just when I thought I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen, she let me go, and I gasped, only to groan again as she slid her hands up into my hair to grip me by the roots.
I shivered as her fingernails scraped against my scalp, and she held me still beneath her, panting above me as if she were seconds away from completely losing her shit.
“I told you what would happen if you tried to leave, Theodora,” she hissed. “You said you understood. Were you lying?”
Her eyes were still completely dilated, and I couldn’t tell which version of her I was talking to anymore. My mouth opened and closed twice, but no sound came out.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you were lying,” she growled. “You seem to lie to us a lot.”
When it became clear I wasn’t going to be able to answer, she let out another frustrated snarl before turning her head and sinking her teeth deep into the side of my neck.
“FUCK!” I barked as my body arched into the pain. My hands instinctively found her hips, and I jerked her more firmly into me, hoping to encourage her to bite me harder.
More.
Hurt me more.
Hurt me harder.
I deserve it.
I need it.
Please, please, please…
As if she could hear the silent words in my head, she released me and grabbed my bruised jaw before aggressively forcing me to face her again.
“ANSWER US WHEN WE SPEAK TO YOU!”
Shaking with a very confusing mix of shock and arousal, I swallowed, doing everything I could to force my concussed and subbed-out brain to form coherent sentences.
“I-I- thought… I thought this was what you would want.”
She paused briefly, and I licked my lips, doing my best to stay very, very still.
“You thought we–You thought I wanted you to leave?”
I frowned, instinctively knowing now was not the time to ask why she kept flipping back and forth between singular and plural pronouns when referring to herself.
“ANSWER!” she snarled again, digging her claws into the bruises on my cheeks.
I nodded as much as I could.
“Yeah,” I rasped. “I’m fucked up, Cassandra. After these last two days, any sane person would be done with me. I just… I just figured I would make it easy for you and bounce.”
Her brows pinched together, and her all-black eyes searched my face as she processed what I’d just said.
After a long moment, a terrifyingly unhinged smile curled across her lips. She leaned forward to press her mouth directly against my ear. I hissed as her hot breath on my neck caused my nipples to contract and my toes to curl.
“If you think that we are sane, you have not been paying attention, street fighter.”
Uhmm… What?
Too turned on and terrified to respond, I did my best to remain perfectly limp and submissive beneath the clearly insane and lethal predator that was currently pinning me down.
When Cass pulled back to look at me again, the warmer version of herself flickered in and out of focus, and she gently stroked the side of my face.
She was looking at me like… Like I was something precious. Something to be protected and… loved.
My eyes stung with tears, and her dark gaze tracked the first tear as it slid down my cheek. Quietly, she leaned over me, kissing and licking my tears away as I struggled to get myself under control.
“If you try to leave again, I don’t know if I can stop it. You need to be good and stay here, Theodora. Don’t make me do something we’ll both regret,” she whispered.
The threat of her words directly contrasted with the tenderness of her actions as she continued to kiss me over and over again.
Her soft lips touched every inch of my swollen, abused face, and I shivered as she stroked her nails gently through my hair.
My chest was so full of emotion, I suddenly couldn’t handle even the small sliver of space that still separated us.
Tentatively, I wrapped my arms around her waist in an attempt to hold her tighter against me.
She made a purring sound and nuzzled her face into my neck, inhaling deeply as if she wanted to get high off my scent as much as I wanted to get high off hers.
“Okay, Cassandra.” I swallowed. “I’ll stay.”