12. The Beginning
TWELVE
THEO
“What do we need to talk about?”
What a fucking question. “You asked for time, and I intended to honor that until Merrick called and said you needed a ride home from the bar. I want you to know I wasn’t ignoring your request, and I am happy to give you more time if you need it.”
“But you want to talk.”
“I always want to talk to you, Viper.”
She makes a face. “I always want to talk to you, too.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I give her a small smile, but she doesn’t return it. “I’ll take you to your car.”
Charity doesn’t say anything when I take our plates into the kitchen. She doesn’t move a muscle when I walk past the couch and into the bedroom beyond.
I’ve just started digging through the closet when I hear the door close behind me. Instinct has my muscles bunching, but I force myself to relax as I turn to face her. She’s leaning against the door, her head hanging down as she studies her bare feet.
“Charity?”
“What do you want from me, Theo?”
Ah, fuck. I guess we’re having this conversation now. “Everything.”
“What does that mean, though?”
Dark eyes meet mine across the room, pain and sorrow filling her gaze with a weight I wish I could take from her. “It means...everything. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, the good and the bad. I want to wake up to you every morning and go to sleep with you every night. I want to adopt a dog and maybe have a kid. Or have a dog and adopt a kid. Or have two dogs and no kids, if it will make you happy because that’s what I really want, Charity. I want you to be happy. And I want to be the one who makes you happy, but I can’t do that if you leave. I’m stuck here. I will die inside the borders of Forest Falls. It’s not only my destiny but also my duty.”
“I can’t stay, Theo.”
As much as I told myself I was prepared for that response, when it finally comes, it breaks me. I can feel my last tendrils of hope shatter as they hit the ground. She’s leaving, and I can’t follow her. Not with the Father causing trouble. Not with her own dad’s terrible decisions threatening her life every other day. I cannot risk her safety.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” She snaps, anger flaring in her eyes. “That’s it? Just ‘okay’?”
“What do you want from me, Charity? I told you I want you to stay, and you said you have to leave. I’m not going to chain you here as much as I’d fucking like to. You’re not my property or my possession, and I won’t treat you like you are. You’re a grown woman, and you make your own choices.”
“You want to chain me up?”
“That’s what you got from all that?”
“It certainly stood out.”
“Did you listen to any of the rest of it?” She obviously did, but she still takes the opportunity to tease me.
“Will you punish me if I say no?”
“Is that what you want, sweet girl?” My voice drops as I move toward her, the temptation of having my hands on her one more time too much to deny. “You want me to punish you for your decisions?”
Her body molds to mine as I press her into the door. “Someone has to.”
My hands slide along the outside of her arms, and I lace my fingers through hers as I brush our lips together. “Anything for you, Viper.”
She tastes like salt, mint, and something I can’t put my finger on. Her body responds instantly, her legs widening as she tries to make room for me between her thighs. I swallow her moans, dragging both arms above her head to grip her wrists in one of my hands.
“How do you want it, Viper?”
“What are my options?”
“I could take you to the bed, lay you out and savor you. Soft, loving, slow,” I draw out the last word, rubbing my nose along her jaw until I am breathing against her ear. “Or I can turn you around right here and fuck you until you’re begging me to let you come.”
Her breath hitches, a soft sound getting stuck in the back of her throat. “That one, please.”
“I knew you’d like that,” I smirk, wrapping a hand behind her back and pulling her into a kiss that borders on violent.
She gives as good as she gets, biting my bottom lip hard enough I’m surprised she doesn’t draw blood. Her leg wraps around my hip as she grinds herself against my cock. I press her into the door, pinching her nipples through the paper-thin t-shirt before I strip it over her head.
“Fuck, Viper.” She’s wearing the bra I bought her. The crushed velvet snakes curling over her breasts look even better than I imagined, and I imagined it a lot.
I’ve been calling her Viper since we were fifteen years old when she walked out of the woods with a fucking snake wrapped around her arm and a bright smile on her face. It was one of the first times I heard her laugh, and I knew in that moment I was totally screwed.
I think of her, looking so alive with a deadly snake in her hands, every time I call her Viper.
“You fucking would buy me snake underwear,” she huffs, rolling her eyes to cover the laughter she’s trying to hold in. “I like them.”
She adds it almost as an afterthought, but I know it’s more than that. “I want to say I’ll like them better on the floor, but I don’t mean it. I like them right where they are.”
Charity snorts, grinding her hips as if to remind me what we’re doing here. “The bra can stay on, but the underwear have to go.”
“Deal.” I step back, stripping her joggers and underwear off in one quick motion. Charity tries to take control, but I shut it down immediately, pinning her arms to the door again. “Nuh-uh, Viper. Not this time. This time, you’re gonna take what I give you, and you’re going to say, ‘Thank you, Daddy’ when I’m done.”
“Yes, Daddy,” she groans against my lips, her hips grinding up to meet my hand where I’ve worked it between us.
I let her grind herself against my fingers for a moment before I drop her wrists and grab her hips. I spin Charity around, leaning my weight against her back as I draw her hands up to press against the door on either side of our hips. “Do not move your hands.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Fuck, I love it when you say that.” I place a quick kiss on her hairline before stepping back, grabbing her hips, and lifting her off the ground. Charity shrieks, her nails scraping against the door as she tries not to let go. I set her back down, kicking her feet apart until she’s spread out before me. Her back bends as she tries to look over her shoulder, giving me an even better view.
I strip off my joggers, watching Charity’s eyes widen when she realizes I’m not wearing underwear. “You’re beautiful, Viper.”
“Back at you, Dickbag.”
I snort at the nickname, slapping a hand against her ass hard enough to make her yelp. “Do you want any toys?”
“No,” she shakes her head, turning back to face the door. “I just want you to fuck me.”
“I can do that,” I smack her ass again, but it’s not as hard this time. She groans, shaking her head where it hangs between her shoulders.
I’ve just turned to cross the room when she speaks again, slowing my steps. “No, Theo.”
“No, what, Viper?”
“No condom.”
It takes entirely too long for her words to filter through my brain. “No condom?”
“Not this time. I want to feel you.”
I try not to dwell on why that might be—on what makes this time different from the others. “Not this time,” I agree, stepping behind her again and dropping to my knees. “Not this time, sweet girl.”
She makes a sound like she might say something else, but it’s replaced by a cry when I bury my face in her pussy. Her hips press back to meet me almost instantly, and I pull her closer, forcing her to stay still and take what I’m giving her.
“Please, Daddy.” Her words nearly kill me, and I drop a hand to my dick to relieve some of the pressure building in my gut. “Oh, fuck, that’s. You’re. Fuck me. Right now, Theo. Fuck! Please. Please. I need you.”
I hadn’t planned on giving in to her demands, but that’s easier said than done when she’s dripping all over my tongue and cursing my name.
Standing, I press a kiss against her hip before dragging my cock against her clit. “You need me, sweet girl?”
“Yes, fuck, yes. Now.”
“Hmm,” I continue to slowly move my cock up and down, barely brushing against her clit. “What are you supposed to say when you’re desperate for me, Viper?”
“D-Daddy.”
“And are you desperate enough to ask Daddy nicely?”
“Yes. Yes, Daddy. Please, Daddy.”
“That’s my girl.”
She takes me like a dream, pressing back until I bottom out against her hips. “Move. Daddy, please, I need you to move.”
My lips drag against her shoulder blade as I pull back. “Brace your arms, sweet girl. I don’t want you smashing that perfect face against the door.”
I wait until I see her elbows twist before I slam back into her. Charity cries out, her inner walls spasming around my cock. I don’t let her catch her breath, pounding into her over and over until my knees start to shake from the effort of holding back my orgasm. “Look at you, so fucking desperate for my cock you can hardly breathe.”
Charity groans, her head rolling across the back of her bicep as she tries to look at me over one shoulder. Her eyes are glazed over, and she’s sucking in short breaths every time I pull out, just to have the air forced from her lungs on the next thrust.
“Are you ready to come, sweet girl?”
Her nod is almost imperceptible, but I feel the tiny movement reflected in the way her pussy clenches around me. Leaning forward, I drop one hand against the door above her head, snaking the other around to tease her clit.
“Ask me nicely, Viper.”
“Please,” she sighs, her entire body shaking with need. “Please, Daddy.”
“Perfect,” I kiss the back of her neck, moving my fingers against her clit in the same way I’ve watched her rub her own fingers there. “Always so perfect for me.”
Charity stiffens, her muscles locking up with the force of her orgasm as it rips through her body. I follow her over the edge, nearly letting us both fall to the ground when my knees threaten to give out under me. I manage to stay standing, though it’s a near thing.
“Fuck, Viper.” My lips skate across the skin of her back as I pull out of her again. I give in to the impulse to drop to my knees, watching in fascination as my cum drips from her swollen cunt. “Fuck,” I hiss as my dick pulses at the sight. I lick the stripe of cum dripping down her thigh, reveling in Charity’s soft groan at the feel of my tongue on her skin.
“You need me to clean you up, sweet girl?” She nods, her eyes locked on my face until it disappears between her thighs. I thought I knew my favorite flavor of Charity Lawson, but the taste of her cum mixed with mine is enough to kill me.
I eat her like a starving man, licking every drop until she’s moaning and writhing against my tongue again. She comes with a slight shudder, her legs giving out at last. My arms close around her thighs just in time to catch her before she falls, and I lower her gently to the ground in front of me. Carefully, without saying anything, I begin to put her clothes back on. Her underwear and joggers slide on easily, and she sits up when I grab her shirt, lifting her arms to help me slide it over her head. Once she’s settled, I turn to grab my own clothes, but she stops me, pulling me in for a kiss.
“Make me stay.” The words are whispered against my lips, and I almost give in. I almost tell her she can’t leave, that I will tie her up to keep her here, but I know it won’t make either of us happy.
“That isn’t how this works, Viper. You have to choose to stay. If you want me, you have to choose me.” I press our foreheads together, willing her to not only hear the words I have to say but to understand the meaning behind them. “I have chosen you every day for the last twenty years. Every single day. Every single time. And I’m not saying this so you feel like you owe me something. I’m telling you so you know, if you’re not ready to choose me right now, I’ll still be here, choosing you, whenever you are ready.”
Her nails dig into my scalp, pressing our heads that much closer together. “I can’t stay here, Theo.”
“That’s okay, sweet girl,” I shift, pressing a kiss to her lips. “You know where to find me if you ever change your mind.”
Charity shakes her head, her eyes squeezed shut against my words. “You can’t promise me that.”
“I can and I will,” I argue, pressing the side of my knuckle against her chin until she looks up at me. “I’ve been here, waiting for you, since we were nineteen. I traded my life for yours, and I don’t regret it for a fucking second because I always had hope. I had hope that you would?—”
My sentence is cut short by the sound of my phone vibrating against the hardwood floor. I want to ignore it, but my eyes drop to the screen just long enough for my brain to register the name flashing there.
The Father.
“Don’t go anywhere.” I grab the phone and my joggers, opening the door just far enough to squeeze through without moving Charity. I curse every deity I can think of as I move across the house, answering the call just as I reach my office door.
“This is Theo.” I pull my pants on, stepping around the desk to sit in the oversized chair on the far side.
“Hello, Theodore,” the Father’s cold voice filters through the phone, the total lack of emotion making the hairs on my arms stand on end.
“What can I do for you, sir?”
“It would appear my sons have been up to some...
unacceptable behaviors of late. I am looking for assistance in resolving the issue.”
Reading through those lines is easy enough. He wants me to stop his sons from taking his throne. “How can I assist in such an endeavor?”
“It has come to my attention that my sons trust you.” He says ‘trust’ like the word may jump out and bite him. I have to keep myself from audibly sighing when I realize exactly where he got that information.
“I know he is a trusted advisor of yours, Father, but you cannot believe everything Edmund Lawson says. Your sons don’t trust me any more than they trust anyone else. He’s just upset that I’m in control of his daughter’s life.”
The words burn as I say them, but I have to sell this to the Father. It’s life or death for more people than just Charity and myself.
“Oh, I remember our little arrangement. How is dear Charity? Did she grow up as well as her mother?”
My teeth grind loud enough I think he might hear it through the phone. “She’s not nearly as obedient.”
The Father’s laughter is as cold as the rest of him. “Well, let’s hope you can beat that out of her.”
I want this conversation to be over. “I’ll help however I can, Father, but I don’t believe I will be as useful as you had hoped.”
“We’ll see,” he muses. The sound of metal clinking against glass filters through the phone, and I can just picture him sitting at his desk, dark hair slicked back, charcoal grey suit pressed within an inch of its life, and his gold ring bouncing off the crystal scotch glass in his hand. “I’m having everyone to the house for a little soirée this evening. I would like for you to be there, Theodore.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Seven o’clock, sharp.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Theodore?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Don’t do anything stupid, or I will kill the girl.”
“Yes, sir.”
The line goes dead, but I barely notice. That cannot happen. I won’t allow it. Taking a deep breath, I dial the number I’ve had memorized for the last ten years. It rings for almost a minute before he answers.
“Tonight. Seven o’clock. The Manor.”
“I’ll see you there.”
The call ends with a click, and I release the rest of the air in my lungs. Charity and I need to finish our talk, and then I need to get her out of Forest Falls.
Moving across the house with renewed purpose, I carefully open the door to the bedroom, checking to make sure I won’t hit Charity if she’s still on the floor. When I don’t see her sitting there, my eyes dart around the room, but she’s nowhere to be found.
“Charity?”
My call goes unanswered, but I continue checking the rest of the rooms in the house until I can be one hundred percent certain.
She’s gone.