Chapter 2 #2
He lets up on my wrists but stays on top of me, resting on one of his elbows as he cups my face. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I smile up at him.
Tinker Bell flits away, though I don’t remember her being in the room.
“What’s going on?” I ask. “Oh, no!”
“What?” he asks.
“You’re hurt?” I run my fingers across his reddened cheek. “What happened?”
“I took care of it.” He kisses my forehead.
I love it when he kisses me. “Peter. You’re so good to me.” I move my legs, spreading them so he can nestle between them.
He does, his hard cock pressed against my sex. “I am.” His cocky air is one of the endearing things about him, not to mention his dimples.
“Are we in love?” I ask. I realize it’s a silly thing to ask after the words have left my mouth.
“Yes,” he answers quickly.
“Good.” I sigh, content that Peter loves me above all others.
He kisses me, his mouth warm against mine. My lip aches for some reason, and I think I taste blood for a second. When he increases his pressure, I whimper.
“What?” He pulls back, his eyes on my mouth.
“It hurts.”
He runs his thumb along my lips, and it comes away slightly reddened.
“Is that mine?”
“Yes.” He licks it away.
My breath hitches. Why is that so sexy? I’m hot now, my body aching for more of him. I move my hips, getting a little sizzle of pleasure right where I need it.
“Do you want me, Moira?” he asks, his mouth on mine again.
“Yes.”
“How badly do you want me?” He cups one of my breasts, his mouth more urgent as he rocks his hips against mine.
I hear a voice in my head. One that doesn’t sound anything like Peter. It’s rougher, deeper, coarser, and accented in a way that sends a shiver through me. “I wished for love.” Who told me that? “And the island gave me you.”
Whatever fog I’m in begins to melt away.
“Moira, tell me how badly you want me.” He slides his hand lower along my body. “And I’ll give you everything you ever dreamed of.”
But I don’t dream of Peter. I dream of a man with black hair, blue eyes, and a cold heart that’s filled with embers in its depths. A man who betrayed me. A pirate who’s stolen my heart and vowed to never return it.
“Get off me.” I shove him.
Caught by surprise, he moves back enough for me to scoot away from him.
“Tink!” he yells again.
“Leave me alone.” I gasp and hold my hands out to ward him off. “Stay away from me.”
“Moira, that’s not how you really feel.” He creeps closer.
“Stop!”
“Hook did this to you,” he seethes. “This isn’t who you are.”
“I can’t tell if you’re gaslighting me or yourself, but either way you need to stay the hell away from me.” My voice shakes, but I mean every word.
“Where is that fucking fairy?” He stands and points at me. “Stay right there. Don’t move.” He storms from the room and yells for Tinker Bell.
I jump from the bed, my body aching in all sorts of places. Reaching up, I feel the back of my head. Dried blood is crusted in my hair from when Peter hurt me in the grove. Where Peter and Hook fought. My skin goes cold as I remember them dueling. If Peter’s here, what happened to Hook?
But I don’t have time to worry about that, not when Peter is still bellowing down the tunnels like a madman. I have to get out.
Easing from the bedroom, I try to figure out where Peter is by the sound of his voice. It doesn’t work. In the cave, voices carry and bounce in odd ways. He could be just ahead or several tunnels away.
I think back to where I’d found Tinker Bell’s room when I went exploring. I think it’s straight ahead and then to the left somewhere far past the kitchen. That means I need to break off from the main hall and search for a way out, somewhere far away from wherever Peter is headed.
“Moira?” Slightly appears ahead of me, his face grim. “Don’t try anything. Peter sent me to …” He trails off.
“To what?” I snap back at him. “To hold me prisoner?”
He winces. “You’re drugged.”
“No shit.”
“Hook poisoned you. That’s why you’re acting this way.”
I gawk at him, then a laugh bubbles up from me as I advance on him. He didn’t count on that, because his eyebrows hit his hairline when I poke my finger into his chest.
“Peter drugged me. Not Hook. Peter is a fucking villain. Did you know that?” My voice breaks, changing from laughter to anger in a heartbeat. “Did you know what he was doing to me?”
He stares down at me, and for a moment I think he might strike me. But then he shakes his head.
“Not at first.” He sounds defeated. “At first I had no idea. But then …” He runs his hand along his youthful cheeks. “We started to get young again. But you … You were looking worse and worse.”
“You knew, and you did nothing,” I hiss.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand that you and Peter and all the rest of the Lost Boys have been using me like a fucking battery,” I snarl at him. “You all knew, and you let it go on. Even …” God this hurts to think, much less to say. “Even Coy.”
He doesn’t deny it, and that’s all the confirmation I need.
“I’m leaving. Get out of my way.”
“I can’t.” He backs away a step, his arms out, blocking the hallway.
“You can.” I step to him and eye the blade he has strapped to his belt.
“Like I said, you don’t understand.” He grimaces. “I can’t help you. Coy tried. He went to Peter—we all did—and asked him to stop, to let you go back to the Mainland.”
“What?”
He nods. “Coy didn’t want this anymore. I didn’t either. If I had to age and die, then I could accept it. But Peter wouldn’t have it.”
I’m struck not by what he’s saying, but by what he doesn’t realize—he’s already dead. But I don’t have time for this. I’ve already been here too long. Peter and Tinker Bell could be on their way back.
“Let me pass.” I move toward him, but he sidesteps to block me. “Slightly, I swear to god—”
“I can’t.” He winces. “I can’t, Moira. I’m so sorry. Peter—I can’t disobey.”
“Why not? What will he do to you?”
“No, it’s not like that.” He shakes his head. “It’s not that I won’t. It’s that I can’t.”
When he says it, it’s like a rubber band pops in my brain. So much becomes clear in that one millisecond.
“You have to do what Peter tells you. That’s what it is, isn’t it? You can’t disobey him?”
He shakes his head. “We never could. I don’t know what it is. A curse, or maybe Tinker Bell—but we can’t go against him. It’s why we couldn’t tell you what he was doing, why we couldn’t stop it.”
“Holy shit.” I swallow hard. “No wonder.”
“Coy was the only one who got close to standing up to him, but he still couldn’t. Peter’s curse is too strong. He wanted to tell you. We all did.” His voice is tortured, but he still blocks my way.
I step to him. “I have to go. Now. I can’t let Peter get me again. If he does, I’ll be lost, too.”
“I know.” He nods. “But I can’t let you go.
He told me to keep you here. I can’t disobey.
” He steps toward me menacingly, as if his body is rebelling against the revelations spilling from his lips.
“I’m too strong for you. You can’t outrun me, either.
” He glances at the knife on his belt. “Take it. Hurry!” His hand starts to move toward the blade, and I can tell he’s fighting it.
I don’t want to hurt him, but he’s under Peter’s thrall. He can’t break it, and neither can I.
With a quick movement, I snatch it from him, then back up.
He doesn’t look surprised. If anything, he looks … relieved. “Do what you have to, Moira. Please. If you don’t, he’ll make me hurt you again.” Tears shine in his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you again,” he whispers.
I see it now. None of the Lost Boys wanted to hurt me.
If anything, they wanted to save me from Peter.
I think back on how Tootles said Peter could get angry, how none of them ever talked back to him, how every Lost Boy—even Geo—still fell into line behind him despite their misgivings. They had no choice.
And now, I don’t have one either.
“Make it count.” He steps toward me again, his voice tortured. “If I can get up, I will. I’ll do whatever it takes to obey Peter.” He lurches forward, his arms swinging for me. “Moira, do it!”
My eyes are filled with tears, my hand shaking as I raise the knife.
“Please,” he cries. “Don’t let me hurt you.” When he lunges forward, I drive the knife into him, the blade slicing through his tunic and his flesh.
He stills, then slides to the cold floor. I follow him, my tears overflowing as I swipe the hair from his eyes.
“Slightly.” I cup his cheek. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He looks up. “I’m okay. Everything will be all right.
Go. Please, Moira. Go, or this will have been for nothing.
” He grips my hand, his body still trying to obey Peter.
But I peel his palm off and back away. “Run!” he yells, and in him I hear Coy’s voice.
He told me to run, too. I thought he meant for me to run away from Hook.
But maybe … Maybe he wanted me to run from Peter. Maybe in the end, he tried to save me.
I back away from Slightly who’s still reaching for me.
“I won’t let him get away with this.” I keep our eyes locked. “I promise you, Slightly. I’ll avenge you and the others. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
He gives me a faint nod. His eyes close as he lies back, his chest moving once more before going completely still. Another piece of my heart cracks off and falls away, a glacier dropping into an icy sea.
But I can’t stay and mourn for Slightly. I have to run. I have to make good on my promise.
I have to make Peter Pan pay.