I wait for him to let me go, but his grip tightens.
No, no, no.
What…?
Hot breaths tickle my ear as his lips graze the sensitive shell. “That’s where you’re wrong. Do you know what I’m doing right now? I’m staking my claim in public so no one dares to trample with what’s mine.”
I suck in a breath, digging my fingers into his T-shirt. “People are watching.”
“That’s the point, my ugly monster.”
“Ash—”
My words die at the back of my throat as his lips find the sensitive spot beneath my ear.
His lips latch onto the skin and he sucks it into his mouth. For someone as cold as Asher, his lips are burning hot. It’s like I’m being set on fire and he won’t stop until I turn to ashes.
Something unrestrained and wild grips me by the chest. The bottom of my stomach twists into itself, clawing and contracting as if it’s about to fall.
My senses kick up in intensity and everything becomes heightened tenfold. The rustling of the nearby leaves. The stone of the wall digging into my back. The scent of the earth surrounding us. I can even hear the chirping of a bird in the distance.
My fingers curl into the cloth of his T-shirt. I meant to push him, but my hands remain there, colliding with his heartbeat.
The risk someone might be watching doesn’t even sway me; if anything, it heightens my senses even more, as if that were possible.
Since the moment I woke up in the hospital, I’ve been a member of the walking dead, going through the motions like a robot. That’s why depressive thoughts have been kicking in and dragging me into their merciless clutches.
Right now, as Asher ravishes my neck, it’s the first time I’ve felt a burst of life running through me.
It hurts, you know.
Being dead for so long only to wake up all of a sudden hurts like a son of a bitch.
It’s like a baby taking his first breath. The moment his lungs kick into gear, he bursts out crying.
That’s what I feel like doing right now.
The rush of life is so strong I want to cry.
Asher’s mouth trails from underneath my ear to the lobe. He bites it into his mouth, sucking and nibbling so hard I expect him to break the skin and feast on my veins like some vampire.
My head turns hazy and disoriented. It’s like he’s put me on a staircase and the more I climb, the higher I get.
For the first time since I woke up in the hospital, something feels right and yet so utterly wrong.
Whatever black magic he’s performing on my skin is working. It’s loosening my muscles and turning me into a liberated soul. I would’ve given anything to feel alive after waking up like the dead.
A moan rips from my throat, uncaring if anyone hears.
I feel his growl against my skin before I hear it.
Asher pulls back, chest rising and falling with his short breaths. His jaw ticks before he tucks his reaction away. “Why did you do that?”
“D-do what?” I’m genuinely confused.
“Moan.” He says the word with distaste. “You don’t moan.”
What in the actual…?