There was a side of this earth that sheltered and harbored evil.
No matter where I went, who I talked with, what I saw, evil permeated. It was how those who lived in this world chose to act. That was my lesson. Not everyone could save themselves, like the young woman Katie I met. Not everyone was strong, like Amy, who had died. Life wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t perfect, all dressed up in a big red bow. It was messy, painful, and sometimes evil won. But for those who fought, survived. They continued on. Those were the ones who endured, found the goodness and beauty in what this world had to offer. I wanted to be one of those people. I needed to be because the alternative was something I refused to accept.
“Ari?”
“Hmm?”
“Did he? Did Malachi?”
I turned and straddled him. Taking his head in my hands, I could see the despair in his eyes. He was breaking my heart. There would come a time to talk about what I went through, but not now. I couldn’t bring myself to talk about what I saw and endured. I wasn’t ready. But this, this I could say. “No, Balthazar. Malachi didn’t rape me.”
His swift intake of air and tears shattered me as I wrapped my arms around him, holding him close to me. His body trembled as my words rocked him. His arms crushed me to him as he cried, bringing tears to my own eyes. After a while, his body calmed, his arms eased around me. Leaning back, I looked at him as he kissed the tip of my nose. “I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to let you out of my sight again.”
I smiled. “I’m okay with that.”
“God, you’re so beautiful.” He said, looking at me. I blushed, realizing the position I was in. His hands trailed up my back, sending shivers of need coursing through me. When his hands moved to the front of me, I stilled as his thumb lightly moved over my nipple. “I dreamed of this.”
“You’re not dreaming now. What are you going to do?” I asked, slightly moving over his hardening appendage. He moaned, and I grinned.
“When did you become brazen?”
“When I thought I’d never see you again,” I said. “I made myself a promise, Baltazar. If I ever got away from those vile people, I would find you and never take for granted what I had. I thought of you every day. Dreamed of the day, we would be together again. And now that I am here, in your arms, I will not forsake what God has given me. A second chance.”
“A second chance,” he whispered as my words resonated within him. Something was going on in that wicked mind of his. I wondered what he was thinking. Whatever it was, seemed profound as the words seeped into him. Then as if coming out of a fog, he grabbed my face and kissed me as if his life depended on it. Balthazar had kissed me many times before, but there was something special about this kiss. It felt almost reverent. Lost within his lips, I let go of everything as I followed him into the deep end of the ocean.
Holding me tightly, Baltazar stood, taking me with him. Dripping wet, he walked towards the bed and gently laid me down. The soft sheets against my back, instantly wet. Hovering over me, I said nothing as he kissed his way down my body.
I looked up at Balthazar as he kissed the tip of my nose. Just watching him made my body thrum as he began moving lower.
“Balthazar,” I felt his tongue in the crease of my leg, tickling and tormenting me, and I shivered as his arms wrapped around my thighs. I tightened my grip on his hair as he blew gently on the soft folds before him. “Oh god, Balthazar.”
“Is this what you want?” Balthazar murmured against my sensitive skin, the vibration of his voice caressing me.
“Yes!” I begged, running my fingers raggedly thru his hair. As he dipped his tongue into me, I threw my head back and whimpered. My legs slightly shook until I rested them on his shoulders, and then my whole body quivered as he licked and lapped at me, suckling my clit, and forcing me to writhe beneath him. He slipped two fingers inside my hot wetness, and I stiffened, gasping as I felt my belly clench. He returned his tongue to the warm and wet nub of my pleasure, bringing me higher until I finally cried out, pulling hard on his hair as I came. “Balthazar!”
As I shuddered, he moved quickly over me and thrust himself deep into me, my eyes flying open at the sudden feeling of fullness. He groaned deep, and as he hit bottom, he kissed me again, letting me taste myself on his lips. I grabbed at his face and wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him closer, deepening his thrusts.
The force of his ministrations forced me to arch my back forward, pushing my breasts harder into his chest. I ran my hands down his body, feeling the play of muscles in his lower belly as he slid his shaft into me again and again.
Water dripped down his back, mingling with the sweat of exertion as he breathed into my kiss. My lips nibbled on his, my tongue tangling with his. He smiled and pulled himself out of me, ignoring my small whimper of displeasure.
Balthazar turned me, yanking my hips back towards him, as he rubbed himself along the folds of my wet core. He placed his hands on my hips, soft and pliable flesh, his eyes following the gentle curve of my back, the delicate bones in my shoulders....and the look of pure need on my face as he teased me.
“Please,” I begged for release as each movement slid him against my clit. I desperately wanted him inside of me, to fill me with his hardness. He moved swiftly and thrust into me in one hard push. My head went down in a gasp of submission as he held my hips. Still, his thrusts deepened, filling me.
I cried out my need for him.
He slipped one hand beneath me and found the slick nub that lay swollen within, his fingers gently rolling it as I bucked upwards against him. My cries grew frantic, and with one last gasp, I came beneath him, my muscles spasming around him, tightening and throwing him over the edge to join me in ecstasy. He throbbed within me as he stiffened, his face pressed hard into my back, spilling his seed deep inside me.
Unable to move, I clung to the bedsheets, my legs shaking, my body thrumming continually, my breath coming in hard gasps. Balthazar held me against him, still within me, as he sought my clit once more. I whimpered and looked over my shoulder at him, then closed my eyes as another orgasm shot thru me from his fingers. He grunted as I squeezed him, still sensitive from his own pleasure. He held me still even as I tried to move my hips, thrusting back on pure instinct.
Slowly, I came down as he ran his hands down the soft skin of my back. Wrapping his arms around my waist, he laid down behind me, pulling me against his chest. I turned my head and kissed him deeply as I could still felt the thrum, the tingle in the bottom of my feet, and knew that when he was ready once more...I would be too.
Balthazar smiled as he ran his fingers along the edges of my face and into my hair beyond. “I love you, Aarianni.”
Smiling, I closed my eyes, thankful for my life and that I was finally home, in the arms of the man I loved.
I didn’t know how long I slept, but I found myself alone in Baltazar’s big bed when I woke up sometime later. Looking around the room, I wondered where he went.