“I hate you,” I say, as if the lie would make up for the involuntary action of bending my knees slightly, parting my thighs so he can touch more of me.
“No, you don’t. Feel how wet you are for me.” His finger sinks deeper, and I arch my back against him. “You want me inside you, don’t you, stray?”
“What I want is irrelevant. What I need is to get the fuck away from you.”
His fingertip brushes over my clit, and I bite my lip, stifling a moan. “Then run,” he murmurs against my ear. “See what happens when I catch you.”
Flames lick my skin, and my need to burn incinerates my will to fight him. My body is ash in his palms, and our connection is in control. It always has been.
I fist my hands at my sides, the pressure of his finger on my clit causing my legs to weaken. “Alexius, stop.”
“Give me what I want, Leandra.” He grinds his cock against my ass. “Give me what I crave, and let me have you.”
I move my hips, pressing my ass harder against him, and I shiver when I hear him groan.
“Keep doing that, and I swear to God, I won’t wait for your permission to fuck you.”
“Alexius,” I whimper.
“Say it, Leandra. Just fucking say it.” His finger slips inside me. “Let me. Fuck you.”
I’m two breaths away from giving in. My determination to fight him is nothing but fragments of something that would never be strong enough to stop me from wanting him, from loving him.
“You know as well as I do it’s pointless fightingus.” His breath is warm seduction skidding along my ear. “Your cunt is soaked. So fucking ready for me.”
His words, his dirty mouth, have always been my drug, my heroin, an addiction that will destroy me.
“Mom, please stop. Can’t you see it’s killing you?”
“I’m already dead. I died the day you took your father from me.”
“Please stop. Your addiction will destroy you.”
“I don’t care.”
I do. I care.
I fucking care.
“Alexius, stop.” I grab his hand between my legs, but he slips a second finger into me, the ache intensifying threefold.
“I love you, stray, and you love me. You can’t deny it.”
I have no idea where I get the strength, but I tear myself from his arms and pivot and look at him with intent. “I do love you. It’s loving you that’s making everything so much worse. It would be easier if I could just hate you.”
He reaches out, but I step out of his reach. “Stop, please.”
“Never. I will never fucking stop.” Blue eyes flash with something dark.
“Don’t you get it? This isn’t something you can fix.” There’s no controlling my tears anymore.
“There is nothing to fix,” he snarls. “Don’t you get that? This is your fear controlling you.”
“My fear?”
“Yes. You’re afraid of what we have, afraid to accept who you really are.”
“And who am I, Alexius? Huh? Who the fuck am I? Oh, wait, this is the part where you tell me I’m your wife, right? That’s your answer to everything. ‘You’re my wife. You belong to me,’” I taunt.