He barks out a chuckle, this one humorless. “Yeah, doesn’t feel like one though.” Then, another squeeze of my body. “But I’ll try, Echo. For you. You know why?”
“Why?”
“Because if I don’t, I’ll make you bleed.” Then, “Well, you’ll bleed anyway but still.”
“You don’t… You don’t know that.”
“I do. I do know, Echo. Knowing my godforsaken luck, you’ll cryandyou’ll bleed.” Then, “Because of me.”
And God, he looks so regretful at that.
So torn with remorse that I want to tell him that it’s okay.
It’s fine.
So I’ll cry and I’ll bleed, so what? It happens to almost every girl when it’s her first time. I’ve read enough books to know that. I’ve heard enough stories.
“It’s okay,” I say, still grasping his neck, his pulse pounding beneath my hands. “A lot of girls bleed and —”
“No, it’s not,” he says, his jaw ticking. “It’s not okay but I will make it so. I will make it okay, baby.”
I suck my belly in, trembling again.
This time harder than all the other times before because of his endearment.
“How?”
He brings his hands up then, cupping my cheeks.
So softly, so tenderly.
That I want to weep.
“First, I’ll clean you up,” he says, his thumb rubbing over the apple of my cheek. “With the softest of cloths. Made of silk or fur or something. I’ll find one. And then I’ll run you a bath. With bath oils and whatever the fuck girls like. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll ice your pussy, baby. I’ll ice it and then I’ll lick it. I’ll suck it into my mouth to make the sting go away.”
“Reign, please…”
“And if nothing works at all,” he continues, pressing his fingers into my face, “I’ll fucking drink it down.”
“What?”
He brings his lips super close to mine.
Super duper close.
As close as you can get without touching and I hate that.
I want to touch.
I want him to touch my mouth with his.
But all he does is whisper, “I’ll drink it all down. Your tears, your virgin blood, your pussy juice. I’ll fucking bathe in it, whatever you give me, you understand?”
My mouth falls open at what he’s saying.
And I swear, Iswear, I taste his blood on my tongue.
As if in solidarity.