Page 92 of Take Her

Although who the fuck was I kidding?

There was no way I was going to let that happen.

No matter what I’d promised Nero.

I didn’t want to be the snake he held to his breast, but I also had no intention of voluntarily handing Lia over.

I didn’t know what that made me—a madman, or a liar—and the irony of chastising her for hurting herself was not lost on me, when I knew if her father found out I was watching her like this it would mean that he’d kill me.

It wouldn’t be slashes on a wrist, but the end result would be the same.

“I take it that’s a yes?” she said quietly.

“Turn off your lights and go to sleep,” I commanded, and she looked momentarily panicked, before turning on her charm.

“But if I do that, how would you be able to watch me?” she teased, then hung up, tucking herself into bed quickly, leaving all of her nightlights on, so that I could see her.

39

LIA

“I just—” I started.

“Me too,” she said, wriggling out of her cherry-print pajama bottoms, kicking them to the ground, along with her underwear.

I unlatched my belt with one hand, the other held the back of her neck and kept her facing me. I couldn’t take the risk of ever letting her go—and even though it was wrong, I couldn’t stop.

I rocked myself against her, then picked up her legs to circle me, entering her without question. I think we both knew if we talked now we’d say something stupid—and once I was in her nothing in my life had ever felt so right.

We were two pieces from entirely different puzzles, and yet somehow when we were together we fit.

I bit my lips so I wouldn’t tell her how she made me feel, I just tried to show her with my body—and I felt her hands grab my shirt into fists, right before she came with a series of quiet gasps against my neck.

“Let me come inside you,” I whispered.

She didn’t answer, she just cinched her legs tighter, and I came without question, so eager to follow wherever she led.

From now to eternity.

From now, until Mason’s grave.

I held her against the wall, panting, as reality returned, and we came apart.

“We,” I began, entirely unsure how I would finish the sentence—whether or not I should apologize for defiling my dying brother’s girlfriend or if I should claim ownership of what I’d done, even as it sickened me.

“Don’t,” she whispered, knowing me better than I knew myself. “I wanted it too.”

—Caleb, from One of a Thousand Wishes by A. R. McGeorge

The next morning, I felt ridiculously silly.

Who knew how long Rhaim had spent up just watching me sleep?

Once I gotten to sleep, that was—there was an awful lot of me just lying there pretending, initially. I was afraid if I stayed up too late reading, he really would make me sleep in the dark. I wouldn’t be able to, then I’d be in trouble again, and I would never, ever, get fucked.

But in the morning things felt less wrong, and I took my clothes into my bathroom to change. Just because I wasn’t wearing underwear didn’t mean that he was going to get a free show.

He didn’t come into the office until right before noon that day, and I could tell he was pleased with himself when he did.