Page 41 of Drowning

It's funny, you see, I was never afraid of the shadows that haunted me—I welcomed them. But I grew afraid of Damon lurking in them over time; I feared him, and still do.

I was never afraid to be broken into pieces—I craved the challenge of trying to put myself back together again.But when my heart, body, and soul became broken beyond repair, I wishedfor someone to fix me because I couldn't fathom doing it all by myself.

I was never afraid of death—I accepted the fact that we were all going to die one day; it's the natural order of things.But when my parents were callously murdered, I couldn't understand it—I couldn't accept it.

Somehow, being here at the beach with the guys who helped put the shattered pieces of me back together again has allowed me to heal in the most unexpected ways, and I am fucking loving the person I am gradually becoming.

Embracing the gloom and despair, we stay here—together—as the storm rages on around us, and for the first time, as Seven smiled up at me, I felt a sense of peace and clarity that I had been desperately fucking craving.

I knew it wouldn't be easy, and that there would be consequences, but in that moment, with the two of us becoming one with the storm, I didn't fucking care.

twenty-three

A Darker Side of Me

S e v e n

Sitting on top of me, running her nails up and down my chest, Emerson looks so innocent. She's not, though. She looks curious as fuck too as she licks her plump, shiny lips when I run my hand up and down her back, forgetting about all of the bullshit from earlier.

"You look fucking perfect, Em."

"Thank you, Sev." She blushes, and her cheeks turn a lighter shade of red than her shirt—my shirt.

The glow of the moon hits her blue eyes and makes them fucking sparkle as I get lost in the deep, forbidden abyss.

She has that shy, innocent look on her face, and it tugs on the strings of my heart that I didn't even know I fucking had. Myeyes move around her face and slowly make their way to her neck, noticing the bruises from last night that she attempted to fucking cover with make-up; I can still see what the fuck we did, though.

All of the fucking plans I had for us tonight flew out the damn window the second I walked down the beach and saw her inmy shirt, so short it showed off her perfect, peachy ass.

I wanted to annihilate her tonight. I wanted to make her pussy sore. I wanted to punish her for her fucking brother's bullshit, and I wanted to show her a glimpse of the darker side of me.

However, all I want to do now is lay down and have her ride my fucking cock and show me how she likes it—show me what it takes to make her come. Tonight I'll take it easy with my princess, sort of, anyway.

"This is gorgeous here at this time of night," she says as we stare out at the water and the crashing waves as the storm intensifies.

"Not as fucking gorgeous as you, Emerson."

"You look fucking sexy too, Seven, especially in all black... I'm having a hard time keeping my hands off of you."

"We look good together, don't we?" I ask her, reaching up to glide my finger over her lips.

"We absolutely fucking do."

I take her tiny hand in mine and bring it to my mouth, gently kissing her knuckles and gliding my tongue across her vanilla-scented skin. My cock is already fucking hard, and I know she can feel it poking into her ass while sitting on top of me.

She smiles, bites her bottom lip, and blushes again when she looks at me. “Let's walk.”

Getting up from the wet sand, I take her hand in mine and pull her along with me. We walk down the beach as giant waves crash against the shore, spraying droplets of water all over us, the rainpouring down and soaking every inch of our aching, burning skin.

"I am going to make you mine, Emerson; every fucking part of you will belong to me, if you can take it... "Can you handle it, Princess?"

"I don't know; we'll have to wait and see, Seven." She raises her brow and smirks, making me fucking crazy.

We reach a secluded, dark spot on the beach and pause to watch large bolts of lightning illuminate the dark sky.

"Sit with me?" she asks, taking a seat on the sand beneath an array of trees that flank the beach.

I sit beside her, but yank her roughly back onto my lap, wrapping one arm around her tiny waist and the other tangled in her luscious hair, twirling her long, silky brown strands around my finger and gently tugging to make her moan.