Page 89 of My Turn

I wanted to go back to what we were doing before, the sweet and loving touches, but he’d switched on me. There was a desperation to his movements that frightened me while also making me compliant. I wanted him to get what he needed, even if it ended up shattering me.

His hand moved between my legs and he used his thumb to circle my clit. My pussy clenched around him with the beginning of my orgasm. His rough movements somehow became more powerful and I was caught off guard by how hard I came. Dropping his head back, he bared his throat to me as he stilled, his dick twitching as he filled me with his cum. Something peaked out of the top of his sweatshirt, a hint of ink, barely enough to even notice.

His chin dipped as he rode out the last of the orgasm. Whatever I thought I’d seen faded away with the exhaustion that overcame me. My pussy ached and it was still quivering around his semi-hard shaft. He pulled back and I felt liquid pour out of me. After swiping his fingers through it, he brought it to mymouth. I was too tired to protest, so I just parted my lips and let him drag our cum over my tongue.

My eyes fell shut and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was out cold. Maybe it should’ve scared me to fall asleep in this place- with him- but it didn’t. I felt safe, sheltered, protected.

“Thank you,” I murmured.

Lips pressed against my temple, then my mouth. “I love you, Alana. Always.”

Maybe I dreamed that part. I must have because there was no Irish lilt to the words. The way he said my name didn’t sound like Erebus at all.

Was it Jake? Sleep-addled delusions. That was all.

Chapter 33

Jayce

Swiping a hand down my face, I stared at Alana from the doorway. She’d mostly stayed asleep on the car ride back to her place. Even when she roused, she’d look over at me, smile, then lay her head down again.

Wasn’t that insane? She saw this damned neon mask and she fucking smiled. She chose to sleep around Erebus, to trust him while she was most vulnerable.

It felt like I was being cheated on. Was I fucking jealous of myself? I wanted to claim that sparkle in her eyes that she had after I made her cum. I wanted to keep my arms around her so that the feeling never went away. She should be able to look at my face, to see how happy she made me.

I was losing the plot. If I wasn’t careful, she was going to fall in love with the part of me that she didn’t understand, the one I had to give up at some point. Maybe she was already getting there. She didn’t know a fucking thing about Erebus. It made no sense that she could run into his arms.

But why wouldn’t she? He was the one who made her feel something after she’d been empty for so long. The life was drained out of her and she couldn’t even make herself orgasmbecause she was so depressed, then he came along and changed that. He protected her from Mike and showed her the truth. Jayce hid things from her. He knew about Alicia and didn’t tell her. He knew about Hailey and kept it from her.

God, I’d fucked up. I’d put the wrong parts of me into this masked version. Now, I had to find a way to fix it. Yesterday, I decided that I’d back off as Erebus. That was what needed to happen. She couldn’t talk to him anymore. He would have to disappear and when she felt abandoned again, I’d pick her up, dust her off, and fill her to the brink with love. We’d move past all of this the way we were meant to.

She rolled onto her stomach and turned her face toward me. Her eyes were still closed and her lips were parted. The way her cheek was squished made it look like she was pouting. I wanted nothing more than to crawl in bed with her and hold onto her until I felt less broken, but I couldn’t. I had to go to Ben’s place tonight and make sure there was no trace of our business dealings. I didn’t think he’d be reported missing for a while, but in the off chance he had actual friends out there, that assumption could be wrong.

Killing him might have been impulsive, but there was no going back now. Alana would think he just ran off. If she did suspect that he was dead, she’d assume it was from his own business mistakes. All’s fair in love and war.

Since my car was still at the park, I had to order a ride to pick it up. By the time I got there, I was incredibly tired. Between work and everything I was doing with Alana, I hadn’t been sleeping enough. Maybe that was why things were falling apart. I couldn’t keep up.

I just had to do this one thing at Ben’s place, then I’d sleep. It was the weekend, so there was plenty of time.

*****

The sound of my phone ringing made me feel absolutely murderous. When I opened my eyes, the sun seared straight through them. I thought it was going to burn a hole in my retinas. To top it off, Alana was calling me. Notme, but Erebus.

I was livid.

After ignoring the call, I swung my legs over the bed and dropped my face into my hands. Judging by the time I’d glimpsed on my phone, I’d only gotten six hours of sleep, which would be fine under normal circumstances, but I’d been ready to set aside the entire weekend for rest. I already knew I wouldn’t be able to force myself back to sleep, so my Saturday wasn’t looking great already.

The phone rang again, making me groan. Don’t tell me she got attached just because we had an intimate moment. Seriously, the guy wouldn’t show her his face, he’d choked her until she passed out in her car and drugged her in his basement. She should’ve been blocking him, calling the police, and going into witness protection.

Those things wouldn’t be good for me, but I was starting to actually worry. If she was this easy to manipulate, I needed to keep a more watchful eye on her. Mike weaseled his way into her life with hardly any effort. I should’ve known she needed better protection.

Grabbing the phone, I called her back from my own number.

“Oh my god, Erebus-”

“Who’s Erebus?” I asked, wincing at the gravel in my voice.

There was a long pause. “Oh, Jayce. Sorry. I thought someone else was… What’s up?”