Hush (Black Lotus #3) (15 page)

I remember one of my conversations with Isla—she told me we’re all threaded with holy fibers.

Perhaps.

“Come here,” Declan says after a span of time.

He raises the armrest between us as I unfasten my seatbelt and then pulls me onto his lap. With my arms around his neck and his around my waist, I rest my head against his.

“We’re going to be fine,” he whispers deeply.

I nod. His hand slips under my top and trails up my spine, sending a rush of tingles across my skin. With eyes open, we watch each other intently. My hands find their way into his hair, and I grip fistfuls of it as his hand moves to trail across my stomach.

“Tell me what you want,” he speaks in a husky breath.

He runs a hand over my breast and pulls the lace of my bra down underneath my top.

“You. Raw and base. Touch me as if I’m unbreakable.”

He pinches my nipple hard between his fingers.

I yelp, and my body flinches at the sudden pain that shoots through the nerve endings that maze beneath my skin. “Yes,” I breathe.

Black swallows green as lasciviousness fills the air around us, and he clamps down on my nipple again, twisting so hard I have to hold my breath as my fingers claw his shoulders.

“Like that?” he asks, releasing me from his fingers.

“Mmm hmm,” I respond behind closed lips as my breast throbs to ebb the pain he’s inflicted.

He smiles, but it’s filled with imperious satisfaction.

“Good girl.”

He slides me off his lap, stands me up, and then joins me. Slowly, he takes the hem of my top and pulls it over my head before removing my bra, my nipples hard from his assault. He removes the rest of my clothes until I’m standing there completely naked and exposed while he remains clothed in his slacks and button-down.

“Turn around, spread your legs, and bend over,” he instructs, and I obey his word.

I turn, part my feet wide, and bend over, gripping my hands on to the armrests to steady myself. He then takes one end of the seatbelt and knots it around my left wrist and then does the same to my right with the other end of the seatbelt. He retreats back behind me, and I can feel his eyes on me, but he doesn’t touch me. I close my eyes and wait, and after what feels like a few minutes, I hear him shift. Opening my eyes, I look between my legs to see he’s on his knees, and then I close them again, startling when he finally touches me.

His fingers dig into my hips, and I feel his hot breath on my pussy seconds before his warm tongue glides along my seam. And then, he dips it between my folds and finds my clit. I whimper when he presses the pad of his tongue against it in a back and forth motion. My breathing picks up and my eyes pop open when my knees begin to buckle. There’s so much pressure and so much friction, quickly driving me to an orgasm. He’s unrelenting, and then abruptly pulls away, leaving my core needy and begging.

He then strikes my ass cheek hard with his hand, creating a loud
smack
. I immediately feel the abused skin radiate in blazing heat. But before the tingles kick in, he brings his hand down in another ruthless blow.

“Ow!”

Cold air meets the pucker of my ass when he spreads me open. Sweat coats my neck, and my arms begin trembling. His mouth is back on my pussy, lapping his tongue, eating me out like a wild animal. He runs his mouth from my clit all the way back to my asshole. He ravishes me, tasting all of me, and the sensation throws me over, blurring my vision as I mewl in pure ecstasy. He devours me entirely—front to back—back to front, touching me in ways I’ve never experienced before. He fucks both my openings with his tongue, and it takes all my strength to keep myself standing.

Dragging his mouth to my ass cheek, he sinks his teeth into me, biting me like a barbarian before spanking me once again with a fierce hand.

“On your knees,” he demands.

When I lower myself to the floor, he grabs on to me and flips my body around to face him, twisting my arms painfully—one crossed over the other. I scream out, but the pain from the transition dissolves. My ass throbs beneath me as I sit on the battered flesh.

He begins unbuttoning his shirt and stripping down. I admire his body as he stands naked in front of me. Taut muscles wrap around his broad shoulders and rope down his arms. His chest is defined in hard slabs that etch their way down to the deep V that leads to his thick cock. Aside from the bullet wound on his chest, his skin is smooth, but on him, the flaw is flawless; every part of his body is transcendental.

He lowers himself to his knees between my legs and lifts my hips to him, resting my bottom on top of his thighs as my feet are planted flat on either side of him. The head of his cock pushes against me, and he teases me when he drags it up and down between the lips of my pussy, wetting himself with my arousal.

“Tell me who owns you,” he says as he holds himself in his hand and tugs my opening with the tip of his cock.

“You do.”

“I want more.”

“Then take it,” I breathe, my whole body screaming in hysteria for him—for all of him. “You have me entirely. I love you, so take it all because it’s already yours.”

“Fucking Christ, I love you,” he growls as he buries himself balls deep inside me.

My tits bounce as he fucks me with powerful thrusts while he holds my hips up. Throbbing flesh and burning arms cease to exist as I allow myself to get lost in this man I’ve fallen so in love with. I writhe against him every time he enters me, yearning for more. He reaches up and squeezes my one breast roughly before releasing his hand and slapping it. The piercing infliction on such tender skin battles against rhapsodic pleasure, and I cry out in pure carnal heat when he slaps my breast again before leaning down to lick and suck the supple swell of my chest.

The tether of the seatbelts cuts into my wrists as Declan dominates me, doing as he pleases with my body, because he can, because I give him that right.

He slows his pace when he pulls back from kissing me, asking, “Do you trust me?”

“I trust you.”

He then takes both of his hands and places them around my frail neck.

“Do you trust me now?”

I nod.

“Give me the words.”

“I trust you.”

“Don’t panic,” he says firmly, and when he does, a shudder of fear blazes through me.

His eyes pin to mine, and I feel his fingers clamp down as his hands grow in strength, closing around my throat. He starts to pick up the pace, pumping his cock in and out of me. My hands fist into tight balls as his grip around my neck becomes more intense.

The pressure builds and builds as his hands constrict around me.

I gasp for air when he collapses my trachea.

He’s choking me!

His arms strain even more, cutting off my airway completely as he stares into my tear-flooded, wide eyes.

My body lurches as I frantically gurgle, desperate for air.

I panic.

Oh, my God! I can’t breathe!!

“This is trust,” he grunts as he fucks me wildly, pounding into me. He’s brutal. “Don’t be scared.”

My vision blurs, and I yank ferociously against the seatbelts. My hands and feet begin to prickle, and the sensation creeps through my arms and legs, taking me hostage. Chills wrack my body.

There’s no more air.

Everything goes black.

And then . . .

Everything around me explodes in a blazing eruption of every force of nature imaginable when his hands let go of me. Bursts of shattering light impair my vision, blinding me from everything around me as my body contracts viciously, splintering every bone in my body. I spasm in a debilitating orgasm unlike anything that could possibly exist on Earth. I cum violently hard, crying out in an inferno of wild passion. Pleasure rolls in tidal waves through every muscle, every tendon, every cell. It crashes down on me over and over and over, refusing to let go.

I hear Declan moaning deeply in the far distance, I feel his body heat wrap around me. Warmth soaks into my skin, and it feels like medicine when it spreads through my bloodstream. It calms, bringing me back down. I focus on its comfort as my eyes begin to focus. My whole body goes limp, and when I can clearly see Declan, I’m consumed by an overwhelming need for closeness.

“Untie me,” I cry out urgently. “Now, Declan. Untie me.”

My voice trembles and cracks, and he moves quickly to free me, and with each arm he releases, I wrap it tightly around him. He holds on to me as I straddle his lap, and bury my face into the side of his neck. Our bodies are clammy and we cling to each other.

“I’ve got you, darling,” he whispers again and again. “You’re okay; I’ve got you.”

And I know he does. I didn’t think it was possible to grow more intimately with Declan, to be even closer to him. But what he just did . . . I swear to God I felt him inside every molecule I’m made of. I’ve never felt more exposed, more vulnerable, more naked than I do right now in this very moment.

He has me at my weakest.

I finally lift my head and look at him, our bodies still connected, and kiss him, tasting every part of me on his tongue like the savage animal I am.

“Don’t ever leave me.” I begin to weep. “Promise me you won’t ever leave me.”

“I’ll never leave you,” he affirms. “You’re the color of my blood.”

BY THE TIME
we landed and arrived at Lotus last night, I was completely depleted. As soon as we crawled into bed, I fell asleep. We took our time waking up and getting around this morning, but now that we’re cleaned up and have had a bite to eat, we’re on our way to The Legacy.

Up until this moment, I’ve been okay. But as Declan drives the familiar streets of the city, I feel sick to my stomach. We pull into the parking garage and park the car next to Bennett’s SUV. Declan steps out of the car, but I’m frozen as I stare at the vehicle Baldwin used to drive me around in.

“Let’s get this over with,” Declan says when he opens my door. He reaches over me and unclicks the seatbelt. “Come on.”

I take his hand and hold tightly to him as we make our way into the building and up to the top floor. When the elevator opens and we enter the penthouse, it all comes flooding back. Every smell, every conversation, every sexual encounter I experienced with the enemy.

I look to Declan—he’s grinding his teeth. His only memory of this place is when he broke in and shot Bennett, killing him instantly.

“The bedroom is over here,” I mutter, knocking him out of his trance.

He roams around while I go into the closet. I climb up on a stepstool to reach the box on the top shelf. When I pull it down, I rip off the tape and see a pile of clothes I used to hide what lies beneath. I dig down and grab the notebook Pike used to always sketch in. Page after page is filled with art created by his own hands. Some are of random strangers, some are visions from his dreams, but most are of me. I reach down and pull out a few other items I snuck in when I moved in here with Bennett. I had to have pieces of Pike with me always.

I dump out the clothes and put all of Pike’s possessions back into the box. I try not to think too much. Being in this space is hard enough. When I walk back out into the bedroom I shared with Bennett, Declan is standing in front of the large armoire. As I walk over to him, I see he’s holding the framed picture of Bennett and me on our wedding day, and my heart sinks painfully into the deep well of sorrow.

“It wasn’t real,” I say, keeping my voice soft because he looks like he’s about to blow. “I hated that man. I still do.”

He doesn’t speak, his knuckles are tense and white as his fingers grip the metal frame. I reach out slowly and touch his shoulder.

“Please don’t look at that.”

“You look so happy,” he says, his words dripping acid onto my heart.

“I was happy because I was one step closer to destroying him. That’s what’s behind my smile,” I tell him. “Not love.”

“You let him touch you.”

“Don’t do this.”

“He’s touched every part of you.”

“No.”

He sends the photo flying across the room and the frame crashes into a lamp, sending them both falling to the floor, shattering the light bulb.

“Declan, please,” I call out. “If you think I gave him what I give you, you’re wrong!”

“This is what I hate about you,” he seethes as he glares his animosity at me.

It’s a painful reminder that he still harbors these feelings for me. He hides it well, but I can’t pretend that a part of him doesn’t still hate me.

“I look at the fucking bed and all I can see is your naked body fucking him!”

“It wasn’t real.”

He grabs my arms and slings me around, shoving me against the wall, and spits his venomous words at me. “It was real! What you did was real, so stop lying to yourself!”

He shields his pain in anger, and it tears me apart. I can take his temper, but I can’t handle knowing how much he’s hurting. That part cuts me deeply.

Capillaries burst beneath my skin under his strenuous grip on my arms that will surely bruise. He jerks me forward and then pushes me back, letting go of me before turning around. His hand rakes angrily through his hair as he storms out of the room and slams the door behind him, leaving me alone in evil’s lair.