She rolled her eyes at me. “Fine. No scary stuff. What should we do instead?”
“Go to bed and sleep so we’re energized for tomorrow.”
She didn’t like the sound of that, but we had to be awake and prepared, especially if we were going to cut down trees.
That was both a physical and mental job, where we weren’t allowed to make the smallest mistake to not hurt ourselves or each other.
Vespyr didn’t say another word, and while she brushed her teeth and got ready for bed, I put out the fire.
I had to keep those voices and thoughts under control, but knowing I’d end up in the same bed with her every night made it hard.
I walked over to her, to grab my own toothbrush and start brushing my teeth while she washed her face.
I looked at her, then let my eyes wander all over her body before I reached out my right hand and placed it on her lower back.
She didn’t move, and the smile on her face told me that she didn’t mind my touch.
There were things I remembered vividly.
Things we used to do when we were little.
Not sure she remembered, but if she did, she’d surely say something about it.
She wasn’t tense, and her body relaxed the more I let my hand wander over her back and along her spine.
“You’re making me shiver,” she told me as she dried her face with her sleeves.
I pulled my hand away to spit out the toothpaste in my mouth, and once I washed it out, I looked back at her.
“In a good way,” I stated, getting a nod from her.
“Maybe you can keep on doing it so I can fall asleep faster,” she suggested.
You’d do anything to touch her, psycho.
The voices were right.
When we were younger, I did far worse things to her.
Things that burned themselves into my brain, but not hers.
“Let’s go,” I said, nodding toward the treehouse.
While she climbed up, I placed my hand on my knife at the back of my pants while watching her closely as she reached the top.
My eyes had already gotten used to the darkness, and thanks to the moonlight shining through the trees, there was no need for us to turn on one of our flashlights.
She wanted me to touch her, to make her feel comfortable and relaxed. But as innocent as that sounded, my mind was already making up all these sick and dirty scenarios.
You wouldn’t dare to hurt her, a voice said, making the corners of my mouth turn up into a smirk.
Watch me.
12
“What are you doing?”
I watched as Fennec moved closer, almost straddling me while kneeling over me.
“Tying you. Don’t want you to sleepwalk again, hm?”
He reached for the rope tied around one of the wooden planks, and when he grabbed my left hand, I pulled back.
“I won’t sleepwalk.”
He ignored me and continued to tie me.
“It’s too tight,” I told him, turning my head to look up at my wrist.
“Don’t move and it won’t tighten.”
“Isn’t there a different way to keep me up here? You could just…hold my hand and when I move, you’ll notice,” I suggested.
He ignored me again, and when he sat down on my hips, he let his eyes wander over my body, dragging his fingers along my stomach.
“Does this feel familiar to you, Ves?”
A frown appeared between my brows, and when I looked down to watch his hand stop right underneath my breast, I held my breath.
“Remember all those summers we spent here?”
I nodded.
Those were my favorite memories but never had he made me feel the way I felt at that moment.
As if I was suffocating but in the best way possible.
“I remember,” I croaked out, feeling his fingertips trace my breast, coming far too close to the hardening nub peeking through the fabric of my shirt.
My breath hitched with every inch his fingers moved, and when I felt a lightning stroke from my chest down to my legs, I looked back up to see him watch me closely.
“Do you also remember that one night we played truth or dare?” he asked with a small smirk appearing on his lips.
“We played many games, Fen.”
“True. But there was this one particular night we played it. Up here.”
His hand moved to my throat, wrapping his fingers around it and squeezing gently.
I did remember most of what we did, but he was talking about something else.
We weren’t thinking about the same night, and the more I thought about it, I wasn’t sure what he remembered actually happened.
“What did we do that night?” I asked, placing my right hand on his wrist to keep him from tightening his grip.
“You really don’t remember, huh?”
“No. Tell me.”
“I could show you instead,” he suggested, making me swallow the lump that had formed in my throat.
I felt his knife in his back pocket pressing against my hip, and its sharp blade could easily cut through both our pants if he made one move.
The tip of it was poking me, but not enough to make it hurt.
“I want you to tell me first,” I whispered, keeping my eyes on him to hopefully notice when he was going to make his next move.
His hand was still on my throat, and his other slowly moved from my waist to my breasts.
He cupped one of them, squeezing gently as my body tensed.
“Does this feel familiar?” he asked, but I quickly shook my head.
No one had ever touched me like this.
His brows furrowed, but he continued to massage my breast while he squeezed his fingers tighter around my neck.
“Fen,” I whispered, unsure if I wanted to stop him or tell him to keep going.
“You don’t remember,” he murmured, not expecting an answer from me.
My breathing was calm, just like his, but something told me that he was feeling things I wasn’t.
Shivers moved down my spine as his hand moved from one breast to the other, and when he pulled his hand away from my throat, he pushed it underneath my shirt to touch my skin.
“What are you doing?” I asked, still not feeling the need to stop him.
I was too scared to upset him, and although I knew this was wrong, I couldn’t move.
It was back again, the feeling of dreaming but still being awake. The feeling of your head trapped in a dream while your body was fully aware.
This isn’t happening. I must be having one of those vivid dreams again.
Fennec’s face was blurry, and I tried my best to focus on him and stay awake.
I heard his name fall from my lips again, but he didn’t react, continuing to touch my body with his strong hands.
I wondered if he’s ever touched another girl like this.
Surely, he must’ve had his fun with the girls from high school, right?
All those girls who adored him, but made me feel worthless.
“Close your eyes, sweet girl.” His voice sounded far away, although he was still sitting on top of me with his hands covering my breasts, both underneath my shirt now.
“I want you to remember what we did when we were younger, Vespyr. Close your eyes and I’ll show you.”
There was no need for me to fight him, because my eyes automatically closed, letting the darkness surround me completely.
His warm breath tickled my skin, and I turned my head to let him press a gentle kiss to my cheek.