“Are you going to answer my question?” I put my weight on my elbows and glare down at her. I’m so hard, my cock practically begging for me to move my hips and seat myself inside her. It’s what I should do. She owes me this, all of it. But what I want even more from her is the truth for once.
Against my better judgment, I lower my mouth to hers and brush a soft kiss against her lips.
She doesn’t move at first, but then she answers. The slightest pressure of her mouth against mine, the hint of more.
I pull back, still trying to decipher who she is and what she wants.
“You could hurt me right now,” she whispers. “But you haven’t.”
“I should.” I press my forehead to hers.
A tear slips from her eye, and I wipe it away with my thumb. That seems to change the air between us.
“I left school—” She swallows hard. “I left because my mother is sick. That’s why I need the money. That’s why I lied to make myself seem like something I’m not. I don’t have any skills for a job, so I couldn’t get the money that way. I couldn’t get a loan. And I tried being an escort, but I just couldn’t do it. I thought the easiest way would be as a sugar baby, but then you offered so much more. You offered a way into a world that I’d only seen while I washed windows and polished the floors with my mom. With that kind of money, Mom would have the care she needs, and then we’d be set for life. So, I thought I could take that chance. With your help, I could pass for one of them. I know how they act, what they wear, the things they say. All I needed was access to someone with enough money so I could pay to save my mom.” Her voice cracks on the last word. “I’m so stupid. So stupid.” A wail rips from her lungs.
I slide off her and pull her into my arms. This is what I needed from her. The truth. Unvarnished. I already knew about her mother, but what I didn’t know was whether Lily was on the take from someone else. Was she being paid to get close to me? It sounds paranoid, but I can’t be too careful. I’ve made so many enemies over the years that nothing surprises me anymore. Planting an innocent beauty in my path and using her to worm her way into my heart is exactly the sort of game vicious men like me play. But that’s not what Lily is. She’s not calculating; she’s desperate. I’ve been looking for puppet strings where there are none.
She cries for long minutes. I hold her, stroking her back slowly as she lets it all out. There’s nothing I can say. Not about her mother or about last night. We all have our demons, our memories that will never stop haunting us. I hope she can let hers go. I can’t. Not until I hunt those men down and tear them apart.
“Why are you being so nice?” She sniffles.
“I’m not.” I keep stroking her back.
“You are,” she protests.
I take her hand and guide it down, then wrap it around my hard cock. “Do nice men stay hard when innocent girls are crying?”
To my surprise, her grip tightens, and she strokes me once in a smooth motion.
“Innocent? Did you hear the part about me trying to be an escort?”
“I heard all of it, and I knew you’d dabbled in sex work. That doesn’t mean you aren’t innocent, princess.” I tilt her chin up and meet her eyes again. “You’re purer than you know.”
“Who are you?” She moves closer, her lips tantalizingly close. “Tell me.”
“No.” I claim her mouth in a kiss, then roll on top of her.
She twines her arms around my neck as I kiss down her throat, tasting her everywhere as I move lower. When I claim one hard nipple in my mouth, she moans.
“Who are you?” she breathes.
I answer by biting her nipple, then moving to the other one. Her fingernails rake along my scalp as I bite her breast and leave a mark. She cries out, her body bucking, but I don’t let up. Instead, I bite her other tit, then return to her mouth.
Notching my cock against her entrance, I feel how slick she is for me, how needy. I suck her neck just below her ear.
She digs her nails into my shoulder. “Oh my god, what are you doing to me? Tell me who you are.”
“I’m the one who owns this pretty cunt.” I thrust my hips, seating myself deep inside her.
She throws her head back, her body open for me as I grip her hip with one hand and start thrusting inside her. Nothing has ever felt this good. Fuck.
“Your name!” she cries, her body arching to mine, her breasts pressing against my chest as I give her all of me.
I fuck her wildly, recklessly, and I savor each scratch she leaves on my skin. She’s mine, every bit of her. Cupping her tit, I squeeze as I piston into her, and when I twist her nipple between my thumb and forefinger, she gasps.
“I know what you like, princess. I’ve seen it.” Pulling out, I grip her hips and flip her over, then yank her ass into the air. With a smooth thrust, I enter her from behind. I groan at how tight she is from this angle, then reach down and grip her hair.
“Hands on the headboard, princess,” I grate out.
She follows my command and presses her palms to the dark wood as I fuck her hard, our skin smacking together as I reach beneath her and stroke her clit.
Her movements become more frantic as she bounces on my cock, her back arching more deeply with each stroke from my fingers.
I feel the moment when she breaks, when I crack open the sweetest part of her and she comes on my cock. Her moan is sex. I thrust deep and feel her squeezing me. With a few more hard pumps, I come, my seed coating her as I grunt and rut on her like a fucking animal. She was made to be taken like this by me, her body yielding and perfect as I defile it with everything I am.
When we’re both spent, she collapses onto the bed, and I pull out and lie next to her.
She turns her head, her hair slicked against her forehead with sweat. There’s a question in her eyes. I don’t want to answer it.
I roll out of bed and reach for my clothes. “You’re paid up.” Fuck, I’m such a prick.
“Paid up?” she asks, still sounding a little dazed.
“Yes, your debt is settled.”
“So I got fucked, and then I got fucked, and now I have nothing to show for any of it.” She sits up and pulls the blanket to her chest. “I’m back where I started. Will you at least tell me your name?” she asks sadly.
I stand, dress, and walk to the door. I should walk out and not look back. After all, this was the arrangement. Only this. Nothing more. I’m a hard man, someone who has never let anyone get close. Because the last time I did? I wound up with a knife in my back. Even so, I want more from her. It’s just a feeling, a desire—but it’s one I’ve never felt. Acting on it, though, that could lead to another knife in my back, and this one could be the end of me.
“Please?” she asks.
“My driver will be waiting downstairs. He’ll take you home. Don’t bother asking him any questions. He won’t answer.” I stride out and walk away from her.
Her sob echoes down the hall and breaks off a piece of me that I thought was made of stone.
11
Lily
“I’ll see you again.” I hug Chelsea even though she smells like BO. The hazards of strange roommates and summer in New York.