Trust.
Is it true what he says? Do I trust him? On some level, I do. Or I want to. But do I have any choice?
What I feel though, the fact that I’m not scared he’ll hurt me, that’s not a choice. It’s what I know.
But then he draws out slowly and slides his cock up to my other hole.
“Stefan, no. You’re too big. I can’t—”
“Shh. Trust me. I told you I won’t hurt you.”
“I—”
“You’re going to give me this. And you’re going to know that you’re mine. And I don’t hurt what’s mine.”
One hand slides around to my clit and as he closes his fingers around it he pushes against the tight ring. I feel him, his big cock lubricated with my juices. It’s slippery and as he plays with my clit, I open to him and even though it hurts, I want this. I want him to have me like this.
He moves slowly, carefully, all the while playing with me, talking to me and feeling him like this, inside me there. It’s different, intense. Like all the sensations are multiplied by a thousand. There’s pain and pleasure and they take turns, one giving way to the other, again and again and I come more than once before he’s fully inside me and all I can do is feel. Like I become sensation and it’s just him and me and us like this. Close. So close.
Stefan inside me.
Stefan closer than ever inside me and maybe it’s that I want to forget. Maybe it’s my escape, however momentary, but I give myself over to it. My body relaxes and I just feel and trust and when he’s fully in me, I hear him, hear his breathing shorten, feel him thicken even more and he’s saying my name too, telling me I’m beautiful. Telling me I’m his.
And when he begins to fuck me, I lose all conscious thought.
I am a ball of nerves. Of pleasure. Of us.
I don’t know where one orgasm ends and the other begins. I don’t know where he ends, and I begin.
And when he stills inside me and I feel him filling me up, I squeeze around him, and I want more of him. All of him. Every part of him.
It’s all I can think as I go limp and my vision goes dark. And his name on my lips is all I hear.
I don’t feel him slide out of me.
I don’t feel him lift me up and carry me to the bed.
When I open my eyes, it’s like I’m floating and he’s there and smiling and he cleans me so gently, so tenderly before tucking me into bed.
And I just lie there, spent.
When he’s dressed, he sits on the edge of the bed and smiles down at me, brushes hair gently back from my face.
“Now you’re mine. Every part of you.”
How does he look the way he does? Didn’t what we just did cost him as much as it did me? He seems the opposite of me. Revitalized.
He leans down to kiss my mouth.
“Get dressed when you’re ready. Come downstairs. We’ll have that drink before dinner.”
I turn my head to watch him walk to the door.
He stops there, looks back at me and I must be a sight because he just grins and walks out the door.
29
Gabriela
It takes me a little time to get up and I decide to shower again. Cold this time. It does the trick, waking me up. By the time I get downstairs it’s a good half hour later.
Stefan is sitting outside watching the dark blue water. He turns when he hears me and without a word, I take my place opposite him at the table and when I sit down, I can still feel him inside me, feel what we did.
He just watches me, drinking his whiskey.
“Okay?” he asks.
I nod, a little embarrassed. Something is different with us.
Without asking if I want it, he pours me a glass of white wine.
I pick it up, taking the first sip. I savor it, needing it.
Being with him like we were, it fucks with me. Makes me go all soft.
I drink another swallow of wine.
“I like how you look after being fucked.”
“How do I look?”
“Soft. Dreamy.”
“It’s your magical cock, I guess.”
“Probably,” he winks and his expression is disarming. “But what I like more is how you look at me after.”
I don’t need to ask what he means. This one I know. I look at him like he’s a god. My god.
“It’s just sex.”
“No, it’s not. And you know it.”
I do.
But I have to make myself remember. Remember New York. Remember Gabe. Remember what my father told me.
That’s the one that does it. That wipes that dreamy expression off my face. And he sees it instantly.
“You’re ready to talk,” he says. It’s not a question and if I didn’t know better, I’d say he looks a little disappointed.
“Tell me what happened between the morning we were in New York and that afternoon? Tell me what has you thinking you need to hate me again.”
“I do hate you, Stefan. I never stopped hating you.”
“We both know that’s not true.”
“You want to argue it? Argue how I feel versus how you think I feel?”
“No, I don’t. I think it’d be a boring conversation. Truce, Gabriela.”
“Why?”
“Because whether you want to admit it or not, we have a common enemy and you and I are one another’s only allies.”
“Enemies and allies. I’ve never heard those words so much before meeting you.”
“Explain to me again how you got a bump on the back of your head during the car chase.”
“I bumped it against the window. I told you.”
“Do you see how that doesn’t make physical sense to me?”
“It all happened so fast. Maybe I hit it against something else. I don’t know, Stefan.”
He studies me, eyes narrowing. “You were right,” he says.
“Right about what?” Is he letting it go?
“Rafa and Clara. They’re together.”
“How do you know that?”
“I went to Rafa’s house yesterday. She was there and Rafa confirmed it.”
“I don’t care. Why do you think I would care?”
“Just thought I’d share it with you. I’ll share more. Those men Rafa thought were following you the other day, they were my men.”
“What? Why? I mean, I didn’t even see anyone. I couldn’t figure out who was chasing us.”
He remains silent while I try to work through this.
“Why did you have men following us?”
“I had them following Rafa. Not you. I wanted to be sure you were safe, and I had doubts about Rafa. Doubts that have been confirmed.”
“What?”
I feel my forehead crease as I think about Gabe. About where he is. Where Rafa said he put him. When I tried to call Melanie to make sure they were okay, I only got voice mail.
“The birds were poisoned, Gabriela.”
“Poisoned? Why? Who would do that? How?”
He reaches into his pocket and pulls something out. He sets it on the table. It’s a thumb drive.
“I don’t understand.”
“I went to see the man who made the cage when we were in New York. To be honest, that was the reason I needed to go. But I’m glad I was able to take you to see your brother.”