King: Darker Than Romance Read online

  ***

  Everything came to a head when Ellis stopped in for a visit. Our parents were out of town again.

  King busted in my room as if he owned it. I hadn’t seen him in two weeks. I was kind of over him. I was tiring of chasing him when I didn’t even know where I wanted our brief encounters to go. Did I actually want him, or was the high from making him do what he didn’t seem to want to do what I craved?

  Plus, I hated the fact that I seemed to need his attention. I decided to leave him alone until I figured what exactly it was I wanted from him.

  I kept reading.

  “You have company,” he growled.

  I looked away from my book to him. I rolled my eyes.

  “Did you by chance get a name?”

  “No. I assume it’s Ken,” he sneered.

  I immediately knew it was Ellis. He really did remind me of a Ken doll with his blond hair and blue eyes. He was tall with an athletic body and had a tan only good money could buy. We had an interesting relationship. I hadn’t noticed him at first. I wanted his friend Dutch, but fuckboy Dutch said he didn’t like Black girls.

  That made no sense to me since he was the color of onyx. He didn’t want me but got all pissy when Ellis showed interest in me. I fooled around with Ellis just out of spite. Best decision ever. Ellis ate pussy as if it were a job.

  I got out of bed and pushed past King. He followed me downstairs. When I got to the living room, Ellis was nowhere to be seen.

  “You didn’t let him in?”

  “No. Why would I?” King said before turning and walking away, but not leaving. He stood at the bottom of the steps watching me with narrowed eyes. I paused long enough to stare back at him.

  “Problem?” I asked wondering why he was minding my business and not his.

  He cocked his head but said nothing.

  I rolled my eyes.

  Ellis was gone when I opened the door. That’s when King was no longer interested. He headed towards the den, which had been dubbed the entertainment room. He spent most of his time in there when he was home.

  I went back upstairs to my room. I tried calling Ellis, but he never answered.

  I had a sneaking suspicious my stepbrother was the reason why. But I didn’t care, because Ellis had been getting clingy. He had gone as far as to ask me what I thought about him going to a school in Atlanta so we could maintain our relationship. As far as I was concerned, we didn’t have one. We hadn’t even had sex, just fooled around, and he was already planning our future?

  I already had planned my next four years in my head. I was going to spend them concentrating on studying so I could get into a good law school. No boyfriend, no commitments. I just had to find a way to tell Ellis that. But at that moment none of it mattered. I went back to my book.

  King stuck around that night. I could hear him walking back and forth in his room as if he were pacing.

  Eventually he came into my room.

  He leaned his tall, pale body against the door frame with his arm folded across his chest. He watched me. I could tell he was waiting for me to acknowledge him. Which is exactly why I didn’t. If he had something to say, he would have to just say it.

  Another minute passed.

  “Who is the boy?” his tone filled with jealousy.

  My eyebrow rose. I sat up in my bed and watched him back. He was shirtless, his black sweatpants rode low on his hips. “What does actual sex feel like?” I asked instead of answering him.

  He just stared at me for what felt like forever, then he’d walked further into my room his eyes held an ominous gleam I hadn’t noticed before.

  His being in my room for the first time made it feel too small. Too childish. Momma had decorated it all pink and frilly. She didn’t know me at all. There was stuffed animals and posters of boy bands on the wall. I hated it before and hated it even more with him being in it. I knew he already thought I was too young to do what we did, and the pink unicorns on my bedspread wouldn’t help change his mind.

  Heat radiated from him as he stared at me. “You’re a virgin?” His voice shook along with his hands, and I knew then what I wanted. I wanted him to fuck me and take my virginity, and I knew how to get him. My heart began beating faster in anticipation. I could read the possessiveness in his eyes. Saw that the thought of being my first was making him weak enough to break him.

  “Yes. I’ve done other stuff, just never been penetrated by a dick. Tell me, please.” I batted my eyes and pouted prettily for him. King was too easy to read. He was attracted to my supposed innocence.

  He walked further into the room. He came over to my bed and crouched down to meet me at eye level.

  We went from talking to touching. Then something came over me. I grabbed him by the back of the neck, dragged him to me. I kissed him how I suspected he’d like, deeply, slowly, and languidly. He kissed me back, took control. He lit a fire in my pussy that I felt over every inch of my body. That led to me begging him.

  “If we do this-- from this moment forth, you’ll be mine and you’ll be doomed, because being with me is going to drain you bit by bit and I’m going to be the only one who can replenish you,” he warned.

  I lowered my voice real soft like. “I’m okay with that, Ashford,” was my answer. I knew how to press his buttons.

  The muscles in his shoulder became coiled with tension.

  I knew in that moment he’d given up. He would stop trying to fight what was inevitable. The energy in the room shifted.

  I closed my eyes just for a second to revel in the fact that I’d broken his will.

  When I opened them a wicked almost cruel smile came on King’s face. Suddenly, I felt as if I’d been tricked, as if I were no longer as in control of the situation as I had thought. I swallowed hard. He crowded closer. In one swift motion, he reached for me. He tangled his hand in my hair and snatched my head back. I hissed. My scalp burned and tingled. My heart was going ape shit in my chest.

  He leaned in and trailed his thick tongue down my neck then back up again. I moaned when his teeth nipped at me ear.

  “One day you’ll look back on this moment, and I want you to remember, you asked for this. Begged for me to wreck you,” he rasped out. “And since you think you’re in charge, lil girl. Tell me what you want me to do to you,” he whispered against my ear. His words sounded menacing, but they didn’t scare me, not until our eyes connected. My heart skipped a beat. For the first time I saw it, the anger, the malice, the murkiness that lay behind his dark irises. My fate. He would ruin me, just like he’d said. Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure if I had trapped him or he had trapped me. At the moment it didn’t matter. I was going to fuck him anyway.

  He gripped my jaw digging his fingers into my skin, refocusing me. I told him outright. “I want you to fuck me.”

  He licked his lips. They were fuller than any white boy’s lips I’d ever seen.

  “How? How do you want me to fuck you?”

  My mind immediately flashed back to the night I’d caught him. I had wanted to switch places with that girl. This was my chance.

  “Hard and deep. Like you fucked her.”

  He groaned. He reached between us. His cold callused fingers felt good against my hot skin. Using the pad of his thumb he circled my nipple. “Are you going to be a pretty lil slut like her and suck my cock to get it ready, before I fuck you?” My body reacted aggressively to his words. My pulse quickened. My pussy gushed, wetting my inner thighs. My mouth watered.

  “Yes, please.”

  “Get on your knees then,” he said.

  He didn’t have to tell me twice. I fell to my knees, eagerly pulling his sweats down with me andcrossing my ankles behind me. I was confident I would please him. He had on no boxers to speak of. He was completely unprepared for me to swallow him whole. He whimpered, like Ellis usually did, like a boy. I moaned around the length of him. He groaned from above me.

  “You like my dick in your mouth, lil girl?”

  Mentally I laughed. I
would show him I wasn’t anyone’s little girl.

  I gripped his hands, holding them to keep them to his side. I began working my mouth over his thick rod, up and down. Making sure to suck the swollen, sensitive head. His hand trembled in my grip. His breaths came out in pants.

  Up and down. Suck the head. I watched him for his reaction. Veins stood out on his neck as he gritted his teeth.

  Suddenly he cursed and snatched his hands from my grip. He gripped the back of my head, forcing me to swallow him down the back of my throat. I didn’t even gag.

  He growled, “I want to thank and kill the motherfucker who taught you to suck dick this well.”

  He possessiveness caused my clit to ache. I reached down, slid my panties to the side and massaged it as he fucked my face. My clit was so swollen and sensitive. It didn’t take much manipulation from me. I came on my fingers at the same time his salty-sweet essence filled my mouth. He growled when he came.

  My entire body trembled.

  King came down on his knees to meet me. He roughly cupped my face, kissed me. It was forceful and devastating. He dragged his hand down my body, inside my underwear. His thick fingers parted my slippery folds before entering me. In and out he fucked me with them. When it was just getting good, he stopped and pulled away. He tugged at my shirt.

  “Take this off, all of it,” His deep voice was demanding.

  My eyes flew open, I hadn’t even realized they’d lulled shut. The way he was looking at me. As if he wanted to consume me whole, body and soul, fed my ego. I stood, pulled the thin cami I wore over my head, slid out of my panties. He stood. He kicked off his sweat. His dick was pointing straight at me.

  “Just let me look at you for a minute.”

  He circled me like a shark who smelled blood in water. His fingers traced various spots of my skin. “Perfect,” he breathed out, “so fucking perfect.”

  And I felt perfect.

  When he faced me, he raised his hand, brought it up, brushed his knuckle cross my cheek. He then looked me in my eyes.

  “This is your chance to save yourself, Eden. Tell me to leave.”

  I blanked out for a second. But I refocused myself quickly. My heart pounded. My need for him was thick and sticky, clinging to me. I could physically feel it in my being. There was no way I was telling him to leave.

  I shook my head. “I want this. I want you,” I said.

  He gave me a hard look. I could see the possessiveness in his penetrating glare. Something in me screamed for me to change my mind, but I couldn’t. I was too far gone.

  “No more Ken doll. No other men. Just me and you, Eden. Forever.” He declared before he lifted me off my feet like I weighed nothing and carried me to the bed.

  He laid me down then lay on top of me. His dick pressed against my pussy. For a few tense moments we just stared at each other. He looked like he was trying to talk himself out of what we both wanted, or he was waiting for me to change my mind.

  His muscles were coiled so tight the tension caused his body to vibrate. I needed him too much for him to change his mind. I spread my legs, dug my nails into his biceps. “Please,” I spurred him on. His eyes fluttered. He bit into his bottom lip, moved his hips, sliding between my wet folds until he was pressed against my opening

  “I can’t believe how hot and wet you are,” he said before his mouth covered mine. His kiss was hard and moist and hot and breathy.

  His grip on my waist tightened as he pushed into me in one swift stroke. There wasn’t anything gentle about it. My back arched from the bed. I dug my nails into his bicep. I cried out. The pain was searing. Tears stung my eyes. It hurt, but I didn’t want him to stop. I grinded my teeth, spread my legs wider, tried to make my body adjust to the intrusion. I breathed out relaxing my muscles

  “That’s it,” he groaned. “Take it.”

  He didn’t fuck me like in the romance books. He didn’t wait for me to adjust to his size or whisper sweet nothings.

  He fucked me like I asked him to. Using long deep strokes that I felt in my stomach. His teeth raked over my skin and bit into flesh. His hands were everywhere.

  He talked to me too.

  “You’re mine.”

  He bit into my chin.

  “Touch me.”

  He directed my hand where he needed it to be.

  “Feel me.”

  He grabbed my legs, hooked my knees under his arms, spread me wider. Rocked into me, penetrating deeper.

  “Nobody else, only me, Eden. Promise me.”

  At that moment I would have told him anything he wanted to hear. I made the promises he asked me to.

  “Can I cum in you?”

  Without thought of consequences I said, “yes,” and wrapped legs around him and came as he pounded into me. His orgasm followed soon after mine. Groaning and panting he came hard inside of me.

  That night he taught me to like the pleasure wrapped in pain, to crave it even. To crave him.

  ***

  “Eden.” I vaguely heard my momma call my name. Then King called me. I shook myself from memories of the past. I looked up from my empty cereal bowl and saw that they were both watching me.

  “Did you not hear me, Eden? “Momma had an attitude so she must have asked me something and thought I was ignoring her.

  “No, I didn’t hear you. Can you repeat what you said?”

  The scowl on her face deepened.

  King watched me with what looked like concern in his gaze.

  “Do you have any money for groceries? Today is the first day of the safer-at-home quarantine. I won’t be leaving the house after today to shop. If you’re going to stay here and eat, you have to contribute.”

  I opened my mouth to tell her I’d only be there a day or two more, but then I changed my mind. The less she knew the better. I gritted my teeth, got up and went into the living room where I’d left my purse. I got my wallet. I pretended to not notice that several of the hundreds I’d taken from the ATM when I left Georgia were gone. Momma probably had already helped herself. That’s how she was. I counted two hundred dollars. I blinked away the tears that burned my eyes and made my way back into the kitchen.

  She and King were crowded together whispering, but broke apart when I came in. King watched me. There was a softness to his eyes that hadn’t been there just minutes before. “Here.” I dropped the money on the table instead of handing it to her then left them to their plotting. I told myself it would all be over soon. I made my way to the room, closed my door then used my hands to stifle my screams.

  King: Karma

  Present

  After a long drawn out conversation with Eden’s momma, I finally convinced her to go get the supplies she said she so desperately needed. Being around Ruth again made me remember why I avoided her and my father when they’d gotten married. She was a fucking leech, just like him. She drained you with her neediness, constant ploys for attention and deceit.

  I loathed the type of mother she was. Jealous and covetous of her own child. I would never claim to be a better person than she was, I wasn’t. But the way she treated Eden, her own flesh and blood, was disgusting and Eden didn’t even know the worse of it.

  In the last days of her marriage to my father, I heard her trying to trade her daughter to keep my father around. Now, she was trying to encourage me to make Eden go back to a man that she knew was physically hurting her simply because he paid her bills. She was beyond despicable to me.

  I went in search of Eden. Walking through that house brought back so many memories. Honestly, nothing sentimental. They were mostly memories of me fucking Eden in every room, on every surface.

  When I got to her room, the door was locked, which was exactly why I had brought a butter knife. My jaw tensed in aggravation as I pried it open. Eden knew how easily I could get in her room if I wanted, when I wanted. She had locked it to annoy me.

  I found her soaking in the tub. She had bubbles up to her neck, her head resting against the back of the tub, her eyes clos
ed. She looked so relaxed. Just looking at her stole the breath right out of my lungs.

  The temptation that always manifested when she was around made my palms sweat. I wanted to touch her. I was supposed to hate her for betraying me, sometimes I did. But even when I hated Eden, I wanted her. In prison, I had thought about killing her many times. On the bad nights when I got rea angry and lonely, I imagined escaping just to do it. My mindset was that if I couldn’t have her, nobody else could, especially not him. But when I killed her, then what? I couldn’t live without her. She was woven into every fiber of my being.

  For a while I just watched her. Gone was the big bushy hair from four years earlier. A sleek shoulder-length bob framed her face.

  “Not now, King,” she said without opening her eyes.

  I laughed dryly, all the while fuming inside. “You let him beat you?” Eden had betrayed me for him, just to end up being abused by him.

  “Leave me alone, King.”

  “Why? You don’t want to talk about your karma for what you did to me?”

  She opened her eyes and laughed at me. “Of course, you think there’s some cosmic being exacting revenge for you. Is that what you’re saying, King? She paused, giving me time to answer. When I didn’t, she continued. “There’s no such thing as karma. There’s just life. Sometimes it’s fucked up and sometimes it isn’t.” She waved me off. “You really do think my existence revolves around you.”

  “You used to think so too.”

  She ran a wet hand over her face before turning to look at me. She cocked her head and studied me. “The keyword is ‘used’ as in past tense. We’re over. Everything there once was between us is now a pile of ashes.”

  Her words wounded me, but I kept a poker face, refusing to show her that the verbal barbs she flung my way hit their mark. My thoughts immediately veered back to when for the first time she’d told me she loved me.