King: Darker Than Romance Page 5

  Our parents were out to dinner. So, we had a small window of time to be together alone. The words “We need to talk”, led to a heated conversation about telling our parents about us. She didn’t want to. It ended up with me squeezed between her thick thighs, trying to convince her. I hooked one of her legs over my arm as I pushed deep into her plush flesh. Luckily, I could talk and fuck at the same time. “We should just tell them. We’re both adults.” We had been spending time together and fucking every day for nearly six months. I didn’t know how much longer I could go without telling someone she was mine.

  I pulled my cock out of her warm depths and spanked it across her wet, swollen pussy lips. She moaned, biting into her bottom lip. When I slipped back in, I wound my waist upward. She moaned and clawed at my back.

  I was tired of sneaking around as if what we had was a dirty little secret. She didn’t seem to have a problem with keeping everything under wraps though. That bothered me. Usually, it wouldn’t matter, but she was changing me. I was changing for her and planned to change even more for her. I just needed her on the same page. I wanted to give her the world. I just needed her to give me control.

  Her pussy clamped down on my dick, almost distracting me from my goal. I slowed down to a languid pace that I knew would piss her off. Eden liked it hard and fast.

  Her eyes popped open; her plump lips curved into a pout. Now that I had her attention, I repeated myself. “We should tell them. I’m going to tell my dad, Eden.”

  She frantically shook her head no but began undulating her hips, chasing her high. “Please don’t.” The more she resisted me, the more I wanted her to agree. I reached down, circled her engorged clit. She bucked upward in response.

  “Why not, Eden? If we tell them, we can do this anytime we want without sneaking around.”

  “Because,” she whimpered.

  Her walls squeezed my cock. I knew she was close, and I knew how to get her there. She’d be more agreeable then.

  I traced my finger up her torso, past her breasts. I gripped her throat, flexing my fingers as I closed them around her neck. Her legs shook. She moaned real pretty-like and dropped her head back, giving me better access. I squeezed hard, hard enough that it forced her to gasp and breathe through her nose. I watched her eyes roll to the back of her head. Her pussy clamped down tight around my cock, milking me. I could have cum right then, but I wouldn’t. I wanted to feel her for just a while longer. My body needed her. I lifted her leg higher. I stroked up, digging deeper. I found her spot and plucked at it until she sang. I squeezed her neck tighter. Her hands fell to her sides.

  A maelstrom of emotions played on her pretty face as she came, leaking all over me. Her body convulsed and vibrated. I kept squeezing her neck and not once did she reach out and try to stop me. The fact that she trusted me enough to put her life in my hands made me want to beat my chest like a fucking gorilla.

  Though we were caught up in the moment we both heard my father’s car pull up out front. Eden was the first to react, even though her body was still trembling. Her glassy eyes darted to the door. “Stop. They’re here.” She was barely able to wheeze the words out past the grip I maintained on her neck, but I understood her, and she understood that my hold on her was no longer sexual, it was purely for restraint. She tried to move my hand.

  I kept pumping in and out. Her beautiful breasts bounced and jiggled as I did. I was at a point where I didn’t care if we got caught. I wanted her in my bed, next to me all the time.

  “If they walk in right now, we won’t have to tell them. I said.

  She shoved at my chest, but I wouldn’t be moved. “They can watch me cum all in your sweet little cunt.”

  “Please.” I could see the horror in her eyes. Still, I didn’t care.

  “You like it when I do that Eden, cum deep inside you?”

  Her pussy clenched, trying to milk me again.

  “Please stop, they’re going to catch us,” she whined.

  “I don’t care, Eden.”

  “Please. My momma will hate me if this ruins her marriage.”

  I wanted to laugh. My father was already on the verge of moving on. He never stayed long. After my mother died of cancer when I was five, he moved from woman to woman, never making it past a year or two in a relationship with any of them. Him leaving was inevitable.

  “I haven’t even cum yet. We can’t stop until you make me cum,” I taunted, angry that she continued to deny me. In reality, I wasn’t going to last much longer. I was straining to hold on to my nut.

  “Stop, King.” Her voice rose as she panicked in earnest.

  “Make me stop, Eden.” I challenged her.

  Before I could say more, she maneuvered herself, so her leg fell free. She reached up and gripped my hair. She snatched my head forward. It felt like she’d ripped hair from the scalp.

  She brought the heel of her hand forward, striking me directly in my sternum.

  “Fuck,” I cursed and staggered backward, my dick slipped from her pussy, my hand fell from her neck. Where the blow landed hurt like hell and I couldn’t catch my breath. She used my moment of incapacitation to shove me, before hopping off the chair, she took a few steps back while glaring at me angrily. Tears made her eyes sparkle.

  “You’re such a fucking jerk sometimes. I don’t know why I love you, asshole.”

  I don’t think she realized what she’d said as she stalked off towards the stairs. My pain was quickly forgotten. It became hard to breathe for an entirely different reason. I froze in place because “I love you too” was stuck on the tip of my tongue. It had been about to flow out of my mouth naturally, without thought. I had never said those words to anyone besides my mother when I was a child, never thought I would. But I loved, Eden.

  I tried to think back, to pinpoint the moment where things between us had changed from something dirty and lustful to love. At first, all I wanted was to own her, like one owns a toy or an object. I got off on her shenanigans. I liked her fire. Then one day out of nowhere I started noticing her smile and realized that I wanted to be the cause of it.

  I could hear my father and Ruth’s voices heading my way. I fixed my basketball shorts and trailed behind Eden before they reached me.

  She was in the shower in her bathroom when I found her. I stood outside the shower stall, giving myself just a minute to look at her. She had the roundest ass I’d ever experienced, and it was soft. And I loved the way her skin reminded me of warm honey.

  She jumped when she turned and found me watching her. Her lips pressed into a thin line of distaste and aggravation. “Get out!”

  “What did you say to me before you ran away?” She stared at me like I’d grown two heads when I stepped in behind her, under the spray of water, with my gym shorts and t-shirt still on.

  “What the fuck are you doing? I’m so–” I took a firm hold of her waist to keep her from leaving, then I kissed her, stealing her breath, halting her words. She kissed me back, greedily sucking my tongue. When I pulled away, she reached for me. Her eyes were low and dark. I knew if I reached down between her legs her pussy would be dripping. The fact simultaneously annoyed and gave me a weird sense of pride. She was always ready to fuck me, anything else and she’d whine about us getting caught or she would talk about how it wouldn’t look right.

  “What did you say to me?” I repeated.

  “Wh—What?” She shook her head in confusion.

  “What did you say to me downstairs?”

  “I said you’re an asshole,” she answered

  “You also said you loved me.”

  “No the fuc—” She paused mid-sentence. A thoughtful expression came to her face. She must have run what she said back in her head because she suddenly ducked her head.

  “I love you too, Eden.”

  “Get out, Ashford.” That wasn’t the response I expected. Maybe she hadn’t meant to say it. Maybe she didn’t love me.

  My heart pounded hard against my rib cage. Suddenly something in
me snapped. Before I could stop myself, my hand flew up to grip her jaw. I got right up in her face. “You meant it didn’t you?” I sneered. She winced. “You wouldn’t play with me like that, Eden. Would you?” I backed her up into the shower stall. Water rained down onto her hair causing it to cover her face. With my free hand, I pushed it back. She was crying, but I didn’t care. She must have seen how important her answer was because she finally answered.

  “I wouldn’t lie. I love you. Don’t ask me why or how or when, because I don’t know, I just do. I couldn’t tell you that because I knew it would change everything.”

  “Nothing will change.”

  She looked at me skeptically, like she knew me better than I knew myself. It turned out she did because everything changed after that.

  “I was young and dumb.” Her voice broke through my thoughts, settling me back in the present.

  I raised my head to look at. She had her eyes closed. She was still so beautiful.

  “Last night didn’t feel like we were over. You don’t want me anymore, Eden? I remember all the times you begged for me.”

  She sighed but said nothing, just turned and stared at me. I couldn’t decipher what was going on behind her eyes.

  I lifted my hand and scratched at the spot next to my heart. My chest ached. I had always been able to read her before.

  “You’ve changed, Eden.” She drew her lips into a tight line. “You reek of weakness now.” It made me angry. I slammed my hand against the bathroom door.

  She didn’t react. Still, she said nothing. The silence was deafening in the cramped space.

  Old Eden would have cursed me out. She had so much fight in her back then. I almost felt sorry for the current her, almost. I felt that whatever had happened to her after I went prison, she had brought on herself.

  I walked further into the bathroom, then crouched down next to the bathtub.

  “Why are you back here, Eden?” I knew there was something she and her mother weren’t telling me.

  She sighed. “It’s a long story, one that I’m not telling you. You all will find out soon enough anyway.” Her voice was filled with so many emotions I didn’t pressure her to tell me. I eventually would.

  I pushed myself from the floor. “Get out of the tub, Eden.”

  She massaged the bridge of her nose. “I should have left you alone back then. Getting involved with you has been the catalyst for all of my problems.”

  “Ouch.” I feigned hurt knowing she didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean half of what I said. We were both just angry. “Kitty still has claws.” I removed a towel from the rack and held it out for her to step into. “Get out of the tub, Eden. I want to talk to you before your mother gets back.” By talk, I meant—fuck her. My dick had been missing her since I’d awoken to find her gone. I was missing her. I couldn’t stop missing her. Through all the anger, the fact that I still wanted her remained.

  “I distinctly remember telling you that being with me wouldn’t meant that there wouldn’t always be rainbows and butterflies between us. I warned you.” I reminded her. I was not prepared for her to affect me as she had. I had too many balls in the air already. I tried to stay away from her. “But let’s not act as if the hurt isn’t mutual. I’m two days fresh out of prison and you had a hand in putting me there.”

  She shook her head. “I’m just ready for all this to be over with.”

  “You’re ready for what to be over with and why? So, you can go back to your husband?” I sneered. The thought of her running from me to him yet again made me want to hurt them both.

  “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “Of course, you fucking don’t. That would be—”

  Whatever else I was about to say died in my throat when she stood from the tub. Every part of her decadent body was covered in bruises and old scars that hadn’t been there four years earlier.

  An uncomfortable amount of weight fell, then settled in my chest, making my heart beat funny. Anger boiled in my blood. It was obvious her husband beat her brutally and often. I could not believe Ruth had made it sound as if Eden were asking for it or that her husband and her arguments amounted to a slap here or push there. I could make out knuckle prints in her caramel skin. What she had been going through hit me right in the core.

  She raised her arms and posed, meeting my eyes head-on.

  “Does it look like I want to go back to my husband?” Her words were meant to antagonize me.

  “What-what did he do to you?” My throat clogged with emotion and hatred. I would kill that motherfucker.

  She laughed and said, “No more than you did.”

  My heart sped up. the accusation incensed me. To have her compare me to him. I wasn’t a saint, by no means, but I hadn’t physically abused her.

  “I never beat you, Eden.”

  She sighed then lazily stretched towards heaven before stepping out of the tub and walking my way with a tired expression on her face. She stopped at my side and looked up at me.

  “No. You never beat me. You did everything else. You wrecked me, exactly how you said you would,” she said. Then she walked past me and out of the bathroom, leaving me behind with my thoughts.

  Eden: Wild Times

  Present

  “I wrecked you. Really, Eden?”

  It took him only thirty minutes to follow me from the bathroom. I thought I at least had a few hours. I just knew he would go brood in a corner somewhere and leave me the fuck alone after I told him my truth. But it seemed he was determined to drive me crazy. First, he wouldn’t let me take a bath in fucking peace. Now he wouldn’t let me sleep.

  “So, it was all me. You did nothing?”

  Here we go with this perpetual victim bullshit.

  “What did I do to wreck you, Eden? Tell me. Give me an example, one where we weren’t mutually to blame?”

  He suddenly wanted to talk. “Fine.”

  I sat up in my bed and made sure I kept the sheet wrapped around me since I was nude underneath the covers. I turned in the direction of his voice. He was sitting in the soft armchair next to the window with his head down, looking lost.

  “There really are too many to count.” He frowned and the part of me that always wanted to please King reared her ugly fucking head. “But we had good times.” I volunteered, because he really looked like he needed me to. But when I tried to think of any of the good between us that didn’t included fucking, it was hard.

  “Those five days we spent locked away in your hotel. You remember those?” I asked

  That was the first time we’d actually talked and had fun together without sneaking around. But even then, the beginning and end of those five days had been disastrous.

  Eden: Those Five Days.

  Past

  “It’s final, Eden.” I glared down at Momma with my fists curled at my side. My whole body shook. I wanted to punch something. No, I wanted to punch her. I hated her. She was so fucking infuriating.

  I left her sitting on the couch. I slammed into the kitchen. I went straight to the island, picked up the biggest knife from the butcher block. For a minute I just stared at it, thinking about going back into the living room to slit her fucking throat. She was determined to ruin my life, wouldn’t taking hers be fair? But as quick as the thought came it left. I dropped the knife. I ran my hand down my face and took a deep breath to calm myself.

  “This can’t be my life.” I groaned while blinking away tears.

  Out of my peripheral, I glimpsed someone. Startled, a sharp gasp forced its way from my throat. Turning, I found King staring at me intently. I hadn’t seen him in a week. Not since he’d forced me to go to the movies with him, claiming he wanted to have an actual date. Which ended up being code for us fucking in the theatre.

  He was sitting, leaned back into one of the kitchen chairs, watching me. He was wearing an expensive charcoal grey suit and his glasses were back. He looked like a shady businessman. I wondered why he was dressed up. I wanted to ask him where he ha
d been. I had been wondering about that a lot lately. Where did he go when he left for days and weeks at a time?

  He spoke up first. “What were you thinking about doing with the knife, Eden?” His index finger circled the rim of his glass as he watched me with a bland expression, waiting for an answer.

  He wouldn’t get one. I shook my head in dismissal. I made my way over to the table and picked up the bottle of brown liquor he’d poured himself a drink from. He held my eyes the entire time without saying a word until I raised the bottle to my lips.

  King frowned. “What are you doing?” he asked as he reached out and snatched the bottle from my hand before I could swallow a drop.

  “I need fucking a drink,” I said but didn’t bother trying to get the bottle back.

  His eyes had narrowed to slits.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  He picked up the cigarette that lay smoldering in an ashtray next to his arm. After placing it between his lips and inhaling deeply, he picked up his glass, exhaled white smoke. It floated around him like a cloud. He took a sip from his cup, set it down. He watched the thin lines of brown liquid run down the sides of the glass, back to the bottom, then he took another drag from the cigarette. I watched him waiting for what came next.

  He said nothing. He cocked his head to the side. He studied me, as if he was trying to see through me, see if I was capable of doing what I had been thinking when I’d picked up that knife. When he dropped his eyes, his gaze travelled down the length of me then back to my eyes.

  “Come here, Eden.” His tone was syrupy but dark. It turned my nipples to hard pebbles that strained against my shirt.

  I glanced towards the door. Momma and James were still home, plus James had a couple of business associates over.

  “It’s okay,” he encouraged waving me over with two thick fingers as he snubbed his cigarette out directly on the Wood of Arditi collection dining table. That table was Momma’s pride and joy. The first time she’d caught King’s father cheating on her she’d guilted him into buying it. She was sure to mention that it cost almost twenty thousand dollars. Imagine that. She had spent twenty thousand dollars on a fucking table, but she couldn’t give me five thousand to cover what my scholarships weren’t for school? Supposedly she and James couldn’t afford another expense now.