Chapter Three
After taking all the pins out of my hair, it kind of just dangles there just below my shoulders, and it still looks pretty good. I thought for certain it would be sticking up in different directions. Lucky for me. I spend a good amount of time in the shower rubbing the areas where the bustier left marks on my skin from me sleeping in it all night long. Seems as though the indentations are here to stay. And it’s all his fault.
I feel completely exhausted after my shower. Forgoing the sexy lingerie my mom put in the bag I grab a tee-shirt, panties, and my thick pink and green fluffy socks. I refuse to beg, and he seems to be stuck on my doing just that. Maybe I’ll stay a virgin forever. God, I hope not.
The bed is comfortable, and I lull myself to sleep with rancorous thoughts. I’ll get that son of a bitch, one way or another. Deleting his saved shows was just the beginning. He’ll learn. If anyone is going to learn a lesson it’ll be him.
****
A warm caress and a kiss wake me. I open my eyes to see Haines kissing his way up my right leg. His eyes are trained on mine, and I fight not to look away. His lips are heated velvet, and each fervent kiss sends chills through my body and center in on my core. Damn him.
The room is quiet, save for the soft swish, swish sound of the ceiling fan. The spinning blades carry a tender breeze along my exposed skin, but do nothing to cool the warmth that originates with Haines’ kiss. I want to reach out and touch his hair, pull him closer to me, but I let him take his time. Electricity hums through me, and every kiss makes my stomach quiver. For a moment my chest constricts as if I’ve forgotten how to breathe. With every press of his lips I catch my breath and focus on him. Sweet, sucking kisses reach the apex of my thighs, and then he makes his way down my left leg, his lips leaving a trail of fire in their wake. Once he reaches my toes, he sucks each one into his lusciously supple, warm mouth. It tickles and my giggles give way to quiet sighs, his tongue darting out as he tastes every inch of me. Where the hell did my socks go? I should be fighting him, to let him know I mean business. But I can do that later.
Ripples of energy fill the room, reminding me of a hot summer day in a sunny parking lot. His power fills this entire space, and I clench my hands, trying to keep them from touching him. I don’t know if it’s his energy that makes me want him so badly, or if it’s the attraction that’s already there between us that fuels my desire.
Haines nudges my legs together and for the sake of the pressure on my sex I squeeze my thighs tighter just to feel the heaviness send a welcomed shock through me. “Can I have these?” he asks, gently tugging on the elastic of my blue panties.
My mouth is dry and my voice is weak. “Yes?”
I lift my hips as he pulls my panties down and he leans in to kiss my belly button. His kisses begin to descend as he runs his fingertips down the length of my thighs, his rounded nails skimming my bare skin, leaving a line of goosebumps. He grabs my ankles and pulls me farther down the bed, and then pushes them until my knees fall wide, and my feet lay flat on the bed. My breathing has accelerated and the anticipation for what’s to come makes my heart hammer against my ribcage as if it threatens to explode through my chest.
As I watch, he uses his thumbs to part my inner folds and kisses the sensitive mound of flesh. His touch demolishes my resistance, and I give in to all he has to offer me; all he has to teach me. I inhale sharply and hear a deep rumble in his chest. He’s laughing. Haines starts to suck and lick and bite, and I feel as if my body will shatter from this heavenly feeling. He kisses as if he were kissing my mouth, exploring, turning his head left to right, moving forward and backward.
I grip the sheets and focus on the pressure from his mouth and feel warmth blazing through my body. My hips roll to meet his tongue, his teeth, his lips. He hums and a delicious spasm makes its way through my entire being, singing across my skin, starting with his mouth sucking on my clit. He moves his hand and tenderly pushes one blessed finger inside me, and I bite my lip, trying to stifle the groan making its way up my throat. Without going too deep he hooks his finger and begins to move in a ‘come here’ motion, and at the same time he’s still teeth and tongue and lips. My body feels like it’s floating, and he’s all the power I need to fly.
“Yes. Oh, Haines. Please.” I barely recognize my voice as it escapes my lips. It’s deep and wanton, mostly a groan instead of words.
And then it happens. The feeling that I’ve feared since I was a teenager begins to overtake me. His energy, his life force, is beginning to flow into my body. The first time it happened, I just thought that was what arousal was supposed to feel like—empowering, life-affirming, like the state of passion itself had descended and taken over my body. Until Linus, the first guy I tried to have sex with, passed out and was unconscious for two days. The doctors told his family it was a heart attack.
I grab Haines by his ears and pull him away from me. “Haines, stop it,” I pant. Goddess that felt good. “It’s happening, and I don’t know how to stop it.” Tears of frustration begin to build in my eyes. I may not like him that much, but I don’t want to hurt him. This was what I’ve been afraid of all this time, and as much as I may fight it I was hoping he’d be the one to bring an end to it.
“Shh,” he says, kissing my sensitive flesh once more, causing it to pulse as if begging him for more. Traitor. “This is how it will be between us. It’s give and take. Our energy will sustain us.” A wicked grin spreads across his face, and he continues pleasing me.
I didn’t know this was how it worked. I relax and lay back, almost giddy in the feeling he’s pulling from me. He sucks as much of me as he can into his mouth and wraps his tongue around my clit, massaging it, soothing it. “Oh, please,” I say as I thrust my hips toward his face. “What is—” I begin, as an ardent, hot feeling grows in my center. “Haines, please.” The feeling is building as he begins to draw an orgasm from me. My voice is getting higher and louder. Heat rushes to my extremities and it feels like the calm before the storm.
And then, he stops. He stops tasting. He stops fingering. He sits up and looks at me. Haines climbs up my body and takes my top off. “I’ll take care of this,” he says as he kisses my left nipple. “And this,” my right nipple, “if you would only beg me, Perrian. And if you don’t, I will get up and walk out of that door.”
Oh. My. God. I could kill him, murder him, commit homicide right now. My breathing is coming in gasps now as I try to wrap my head around the feeling that’s now missing. “What? How could you? You son of a bitch!” I kick out with my right leg only meaning to get him out of my way, but when my foot connects with him he springs back about three feet, falling off the bed and onto the chest of drawers.
“Perrian—” he begins, getting up off the floor with a look of pure irritation.
“Holy crap. Did I do… I didn’t mean to…” The kick was meant as an almost playful warning, not a full on assault. “Dude, I did not mean to do that. I didn’t even know I could do that.”
He stands up straight and cocks his head to the side. “It’s our power. You’ve never been fed properly. When a succubus feeds her sexual appetite, she gains certain strengths. Didn’t your mother ever tell you?”
“No.” I look down at myself and blush. “Can we not talk about her since I’m naked and you’re at full salute, which would be taken care of if you’d stop being a controlling dick?”
“Perrian, you will—”
I know what he’s going to say and it hurts my ears before he even gets a chance to say it. Yes, he’s supposed to help me. Yes, he knows things I don’t, but this has to stop. I’m all for an alpha-male but I will not be treated like a child. This ends now. I won’t allow him to make me feel like an incompetent fool who doesn’t have the wherewithal to learn.
“No, Haines,” I say, exasperated. “Just get out. I’m tired of playing this game with you.” Damn-it, his mouth felt so good. “You want me to be a submissive little girl who you can boss around and do what’s expected of her. That’s not me. I’ve never been that girl.” I pick up my tee-shirt and put it back on. “If you would have taken the time to get to know me you would have seen that I’m not that girl. I’ve tried to show you and you just keep pushing. So instead I’ve turned into a bitchy, irritated person who is attracted to and repulsed by you.”
He sighs and rubs his forehead. “There are things you need to know. Things you have to be prepared for and I need to teach you. But…”
“But nothing. I will never bow down to you. You have to accept me as your equal, not your submissive. And I know you’ve got to help me get a grasp on my powers, but you’ve got to find another way.”
He bites his bottom lip. “Will you be this strong when he comes for you? Most are not.”
I feel a crease form between my eyes. “When who comes for me?”
“I was supposed to help you get control first, but…”
“When who comes for me?” I say a little louder.
“Samael. The archangel. When he comes to tempt you out of the hands of our Goddess, Lilith.”
Where the hell did that come from? This conversation has taken a huge turn. I shake my head and begin to speak, but nothing comes out.
“And he will come, Perrian.”
“I don’t understand. I would never fall away from Lilith.”
His smile is full of disdain. “Then why do you think She had to be redeemed?” He shakes his head and puts his shirt back on. No! Leave it off! “Why do you think there aren’t many of our kind left?”
I shake my head. “I never thought about it.”
“Of course, you haven’t. Your mother kept this from you and maybe she was right. But now you’re here with me.” He walks closer to me and puts his hand on my chin, forcing me to look in his eyes. I let him do it. “If you’re not ready Samael will drain you of all your power and leave you a shell of what you are. And then you’ll die. Your rude ways may push me away, little girl, but he will not be that easy. There are only a handful of us left, and this is why. He helped create us. And now he wants to redeem himself in his own eyes. He wants us dead but he can’t just kill us. We have to give in to him so that our powers, our life force, comes to an end.”
My voice is unsteady and barely loud enough to hear. “I don’t understand.” He begins to walk away and I run after him. “Please, Haines! I don’t understand.”
He stops at the door and turns to look at me. “I’m calling your mother. There are some things only she can tell you.” He opens the door, walks out, and closes it behind him.
An angel wants to kill us? Kill me.
My eyes dart around the room, making sure the window is closed; that the closet door is still set the way I left it. I hit the light switch to bring brightness to all the darkened corners. All of a sudden, I’m afraid to be left alone. I want to run after Haines, to stay close to him until I understand. But my pride won’t let me.
Pride cometh before the fall, a voice echoes in my head.
I guess it’s time for a family meeting.
