Tragic Beauty (Beauty & The Darkness #1)(34)
I look up at him.
“Oh, come on,” he says grabbing a lock of my hair and giving a little shake. “Don’t look so shocked. You know I’ve been lost to you, ever since that day on the playground.” He smiles, watching me carefully. “That’s right. You know what day I’m talking about, don’t you?”
I turn away, my mind venturing back to that day, when all I want to do is block it out. But it’s there, tearing through me so clearly, so vividly, just like it was yesterday.
“It was recess, after the holiday break, wasn’t it?” Shayne starts, dragging his touch down my neck. “You were off, sitting by yourself as usual, reading a book, while all the other kids were off bragging about what they got for Christmas. But you didn’t have anything to brag about, and neither did me or Red, so we were off to the side too, not far from where you were. I’d shoved a rock in Red’s hand and was trying to get him to throw it at this scrawny cat that was stuck up in that oak tree. Red missed it on purpose, but then I nailed it good, making it howl something awful. That got your attention real quick, and you figured out what we were up to. So you marched right on over and started throwing rocks at me and Red. Here you were, this tiny little thing, with these big, blue eyes and this ratty mane of white blonde hair, all swallowed up in this tattered blue dress, and you were nailing us good with those rocks, one after the other.”
He chuckles and his fingers drift down, following the curve of my breast. “Red was all shook up, looking like you’d hurt his feelings, but not me. I was laughing, wasn’t I? I didn’t laugh much back then, but you got me going good. I tried to calm you down, saying we were just having a little fun, but all that did was make you madder. So you picked up another rock and threw it right at me. You didn’t care that I was older, bigger, and stronger than you, because you didn’t care about much then anymore, did you? Nah, your world was crumbling down, because your momma had just left and your daddy had been drunk ever since. And not only that, but you weren’t talking anymore. I said as much to you, and you just bent down for more rocks, those big pretty eyes getting all glassy. Then what’d I tell you, hmm?”
He reaches up and strokes the fresh tears that coat my cheeks. “I said, ‘You don’t need them. You don’t need either of them.’ I said it in this quiet voice that made you stop and listen. You just stared at me then, like you were trying to figure out what I was really saying. And then I saw the tears begin to build, and your lower lip begin to quiver, but I didn’t like seeing that—at least not back then. So, I told you it was a good thing she left, because at least now you had a backbone. And man, that fire got so big in your eyes and you started launching those rocks at me again, as hard as you could.”
He chuckles again, his dark eyes roaming over my face. “That’s about when that bitch, Mrs. Carlson, saw you, wasn’t it? She shrieked your name, then came waddling over, demanding to know why you would do such a thing. You got pale and pointed up at the cat in the tree who was crouched on a branch, with these scared, yellow eyes, and its ears flat against its head. The cunt figured out what we were up to, but she still got all over you, didn’t she? Instead of us.” He pauses and shakes his head with a sigh. “Yeah, your momma had slept with almost every guy in town by then, her husband included. She’d even walked in on them. That bit of gossip flew around town real quick. Anyway, she said something to us about leaving the cat alone, then grabbed you by the arm and started dragging you away, saying you had detention for the next week. And you were so mad, and your cheeks got so red, that I couldn’t help but grin at you when you walked past. Well, that lit you up even more, didn’t it? So you jerked free of her, and threw that last rock you had hidden in your hand. You threw it right at me, and tagged me right in the chest.” He pats the tattoo over his heart. “Right here.”
He shrugs. “And that was it, Ava, right then and there. I was done. I was always watching you after that, wasn’t I? Yeah, you know I was. Always watching. Because I couldn’t help myself. You were the prettiest damn thing I’d ever seen.” He runs a finger along my cheek and over my lips. “You still are.”
His fingers drift along my jaw and down my neck, grazing gently over my shoulder blade. I whimper when they move lower and around my breasts again, only this time, they linger.
“I’ve waited so long for this,” he says, then he dips his head and rakes his tongue over my left nipple. The sensation makes me gasp, my flesh so sensitive after the belt. Then he’s on me, devouring, sucking, gnawing.
“So perfect,” he whispers, then moves onto the other one. My head falls back, the tears warm and wet against my temples.
My nipples are left raw and aching when he slowly makes his way further down my body. He falls to his knees and buries his face in my pubic hair and breathes in hard. I squirm and press my bound legs together tighter, but he pries his arms between my knees and grabs my bottom, and shovels me into his mouth. All my weight hangs on my wrists, causing more flesh to tear away.
His tongue licks me like fire and the more I struggle, the more he takes from me. But the more he takes, the more a feeling begins to build inside me—a feeling that makes my stomach turn. My body’s responding, betraying me. I clench my teeth and shake my head, trying to fight it off, but like Shayne, it’s relentless. I grunt when his fingers invade me. First one, then two, then three. I feel full, stretched. But it’s when his fingers push through my other entrance that I cry out, the beast forcing his way into every part of me.