• thirty-five •

“As if I were his marionette doll, I did exactly what he wanted.”

Rumor

After King took me to the Shephards’ library, he brought me back to his room and left me with my new books. He had some work to handle. I never got details on what it was he was doing, but was it my business? Not really. But I wanted to know. I wanted to know all the things about him. Not to mention, the more I was left in the dark, the more my imagination went into overdrive.

The three large shopping bags of Lela’s clothes that Annette had given me sat on the bed. King had assured me Lela wouldn’t mind and would be glad they were going to someone who could use them. Apparently, she had three full walk-in closets at home, and she didn’t even live there most of the time. Needing something to do since reading wasn’t distracting me, I began to unpack the bags.

Jeans, shorts, tops, dresses, skirts—all designer, and most still had tags on them. This was more than generous. Why wouldn’t they have taken the clothes back to the store if she wasn’t going to wear them? It seemed wasteful…but then they had given them to me. They wanted someone to use them.

Slipping off the sundress I had worn to breakfast, I laid it on the bed, and I began to try on things. I didn’t want to keep something if it didn’t fit, although most appeared to be my size. Once I had on a pair of pink shorts and a ruffled white tank top, I went to the bathroom to look in the full-length mirror.

I turned several times, admiring how nice it looked. Hill had bought me clothing that he thought was appropriate for me, but never anything this expensive. The tag on the top said it was over seven hundred dollars. I felt guilty about taking the tags off. It was more than I needed. I wasn’t sure the rest of my life wouldn’t be me hiding out. Where was I gonna wear clothes that cost this much?

When I walked back into the bedroom, my mood sank as reality managed to seep back in. I took off the shorts and top and folded them neatly on the bed before taking out a short, colorful skirt that also had a tag on it. I tried not to look as I set it down and reached in to find a top to go with it.

The door behind me opened, and I covered my bare breasts before I spun around to see King stepping inside. His eyes slowly traveled down my body.

“I was coming to get something,” he said, closing the door behind him without taking his eyes off me. “But looks like I’ll be a little longer than I anticipated.”

He stalked toward me and grabbed my wrists, pulling them away from my body. “Don’t cover your tits.”

I realized I was panting as he grabbed the hem of his shirt and tugged it over his head and dropped it to the ground. His hands went to the zipper of his jeans. “Turn around and put your hands on the dresser. I don’t have much time, but after this view, I need to fuck you if I’m gonna get anything else done.”

I’d told myself I wasn’t going to have sex with him again today. We had to stop doing so much of it. I was finding it hard to not feel things when I looked at him, and I was blaming it on all the sex. He was a man, and I had thought I’d never let another touch me again after Hill. But King had changed a lot. He had taught me that I could trust again. That not all men were cruel.

I went over to the dresser and placed my palms on the cool surface. I could hear the rustle of King’s jeans as he discarded them. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply when his hands grabbed my hips, and I felt him come up behind me.

“It’s gonna be a quick fuck, sweets. Stick that ass out for me.”

As if I were his marionette doll, I did exactly what he wanted. Except with King, I knew I was getting something from this too. Pleasure came with this. The kind that made the bad in my life fade away. It didn’t haunt me when I was thinking about him. When he was inside of me. When he was reminding me how good it felt to live.

I felt his hand between my legs, and I opened them wider.

“Still wet and sticky from this morning’s fuck. Good girl,” he murmured, then slammed into me so hard that I fell forward onto the dresser. The edge of the wood biting into my lower stomach. “HOLY FUCK, that’s good. So damn slippery with my cum inside you.”

I held on to the dresser to keep from being shoved into it any further and pushed back to meet his rhythm. He was right; having his earlier release inside me made it insanely hot. I moaned his name as he drove in harder.

He wrapped my hair around his hand and pulled my head back toward him with a hard tug. “Take that dick, sweets. Take it like the good girl you are. Walking around with me leaking out of you all day. Fuuuck, that makes me crazy. I want to watch you play with it when it oozes out of you. See those pretty little fingers covered in it.”

I was close already. So very close. I bucked wildly, wanting to get there. Knowing how amazing it would feel. Craving it. The electric feel of it intensifying. Drawing deep inside me. I clawed at the wood, crying out as my body started to convulse.

“SUCH. A. GOOD. GIRL,” he shouted with each grunt.

Those words. It was a trigger. The best kind for me. I screamed out as the euphoria of my orgasm claimed me.

“FUCK, BABY! FUCK!” he roared as he jerked against me twice, then stilled.

I could feel him twitching inside of me as his body shuddered.

I laid my cheek down on the smooth surface and let out a contented sigh. I was positive my legs wouldn’t hold me up just yet. I gasped as he pulled free of me, and then his hand covered where he had exited.

“Put your legs together,” he ordered.

I managed to do it, but I was moving slow. Once I had them closed, he moved his hand away.

“Leave it in there. Don’t shower until I get back.”

I nodded and stayed like I was trying to recover while I listened to him get dressed behind me. He let out a breathy laugh, and I turned my head to look over at him. His gaze was on me, and the smile that touched his lips was…gentle. Soft. Almost as if…as if I were special. More than whatever this was that we were doing.

He pulled his shirt back over his head and then came back over to me and scooped me up. “Come on, sweets,” he said, carrying me over to the bed. He laid me down, then reached for the throw and covered me up. “I’ll be back later.”

I nodded, and he turned and headed for the door. It wasn’t until he left that I realized he’d never gotten whatever it was he had come for. My eyes closed, however, before I could think much more about it.