My eyes snapped shut as I was pulled in so many directions. Backward with awful memories, sideways with Jareth’s instructions, forward with Gemma’s intoxication. I did my best to focus on the taste of bourbon on our shared tongues, the slight drunken buzz, and Gem’s subtle scent.

Her teeth grazed my bottom lip, sending a shockwave of heat and want.

My hand bypassed my mind, fisting tight and stroking.

“Do it. Get it hard. Guests are waiting, Kassen...”

“Fuck yourself, pretty Kas, then we’ll fuck you right back.”

No.

I don’t belong to you anymore.

I kissed Gemma harder, all while my hand began to move. A hand that punished my body for allowing others to take away the right to touch it. A hand that wasn’t kind nor seductive.

I wanted to punish myself.

I needed to bruise and mark, to be the only one to grant pain.

Pain that freed me.

Pain that fixed me.

Lust exploded to desperation.

My hand stroked harder, faster.

I shut off my mind and just let myself be. To give in to the incredible feeling of actually being sane enough to grant pleasure without shattering beneath an avalanche of history.

“Gem...” I cupped her cheek with my free hand, raising my hips off the couch to fill more of my palm. Our lips collided in a messy, hungry kiss. She burned up beside me, her need threading with mine.

Clothing became a nuisance. I wanted to be naked. I wanted the cock I stroked to be balls deep inside this incredible, wonderful girl.

Ripping my mouth off hers, I pushed her away and fought the swaying room.

Fighting to keep my balance, I stood and wrapped my fingers around her wrist. “Come.” Yanking her off the couch, she tripped into me, her lips swollen and eyes hazy.

“Where...?”

“Somewhere we won’t be watched.” I threw a look at Jareth.

He laughed and rolled his eyes. “Stay. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

Ignoring him, I kissed Gemma one more time before dragging her out of the room and away from a man who’d pushed me to the brink.

A brink that I was ready to smash and trample.

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CHAPTER NINE

KAS DRAGGED ME INTO the foyer.

Our breathing matched each other’s with quick staccatos. His hand was warm and damp around mine while his face shone with sweat and his cock stood proudly against his shorts, leaving a damp spot on the material.

My own need reacted to his.

My belly clenched, and my panties were drenched. I’d become wet the moment I’d helped guide Kas’s hand beneath mine while touching him. I’d grown wetter still with each kiss and every stroke. I was always aware of Jareth watching us, but as hunger climbed between Kas and me, Jareth had faded into the background.

I didn’t care that he was there.

In fact, I was grateful.

He would keep me safe if Kas slipped back into a concussed state. He’d protect me if Kas snapped. He’d said it himself that he wasn’t sticking around. Therefore, it made sense to push Kas as much as I dared tonight. To put aside my own ideals of right and wrong and free him once and for all.

Kas’s fingers tightened around my wrist as he dragged me toward the bookcase-hidden doorway that led to the kitchen and dorm.

Only...

He paused in the middle of the foyer, looking up the stairs leading toward the many guest bedrooms above.

His eyebrows came down with fury and determination.

His lips pursed as he changed direction.

Carting me up the stairs, he didn’t let me go until we reached the room where he’d taken me to have a shower and use the bathroom on the second night I’d been his captive.

Tossing me inside, he slammed the door and headed toward me with an almost frightening look on his face. Grabbing me by the shoulders, he marched me backward until the bed hit the back of my knees, and I tumbled.

He lay down with me, pushing me higher up the bed until we lay in the middle.

The mattress was soft, and the bedding silky smooth. The faint whiff of misuse and age surrounded us as we disrupted a bedroom that’d become a tomb.

I swallowed hard as Kas ripped off his T-shirt, followed by his shorts.

In a few seconds, he was naked and leaning over me.

“Why...why did you bring me here?” I breathed as his lips found my throat and kissed every bruise he’d given me. My eyes danced around the opulent bedroom. Did he see ghosts in here? Was his mind full of whatever had happened within these walls?

“I’m sick of them having control over me.” Scooting down my body, he shoved my hoodie over my head and ripped my nightgown down, leaving me as naked as him. “My body is mine. This house is mine. You are mine.” His teeth flashed with a sex-heavy smirk just before his head bowed, and his lips worked their way between my breasts.

I arched off the bed as his tongue found my nipple, swirling around it before his entire mouth latched on and sucked.

“Kas....what—” I wanted to ask if he was okay. If this was real or an act. Was he enjoying himself or still struggling beneath the past?

“Submit to me, Gem. Let me have you any way I want.” He moved to my other breast, sucking, nipping, tonguing. “You’ll like it. I promise I’ll treat you as you deserve.”

Having his mouth on me was a dream.

Heat billowed in my core, clenching on desire, needing him. “I know I’ll enjoy anything you do to me.”

“Then let me.” He kissed me, down and down, heading between my legs.

My hands landed on his bunched shoulders as he slipped lower. “Kas...I—”

He didn’t stop, his long hair tickling my chest as he passed my belly button and settled in the cradle formed by my spread thighs.

His face hovered above my bare pussy. His hot breath skated over sensitive skin.

I could’ve come just like that. Just from having someone like Kas who was so wild and unpredictable ready to pleasure. The way his eyes devoured me. The way he licked his lips all made an orgasm ready to detonate.

“Thank you for helping me tonight.” He pressed a kiss right on the top of my pubic hair. “Thank you for pushing me.” He kissed me slightly lower. “Thank you for not giving up on me.” He kissed my clit, inhaling hard and swiping his tongue right over my entrance.

I jackknifed upward.

The pleasure was far, far too much. Too intense. Too wicked. Too incredible.

His palm landed on my belly, pushing me back down as his tongue explored me, taking his time, plunging deep, successfully driving me out of my damn mind.

I couldn’t talk. I could only feel.

Feel every lash of his tongue, every hot breath on my core, every inch of his mouth.

My thighs tried to close around his head as the intensity became too much.

My back arched again as he drove his tongue inside me, his large hand splaying over my stomach and keeping me pinned for his taking.

My fingers dived into his tangled hair, tugging for more, trying to push away for a reprieve.

He wound me up.

He took me, worshiped me, ensuring I would always remember his tongue inside me.

A full-body clench rippled through me as he flicked my clit and bit gently.

My orgasm didn’t stand a chance.

It exploded outward as he thrust his tongue back inside, driving in and out, keeping pace with my body as it rippled around his invasion.

The pleasure banded outward, wringing me out.

When the last shockwave faded, I sucked in a heavy breath.

The room spun.

Everything that’d happened seemed disjointed and incomprehensible. Just a few days ago, Kas had run away from me because everything we felt for one another threatened to break him further.