by Ella Miles
“About the lie…we should talk so I can shower and sleep,” I say.
He frowns and takes my hand.
“First, I need to wash the blood, sweat, and saliva from your body.”
“Then?”
He smirks. “I’m going to enjoy the ‘then’ step the most, probably for quite a while. After we do that, you will tell me a lie to soothe my rage at this mess you got us all in.”
First, he wants to wash me.
Then, he won’t say.
Lastly, he wants me to tell him a lie.
I don’t think I’m going to survive this night.
“Why?” I ask.
His jaw ticks. His teeth grind. Langston doesn’t like to be defied. He doesn’t give orders often, but when he does, he wants them obeyed without question.
“I hold your life in the palm of my hand. If you want to survive the year, you’ll do as I say.”
I bite my lip. He has no idea how wrong he is.
Langston walks to the bathroom, and I follow.
Maybe I follow out of survival.
Maybe I follow out of curiosity.
Maybe I follow out of desire.
The bathroom door reveals a giant jacuzzi tub.
“They gave you a nice suite,” he says.
“Yours doesn’t come with a hot tub?”
He shakes his head as he flips on the water and pours some nearby bath salts into the water.
I’m already naked, and I assume the tub is just for me, so I move to climb into it, knowing the water and bit of bubbles will make me feel more covered up.
Langston holds out a hand, stopping me.
I frown.
My eyes bulge as he undoes the zipper on his slacks and pushes them down until he’s naked in front of me. His cock strains in my direction.
My mouth waters, looking at the large veins on his member pointing in my direction. I’ve never been so jealous of Siren. She got to taste it, touch it, suck it.
My heart is beating wildly in my chest. Does he expect me to fuck him?
Silently, he steps into the tub. Then, he holds his hand out to me.
I take it. My brain is mush, unable to think through any decision. He could tell me to jump off the balcony into the ocean right now, and I’d probably do it.
We are standing face to face in the tub as the water fills to just below our knees. I’ve seen Langston shirtless before, but never naked like this. His muscles are a perfect sculpture of man. Leonardo da Vinci couldn’t have sculpted a more perfect specimen. But it’s offset by scars, cuts, bruises that show why he really has the muscles. It’s not because he wants to look good; it’s out of necessity.
I want to bask in the view of his cock again, but I’m too afraid. Not of what Langston would say but what I might accidentally do if I let myself go there. I’d be a goner.
Langston turns me around until I’m no longer facing him, and then we both sink down into the water, my back to his front.
I purse my lips, trying to breathe slowly out. I need to slow my breathing, my heart rate, everything if I’m going to have a chance of keeping my lust in check.
“Relax. I’m just washing you. I won’t rape you.”
I’m not sure if he touched me right now, it would be rape. I’m pretty sure my body would be begging for it, and my mind would go right along with it.
I still don’t know why he’s washing me, spending time with me tonight. Trying to get under my skin? Learn secrets that will help him tomorrow?
There is a sponge lying on the edge of the tub. Langston grabs it and wets it before he squeezes it over my head to wet my hair and face.
Once he does that, I can breathe again as the iron taste of blood begins to wash from my lips.
I can’t believe I bit that guy’s penis, but whatever it takes to survive. I will survive at all costs. I made that promise a long time ago. I’m just afraid I’ll break that promise sooner than I ever imagined.
“I’m in awe of you right now. That’s why I’m equal parts pissed and drawn to you,” Langston tells a truth, surprising the hell out of us both.
“Why? We played the same game. We both did things that we had to in order to make it to the next round,” I say.
He turns my head back to face him. His eyes carry a heaviness as he puts the sponge up to my bottom lip to wash the remnants of blood away.
“No, what I did doesn’t compare to you.”
I clear my throat, unsure of what to say to that. I never thought we’d be in a tub like this together, sharing an intimate moment. Even though I can feel the hardness of his cock against my ass, he hasn’t tried to touch me inappropriately. He hasn’t tried to kiss me, turn me on, or fuck me.
“I need to wash between your legs. I need you to be clean of any place that man touched before we get to the ‘then’ part.”
I suck in air, knowing I’m going to need all of it. While he’s touching me so intimately with the sponge, I won’t be able to breathe.
I realize he’s asking me for permission. This isn’t something he’s willing to take.
I nod.
His hand reaches around my waist with the sponge in his hand, and then he moves it in slow circles between my legs. The soft bristles cause enough friction that little zips of energy flutter in my stomach. Or maybe it’s because of the man sitting behind me, caressing me so carefully.
“He also sucked my nipples,” I say.
He growls low and even as his hand moves up to my breasts, and he rubs the sponge over each. This time harder than he did between my legs.
I bite back a moan. It shouldn’t feel this good. Nothing this man does should feel good.
Without thinking, I grab his wrist when he tries to pull away.
I immediately release him, though, but not before he mutters ‘fuck’ under his breath.
I affect him just like he does me.
Even if we were good, kind, do-gooders, we shouldn’t be together. He’s dynamite, and I’m fire. You can’t combine the two without destroying everything and everyone—ourselves included.
Langston puts the sponge down on the edge of the tub.
First, he wants to wash me.
Then, he wants to…
“Then?” I ask, not sure I can handle his answer.
“Then, we both come.”
14
Langston
I knew sitting in the tub would lower her guard, make her more willing to do the next part we both crave. But I didn’t think it would also lower my own defenses.
I can’t think around Liesel.
All I can do is suck in air by the gallon and hope it’s enough to survive.
Neither of us has spoken since I said the word come.
We can’t.
Our brains are consumed with scolding fire and hurricane winds fighting through our bodies. That’s how badly we both need to come.
I haven’t decided whether we will be making the other come or doing it ourselves.
I don’t fucking care.
I just need to explode in this tub, and I need to see her come undone more than I need my heart to keep thumping. I wouldn’t live long if my heart stopped, but seeing her face as she falls apart in a glorious orgasm would be worth it.
She scoots away from me in the tub, and I let her. She wants a few moments to process what I just said. As much as I hate the cold feeling as she leaves my skin, I let her go to the other side of the tub.
“What did you say?” she asks.
“You heard me.”
“Tomorrow night is going to be non-stop sex. I don’t think we need to worry about a release tonight.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Do you really think any man or woman left has the ability to make you come? I’m not even sure all that moaning with Waylon was real. You’re a difficult woman to please, Liesel Dunn.”
She glares at me. “And you think you are capable?”
“I am, but that’s not what I’m saying. I can make you come, or you can do it yourself. B
ut I want to know what you really sound like when you come. So tomorrow, when you are moaning and faking it, I’ll know the truth.”
She licks her bottom lip, and I know she won’t say no. Even though she made herself come earlier, she reacted so sensitively to my touch. She’s still too wound up to sleep, same as me.
“We shouldn’t,” Liesel whispers.
She doesn’t say why we shouldn’t—we both know. It would ruin everything.
Things we know.
Things we don’t know.
Things we assume but haven’t spoken aloud.
But there is also a twinkle in her eye, a mischief, a wanting desire that the girl I used to know would give me. The woman in front of me now shows it in a much dirtier way.
She wants to come as much or more than I do.
I watch as her hand dips into the water between her legs. Her hooded eyes look up at me, and her breath slows and shallows. She doesn’t wait for me to start, for me to tell her touch herself. She took control of the situation.
Clearly, the only way she can come is if she’s in control.
I’ll let her have that control tonight, because I want to watch her come in pieces. I need to hear the ecstasy she feels as she moans and calls out—in person, not over a monitor. Not through a closet.
Tomorrow though, I’ll use this little tidbit against her. All I have to do to beat her is take the control.
Liesel is already broken, so taking control won’t break her; it will just burst the stitches holding together the illusion that she’s whole.
“Are you going to touch yourself, too, or am I doing this by myself?”
I chuckle.
“Need to see my cock in order to come?”
She bats her eyelashes. “I don’t need a man for anything. But looking at your filthy cock won’t hurt, even if it’s not as impressive as the guys I’m used to.”
My hands grip the side of the tub as I raise myself above the water and sit on the edge, so she can see just how unimpressive my cock is, according to her. I smirk, and my eyes threaten of what I want to do to her, of what I should do to her.
She gasps when our eyes meet.
“Killer, don’t…not tonight…”
Tomorrow.
We both know we will make it to the finals. Tomorrow we will finally fuck each other, hurt each other. Fight each other to win the battle she entered us in.
I nod solemnly, agreeing to her terms.
She exhales harshly, her shoulders slumping.
I grab my cock, holding it loosely in my hand.
Her eyes are locked on my hand as she rubs between her submerged legs.
“Show me,” I say. I won’t be able to keep my hands off her if I can’t see her come.
She licks her bottom lip, considering my command. Then she hops up on the tub edge opposite me. She spreads her legs wide as he lifts one leg up onto the side of the tub, giving me an even better view.
Her lips are swollen pink. Her pussy is bare. Her perfectly manicured fingers slip between her legs and into her tight slit. When she removes her two fingers, I can see the sticky evidence of how turned on she is on her fingers. Her moisture is dripping from her pussy down to her ass.
“Fuck,” I breathe.
She smiles at my reaction. “Like what you see?”
I glance down at my cock that has somehow grown harder. Painfully harder.
I pump my cock, showing her how much I appreciate the show.
Her soft moan hits me in the chest, making me ache to touch her. God, why did I agree to not touch her again?
“Do you like it soft and slow or hard and fast?” I ask.
“I like it in control, without pain, but then you already know that. You?”
“I like being in control, too.”
She rubs over her clit, her head falling back until she’s no longer looking at me. “Which is one of the many reasons why we shouldn’t ever fuck. We can’t both be in control. All we’d end up doing is hurting each other.”
I snort. “We hurt each other plenty without fucking.”
Her eyes roll back to me. She’s breathless, her cheeks are a light pink, and the way she’s biting on her bottom lip and no longer speaking shows how close she is to coming. She stops moving her fingers quickly over her clit. She slows to the point there is no way she’ll come.
“You first,” she pants.
“I thought it was ladies first?”
“I’m not showing you how incredible I look when I come until you show me how much of the devil escapes your soul when you do.”
I pump faster, letting my gaze roam her body and pretend her hand is the one stroking my cock. I have no problem being the one who comes first.
Faster, faster I stroke until warm white liquid shoots from my cock, splashing in the water between us.
As soon as I come, she loses it. One more circular motion of her fingers over her clit, and she’s crying out in soft explosive moans.
I try to soak in everything. Her face opening wide as if she’s letting all of the pain out. Her breasts heaving up and down. Her opening is contracting around her fingers, soaking them in her come.
It’s too much and too little. I want more. I want to feel her as she comes. Taste her. Smell her.
For now, seeing will have to be enough.
Slowly, she comes back to earth. While she came, she was her most vulnerable. I could have asked her any question, done anything to her, and she would have let me.
I tuck that secret away for another time. I’m not sure I’m strong enough to take advantage of her like that, but I will if I have to.
I lean forward.
“You got it wrong. The devil doesn’t escape me when I come. More of the devil enters my soul until I’m more evil than anything else.”
I grab her hand where her fingers are still buried in her pussy. Slowly, I remove them, watching her body reluctantly release her fingers and spill out cum. Then I lift her hand to my mouth, and I suck her fingers clean.
I got to see her come. I got a taste and smell of her cum. Now all I need is to feel.
That will be the last thing I take from her.
She swallows hard, like her throat is on fire.
“I think I liked the then part the most,” she says.
I agree.
“Finally, I want to hear all your lies. This changes nothing. I still want to kill you.”
15
Liesel
Every sexual encounter with Langston is hotter than the previous.
He didn’t even touch me until after I had already come, but rubbing myself while he was watching me, while he was stroking himself, while he was so close—fuck me.
Those words almost slipped from my lips so many times.
My body was screaming for Langston to fuck me.
Fuck me.
Fuck me.
Fuck me.
For the first time, I wasn’t sure if it mattered if I was in control or not. It didn’t matter if Langston tied me up and stripped me of all my power. It didn’t matter if he pushed his cock between my lips, in my ass, or in my cunt. All I wanted was his cock inside me. His lips kissing me. His hands touching me.
Every time I’m around Langston, I want more.
And every time I realize just how bad things would get if we were to cross that line into more.
Langston steps out of the tub and grabs a fluffy towel from the nearby shelf. He doesn’t grab one for me or help me in any way.
I stand and grab another towel. I dry quickly before grabbing the single white robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door and wrapping it around me. I walk into the bedroom after Langston.
I don’t see him.
Did he leave?
My heart flutters at that. I both want him to have left and want him to still be here.
I turn to the right and see Langston out of the corner of my eye, sitting in one of the two chairs on my balcony.
I exhale.
He didn’t leave
.
I hesitate before I walk over to him, trying to prepare myself for the conversation.
Langston wants me to lie. He wants me to give him another reason to hate me, to eventually kill me.
I’ll lie alright. But it will be closer to the truth than he’ll ever know.
I slide the door open and step outside. Wordlessly, I take the seat next to him.
When I glance over, I see he’s shirtless with only the towel wrapped around his waist.
Jesus.
How does he think I’m going to be able to focus on anything?
“So tell me, how does a girl who grew up with a whore for a mother decide the only way to make money is to whore herself out now?”
I slap him again.
He’s made comments like this before, but I’m not tolerating it.
“I am not a whore.”
He smirks. “Why did you enter this game, then? You’ve been here before. You’ve played before, won before. Why?”
I drag my eyes from him to the ocean. “Is this the part where I’m supposed to lie so I can fuel your sick rage to eventually kill me?”
He shrugs. “Ultimately, it’s up to you whether you tell the truth or lie.”
“Lie it is then,” I say.
His jaw ticks, but otherwise, he remains stone-faced.
“I’ve been living in hell since I was eighteen years old.” The year that Langston left me. That was the year my world changed. Since then, nothing has been the same.
“Liar. You thrived after I left you,” Langston says.
He has no idea what happened after I left, the deal I made. And he never will.
“Be quiet and let me tell the story. Otherwise, I’ll stop talking right now.”
He rolls his eyes but doesn’t speak again.
“As I was saying, I’d already been living in hell for years. My entire life has been dealing with the flames of the devil. Some years were harder than others, but then I met Duncan.”
“Who is he?”
“So impatient.”
“Duncan is the man who brought me here.”
Langston frowns. “Against your will?”
I laugh. “I don’t do anything against my will, not anymore. I wanted money—knowing it was the only way I could ensure that I never had to do anything against my will again.”
