Pure Illusion (Web Of Deception #1)

by Michelle Watson

  “Hunter,” I whimper, holding on to him with everything I have. My internal muscles tremble and clench around him.

  His kisses me, his tongue plunges into my mouth, collecting my moans and whimpers. We both climax together, shaking and clinging to one another’s body. “I love you,” I breathe.

  Hunter’s handsome face contorts as if he smells something foul. He swiftly pulls out of me, leaving me with an odd and empty sensation. He tucks himself back in his pants and gives me an once-over. My back is plastered to the wall and Naya’s pretty white dress is wrinkled and bunched at my hips. Everything from the waist down is exposed to him.

  His fingers trace the wet source of our arousal between my legs. Hunter brings his forefinger and thumb to his face to inspect his fingers. “You’re bleeding. Did I hurt you that badly?”

  “Yes,” I say below a whisper, my cheeks flaming red. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want this.”

  His brows lift. “But you didn’t say ‘stop.’”

  “I shouldn’t have to. Hunter, do you not understand that ‘no’ means ‘no’?” I counter.

  We eye each other until his face softens. “What’s done is done.” To my absolute horror he licks the light red tinge of blood from his fingers, spreading the flavor of me on his lips. “I can clean you up if that would make you feel better.”

  My stomach flutters but I fight against it. “I don’t want you wiping between my legs. Give me a damn washcloth. I can handle this just fine on my own.”

  He smiles at me, only a tiny curve of his lips. It’s a small secretive smile, intended just for me. It’s just like the one his mother had when she saw him. “I don’t mean clean you up with a washcloth, my sweet.”

  “What?”

  “I wanna use my mouth.”

  “No!” I shriek.

  “But I think you’ll like it,” he urges, inching closer to me.

  “No. Stop. Stop. Stop,” I frantically plead.

  He halts from his stalking, grinning smugly. “Fine. Don’t wash me out just yet. You’re coming home with me tonight.” I watch Hunter turn and unlock the door. My eyes sweep around his room. Nothing has changed much: Football trophies and awards on shelves. Plain, black walls. A full-sized bed with tiny stars on the sheets and pillows. A wooden desk that appears untouched since high school, overflowing with old reports. But what really stands out is the pictures tacked on the ceiling above his bed—they’re all of me.

  Chapter thirty-one

  Betrayed & Safeguarded

  The long ride to Hunter’s place is quiet. Neither of us is willing to break the ice. But unlike Hunter, I actually have a valid reason to be upset—I told him I loved him yet again and he ignored me as if I hadn’t confessed it at all, when, in fact, he told me to tell him. He took what he wanted from me and I let him. I am nothing more than a pleasure vessel to him. Whether it’s fucking with my mind with his twisted games or just fucking my body, I am always and solely here for his enjoyment and amusement.

  What do I get in return?

  The pleasure of his company?

  How pathetic.

  I deserve more, much more than what Hunter can offer me.

  I’m starting to think Hunter is much more beautiful and perfect and dreamy from afar; I can’t see all the things that make him hideous that way.

  Once there, I slam his truck door and run up to his house, though I can’t run at the best of my ability because my joints feel like they’re slightly unhinged from their sockets because of Hunter fucking me to the best of his ability.

  The door is unlocked as I turn the knob and step inside the dark space without waiting on Hunter. The kitchen glows softly, illuminating a portion of the living room. A piano I never noticed before sits directly across the bay window. Aromas of delicious vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate, and sweet frosting fills the air. It smells amazing in here, like a warm bakery shop.

  Kicking off Naya’s leather boots, I sprint up the stairs and into his room. I need to take a hot shower and wash every trace of Hunter from my body. We didn’t use protection, but I am (thankfully) on birth control. I should talk to Hunter about this and get checked out. The last time I went to Dr. Marvin (which was two months ago), I had a clean bill of health. Who knows how many women Hunter has slept with. I’m not sure if he uses condoms with Candy either. If he gives me a STD or worse that will be the end of me.

  I feel like a foolish, silly, stupid girl…

  A silhouette beneath Hunter’s bed sheets brings me from my head. As I inch closer, I realize that it’s Candy. Her lustrous red hair fanned across the pale pillows. Her pretty eyes closed in sleep and her pouty lips slightly open.

  Candy is sleeping in Hunter’s bed…naked.

  God help me!

  The only thing keeping me from screaming the house down is Hunter pressing his hard chest into my back. He wraps his arms around my belly and gives me a tight squeeze. His lips move to my ear to whisper, “I can’t lie to you. It is exactly what it looks like. She crashes here after we do what we do. You sleep in my bed and I’ll take the couch.”

  Is he insane?

  “You must be out of your mind if you think I’m going to sleep in your bed with Candy,” I say just as quietly.

  “I’m telling you this now. I can tie you up and gag you—kicking and screaming. Or you can lie down like the good little girl you are. But either way, you will sleep in my bed. Do I make myself clear?”

  “‘Do I make myself clear?’ Who are you, my father?”I scoff.

  “Isabel,” he warns quietly.

  I struggle in his iron-like grasp, frantically banging my fists on his thick arms. “Let me go, Hunter. I need to shower and you…you…she…I. I need a shower.” My mind is so scrambled that I can’t even articulate myself correctly.

  I feel him nod against my neck as he releases me from his grip. I wander into the bathroom and quietly close to the door. Absentmindedly, I remove the flower pins from my hair, undo the braid, toss off Naya’s clothing and turn on the shower, steeping into a hot steam cloud of scolding water.

  Staring down at my toes, I watch the stream run down my body, a tint of red makes the clarity of the water murky. With utter numbness, my eyes dart to the cloudy water swirling down the metal drain.

  When he brought me home with him, he promised me he would take care of me. Hunter Knight has yet to fulfill that promise. I don’t think he ever will. The years of misery and heartache come back in flashes with sudden vengeance: the undeniable attraction we had for one another since when we first met. Our amazing chemistry and friendship in our adolescent years. The pure agony of the first time he told me goodbye. The cutting. The numbness. The loneliness.

  Grabbing a soap bar, I vigorously scrub between my legs. I am very sore there and it does sting, but that doesn’t keep me from rubbing away the dirtiness and grit of it all. I need to be clean and free of Hunter. He’s destroyed me. The heated tile floor comes into contact with my knees and I double over, crying and holding my middle as the warm rain cascades on me. I lean my forehead against the fogged glass shower and silently weep from my despair.

  The shower door slides open and Hunter steps in. The masculine scent of his body envelopes me in a thick veil. He kneels behind me and throws his arms around my torso, pressing his wet, bare chest into my back.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispers into my hair. “I didn’t hurt you intentionally. We both don’t seem to harmonize the way we want or should. Don’t give up on me, Isabel. It might not look like it to you, but I am trying. I’m trying to become a better person—a person you deserve. The boy you loved so long ago has vanished. He lives no longer. You can’t begin to grasp the shit I’ve been through. You can’t understand the crushing misery I harbor deep within in myself. I’d fucking die for you. I’d die numerous agonized deaths just to see your tears cease.” He kisses my back and shoulders. Despite my disposition in this situation, my stupid heart flutters. The fact that I love Hunter so unconditionally and, to be honest, irrationa
lly makes me despise myself for it. I wish I can just flip my humanity switch off and be frozen inside. But he makes it impossible.

  “What happened to the boy I would once give my heart for?” I whisper barely audible.

  He nuzzles my earlobe with his nose. “His heart got ripped from his chest and he died.”

  The rest of our shower is quiet. He washes me with deep concentration, and I watch him without a word of protest do the task. Returning the favor, I wash his stunning hair and magnificent body. His intense gaze never wavers from my eyes as I do it. I wonder what he’s thinking.

  After, we towel dry one another’s hair. I slip on one of Hunter’s large shirts. It swallows me completely. He dresses in loose pajama bottoms, leaving his defined chest bare. He tilts his head to the bed. “You should sleep now. We can talk more in the morning.”

  Pouting, I shake my head. “You have two extra rooms here. Why do I have to sleep with Candy?”

  A mischievous smile curves his lips. “I just need you to. Please do it for me. Let’s not fight over this.”

  I glance at a sleeping Candy and shrug. I’m too exhausted to argue with him. I mean, we’re only sleeping.

  What can it harm?

  “You’re in the middle then,” I whisper, poking his chest.

  His wicked smile broadens and he gives a courtly bow. “It’ll be my pleasure, my sweet.”

  I climb into bed behind Hunter. He rests his long body on his back and he stares at the ceiling, his arms propped under his head. I turn my back to him and rest on my side, gazing out the window. I never imagined that Candy would be on the right of him naked and I’d be on left of him…almost naked. But I never imagined someone throwing me off a cliff either. I still haven’t told anyone that someone is trying to kill me and about GreenFrog. I don’t understand why someone would want me dead.

  I don’t know anything…

  Hunter’s big hands shoot out and grip my hips, pulling me across the mattress and pressing my behind to his hard-on. The heat of him warms me through the thin fabric of his pants. He gives me a slight thrust and my breath hitches.

  Hunter chuckles darkly. “Knowing you have nothing underneath my shirt makes me want to fuck you again. I wouldn’t rush this time.”

  His fingers dig into my thighs, dragging up the hem of the shirt. I slap his hands away, but they settle around me. “Not happening. This is a definite no. Ever heard of ‘no means no’?”

  “You’re no fun,” he teases.

  I shrug dismissively. “Plus I’m so sore. I can hardly walk as it is.”

  Hunter laughs freely into my hair. It’s a nice sound to hear.

  I try my best to elbow him in the ribs. He swiftly pins my arms down before I can land a good blow. “I wish I wasn’t so weak so I could kick your ass.”

  “You’re wrong,” he murmurs seductively into my ear, “you kick my ass every day.” He holds both my wrists in one strong hand that he confines to my stomach. His free hand moves to my unclothed ass as he roughly cups it.

  I gasp and shudder.

  “It makes me happy I got the unbelievable opportunity to spank your ass. Christ, I can still feel the sting in my palms. Your heated skin under the care of my hands felt fucking great, but being buried deep inside you feels even better.” He pauses a heartbeat before he declares, “One day, I want us to fall asleep with me still inside of you.”

  “It’s all I’ve ever dreamed about,” I say, sarcasm bleeding into my tone.

  He savagely pinches my nipple before I can do anything about it.

  “Hunter,” I half grunt, half moan. My body bucks against him when he squeezes it and then finally releasing.

  “I’m right here, baby. I told you, we have to work on that smart mouth of yours, didn’t I?”

  I attempt to stifle my smile. “Are you going to talk me to death or can I go to sleep now?”

  “Sleep, my sweet, sleep.” He kisses the back of my neck, his heavy arms still circling my middle.

  Needing to fulfill a deep longing within me, I tilt my head to the side and slant my mouth to kiss his bicep. He tenses immediately and his arms spasms around me, crushing me. “I’ve missed you,” he confesses quietly.

  “Hunter, I can’t breathe. You’re crushing my ribs.”

  He loosens his hold on me only a little, it’s enough for me to breathe but not do anything else, like move. “I’m trying to do better. But without you here, I can’t do better.” He lays his forehead on the back of my neck, exhaling slowly. “It only gets better with you.”

  My heart hurts and throat is constricted and dry. I clamp my eyes shut, my hands moving on top of his. I interlock our fingers. “I am only better with you.” The words spew out without permission.

  Hunter’s frame relaxes against the length of me. “Just so you know,” I whisper, staring at the full moon outside the large glass windows, “I still love the boy I adored and he is still very much alive.”

  “How do you know?”

  “He found me when no one else did,” I murmur, my eyes stinging with unshed tears. “Thank you.”

  Hunter doesn’t respond. After a while I feel his weight settle like so many times before and I know he’s asleep. I shift in his arms that never release me and look up to inspect his face. It’s not as flawless up-close. Dark purple bags are prominent under his eyes. Fine, tiny white scars are scattered among the corners of temples and cheekbones, from fighting no doubt. His nose appears to be broken a couple times over. But he’s still pretty incredible to me.

  His warm breath softly washes over my face. My eyes dart to his kissable mouth that’s slightly open. God, does Hunter look vulnerable in sleep…like a wounded boy I once knew. I don’t understand what’s wrong with me; somewhere inside my brain, something has to be wired incorrectly. Someone tried to kill me today and, yet, I can’t stop infatuating over Hunter Knight.

  I know he’s the same person that cruelly cut me out of his life.

  I understand he’s the same sadistic person that enjoys toying with my mind and body.

  I comprehend he’s the same person that has me in his arms while another woman sleeps peacefully behind him…in the nude.

  But through it all, I am completely aware that Hunter is the same person that lifted me from the ashes of that dreadful tub and brought me back to life and, for that, I will always be grateful.

  I will forever be appreciative.

  I will forever be in his debt.

  At the end of the night I fall asleep with a silly smile on my face, knowing that he has never had better than me.

  Chapter thirty-two

  The Beginning Of Broken Promises & Red Assurances

  My head hangs down and my dark hair conceals my face. I stare down at my red Converses as my back droops against Hunter’s locker. He hasn’t called me or came to visit me in weeks since that bathroom scene occurred. If he can’t return my calls, then this is how we have to communicate—in front of prying at eyes at school.

  Falcon leans next to me. “You shouldn’t do this to yourself, Izzy. Hunter’s a dick. C’mon. I’ll walk you to Biology.”

  I shake my head. “I have to stay here.”

  “He only wants to embarrass you. Don’t give him that satisfaction.”

  “He’s already won. I don’t care who sees my desperation…I just need to talk to him.”

  “You’re gonna be late for class. He’s probably in English right now, laughing his ass off.”

  “Falcon, please. I need to talk to him. He was my best friend a month ago, and he’d die for me. He told me that a lot. Now I mean nothing to him. I don’t understand. What did I do wrong, Falcon?”The red that colors my shoes is now blurry from tears.

  Falcon throws an arm over my shoulders, pressing his forehead to the side of my temple. “Nothing’s wrong with you, Izzy. You’re perfect in my eyes. I just wished you’d believed that. I always liked you, but never could venture into that area because of Hunter. You were his. That was plain and simple for everyone to
witness. You’re not anymore.” Flacon’s words are like an anchor on my chest. Fat tears drop from my eyes and land on the tips of my shoes, rolling down the sides. He takes a hold of my hand, lacing our fingers together. “I like being your friend. Do you like being my friend?”

  I nod, wiping my nose with the sleeve of my arm.

  “Good, because I was thinking that we make a fantastic pair. I want more, though. I’m greedy, right? Nothing’s ever enough…but you might be.”

  My gaze tentatively meets his. “What are you talking about, Falcon.”

  I watch in fascination as his pretty lips curve into a gleaming smile.

  He looks amazing when he smiles.

  He looks amazing when he frowns.

  Falcon is just amazing period.

  I’m struck with a sudden illness.

  My stomach hurts.

  Falcon pushes off the locker, pinning my body with his bigger one. My breath catches in my throat as I feel every tight ridge and every contour of him. My hands grasp his shoulders for balance as I peer into the purest of all browns. His eyes are just as amazing as he is.

  My teeth sink into my bottom lip as he leans closer. “What are you doing?”

  “Making you my girlfriend, Izzy,” he whispers before kissing me. My mouth opens in gasp and he slides his tongue inside my mouth. In complete shock, I freeze against him. He chuckles, pulling away to stare into my wide eyes. Students stroll by and whisper to one another, giggling and laughing at us. My face flushes and I hide in Falcon’s chest, clutching him closer. “I would apologize but it wouldn’t be genuine, though. I like kissing you. I’m going to like it even more when you don’t clam up on me.”

  I squeeze my eyes shut. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize, Isabel. We’re gonna go slow.” He brings my hand that’s still interlocked with his to his mouth and kisses my fingers. “I promise. I’ll never hurt you like he hurt you. I’ll be everything you wanted him to be. We can be that for each other.”