by Celia Crown
“Is it love, though?” She taunts and kisses my cheek with her cold lips.
I hate this dark entity using Charlotte’s body to spew out lies. I need to think of something, or I’m going to freeze to death, but my body won’t listen. It’s too numb; I feel like I’m drowning in the deepest parts of the ocean.
“Or is it fear that you’ll abandon us like our dear brother? If she doesn’t love you back, would you leave too?”
Anger burst through my chest, fueling the blood in me to scorch as it runs throughout my body in a path of wrath. I flip us over, straddling her hips as she lays on her front. She laughs so much that her body shakes. I twist her arm to her back and keep my other hand on the back of her head.
“Did I hit a nerve, Alex?” she purrs, the blue in her eyes goes lighter, and it becomes a shade closer to the sky rather than the ocean.
“I know you can kill me,” I say, and she quiets down with her face devoid of any expressions. “But, you didn’t because you can’t. You have black magic, and yet, you don’t use it on me. You can’t use it, can you?”
She sneers, struggling under my restraint. “Let go of me—”
“You’re a fragment of Charlotte’s imagination. You have no real power to control her other than your vile tongue. That’s why you can’t use the black magic in Charlotte’s body, and that’s why you can only use the basics that Charlotte has.”
“Let me go, and I’ll show you what I can do, boy,” she snaps her teeth and struggles harder.
I push her head down and clench her wrist harder, “You can’t kill me because Charlotte won’t let you.”
She screams in frustration, throwing her body roughly around, and I restrain her harder to prevent this thing from hurting the frail body any longer. She goes slack, and the deep color returns to a sapphire, her thick lashes flutter shut, and nothing happens.
I wait and watch for any slight movement to indicate that the thing is gone. It is as if Charlotte mutters in her sleep about something I can’t hear. I pick her up and feel the warmth of her skin; it’s a nice change to the freezing hands that was around my neck.
The hallway was thawing like dry ice; no moisture is coming off the walls or the floor as I take her inside her bedroom. I put her on the bed and sighs. The blood from her arm is drying, and I look at it.
It’s not spider cracks like on my hand; it’s just a flesh wound that needs to be hidden from Charlotte, or she’s going to question it.
“What the hell happened here?” Jesse’s voice is a loud hiss coming from behind me, and I wonder how this man is a Special Forces member when he can’t read the air.
I straighten my back and pull the cover to tuck her in before turning around to the door. His eyes go to my arm and mine goes to the bags of groceries in his hand.
“We need to talk.”
Chapter Five
Charlotte
It’s weird.
I went from not having any attention to having too much attention from Jesse and Alexander.
They watch me like hawks, and it all started on the day that I woke up really late. I woke up around late noon, and it was the weirdest feeling ever. The refrigerator was stocked with food, and Alexander had worn a long-sleeved shirt. He never wore anything that covered his arms, and I hate how it looked on him.
I wanted to see those rippling muscles on his forearm, and he had mercy on me and rolled up his sleeves.
That was three days ago, and they have me under heavy, around-the-clock supervision since then. It’s an odd change. Although they never left me alone for more than thirty minutes for the past two months, now they’re doubling their efforts to suffocate me with their stares.
It’s hard to watch a movie when Alexander’s eyes never stray from me; he has me sitting between his legs to watch the movie. I don’t understand his logic, but I don’t mind being wrapped up in his big arms.
The television screen shows a possessed woman jumping out in thin air and screeching loudly to frighten the protagonist. I scream along with the main character and throw the blanket over my eyes. I mold my back to Alexander’s chest, and it gives me comfort knowing that nothing can get through him to scare me from behind.
Watching a horror movie in the middle of the night when Jesse’s off to do his nightly runs is such a bad idea. It always takes hours for him to return. He used to do them in the mornings, but now it’s at night, and I don’t know why.
Maybe he wants to search the neighborhood for danger since his body has always been in combat mode, but Alexander isn’t doing that, so it’s just Jesse being weird.
However, Jesse always comes back when it’s my bedtime. Yes, I have a bedtime, and Jesse doesn’t back down when I want to stay up a little later. He doesn’t let me sleep alone in fear that I would sleepwalk again although I tell him that I never sleepwalk and he must be dreaming.
Tonight, he said he wanted to do his full workout since he slept too much this morning, and I have never heard anything that ridiculous.
It just leaves me and Alexander.
“It’s time for bed,” he said as he reaches to the side and takes the remote.
I scramble for it in his hand and snatch it to my chest while knocking my head back to his chest. I look up at him and pleads him with my big, puppy eyes.
“It’s almost finished. I want to watch it.”
He isn’t as strict as Jesse, which is funny considering he commands Jesse’s team. One would think that the Commander of a Special Forces team would be grouchy and a stickler for rules, but Alexander is nicer than I thought he would be.
Granted, I thought he was going to stare me to death when I first met him. I can’t be blamed for thinking that because he has this permanent scowl on his face, but I think it’s part of his charm.
He’s prickly on the appearance, but a teddy bear at heart.
“No,” he said, and my face falls.
I turn back to the screen and ignore him. I take it back; he’s just as bad as Jesse and maybe worst in some cases. He snatches the remote from my hands and shuts off the TV before I could protest, and Alexander plucks me off his lap to carry me.
I have to wrap my legs around his strong hips, or I would fall. As he crushes my butt with his hands, I bite back my words as to why would he put his hands there of all places.
He walks me to my room, and it’s the first time he’s going to be in it. My heart thumps quietly against my chest while the pounding in my ears gradually rises in pitch. I swallow thickly when he puts all my weight on one arm to open the door and simply walks in without a care in the world as he holds me with such delicacy that it scares me.
He thinks he’s going to break me if he’s just a tiny bit rougher. I’m a big girl; I can handle a little bit of pain.
Alexander tosses me on the bed, and the air gets knocked out of my chest. I get rolled over when he pulls the covers from underneath. I land near the wall with my face down on the pillow when the cover lays on top of me.
I peer at him through my messy hair to see him looking down on me. I shy away from his gaze and snuggle deep into my pillow. The scent of Alexander’s gross minty shampoo hits me in the face. I always wanted to ask him why he thinks having that cooling sensation on his scalp helps him sleep.
It probably helps him not to get overheated.
“Lights?” Alexander walks over to the wall and puts his finger on the switch.
I slept in the dark by myself before. I can do it tonight too. Ever since Jesse has been my bedmate, I felt a lot safer in the dark, and the nightmares hadn’t come back to haunt me. They could be gone now and that it was just a phase for me to get over with; it’s the only thing that makes sense to me.
“On, please.”
I don’t want him to think of me as a little girl; I want to be a woman in his eyes. Alexander’s type probably looks like those supermodels and their mile-long legs, flawless body, and symmetrical face.
I’m short, uncoordinated, and barely taking care of myself. H
e’s obligated to be here to babysit me because Jesse is his team member; Alexander doesn’t see me as anything other than Jesse’s little sister.
The lights go off, and the dread starts.
“Goodnight,” Alexander says from the door as the hallway illuminates his back.
I pull the cover over my chin, “Goodnight.”
He shuts the door, and it leaves me in the dark. The moon is covered by a thick layer of clouds as the weatherman on the local news said that there would be rain tonight. Jesse is brave to go running at night. I should dig through the medicine cabinets to see if there’s cold medicine just in case he gets sick.
Let him get sick; that foolish man doesn’t deserve your care.
The voice is back.
I groan, my temple throbs in irritation as it’s tugging on my fiery nerves. Whenever Jesse or Alex is with me, the voice is always quiet. Now that I don’t have anyone with me, it’s back with the temptations that shouldn’t be temptations.
This is Jesse, and he is my brother. I would never agree with the negativity the voice conveys about my family.
It sounds amused with a tang of bitterness. He didn’t want you then, why would he want you now?
My teeth sink down into my bottom lip. The pain and throbbing are a good distraction from the voice in my head. If I don’t entertain it, it will go away on its own.
You did kill your parents, the voice taunts, he hates you. He despises you for taking away his family. That’s why he left. He can’t stand being near a family murderer.
Tears brim around my eyes, and I let them soak on the pillow. Jesse doesn’t think that; he doesn’t hate me, and he loves me. He tells me that all the time. He said that it doesn’t make up for him being absent for all those years, but it’s a start of a long journey.
We’re both ready to be a family again.
“He loves me,” I said, it’s almost too loud. I need to hear it, and the voice needs to hear it. I’m convinced that it would keep the voice far away for now.
Then, where is he? The voice sniggers.
“Jogging,” I sniff, “You don’t know anything, and you don’t exist.”
I thought the voice would talk back to me, but when the door opens to let the lights in, the voice goes silent. It’s the massive silhouette of Alexander, and he is stalking inside my room without a shirt to cover those rippling, thick muscles.
A brush of breeze caresses the wetness in my eyes, and I quickly bury my face back in the pillow. He shouldn’t see the weakling that I am when we were just progressing in this relationship. I wouldn’t call it that; it’s friendship at best.
The bed dips, and I don’t look at him, but his big hand threads into my hair to rub my skull. The pleasing sensation rolls through my body, and I practically melt into a pool of bones.
“Are you unable to sleep?” His baritone voice rasps. It sounds like he just woke up from his sleep.
It’s only been a couple of minutes since he left the room unless the time spent in my head talking back to the voice took longer than I expected.
“Is Jesse back yet?” I ask him, muffling my words with the pillow.
I gasp and turn to face him; my lungs burn with the air going in. His bulky torso is too much for me; the tattoos coiling around his body are artworks that I would love to trace my fingers on.
“No,” he says and gets under the cover with me.
Any sleepiness in me is gone, and I scuttle up from the bed. He raises an eyebrow at me while sliding in the bed. He’s too big for my bed; it’s not designed for two people unless we’re cuddling. Jesse has trouble with not falling to the floor when we sleep at night, and this man has more bulk than my brother.
He’s either thinking about crushing me to the wall or sleeping on the ground in the middle of the night. I take it that he’s going to make me become one with the wall behind me because he’s already on the bed and under the covers.
“Why are you not on the bed?” Alexander comments plainly, watching me with his deep, brown eyes, and I flush intensely.
My cheeks burn in embarrassment, and I flop back down for him to pull the cover over us. His scent assaults my nose, and I cannot push my nose against his neck and sniff him. That is inappropriate and very creepy, but he smells really good and quite naked.
Half-naked, but it’s close enough.
“Um, do you have space?” I ask as I scoot back until my back is against the wall.
He brushes his hot body on mine, and I couldn’t stop the moan from tumbling out. His knee slips between my thighs and directly scrapes on my pulsing clit.
“I heard you talking to yourself again,” Alexander says.
I try not to go stiff in his arms, but I can’t help it. These times reminds me of how sharp his attention to things is. He could hear me from a door away when I’m talking quietly.
“It’s nothing,” I murmur as I close my eyes, “Old habits die hard.”
“Why won’t you let me help you? Don’t you trust me?” His voice puts the image of him frowning in my head.
“No,” I don’t risk a peek at him, or I would lose myself in those dark eyes. “I’m scared.”
“Of what?” he asks.
I sniff, turning my face further into his chest and the pillow. “Myself.”
“Why?” He probes.
“I hurt you, and I will hurt you again.”
Alexander pushes my shoulder back to the bed and makes me look up at him while he towers over me. The shadow of his massive frame engulfs me. He raises his hand and pinches my cheek. It’s a brief, sharp pain that makes me wince.
“There,” he said, “We’re even.”
I open my mouth to say something, but he seals his lips over mine. I moan softly against his lips as he kisses the breath out of my lungs; it’s soft and gentle when he kisses me.
“Do you want me to take care of you?” He growls, and it resonates with the trembling in my limbs.
I want him to take care of me and protect me from the stupid voice in my head, and I want him to take care of my body. My nipples tighten, and my pussy is wet with need, soaking the fabric of my panties.
They are a pale shade of blue; and they are not sexy. I wish I have something close to black or red. The sad thing is that I have neither of those colors in my drawers. I have basically all colors but those two.
“Do you want me?” He rephrases.
I nod immediately, “I want you.”
His hands are working on the bottom of my shirt and pulling it off my head in quick sessions that have me disoriented. Alexander’s tongue peeks out from his lower lip, and the sight draws my nipples to tight points as the cool air nips my skin.
His mouth descends on my bud and sucks. He flicks his tongue around and gropes my other one. I squeal at the hotness while the rough treatment from his fingers hurt the sensitive nipple.
Alexander doesn’t waste time on letting my panties soak up more juices; he peels the fabric away with my slick dripping down to the bed. It’s humiliating to physically feel the lust. I try to close my legs, but he stops me with a sharp growl that sends an impactful vibration to my nipple.
I cry out. My legs are pried open with his hips and something hard presses tightly on my bare pussy. He rocks his hips, dragging the coarse material of his pants on my slit and rolling my clit in one swoop. The first touch is slippery and merciless; my thighs tremble.
“Oh…” I breathe, arching my back as his hand finds my pussy.
He parts my drenched folds and taps on my soiled clit with the calloused tip of his finger. Moving his thumb to rub my clit, he slips two fingers into my soaked walls and curves them slightly, and the world fades away.
Alexander takes his thumb from my sensitive nub, and I whine at the loss. He can’t just take it away from me after letting me get a taste of what it feels like to be touched there.
“I’m sorry, but I need to be inside you.” He kisses me and pinches my clit as a gush of slick drool out of my pulsing hole.
“Please,” I tell him.
“We have time, and I will make it up to you later. I need you right now,” he huskily hisses, tugging down his pants and fisting his massive girth.
My eyes bulge at the size, and my walls tremble with anticipation as to how will he possibly fit inside. He’s going to tear me in half, and I think it’s going to feel amazing. I want him stretching my tiny pussy with his big cock.
His fingers twirl and spread my wall to prepare me for his thickness while he holds the base of his shaft with a pained expression.
“Are you okay, Alex?” My brows furrow in concern, my lashes flutter when he curls his fingers to fit that spot that makes me see stars.
“O-oh!” I mewl shakily when he rolls my clit under his thumb harshly.
From years of being touch-starved, my body reacts too intensely to his touch as I squeak at the knot snapping in my belly. My back arches with my hands holding the sheets beside my head while my pussy gets slicker with loud squelches.
“Look at you, so fucking pretty,” Alex praises. He crooks his fingers up, and I yelp with a surprised moan.
“Mine, you’re mine. My little good girl.”
I flush at this possessiveness. My pussy throbs with the rhythm in my neck as he takes his finger out to line the tip of his cock. A staggered moan flies out with my eyes tearing up at the stretch; it isn’t slow or gentle when he pushed in, it was quick and too rough when he split my slit open with his fat cock.
There is a strong pulse inside my walls as my hole struggles to accommodate the soreness of being breached open. He sits heavily in me, and I can’t help but moan at the feeling of being too snug and too hot.
“A-Alex,” I whimper, my mouth dries, and throat seems clogged.
I didn’t think I could take more of him, but another inch later, something thick grinds against my clit. I wail as I come on his cock, thighs shaking as my toes curl. My walls flutter around his shaft to form the shape of it; juices soak my butt and his thickness while he breathes raggedly.
He leans down to nuzzle the crook of my neck, kissing and nipping on my pulse.
