contradicting emotions drowning me. A part of me wanted her to hate me. It’d lusted for that moment since I’d strangled her the first time. I wanted to be feared and detested. If she looked at me like the scum I was, then I had an excuse to be exactly what she thought of me. I could be explicit and sadistic. I could happily embrace depravity and vengeance because, maybe, hopefully, if I took out my revenge on her, maybe it would help me heal. Maybe her screams could replace mine. Perhaps her pain could erase every agony I’d endured.
I grew hard.
My head pounded.
My balance went off kilter.
Fuck.
I bent over in Storymaker’s throne where I’d sat all night, watching clouds obliterate stars and the rising sun annihilate the moon.
My stomach threatened to evict the creamy carb-rich dinner she’d brought from a world I was no longer a part of. Tiredness slammed into me.
It didn’t matter that I couldn’t sleep in an unprotected room in this monstrous mansion. My concussion didn’t give a damn.
Heavy haze crushed me.
I toppled forward.
Ah, shit.
I was out cold before I even hit the carpet.
* * * * *
I woke to the faintest flutter around my stomach.
Barely-there caresses, soft teases, and erotic promises traced my muscles. I groaned. I was hard and needed relief. My balls were tight and heavy. My cock pulsed with the desire to release.
My hips drove into something unforgiving, seeking the warmth of the girl I’d been dreaming about. A perfect companion who always knew just what I needed and was always wet for me.
I thrust.
I winced.
My eyes shot open as common sense revealed I’d just dry-humped the library’s carpet.
Goddammit.
The room contorted and danced as my head swam. How much longer would I be at the mercy of whatever happened to my brain? Was Gemma right that I’d suffered a serious mental injury? Had I woken today as someone else, or had I slept soundly until—
Wait, what’s the time?
My eyes strayed to the clock by the bookshelves. A paua shell-carved extravaganza that didn’t fit with the rest of the smoky, masculine vibe of the reading den.
Holy shit, two p.m.?
I’d slept face-first on the carpet for eight hours?
My hips pulsed with another painful urge to climax. I flinched and fisted my hands. The urge to come became almost unbearable. A means to an end. A way to get rid of the tight desire between my legs and wake up properly.
Stop it.
Ignore it.
My body had other ideas. A crest of agonizing lust made my back arch.
This was yet another problem caused by that trespasser of mine. Until she’d come along, whenever my body had demanded an orgasm, I’d been able to ignore it. My hands hadn’t shook as I forbid them to touch myself. My heart didn’t race trying to override my unanimous decision not to self-pleasure.
I was happy not to touch myself. Relieved even.
But thanks to her?
All I could think about was her welcome, her wetness, the way we fit so perfectly together.
Ah, Christ.
My cock rippled with pre-cum, creating a damp patch on my boxer briefs.
Seemed just thinking about her had the power to make my body disobey. My teeth ground to dust as I squeezed my eyes closed and focused on the constant sickness inside me instead of the overheated lust in my blood. My head still pounded. My eyes still felt too big for their sockets. My ears still rang with concussed bees.
Focus on getting strong again. Sex has to wait.
But...sex with her. Sex with someone who actually gave me pleasure instead of pain.
I wanted that.
I wanted to touch her, hold her, kiss her—
Another ripple up my cock. Another damp spot.
Ah, stop.
The flutter around my stomach came again, wrenching me upright.
I grabbed my head, sinking all ten fingers around my skull as pokers of pain stabbed from all directions. It took a horrifyingly long time before the library stopped spinning, and I trusted my stomach not to evict the pasta from last night before opening my eyes again.
The flutter returned around my belly—a sensation of something wriggling on a fishing line.
You’re the spider now. And she’s the fly.
Gemma.
She was moving around. Wherever she was, we were bound, and that knowledge sent a dark thrill through me. I was alive to feel her. I’d left that decision in her dangerous hands, wondering if she’d do what others had done.
However, even in her rage last night, she hadn’t come to harm me in my sleep. And really, I had to face the facts—the fact