a gentle hand. “Don’t look at me. This is on you.” I quietly reminded him, “You wanted this.”
He groaned and whispered, “But I wanna fuck.”
“Oh.” The apples of my cheeks heated and lowering my eyes, I whispered back, “I have my period.”
Connor’s chin jerked with a single nod. “Okay.”
We stared at each other a while, studying one another’s expression and when Connor gave me a confused smile, I returned it because… what?
His smile grew. So did mine.
What the heck was happening here?
Finally, Connor said, “I don’t care.”
Wait. He didn’t care?
He still wanted to…?
The thought made my cheeks flame. I slapped his shoulder, “Connor!”
He didn’t seem at all bothered. “What?”
“We can’t,” I told him. I couldn’t believe I was having to explain this to a grown man.
So, when he said what he said, I actually died.
Pulling me close, he kissed me softly then put his lips to my ear and uttered, “What’s the point of having a sword if you can’t get it bloody.”
Yeah. He said that.
And my knees gave out.
Luckily, Connor caught me with a “Whoa,” followed by quiet laughter as he held me up. “That’s it, isn’t it?” As I gazed into his eyes with a look that had to have told him I was not only confused but really messed up by what he just said, he clarified merrily, “I finally found your hard limit.”
Yes. Yes, he had.
Later that night, after a make-out session that had my limbs all wobbly-like, my hard limit was explored.
In depth.
It was… umm… interesting.
Five stars.
Some days I wished I could go back to being plain old Emily Aldrich. Unknown. Unremarkable. Invisible. And today was definitely one of those days.
I made my way to the grocery store after spending the afternoon with Nanna and Jim at St. Jude’s. It was normally after being with the two of them that I forgot who I was now and today, I would feel the consequences of attempting to be ordinary. All I needed was a handful of items and it had been so long since I went shopping on my own. I didn’t think about how traumatizing such a mundane everyday chore could be but I would remember how it made me feel for the rest of my life.
The moment I stepped inside the store, I felt eyes on me. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but the second I knew I was being watched, my body strung tighter than a bow. With my cart as a barrier, I kept my sunglasses on and tried to shop in peace. People whispered to each other as I passed and those whispers had me on edge.
I mean, c’mon. Was it worth it? All I needed was bread and milk.
When young girls began to follow me, my heart rate increased. And then it wasn’t just the young fans. Almost every person in the store became curious about who the crowd were following and joined ranks. It didn’t take long before one person approached and kindly asked, “Miss Violet, can I get a selfie?”
The young man said this so politely that I bit down my anxiousness and responded, “Sure.”
Oh my.
What was the saying? Famous last words.
The first picture was harmless enough and when a woman asked, all I could think to reply was, “I really need to get home.”
It was funny, really. For people who were yelling out how much they loved me, how quickly they turned on me.
The woman turned on her phone camera and walked towards me, “Oh, please. My daughter will never believe it.”
Taking a step back, I tried again. “Not today. Thank you.”
Gripping my cart, the woman walked closer to me and said, “It’ll be quick,” then snapped her phone in my face before I could say boo.
My heart beat out of my chest. I was mad. “I said no.”
A moment of thick silence went by before one man muttered, “That’s not nice.”
Another said, “It’s just a photo.”
The woman holding up her phone looked shocked. I expected an apology. What I got was a hard stare and a single word. “Bitch.”
My stomach coiled. More so when I noticed the crowd of twentyish people frowning at me as if I had done something wrong.
Had I done something wrong?
I didn’t think so but they were mad at me so I must have done something wrong, right?
I couldn’t think. I needed to get out of there.
Head down, I wheeled my cart to the checkout and loaded my items onto the conveyor belt. I didn’t notice the mob of people following