Red Thorns: A Dark New Adult Romance (Thorns Duet Book 1)

Tonight, I’m prey.

Again.

My feet curl into my flat sneakers as my vision helplessly searches for a hint of a shadow.

The glow of my smartwatch in the darkness indicates he’s thirty-seven minutes late.

I should’ve given up and gone home by now. I should’ve grabbed some chips and curled up in front of the TV and listened to Mom talk about her latest show with her assistants.

But I didn’t.

My feet have gone numb from standing and pacing, but when I attempted to sit down, I couldn’t stay still for more than a few seconds.

The buzz of energy that’s been confiscating my breathing is too powerful to simply ignore.

But he’s not here.

Maybe I read what he said in the cafeteria wrong and he didn’t mean for us to meet here and pick up from where we left off.

Maybe I was only projecting my own fucked-up wishes.

God. I need to talk about this to someone. Other than Akira. Because I’m a coward, even to a pen pal I’ve had for years. I simply asked if he thought it was crazy if I had weird fantasies that no one would find politically correct like being chased and caught or something.

I’m still contemplating whether or not I should go to the post office and beg to get that letter back. Maybe Akira will think I’m a weirdo and I’ll lose one of the only two friends I have—

A rustle comes from behind me and I freeze for a fraction of a second before I dash behind the rock. I don’t even know what I’m doing as I crouch. My stiff, unsteady fingers grip the edge and I slowly peer over it.

There’s no one.

Maybe I’m imagining things and letting the wait time get to my head. Maybe it’s just one of the night creatures…

My busy thoughts trail off when I sense a presence at my back right before a strong hand grabs me tightly by the hair.

I shriek, but the sound is cut off when a palm slams against my mouth. It smells familiar yet foreign at the same time. Bergamot and amber is Sebastian’s signature scent, but right now, that’s not the only thing that penetrates my nostrils. I’m also breathing in a tangible muskiness, an animalistic masculinity that’s accentuated by the way he’s grabbing me.

It’s not only his smell that’s different from his normal football star image that I’m familiar with. There’s also the way he breathes, how his chest rises and falls. It’s harsh and violent but also calm and collected.

Calculated.

He’s not a mindless beast who’s out for the kill. No, he’s a manipulative one out to toy with his prey.

Me.

He uses his hold on my hair and yanks my head back so his face is peering down on mine. I can’t see much aside from the hoodie covering his head, but I can almost make out the spark in his eyes. The sadism in there is so deep and it translates in how tightly he grips me by the hair.

It’s different from how he touched me today in the cafeteria. How he stroked my stomach and gently ran his fingers over my lip as he fed me. The contrast between then and now is so high that I get some sort of whiplash. It’s like he has a split personality or something.

His lips find my ear as he whispers, “Have you been waiting like a good little slut?”

“No!” I elbow him in the chest and squirm to free my hair, but that only makes him grip it harder until I’m screaming. For real.

It hurts. It hurts so bad.

And any fighting I do only causes him to tug on the roots, tilting my head back farther, until all I can think about is the pain.

His free palm slides across my breasts before he grips one of them so savagely, I whimper. His fingers dig into the soft skin, and even though it’s through the clothes, I feel the brutality of it to my bones.

“Stop it!” I wiggle, but he doesn’t give me room to do anything.

“Look at how these tits are begging to be hurt, to be used and abused like the rest of you, my filthy little toy.”

“No, stop it—ahhh!” I scream when he pinches one of my nipples through my bra and tugs on it.

Just when I’m focused on that, he yanks my top, ripping it down the middle and releases my breasts from the bra.

I gasp as he flattens his large palm against my aching nipples and rubs them together so roughly, I nearly come then and there. The friction is so damn tantalizing that it burns in my pussy. It’s like constantly being on the verge of twisted mayhem and sick pleasure.

“Hmm. Your huge tits are made for fucking. You’ll take my dick in there, won’t you?”

“No…”

He slaps my aching nipples and I squeal. “What did you just say, slut?”

“No!” I sob.

His lips brush against my ear as he whispers, “And you think I care? The more you say no, the harder my dick gets to fuck the word out of you. The more you beg, no, please, the harder I’ll tear through that cunt until there’s nothing left.”

This is sick. This is so sick, but I do it.

I provoke him.

Rearing my head back, I butt him in the chin with a roar. At first, I mean it as a form of egging him on, but it gets too real too soon.

My adrenaline level hits the roof as I release myself from his hold and slap and claw at him. My screams and shrieks mount and echo in the air like a fucked-up dark symphony.

I’m not even sure where I’m smacking as I let my adrenaline-induced side take over.

But my blows are short-lived.

He grabs me forcefully by the arm and twists me around as he shoves me against the rock. Breath knocks out of my lungs as my face and chest land against the solid surface and then his hand wraps around my neck as he fumbles with my skirt.

I kick my legs in the air. “No, no, no…”

“It’s time you learn your fucking place.” His voice is hoarse and aroused as he jams two of his fingers against my lips from behind, forcing their way between my teeth. “Bite and I will fuck you raw in the ass. I bet it’s virgin, too, waiting for my thick cock to tear it.”

“No, please, stop it…don’t hurt me…don’t hurt me…”

“Shut the fuck up and take my dick like the slut you are.” And then he’s thrusting his cock inside my pussy and his fingers in my mouth at the same time.

I gasp, wailing a “please,” but it barely comes out as a mumble.

He spreads my legs as his cock forces its way inside me, tearing me with its entry until I’m sobbing and blubbering. I’m begging for his mercy, for him not to hurt me, but it’s only a mumble of sounds and sobs.

They’re as useless as the meaning behind them.

My pelvis hits the solid edge of the rock with each of his thrusts and I can feel the bruises forming. I attempt to squirm, but he pins me down by jamming his elbow on the small of my back.

My nipples feel as if they’re being cut by the rock’s harsh surface. I’m completely exposed to him as he rams into me with a roughness that leaves me breathless.

The safe word is on my tongue, waiting, biding its time for me to end this madness. It hurts like hell and the pain increases with each passing second.

My screams and shrieks seem to fall on deaf ears, or more accurately, the louder I scream and bawl, the rougher his pace gets. The more I wet his hand with my tears and drool, the faster he rams into my aching pussy.

I’m still sore from the first time, but now, he’s taking it up a notch, making pain the only companion I have in the darkness.

In my attempts to speak, to beg for him to not hurt me, I bite his fingers.

I freeze.

Oh, God. No. I can’t possibly take his size in the ass.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” I speak against his fingers. “I didn’t mean to!”

The groan that comes from deep within his throat is animalistic in nature. His hand comes down on my ass and I shriek. “I said no fucking teeth.”

Slap. Slap. Slap.

Fire burns from his handprints on my ass. My voice turns hoarse with my broken cries and pleas for help, for him to stop this.

He spanks me another time and I come. Just like that, the pain has turned into blinding pleasure.

My thighs and legs tremble, my heart nearly spilling out on the rock as he picks up his pace.

The madness continues as I shake around him. He doesn’t slow down. I’m beginning to learn he never does. Not when he’s on a mission to break every part of me.

He rams faster, harder, like he’s intent on tearing me apart, and for some reason, that triggers another orgasm.

“That’s it, my slut. Choke my dick like you never want it out of this tight cunt.”

I clench around him, riding my orgasm even as I sniffle through the pain. His low growl echoes in the dark forest as he yanks his cock out. The first spurt of his cum paints my ass, followed by the second and the third as he curses in a low voice.

The hot liquid stings against the hot welt caused by his hand. A sigh mixed with broken cries comes out of my lips as he pulls his fingers from them.

I want them inside me again.

I really need him to anchor me at this moment so I won’t be able to think about anything past him and our darkness.

His and mine.

Because I have no doubt about it now.

We’re compatible like he said.

Sick.

“Please…” I beg. “Stop.” Don’t stop.

Please. Let me be alive.

He grabs my assaulted ass cheeks and I gasp, but before I can focus on the pain, he’s thrusting inside my pussy again.

And he’s hard.

Holy shit.

How can he be so ready right after he came all over me?

“No, no, please…”

His palm holds my back as he mounts me so that he’s half-covering me from behind while he rams inside me with savageness that steals my air.

“Please…I’ll do anything…just stop…”

“You’ll take my dick like you were always supposed to, like the toy you are. That’s what you’ll do.”

“No…no…please…God…it hurts. It hurts so much.”

“And it’ll hurt even worse from now on. Because I haven’t even gotten started yet, my slut.”