The Oath We Give (The Hollow Boys Book 5)

coraline| three months later

“Lilac! You’re going to be late!” I shout from the end of the hallway.

Hearing her attitude-fueled footsteps stalking from her bedroom, I shake my head as she appears in front of me, jerking her bag up her shoulder.

“How do they expect us to learn anything this early in the fucking morning,” she grumbles, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“It’s your senior year. How are you not used to this by now? You need to start going to sleep earlier.”

“Silas says being a night owl is a sign of intelligence,” she mutters on a yawn, her blonde hair tugged up in a messy bun. I smile at her. The two of them have been ganging up on me more and more lately.

I think it’s because Silas is afraid of being the bad guy ’cause he knows Lilac’s approval means a lot to me. So he basically spoils the fuck out of her.

“Your tennis bag is by the door, bagel with extra cream cheese is on the counter. Have a good day, Li.” I lean forward, pecking a kiss to her cheek.

Before I pull away, she tugs me into her body for a hug, making me huff out a laugh.

“I love you, Coraline. Thank you for being happy.”

My heart aches. “Thank you for helping me find it.”

I watch her walk toward the front door and slip out, headed to school, before I go into my home studio.

The painting I’d just finished last night is sitting on the easel, still drying, and Silas is standing in front of it.

Shirtless, in gray sweatpants.

The sweats hang from his hips, giving me the perfect view of his body. I take in the curves of his muscles, the hollow of his hips, and the strength in his lower back.

His skin is sunlight brown, and whenever he flexes, muscles ripple, dancing under his skin.

It should be a crime for him to look like this.

I creep inside behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my cheek to his back, and breathe in the smell of his bodywash.

I was never a big physical touch person until I met Silas, and he showed me how to love it. Now, I feel like I can’t be in the same room as him and not be touching him.

“What’s this one called?” he asks, still staring at the oil painting in front of us.

One of my favorite things about him is how supportive he is of my art. Not just my work with Light and teaching but my own art. He stays up with me for hours while I talk about concepts and gives me ideas, and he’s always interested in the final product.

He makes me feel important, even when I don’t feel that way myself.

“Curse Breaker,” I whisper.

The likeness of the man in the painting to Silas is exact. Like he could step from the frame and mirror the man I have my arms curled around.

Silas died twice during surgery. He died and came back to life twice.

He’d died and come back to me just to prove I wasn’t cursed. I argue that it was him defying death that broke my wicked spell. Silas was willing to cross the grim reaper just to show me I was worth the return.

I want to spend the rest of my life returning the favor, proving I’m worthy of a love like his.

“That what I am, Hex?” he hums, turning around to face me, his hands cupping my face. “Your curse breaker?”

“You are everything, Silas Hawthorne. Everything.” I lean into his touch, smiling as I press my lips to his thumb. “Even if you are painting your office that ugly-ass orange color.”

He laughs, deep and soaked in whiskey. Addictive.

“It has a name, ya know?” He tilts his head, watching me. “The color.”

“Yeah, I know. Ugly-ass orange.”

“Hex code #dd4a3d.” He grins. “Its name is Coraline.”

“I’m your favorite color?”

“You’re my favorite everything, Hex.”

I’ve slowly learned that the past doesn’t matter when you give the rest of your life to someone like Silas. When you know he’ll have the start and end to all of your days. Everything before him? It doesn’t exist. He won’t allow it.

The pain, the hurt, the misery.

None of it matters when I’m with him. I’m not the cursed witch of Ponderosa Springs. I’m not hard to love.

Silas loves me like breathing, easy, naturally, like he was made for it. And I love him carefully, tenderly, like he’s the only thing keeping me alive.

Our love is a living, breathing thing—it fills us up until there’s no room for anything else.

Those might have been my mother’s vows to my father in that courthouse, but they were meant to be said by me to him.

I will forever be his peace when the world gives only war. Every secret he spills will be kept safe by my lips, and my arms will be his safety. I took a vow to be the one person who accepts him for who he is and who he will become.

“I love you,” I murmur. “I love you.”

Till death do us part.

Silas

“Again.”

Coraline whines as my hand travels down the length of her stomach, nails curling into her warm, sweaty flesh. “Silas—”

“Again, Coraline,” I murmur from the place between her thighs, tongue darting out to drag through her pussy. The low and gentle vibrations of my deep voice send waves of pleasure directly to her cunt, reverberating through her clit until she’s close to crying. “Didn’t you brag about how you could take it? Didn’t you promise to be my good girl, Hex?”

She arches from the bed, arms straining against the rope that keeps her wrists taut to the headboard.

“I…I—”

I look up, clashing with her warm brown eyes, the mixture of overstimulation and pleasure mingling in her irises. 

I warned her. 

Told her what I would do if she let me have her body. I’m not content with Coraline coming. I need her to break. To watch those walls crumble around her one orgasm at a time. 

“Come on,” I urge her, pressing her thighs deep into the mattress to keep her spread and pliable for me. “You’ve been so good for me all night. You can do it.” 

I’ve pushed her to the edge. One orgasm on my gun, another on my fingers. Now I want her on edge before making her drown my cock.

More. More. More.

I just want more of her. All of her. 

Three months of pure freedom looks like heaven on her. The walls built around her have crumbled, and she’s let me fully into her heart, letting me make a home there.

She peers down at me through damp lashes, the tears on her cheeks warm and glistening beneath the soft light of the lamp. 

My expression darkens, and I sit up on my knees and reach over her body to the bedside drawer. I remove the silicone dildo I had her buy a few months ago.

“What are you, hm?” I whisper, trapping the toy to her lips, a silent command to open for me. “Say it, Coraline.” 

“I’m yours. I’m your wife,” she chokes out, wiggling beneath me. “Only yours. Just…just a hole for you.” 

With her mouth slightly parted, I shove the pink toy between her pillow-soft lips, swollen from my kisses. 

My hand squeezes her thigh, cock drilling a hole through my pants at the thought of them being bruised tomorrow. Her tongue swirls and mouth sucks until she laves the dildo up. I shove it further into her throat, making her gag, but I just keep going until it’s nice and wet. 

A grin splits my face, watching her eyes spark at the thought that she’s pleased me. 

When I’m satisfied, I return between her legs, lying on my stomach as I press kisses to her dripping cunt. I use one hand to pin her thigh to the bed and the other to drag the silicone dick through her slippery folds.

“That’s right,” I agree, squeezing the flesh of her thigh in my hand. “My slutty wife who lives to be filled with my come, yeah?” 

Coraline nods, eyes squeezing shut as I push the tip of the cock into her pussy. Her tight walls engulf it, sucking it in, and it’s not my proudest moment being jealous of a fake penis. 

But God, she’s so fucking beautiful. 

So fucking good for me. 

A broken whine stumbles from her mouth. “Silas, I can’t. It’s too much. So much.” 

“You’re okay,” I reassure her. “You’re gonna lay there and behave. You’re gonna be a good girl for me, Coraline.”

I love this. 

Watching her twitch and squirm, overwhelmed with pleasure, her pretty pink pussy swollen from all the attention. 

She’s all mine. 

My stubborn, beautiful wife.

I shove the toy deeper, my body forcing her legs open as she tries to snap her legs close in retaliation. 

“Fuck!” she screams when I place my mouth on her clit. I suck it into my mouth, teeth grazing the sensitive bundle of nerves, before lapping at it with my tongue. 

Her stomach contracts, hips pressing toward my touch as she fights a losing battle. Her pussy wants more, but her mind thinks it’s too much. 

I thrust the cock into her with short, quick thrusts, speeding up to match the rhythm my tongue sets. Her arousal leaks into my mouth, choking me on her pleasure. 

“Silas, I’m gonna come, baby. I’m gonna come,” she moans from the back of her throat, fighting her restraints as she humps my face. 

This is my favorite part. 

I withdraw my touch completely, making her cry out in agony. She bucks against nothing, a feral little animal all riled up. A smirk paints my features as I lean onto the backs of my legs, unbuttoning my pants and shoving them down enough to remove my aching cock. 

“Please, oh my God. I need…” she gasps, not sure if she wants more or needs it to stop. 

I stroke myself as she peers down at me, hair matted and wild, face burning red. 

“Use your words, Coraline,” I grunt, smearing my precome across the tip of my cock. “What do you need, baby? You wanna come again, don’t you? Want me to use that tight fucking hole?”

When she doesn’t answer, only lifts her hips in the air, I crawl over her body, grabbing her cheeks and forcing her to look at me. 

“Open,” I demand, her lips parting for me. Spit sprays from my mouth, dripping onto her tongue. “Tell me what you want. What you deserve.”

I loosen my hold so she can speak, waiting for her reply that comes after she swallows. 

“I want you to make me come. Fuck me, Silas, please, I’m begging you. I’m empty without you.” 

There she is. 

My ruined little thing. Soft and sweet, just for me. Believing herself to be so unworthy of love and affection. 

“You’re not a curse, baby. You’re a fucking blessing.” 

My lips press against hers, a hungry kiss where our tongues roll against one another. I grip the base of my cock with one hand, the other resting flat beside her head. 

And finally, like I’ve been thinking about all night, I thrust myself home. 

A depraved and desolate sound rips from her lungs as she stretches around my length, twitching around me, making me groan. 

“I’m already so close,” she whimpers. 

My mouth descends onto her tits, swirling around her sensitive nipple before my teeth nip at the pretty piercings with my initials on them and tug at them playfully. 

I feast on her chest, licking and sucking, taking my time as I feel them jump with every single thrust into her warm body. 

“Hold it,” I order against her skin, pulling out before thrusting back in with one long stroke. “You’re not allowed to come yet.”

She clenches around me, tightening her body to keep from exploding. I lean up on my knees, playing this game with her only because I know I’m close. Making her come, edging her, already has me at the end of my rope. 

Both hands grab her hips, using them as handles to shove her back and forth on my cock. I look down, watching as I spear into her, in and out. Her slick juices glisten along my shaft as she takes every inch. 

“That’s it, pretty girl,” I hum, pumping my hips faster, listening to her pussy slap against my pelvis. “Does it feel good?”

She nods as she moans, tossing her head back into the pillows. “I love when you use me. Being your pretty little come slut.” 

Fuck me. 

“God, the way you degrade yourself makes me fucking ache,” I hiss through gritted teeth, giving her a punishing thrust. I keep myself buried inside of her, just rocking my hips. 

“Look at you,” I say, peering down at her eyes when they flash to mine. One of my palms lies flat on her stomach, pressing as I pull out and thrust again, shoving my cock inside of her. “So fucking pretty. You feel me inside your cunt, Hex? Feel her begging for me to fill her up?”

“God, please…please—”

She thrashes beneath me, pushing her hips to meet me thrust for thrust as I start to lose myself in her body. 

The slick, tight heat that vacuums me back in every time I pull out, forcing me to come, giving me no choice but to pump her full. 

Her pussy is heaven, and I’d die a thousand deaths to stay here forever. 

The tingle in my balls makes me light-headed. My grip on her hips tightens as I use her pussy like my own personal toy. 

“Come for me, pretty girl.”

And because she’s so fucking sweet, she does.

“That’s it,” I groan, losing the rhythm of my thrusts, lost in chasing my climax. “That’s fucking it.” 

She clamps around me, shuddering on my length, and it’s all I need to shove myself into her one last time before coming. 

“Yes, yes, yes,” she cries through her orgasm, my hips continuing to fuck my come into her pussy, letting her ride out the bliss.

My head spins, chest heaving as I twitch inside her. My muscles ache with euphoria, not able to subdue the moans of pleasure that slip from my mouth. 

I trail kisses across her chest, working my way up the column of her neck, leaving them in my wake as I slowly untie her wrists. When she’s free, I take my time to worship the raw skin.

“You here with me, Hex?” I murmur against her angry skin. I take my time massaging her fingers and palms. 

She knows what I’m asking. Knows I want to make sure she didn’t slip back to a time before me. A time she wasn’t safe.

Coraline blinks up at me, a soft smile pulling at the edges of her lips as she nods. “Always here with you.” 

I let her stretch her arms, and I move from between her thighs but stay in bed with her, letting my body curl around hers, pulling her into my chest. 

My head falls into the crook of her neck. 

She’s warm and smells like sweat and sex.

Her body sinks into the bed, into my body, as she murmurs, “I’m pregnant.”

I peer down at her. “What?”

“I’m pregnant.” She grins, hiding her face in my chest. “Found out yesterday morning.”

Coraline has given me everything I never thought I would have. A family of my own and love without conditions. I’m in awe of her constantly, her strength and dedication to those in her life. And now she’s carrying my child, our baby’s very first home. What a lucky kid.

I never got to choose Rosemary. Our connection was circumstance, a gift from something beyond us to help us through our pain. That will never take away the love I have for her because it was real, and it saved me. But I never got to make a choice.

From the second I saw her, I chose Coraline. Today, tomorrow, and every day after, I will choose to love her, to give myself to her.

Because it could be no one else but her.

It’s us, forever. Inevitable death and all.