The Truths we Burn (The Hollow Boys Book 2)

Rook

I’ve never been afraid of anything.

I told myself that if fear ever arose, I would face it head-on with a smile and a match.

But as soon as an ounce of trepidation came for me, I did the complete opposite. I turned in the other direction, and I ran.

I’ve never been afraid of anything.

Until her.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

The billiard room door shuts behind her loudly, trapping us inside the teakwood-smelling space. I hear the fireplace crack, needing to be stoked, but I ignored it.

“What kind of man am I if I let you show up to your father’s celebration party without a date?” I ask jokingly.

“Rook,” she scolds, arms crossed in front of her in defense.

I hadn’t planned on showing up.

But that fear had started to fester. It’s such a rare emotion that I knew it almost immediately.

I thought about her father being here, Easton, all the people that she once surrounded herself with like a shield who had turned their backs, and I wasn’t afraid of what they would do to her. They are weak. Cowards.

I was nervous about what she might do to them.

What would happen if her father pushed her a bit too far, if Easton had continued what I know he wanted to do in that room. I know the tidal waves of emotions that are coursing through her, how much of her patience is being tested by being here. All it would take is one tiny flint, and she would become an unstoppable wildfire.

Scorching anything and everyone in her path.

I can feel it.

Her anger. Her cracked self-restraint. Her despair.

So I thought, what better way to feed the animosity inside of her than give her exactly what it was she’s craving.

“There is something I need to tell you. A few things.”

I walk in her direction, taking my time, making her wonder what it is I’m up to. She watches me with skeptical eyes, which doesn’t surprise me. I’m known for my unpredictability.

“And it couldn’t wait until later?”

A smirk breaks onto my face, my feet stopping once they’re touching the tips of her heels. The smell of her perfume hits me straight in the face, making my groin ache.

“That’s all we’ve been doing, TG,” I say in a hushed tone, pulling the match from my mouth. “Waiting to make our move, waiting out the feds, waiting to kill your father.”

I dip the red tip of the match towards her skin, dragging the rough end across her collarbone just where her scar sits. The same one I wear on my own.

The one I gave myself so that fate would know we were in this life together.

She’s nervous.

I can feel it rolling off her in waves as she stands there wondering what I could possibly be up to this time. Am I going to hurt her? Am I going to end this once and for all? And my personal favorite, am I going to touch her?

“I’m done waiting.”

“What about the police? What about Cain?” Her eyebrows furrow in worry, but her eyes are burning with excitement.

“That’s been handled,” I breathe, drawing a line from her scar towards the center of her chest. “Nothing is stopping us now.”

“Is that what you came to tell me?”

“That’s one of the things.”

“And the other?”

I enjoy the times I could catch her like this.

Cheeks flushed and unsure of herself. It’s only me who can make her this anxious. I want the world to see her as the strong woman she is. As a fucking force to be dealt with.

It makes me hard watching the way people cower around her. Even if she doesn’t see it for herself, I do. Regardless of the power she thinks she lost, people still fear her, and I fucking love that about her.

I love that I’m the only one who can break her. The only one that’s able to crawl beneath her skin and bury myself inside of it.

My hands descend onto her body, slipping beneath the globes of her ass and picking her up smoothly, hauling her up to my waist.

Her mouth parts barely, a gasp falling from her lips.

“Wh-hat are you doing?”

I walk her towards the pool table, resting her on the edge of the soft green felt material.

“Apologizing,” I mutter, putting an inch of space between us, staring at her hard.

“Rook, there is nothing you need to apologize for.”

Taking my time, I drop one knee to the floor with a thud, the other one following suit, preparing for what it is I need to do. I pull my hands down her legs, cradling her calves in my palm and using my thumb to massage her gently.

“There is,” I say, looking up at her from my place on the ground.

My altar.

My salvation.

“For not believing in you, for not believing in us. For not seeing through the lie and fighting to keep you, as I should have.” I open the buttons on my shirt, pulling it down my shoulders and letting it fall to the ground.

“Make it hurt. Make me pay.”

I had been so consumed with my own fear of being betrayed, of being hurt, of losing her, that I let myself hate her. I didn’t go with what my heart had been trying to tell me all along—that she was different.

That she was mine.

I let myself hate her, and she went through hell alone because of it.

This is the only way I know how to make amends with that.

I wait for a second before I feel the tip of her heel beneath my chin, lifting my head up. I look up at her, quirking an eyebrow, my eyes on hers.

She oozes control, her shoulders tall as she stares down at me.

My phoenix.

“I don’t need your pain, Rook Van Doren. I want you to give me your word.”

I’ve never wanted anything more than I want her right now. I want to fucking devour her. I would do anything to have it.

“Tell me what it is,” I say, “and it’s yours. It’s all yours, baby.”

Like a seductress, she pulls both her legs up onto the table, spreading them wide, causing her dress to hike up her hips, leaving her fully exposed to me.

“I want you to promise me you will stop hurting yourself.”

The air is thick and heavy on my burning lungs. Her sweet aroma is enough to drown in, making me dizzy and lightheaded. I follow her pale fingers as they find her center, rubbing up and down her covered slit teasingly.

“You want to make it up to me? You want to touch me, pyro?”

I would pray to God to be able to touch her right now.

“Then promise me. No more cuts. No more pain.” She presses harder on her cunt, a little whimper slipping from her mouth. “Promise you’ll come to me. We can help each other. I can help you.”

A dark, wet spot appears on her thin panties, and my mouth waters, my chest aches. Her breasts move up and down in a steady rhythm as her breath starts to come out more erratically.

Lust and heartache swirl around my head.

Could she be enough to lead me to forgiveness? Could she be enough to help me let go?

I’m not a fool. I don’t believe in fairy tales, and for the longest time, I refused to indulge myself in the twisted delusional of her loving me back.

But the pain I chase is nothing compared to the pain of not being able to touch her. Not being able to have her. I could learn to forgive myself, but I don’t want to be without her.

Not again.

“It won’t be pretty,” I say, my voice husky. “My pain is an ugly, consuming beast, Sage. Can you handle something like that?”

“You’re not the only person who hurts themselves when it gets too much, Rook.”

I follow her hands as she removes them from her center, reaching behind herself to unzip the dress that shields her from me. She takes her time undressing, pulling her arms from the sleeves and shoving the black material down until it’s bunched around her waist.

I roll my tongue across my bottom lip as she seductively pulls it from her legs, tossing it onto the floor with her foot when she’s done. My eyes can’t figure out where to look first. The kindling blue of her eyes, the delicate curves that roll over her hips, or her supple tits that are the perfect shade of dusty pink, begging for my mouth.

She had been my greatest heartache. The one who had ripped a hole so deep inside of me that I never thought I’d be able to fill it. I’d gotten used to the hollow valley inside my soul.

But she’s also my only salvation.

The only altar I’d ever dare to worship.

I finally find where I want to look, because she drops her arms in front of her, baring the off-white scars that lie there.

They start at the base of her wrist, traveling vertically up her arms until they stop just below the bend in her elbow.

“My dad made a choice, and so did I,” she breathes. “He wanted to keep me, but I wanted to make sure he didn’t get either of us. We don’t have to hurt alone, Rook.”

I stand up.

She will never be able to lead me to the Garden of Eden or Heaven’s pearly gates. It’s too late for that.

But we could create our own peace. Our own salvation on our terms. Our own celestial city in the kingdom of eternal flames.

I grab her wrists, curling my fingers around, examining the sunken skin. All those stitches, all that blood she must have lost. She was all alone, so fucking miserable that she wanted to end it all. I never would have seen her again. I would have lost her for good.

It feels like a swift kick to the balls, a harsh stabbing in my gut.

“You’re not a flightless bird anymore, Sage. You’re a phoenix. They tried to snuff you out, but you wouldn’t let them. You built yourself from those ashes with no help from me or anyone else. Just you.”

I reach into my front pocket, pulling out the dainty golden chain, and the bird in the middle catches the light.

“Dying is easy. Can you burn for me?”

I’m not just asking.

I’m begging.

She reaches out, grabbing the charm that hangs, and rubs her finger across the plated winged creature.

“Where did you get this?” she whispers, a single tear streaming down her cheek, and I have the carnal urge to lick it from her. To catch her sadness and swallow it all up so she never has to feel it again.

“I melted it down from Cain’s badge,” I say. “As a reminder that he will never be able to touch you again. No one will. Not unless you let them.”

I see the question in her eyes. She wants to know what happened, what I did, but she knows it’s better left unsaid right now.

I take the metal and loop it around her neck, hooking it in the back so it falls perfectly in the center of her collarbone. She looks down at it, staring for a moment, and at first I’m unsure if she likes it. It is a gruesome gift.

But when she looks back up at me, her lips slightly parted, she gives me her answer,

“Rook, I’d like you to touch me now.”

I don’t need her to say anything else. It’s the only permission I need.

I bring my body to hers, crawling on top of the table and mounting her. My waist is in between her milky thighs, and I drop my mouth onto hers, taking in the red color of her mouth until she’s swollen from my kisses.

She moans into me as our tongues wrap together, devouring one another, pouring every single bit of raw emotion into each other’s mouths. All the torment, all the suffering alone, all the love.

My chest hurts. My heart is throbbing, coming alive for the first time in over a year. It feels good to reward myself instead of the opposite. These molten hot chains that had been clinging to my body for years start to unshackle themselves.

Needy, wanting, and every bit of mine.

I move my mouth down, unsure if the sensitive skin on her neck tastes more like strawberries or honey, but either way, the flavor on my tongue is one I never wanted to forget.

The farther down I work, the more purple and red marks I leave across her. I want to mark every single square inch of her until she’s covered in me. I would never go another day not letting the entire goddamn world know that she is mine.

“Your mouth feels so good,” she whimpers as my hands grope her breasts. Soft and perky, warm and inviting to my prying fingers. I play torturously with her nipples.

I’d gone too long denying the truth that she had always been mine. And now I’m going insane at the thought of possessing her completely, owning every inch.

“It’s about to feel even better,” I whisper, leaving a lingering kiss just above her panties. “Fuck, I missed this.”

“Me or?”

“You. I missed tasting you,” I move my mouth around her naked body, “I missed fucking you, I’ve thought of nothing else since you left. I’ve touched no one else. It’s just fucking you.”

I roll the waistband down, her underwear off her legs in one clean sweep.

I am absolutely famished for her. My mouth waters at the sight of her glistening, pink pussy, wet and ready for me. I’d been denying myself of her cunt on my tongue for too long. I want my fix.

Placing my body between her legs, forcing her thighs to widen in order to make room for my shoulders, I swipe my tongue from the top of her mound to her opening. She jerks against me, trying to push her leaking center to my face, chasing the friction, chasing the pleasure.

Happy to oblige, I drop my mouth to her clit, sucking on the sensitive bud with just enough pressure for her to feel it. I slowly circle the tip of my tongue around it, teasing both of us. I’m only able to play for a few seconds before I begin to devour the forbidden fruit between her thighs.

Her fingers sink into my hair, pushing me farther into the center, aching for more. My hot tongue flicks and swirls through her slick folds, and I inhale her like she’s my last meal on earth.

With two of my fingers, I use her juices to easily slide them inside of her tight hole, feeling her clench around me as I work them in and out of her channel.

“All the sloppy noises for me?” I groan into her sex, my voice vibrating against her sensitive bud. “How fucking sweet of you, baby.”

I flatten my tongue against her clit, letting her grind against me, allowing her to control the pressure and rhythm. Letting her use me until she’s ready to break.

Little wrinkles form in her brow, her moans coming out harder, her entire body writhing and coiling, spine rising from the table. My cock is heavy and throbbing, desperate to feel her walls clamp around me.

I know she’s close.

I always know.

Because I know my girl.

I feel her juices streaming down my chin, coating me in her liquid, so holy it might be enough to cleanse the world of its sins. With my free hand, I smear her lubricant down towards her ass, massaging the tight hole with the pad of my finger.

“You gonna be a good whore and let me fuck this hole too?”

Part of me is teasing.

The other part of me is feral to claim every hole with zero restraint.

She whimpers, nodding her head as I continue to play, pushing the tip of my finger inside and groaning at how tight it is.

“Say it. Ask me.”

Lifting herself up on her elbows, face red with pleasure, she looks down at me between her thighs.

“I want you to fuck my ass.” Her blue eyes are filled with so much need that I can’t say no to her. “Please.”

“Fuck,” I groan as I make my way back up to her lips, shoving my tongue inside of her mouth and allowing her to taste herself on me. “I’m so goddamn weak for you, Sage.”

I take my hand down my body, removing myself from my pants, and sit up on my knees. Wrapping my palm around myself and pumping my length, I watch as a few drops of pre-come leak from the tip.

“Rook, please, baby. I need you,” she moans, rubbing herself against me.

Carefully, I spread her legs much wider, pulling her flush against my thighs, then slide my hands beneath her ass to lift it up towards me.

Instinctively, her legs come down to rest on my shoulders, her heels still decorating her feet.

I use her sleekness to lube my cock before guiding myself to her asshole.

“You let anyone else fuck you here, slut?” I ask, grinding my teeth as I ease myself inside of her. I feel her walls try to force me out, rejecting my size, but I keep pushing.

“N-no, no, only you.” She shakes her head aggressively, eyes shut tight as she struggles to fit me. “Fuck, it burns.”

I use my thumb to stimulate her clit, trying to ease her open.

“You gotta relax, baby girl. Let me in,” I whisper, inching inside farther and farther the more I fuck her clit with my thumb. “That’s it, that’s my girl. Fuck, you feel incredible. You feel me stretching your ass? Molding your walls for my cock?”

“I feel—” She is caught by a moan that takes over her entire body. “So full, so good.”

Once I’m fully inside of her ass, I’m not sure how I’ll be able to pull out because of how forcefully she’s clamped around me.

But slowly, I start to work my hips, moving my thumb a little faster as I do. I can’t help the grin that spreads across my face, the feeling of her loosening up around me enough for me to move faster.

“You’re such a pretty little whore, Sage. Taking me so good.”

Soon, I’m thrusting inside of her with more force, and I can see that look of tension building up on her face. My thighs slap against her skin, over and over again as I push myself deeper inside of her.

My own release is licking at my heels, twisting my gut, but I don’t care. I just want to watch her come.

I want to see how the euphoria erupts on her skin, exploding across her from head to toe. I wouldn’t care if I never came again if it meant I could see that face for the rest of my life.

Just that would be enough.

“Fuck, fuck,” she curses, digging her nails into my hips. “Rook!”

“So tight, so fucking good,” I grunt as my strokes become more erratic, out of control, feeling her spasms beneath me.

It’s not enough. I want more. I want it all.

I want her broken and thoroughly fucked. So weak that I have to carry her out of this stupid party where no one understands her.

Surrounded by all these people who put her in a cage because they were afraid of what she could do if they let her have free rein.

“Come again,” I growl, grabbing her legs at the ankles and pulling them apart so they fall to the table, leaving her open to me.

I sink my middle and ring finger inside her cunt, continuing to pound my length into her other hole.

“Too much,” she chokes out. “Shit, it’s too much.”

Working my fingers in and out, quickening my pace as I do, I make sure to rub that one spongy spot all the way inside of her.

“I said come,” I order, feeling my organs slice through me just as she goes into a silent scream, the pleasure overtaking her fully.

Her back arches off the table, trying to pull away from me, but I continue to pump my seed into her depths, still moving my fingers.

Clear fluid spurts onto my lower abdomen, her cunt washing over me as her second orgasm shatters her. I groan harshly as she tightens down.

The room is filled with ragged breaths as we both remain in this state of bliss, her body riding the aftershock of her climax.

I keep myself inside of her as I lean down, pressing soft kisses onto the mauled skin of her neck. Emotion mixes with the high of my lust as my tongue swirls around the marks I left, tasting the salty sweat on her skin.

Instead of asking like I did last time, I make it a statement that isn’t up for negotiation.

“I’m keeping you,” I say with a dry voice in desperate need of hydration.

Her fingers sink into my hair, tugging at the ends slightly, and I can feel her lips tilt into a smile.

“You’ve always had me, Rook. Always.”