“So tense,” she said again.
“Story of my life,” I said softly.
“This doesn’t have to be your story, baby. Let me help you create a new ending.”
If only it were that simple. No new ending existed for me. It wasn’t possible. Still, as her fingers maneuvered my muscles, I started to feel better. Cared for.
She worked out lots of kinks in my shoulders and then maneuvered down to my middle and lower back. She worked those for a while, her warm hands bringing me comfort, solace. Down farther, she kneaded my glutes.
“So tight,” she said again as she worked my hamstrings, the backs of my knees, to my calves. And then to my feet.
“Have you ever had a foot massage before, Talon?” she asked.
I shook my head against the bed. “Don’t believe I have.”
“Then you’re in for a treat.”
She started with my left foot, massaging my heel and then my instep. Then the ball of my foot, to each toe. Her touch was perfect. Just firm enough to feel good but not to hurt.
She worked on that foot for about ten minutes before she went to the next one.
I wanted so much to relax. I wanted so much to let everything go and lose myself in her.
Could she be my salvation?
That would be too good to be true. But God, when I was with her, when her tight little body encased mine, when she looked at me with those steely blue eyes…
The bricks around me started to crumble down.
And that scared the hell out of me.
She began kneading my calf again. “You’re tensing up again, baby. Relax.”
I tried. I tried to sink into the comforter, sink into a sea of Jade and perfection and joy and rapture.
She worked her way up to my thighs again, massaging my hamstrings, and then up to my ass again, massaging my glutes.
“You have a gorgeous butt, Talon. I’ve never seen any man who looks as good in jeans as you do.”
I smiled against the comforter.
Her hands, so good, so right, so perfec—
The boy screamed.
A thick finger breached his behind. He was being torn in half. Ripped apart. Thousands of needles forced themselves into him. Nothing could ever hurt so much. He screamed in agony.
“Stop that! You’re hurting me! Mama! Daddy! Help me! Please!”
This wasn’t normal. People didn’t do these things. Not to kids… Not to…
His blood curdled as a high-pitched screech ripped from his throat. More pain. Shards of jagged glass tore into him, stretching him, breaking him.
“That’s it, boy. Take it all.”
The boy would never recover. He would die right now. This was the end of his short life. The end…
“Talon!”
I was on my knees, my hands clamped over my ears. The noise. So much noise. Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop! A blood-chilling screech. Malignant and wretched.
“Talon!”
Through the noise, a sweet voice called my name. Talon. Far away, someone called…
God, please, the noise. Make it stop make it stop make it stop.
“Talon!”
The noise stopped. I looked at Jade. She was beautiful. So beautiful. But fear, terror, laced her steely eyes.
“My God, what’s wrong?”
And I knew. The deafening noise had been coming from me, my voice. What had happened? I looked at her. So beautiful, so innocent. She had been taking such good care of me, massaging my thighs, my lower back, my ass, and then dipping…
She had touched me there—on my anus.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Cannot go there. Will not go there.
“Talon, let me help you. Tell me what’s wrong.”
I stood. My cock hung flaccid. I had been so looking forward to making love with her again. Yes, making love. Not just fucking.
But this would never work. I put on my jeans and boxers. Then I picked up her dress and handed it to her. “Leave,” I said.
She arched her eyebrows, and her beautiful lips formed an O. “Leave? I don’t understand.”
“You know what the word means.” I looked away.
She walked to me, still naked, holding her dress. She cupped my cheek and forced me to gaze into her eyes. “I’m not leaving. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for you. Please, let me help you.”
How I wanted to believe her. How I wanted to grab her in my arms, hold her against me until the last monster disappeared into the fog of the night. Could I try? Could I risk everything and keep her with me?
I shook my head. “You need to leave. Now.”
“I don’t understand. Please. I don’t want to leave. I want to stay and help you.”