Page 65 of The Sound Of Us

He pulls the light blanket with him, wrapping it around his body. So different from the uninhibited man he was when his body was underneath mine just a few minutes ago.

Pepper comes bounding into the room, landing on my side of the bed. I shift to the centre to give her space. Axel comes to sit on the edge of the bed close to me.

My plans, which sounded perfect in my head a few minutes ago, now seem less than simple.

I’ll take you away from here.

Axel takes my phone from my hand and types. Will you steal me away in the middle of the night?

I don’t know why we’re communicating like this, but I type back. Maybe we need to see our thoughts. For them to exist in this world. Not like words or signs that can’t be looked at again.

Yes. If that’s what I have to do.

Promise me, when the time is right, he types.

My eyes search his for this new way he’s being. I can’t gage it. Why won’t he just leave? What is he so afraid of? Bullies and abusers use fear like a weapon. All Axel has to do is show he’s not afraid and that bastard won’t come near him. He can simply walk away. Isn’t it that simple?

I can’t yet figure out how to navigate this differently from how I’d handle any problem I’m faced with, so I let my instincts guide me. I promise, I type.

“I have to go back tonight,” he says.

I take a screenshot of our conversation. I don’t want to lose it. I want these words to always exist.

I squeeze his hand and he squeezes back. “Trust me,” he says. “Nothing terribly bad will happen to me.”

I shake my head. No.

“If I know something very bad is going to happen, I’ll find a way to come to you, or I’ll send Pepper.”

Do you promise?

He takes my phone. I promise.

I watch him get dressed into his two sets of clothes. He notices and with a sad smile, he explains: “It hurts less when I’m well padded.”

The restrictions Axel has placed on my role in all of this make me rage. But I force myself to trust his promise. I move to the edge of the bed, helping him dress. Kissing him as I do so wherever I can find naked flesh. His thighs. His thick, flaccid cock. His abdomen. His chest. His neck. Then his eyes, the tip of his nose and finally, his lips. He deepens the kiss. So deep that when I reach up to touch his face, I find tears there.

He tears his mouth away from mine and, with a signal to Pepper, he rushes out of the room. I follow, watching him hurry out the front door and up the pathway.

And for the first time in my life, I feel utterly helpless.

Chapter 35

Axel

“How long you gonna sleep like the dead?” Frank’s raspy voice sounds close to my ear.

My eyes fly open and I’m immediately awake and on high alert. But my body remains frozen in place, braced for pain.

Frank yanks the blankets off me and drags me off the bed.

“Get up and make us something to eat,” he grunts.

Silently, I walk to the bathroom to wash my face. Pepper follows me inside. As I brush my teeth, I ground myself with thoughts of Eli. His care, his gentleness. The feel of his hands on me while he tongue-fucked my ass.

My cock stirs.

When he put his mouth on me, sucking and biting at my asshole before fucking me into a place where only he and I exist.

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