Page 105 of Like A Moth To A Flame

“I’ll take care of you, Little Moth. Don’t worry.” He kissed me, hard, clutching me against him. He pulled away from the window, swaying, his hands shaking as he clung to me. Without warning, he dropped to his knees, still holding onto me. “You’re gonna be such a good mommy.”

He bent with me, forcing me to the floor, the hard wooden boards digging into my spine as he laid me down, rolling his hips against me and pinning me there. His hands dipped beneath my pelvis, bending me at the waist, still buried deep inside me. And he stayed there, lying against me as he fought to catch his breath.

“Lay still, pretty girl,” he said, gently stroking my cheek as he stared down at me. There was something so passionate about the way he looked at me, but his words had my gut stirring with horror. “We wouldn’t want it to go to waste.”

I should have fought him off of me, but I couldn’t. I was too shocked to move, and I don’t know that I could have even if I had tried. He was bigger than me, and he was too strong. I couldn’t fight him.

A lump formed in my throat, and I knew then that my life would never be the same.

My mind flashed back to the IUD dangling between his fingers. How had he even known it was there?

My thoughts raced, confused, and conflicted. I’d given in to him. I’d enjoyed his possession, but now I was faced with the consequences of my actions.

I stared at him, tears welling in my eyes. The moonlight slid across the patent leather mask, the long, curved fangs tossing shadows that undulated across his throat when he swallowed. With or without the mask, I was looking into the eyes of a predator.

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?

I am, I am.

“Good girl,” he said, slowly pulling his knees beneath him. I felt him slip out of me, the thick drips of our combined fluids floodingout of me, running down the curve of my ass and pooling on the cold floor.

Leaning over me, he kissed me again, gently this time—lovingly.

When he pulled away, he hurried down the stairs, leaving me cold and alone. I heard the door at the bottom of the stairs pull open and then glide shut.

I was alone.

I gazed up at the clock, its hands frozen in time, and wondered if this was the moment my life changed forever. The numbers were backward, meant to face the town, but I could still see them as they glowed in the full moon’s light. It was midnight.

I felt numb, the reality of what had happened slowly sinking in.

I was stupid. So fucking stupid.

I’d come here to take his mask, and he’d given me something else entirely.

How the fuck was I going to explain this to Amelia?

26

I’m not the one to go insane, but I’ll keep walking to my grave

Moth

Ilaid there for a long time, bathed in moonlight and staring out the window at what remained of the storm clouds, floating lazily across the bloated face of the moon and throwing me into brief periods of deep shadow. I laid there for so long that the cold chill had seeped into my bones, sending a deep pulse of pain radiating up my spine.

I wanted to melt into the floor, to seep into the wooden boards and dissolve away from the world—this reality.

I wanted to wake up.

This was a dream, right? I was dreaming.

Ihadto be.

I struggled to sit up, and I felt the pain of his bites across my throat and the mess that leaked from inside me, smearing across my thighs until they were slick and sticky. There was no denying itnow. This was the harsh slap of reality, and I had no one to blame but myself.

Since the beginning, he’d only done what he said. He was a man of his word, and I was stupid enough to think that I was smarter than him. I wasn’t.

His seed clung to me like a salty, sticky reminder of my arrogance and stupidity. I was utterly humiliated.

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