Page 137 of Cursed Lifeline

I take a step back and whisper, “No.”

Anger fills his expression.

“Esme,” he warns. “I said…”

“Get lost, Felix,” I yell. “Maybe if you did, I’d have found another way to beat the curse centuries ago.”

His eyes flare with a mixture of outrage and shock. In all the memories I can place of our lives together, I’ve never been so harsh or bold. When neither of us speaks after a moment, I turn and stalk off toward my bedroom but don’t get more than two steps away before the glass behind me shatters.

Startled, I quickly turn back around. Shards of what’s left of the slider litter the ground. The glass glistens like glitter as the moonlight catches it, and I realize my only barrier to succumbing to my feelings is now broken at the hands of a man who once promised to always keep me safe but repeatedly failed. With newfound resentment, I glance back up, cross my arms over my chest, and snap, “You bastard! That was my only defense against...”

“Nothing can come in unless you invite it, Esme. You know that. Now, invite me in, damn it.”

“Why?”

“So I can watch over you.”

“You’ve done a good job of watching from afar,” I mumble, “Stay away. Hasn’t that been your mantra, Felix? Why complicate things now when our lives are finally running more smoothly?”

“Time is quickly running out,” he insists. “New developments suggest Ember is as good as found. It won’t do to watch you remotely anymore.”

I take a deep fearful breath.

“Let. Me. In. Esme.”

Defeated, and understanding he may have a point, I nod as my heart bends to his wishes like it always did in lifetimes before.

He studies me in the dark shadows of my apartment, and says, “You have to say the words.”

“Please come in,” I whisper, reciting the first words I ever said to him over two hundred years ago. “Make yourself at home.”

In a flash of bright light, Felix suddenly towers over me as a strong wind blows past, electrifying the air. The shards of glass lightly bang together behind him. Like wind chimes, their tinkling adds to the current rushing around us as the sliding door magically pieces itself back together.

Staring into Felix’s eyes, I try to tell myself this isn’t right. I shouldn’t have invited him in. We shouldn’t be caving once again to the undeniable pull between us. But instead of pushing him away, I lift my hand and hold it eagerly out to him.

Linking his fingers through mine, memories that haven’t surfaced in this lifetime yet come crashing to the forefront of my thoughts. I hold my breath as Felix’s predatory stare locks on mine.

“In your first life, I was graced with a taste,” he growls, coming a step closer. “In your second, I worshipped you and held us both on the edge of giving into each other completely. Do you wish for more in this life, Esme? Because fuck, baby, I can’t go another day without you.”

“Yes,” I whisper desperately as I stare into his hungry gaze.

Picking me up, Felix tosses me over his shoulder and says, “Wish. Fucking. Granted.”

Forty Nine

Felix

song: scream my name | Thomas LaRosa

As I layEsme back gently against the cool, virginal sheets, tears fill her eyes. Memories of the events that followed the last time I held her this way wreak havoc on her mind. I frown as a few tears fall down her flushed cheeks and then brush a stray strand of ebony hair out of her eyes. Leaning over her, she tries to avert her stare, but I gently force her eyes back to mine.

More tears fall, and I lean closer, kissing them away gently, “For over two centuries, I’ve dreamt of all the pretty noises you’d make. Fuck, holding out has been the sweetest agony. But tonight, I’m finally going to be buried inside of you when I make you cum and scream my name.”

She starts to scoot her body up to the top of the bed, and my kisses fall against her neck, her chest, her heaving breasts as I slowly follow her up to the headboard. Grabbing the hem of her shirt, I pull it over her head and waste no time sucking her left nipple into my mouth. Her hands gently weave themselves through my hair and hold me against her cool, porcelain skin as my rough palm molds her perfect tits in between my lips.

Ripping her skirt and panties from her body, I grab the back of my shirt and pull it over my head. Discarding it in the growing pile on the floor, Esme and my eyes lock as I rise, stand next to the edge of the bed, and unbutton my jeans. Sliding them down my thighs, I kick them off with my socks and shoes, then quickly lose my briefs. Climbing back onto the bed, I take her other nipple in my mouth, and suck down gently.

“Before we do this,” she sighs, “I need to know you’ll do everything in your power to ensure we win in this life.”

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