Page 49 of Stolen Sun

Chapter thirteen

Noel

Jolting awake, I sit up in a panic. Desperately, I reach out to find a lamp. Fingers wrap around my arm in the darkness. A scream rips from my lips. As I scramble to unwrap myself from the sheets, the hand tightens its grip, keeping me in place.

Declan’s voice crawls out of the darkness. “Noel, shhh, come here.”

He wraps his arms around me, holding me against his chest. My hands press against him, trying to fight for my freedom.

“Shhh, you’re safe,” he whispers above my head, holding my arms down.

I try to wiggle free of him, but he’s stronger. Realizing I can no longer move my shoulders, I push with my feet, my head slamming into his jaw.

“Fuck! Noel, stop,” he growls.

He wraps his legs around my waist, pinning me down completely. Screaming in frustration, I stop fighting in hopes he will loosen his grip. Instead, he kisses the top of my head and holds firm.

My breathing begins to match his deep, steady breaths, and the panic fades. The nightmare releases its hold, and his embrace feels less threatening.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe,” he soothes.

“It was Nate. And my dad. They locked me in a dark room. I found a way out, but it was so dark. Footsteps were catching up to me, but I couldn’tsee who it was or how to get away,” I whisper to him in the dark, explaining what woke me.

“It was just a dream. The only monster here is me, but I would never hurt you.”

His comment makes my head spin, reminding me of the fear I felt when he pointed a gun at my father.

“Would you have shot my dad?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says, without hesitation.

“What the fuck?” I whisper more to myself than him.

“He’s done using you,” he says with a chilling certainty that sends goosebumps all over my body.

“You knew?” I whisper.

“I’ve learned some of it more recently. At sixteen, all I knew was that he had the resources to keep me from you,” he clarifies.

“Those rumors about you with other girls in high school?” I ask.

“If I didn’t make you believe it, he was going to send you to an all girls school out of state. I couldn’t put you through that,” he admits.

His words break me. All this time has passed. Too much time. He let me think the worst of him, so things would be easier for me. He was everything to me, and I ached for him for so long. I’m filled with regret for not knowing. If only I had known, things could’ve been different.

He spins me around to straddle him, and I place my hands on his chest. His hands cover both sides of my head as he gently pulls my forehead to his lips. My pulse quickens at the roughness of his fingers digging into me, and my chest tightens at the softness in his kiss.

Desperate to take back what was stolen from us, I whisper to him, “Make me forget.”

“Forgetting isn’t enough. I won’t stop until all that’s left is me.” His threat sends a shiver down my spine.

My nails dig into the skin of his shoulders. His hands squeeze my ass as he rubs his hard cock against my soaking pussy.

“Feel me, Noel? This is for you,” he growls as his hands grip my hips hard, grinding me against him.

“Declan,” I breathe out.

“It’s always been you,” he whispers before his tongue takes mine by storm. His hunger for me is just as strong as mine for him. We claim each other with teeth and lips and tongues. Our breathing and moaning mixes together in my ears, filling every empty part of me.

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