Page 8 of Bound By His Name
”A single glance: a sudden dart of pain
stitching her eyes before she made a sound…
Her body flaked into transparent salt,
and her swift legs rooted to the ground.”
The words are old and harsh but I chose them just for that. They don’t romance, they strike instead. I read three stanzas before glancing up.
She’s not blinking much, but she’s listening. Her hand rests on her knee, her fingers still.
I keep reading.
When I reach the second poem, her posture shifts slightly. I see her lips part. She hasn’t asked for anything, but she’s absorbing everything.
I close the book and stare at her. But she still doesn’t move.
“Why these?” she speaks at last. “They’re brutal.”
“So are we.”
“That’s truly what you think I am?”
“No. I think you’re something else entirely, actually. But you’re in my world now, and you’re a part of me. You should know the language.”
She leans back slightly, rolling her thumb across her index. “You could’ve said that without all this.”
“You prefer longer talks over efficient ones?”
She shrugs. “I just want to know why you’re here. What is this.”
“If I read it to you in bed,” I say, “you’d assume it was seduction.”
“It’s not?”
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
“Proof I can speak without taking.”
She goes quiet again. Her robe shifts slightly at her knee. I see her eyes flicker to it, but she doesn’t fix it, instead she stares at me as she slowly, then ever so steadily pulls it up a bit more.
“Is that so?”
I don’t move. My cock flexes at her forwardness and those soft, greenish-gray eyes teasing me. But I don’t let her see it, allowing the book to shield me.
Never did I expect I’d be on the other end of my games. The thought makes me want to laugh.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do,” she says, softer now. “But I keep showing up.”
“I noticed.”
“Is that enough?”
I give her a smile. “For tonight.”
Chapter 4
