Page 148 of Drown Like Heaven
I massaged my fingertips over her scalp, soaping up her thick strands, wanting to ask more questions about what she’d beendoing tonight. But asking might ruin what we had going on now, so I could refrain. I was just happy to have her back in my arms.
Chapter 40
Dakota
Mason’s fingers massaged my scalp, working good-smelling shampoo into my hair. I shouldn’t have texted him to pick me up; I shouldn’t be here now. And yet…I always did the things I shouldn’t. That destructive desire was coded into my DNA.
“What were you doing on campus?” Mason questioned, for the second time tonight. He stopped washing my hair, sitting on the ledge of the tub and facing me.
“Studying,” I lied.Studying Dr. Killshaw’s cock while I rode it in the front seat of his truck.
“Don’t lie.” He raised his hand, fingers digging into my jaw as he tilted my head up, his thumb pressed too hard against my cheek.
“Or what?”
“We need to rinse your hair,” he deflected, hinting at exactly what my lie was going to get me.
I hate you.I didn’t take my eyes off his face as he guided me to tilt my head back, submerging my hair to get all the bubbles off. For a fraction of a second, I thought I’d misread him.Maybe he’s not about to drown me.But then his palm flattened on my forehead and he was shoving me underwater.
Why would I ever think he’d changed? That he’d regret hurting me and decide to be gentle now? Anger boiled in myblood, simmering under the surface of my skin, under the hot water smothering me.
Mason didn’t change. There was something very dark, very unstable, at the core of him. And it wasn’t going away.
No matter what I did, what I said, he would always act like this. He was the only one of us allowed to lie, because if I did it, he’d try and kill me.
He didn’t hold me there more than a handful of seconds, but I was ready the moment he released me.
Sucking in air, I launched myself out of the water and grabbed Mason’s shoulders, surprising him enough to knock him off balance, dragging him down with me, both of our bodies crashing into the steaming water. He came over top of me, my shoulder blades slamming into the side and my hands scrabbling to grip the slick edge. Water sloshed over the sides of the tub, pouring off the ledge to the floor.
“You wanna fucking fight me?” he growled, grabbing onto my wet body, water clumping his eyelashes together. I thrashed and turned, trying to destabilize him again.
“Get off of me!” I screamed, kicking his torso.
Steam fogged the mirror, the air humid and heavy in my lungs, making me feel like I was getting no oxygen. Scalding water splashed around me, spattering my parted lips and red cheeks.
“How about you justquit lying,” he continued, pushing down on my shoulders, my spine crushed against the porcelain, his knees on either side of my hips.
“Says the man who’s never been truthful a day in his life.” I grabbed his t-shirt in the center of his chest, crushing it in my fist, yanking on the soaked fabric.
“Don’t do this.”
“Do what? Tell you what a hypocrite you are?” I had to tilt my head back to keep my face above the water, to keep myselfbreathing. Beads of water dripped off the ends of Mason’s dark hair onto my forehead. My chest was heaving fast and shallow, fear making my heart beat harder.
“We’re both hypocrites, baby.” He slid one hand under the water and pushed my thighs open. I tried to twist away, to close my legs, but I couldn’t. His fingers found my sex, trailing along the seam.
“Fuck you. I was fine without you.”
“Then why’d you text me? Huh?” He leaned closer, his words hot on my lips, his fingers strumming over my exposed clit.
“Because I knew you’d respond.”
His expression looked like I’d slashed open his chest. I almost regretted saying it. But I wasn’t given more than half a second to see that broken expression before my vision was obscured by burning hot water.
He forced me under the surface, his hand pressed hard to my sternum, the other squeezing my breast. I flailed against him, pleasure fizzing in my brain when he pinched my nipples, first one, then the other, pulling on them. My hips bucked, bubbles escaping me in a flurry, knees knocking against the sides, water rushing in my nose.
Fuck. My lungs burned, my body thrashing. Terror and lust were the same fucking thing in my brain, and I couldn’t figure out what to feel. Each one only heightened the feeling of the other.
Mason leaned into his hand, pressing my shoulder blades flat on the bottom of the tub. I planted my feet and tried to push up with all my strength, my soles slipping on the slick bottom. My skull bumped off the porcelain, a hollow sound traveling through the water in my ears, and I scratched my nails down his forearms.
