Black Thorns: Chapter 37

We spend the night in Mom’s house.

It’s so different from the past but still feels the same.

We’re still those college kids who snuggled up together in front of the TV while Sebastian tried to touch me inappropriately at any given moment. We’re still as comfortable in the silence as when we’re having a conversation.

But it’s different now, more jaded, broken.

We’re both hurt, haunted, and both spent a long time hollow.

Being filled all at once is both thrilling and painful.

But it’s never felt so…rewarding.

After taking a shower together, where Sebastian took me against the wall, we lay down to watch a true crime show.

But we didn’t really pay attention to it, we just faced each other and talked.

About the pain.

About the longing.

About everything.

I kept it all inside and when it came out, it was uncensored and unrestrained.

It was like purging.

Sebastian told me about how he passed the bar and severed his relationship with his grandparents. He told me about the role Nate played in his new life and the friends he has in the firm. He told me about how he used work to escape his emotions.

In a way, it was the same for me, so I spoke about that and how my life in Japan was. I tell him about the new family I found and that Mio—and sometimes Kai—is the only thing I like about it.

The night went on and we barely slept. Between the talking and the cuddling and the slow hum of the TV in the background, we were just in our own world.

And then the light of day slipped through the window.

I groan, hiding my face in Sebastian’s naked pectoral muscle. “I want it to be nighttime again.”

He chuckles, the hum of his chest creating a vibration against my hardening nipples. “It’ll be night in a few hours.”

“I want it now.”

“Used to the darkness, baby?”

“I’m more comfortable in it, I guess.”

“That’s why we’re compatible.”

Inhaling his bergamot scent, I run my fingers over the two tattooed lines over his chest and then trace them to the scar from the bullet wound on his shoulder. The thought that I could’ve lost him still fills me with an incomparable amount of fear.

Probably because it could happen again.

“I hate that we have to go back to real life.”

“We don’t have to, baby.”

“You’re a hotshot lawyer and I don’t want Nate to hate me because I’m taking you away from the firm.”

“I see you’re still starstruck by Nate.”

“What? He’s cool.”

“Don’t say that fucking word about another man.”

“He’s your uncle, jerk.”

“Still a man.”

“You’re impossible.” I laugh.

“Not more than you.”

“Me?”

“You said you don’t share, remember?”

“Well, I don’t.”

He tightens his arms around me. “Then I’m not sharing either. I’ll just kidnap you until you file for divorce.”

“Kidnap me in my own home?”

“Even kinkier.”

I playfully hit his shoulder. “Stop it.”

“Not until you’re officially mine.”

“It’ll take time.”

“That’s why I’m keeping you. There’s no going back to Japan or that fucker again.”

“Hey. Japan is beautiful.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

“Because…you were born there?”

“How do you know that?”

“I just do. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Reasons.”

“What type of reasons?”

“If you haven’t figured it out, I won’t spell it out for you—at least not yet.”

“That’s unfair.”

He grins and I stop and stare as my chest flutters. It doesn’t matter how many years have passed, he’s still the only man able to twist my stomach and make me fall head over heels. I met ten years ago, and I still have a major crush on him.

I don’t think I’ll ever stop.

Running my fingers over the hard ridges of his chest, I say, “We have so much in common. I’m Japanese but American-born and you’re American but Japanese-born.”

“Fucking fate throwing a Tsundere my way, huh?”

I laugh. “Shut up, asshole.”

“I love it when you show me tough love.”

I elbow him and he winces. “Have you ever thought about going back to Japan?”

“No. It reminds me of my parents’ deaths.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’ll go with you, though.”

“Really?”

“I’d go anywhere in the fucking world with you, baby.”

I can tell I’m blushing without looking at myself in the mirror. I’m twenty-eight, yet he still makes me blush like the teenager I was the first time I saw him.

“You would?” I whisper.

“I’ll fucking chase you this time.”

I pull away from him. “What about now?”

His eyes darken with that haze that I love so much about him. “You want me to chase you now?”

“I don’t know.” I inch to the edge of the sofa.

“Maybe I’ll fuck you harder this time.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“I’ll fuck you good, fuck you right until you scream.”

“You will?”

“It’ll hurt.”

“Mmm.”

“I’ll be rough.”

“Yes, please.”

“It’ll be out of fucking control.”

“Yeah?”

“It’ll be everything you need and more.”

“What are you waiting for? Catch me,” I whisper in a sultry voice and bolt.

Sebastian’s grunt follows after me as I head toward the stairs, then stop and change direction toward the kitchen’s back balcony.

If he catches me on the stairs, I don’t have a damn chance.

He’s right behind me and I can feel him closing in on me.

I don’t stop as I open the balcony door with shaking fingers and sprint around the built-in table on the porch.

Thankfully, only the trees and a few faraway houses are in sight, but any of the neighbors could come out and see me naked.

A large hand grips me by the elbow and I shriek, then try to butt his chin. Sebastian evades me and pushes me on my back on the table. “Got you, baby.”

“No, no…let me go!”

I hit at his naked chest, leaving scratch marks, but he easily subdues my wrists and slams them at the top of my head.

“I’m going to fuck you so thoroughly, you won’t be able to move, let alone leave.”

“Let me go!”

“Scream louder for the neighbors to hear how much of a greedy slut you are. My slut.”

His chest covers mine as he kicks my legs apart and thrusts inside me. He does it with no preparation whatsoever, and it’s so fucking delicious.

The burn turns me speechless as my body takes all of him in.

I’m wet from the small chase and I moan loudly as he drives into me with a force that pushes me across the table.

I flex my fingers above my head, but they barely move with his savage hold on my wrists.

He’s like the beast, crushing me, taking me, owning me.

Making my every desire come true.

“Sebastian!”

“Yes, baby. Call my name.”

“Sebastian!”

“Call me the way you did seven years ago.”

“What?”

He rolls his hips, hitting deeper as pressure builds inside me at a maddening rhythm and then it’s relief and then it’s pressure again.

“You know. Say it.”

“Baby?”

He thickens inside me and his rhythm spirals out of control. “Say it again.”

“Fuck me, baby. Take me.”

“How should I take you?”

“Rough, hard…give it to me, please…”

“Who’s the only one who gets to fuck your tight little cunt?”

“You…”

“Who’s the only one you unravel around?”

“You!”

“Who the fuck do you belong to?”

“You, Sebastian! You!” The words match his maddening rhythm and they’re so liberating, so freeing that I wish I’d said them before.

“Now tell me what you said back then, Naomi. Right before you left the cell.”

“I…”

“Say them, Naomi.”

“I love you!” I scream as my orgasm hits me and wetness like I’ve never felt before pours out of me and soaks my thighs. But I don’t focus on the embarrassment as I scream, “I love you, Sebastian!”

“Only me?”

“Only you.”

Sebastian fucks me harder as he looks over my shoulder. “Heard that, motherfucker?”

I roll my head back, catching sight of none other than Akira. He stands behind us, watching the show with his usual penetrating gaze. His posture is so still, he can be mistaken for a statue.

Mortification grips me at being watched this way, whether by him or anyone else.

True, my nakedness is fully covered by Sebastian’s body, but still.

He doesn’t stop, though. He fucks me rougher, faster, ripping a moan from deep inside me.

At that moment, no one else matters. Not Akira, not anyone. It’s just me and Sebastian.

I moan his name, riding the pleasure until he empties deep inside me. And then I’m coming again with his name at the tip of my tongue.

Jesus. I’m so depraved.

I just had sex with Sebastian in front of my husband, yet all I feel is the need for more.