A ROSE FOR DEMON

AWAKENING

I open my eyes and am greeted with Xander's seen face. He still sleeping with me. Sleeping? He never does. I don't ponder on it much and hobble my way into the bathroom to relieve myself. I wash my hands and dry them with a paper towel.

I look back at my reflection and touch the girl smiling back at me. Her eyes are happy, twinkling, her hair disheveled, cheeks flushed, and bite marks on her chest. Not as severe as it used to be before. I smile to myself and feel the soreness not only in between my thighs but my entire body. Despite all this, I have never felt this happy before. Like I am on top of the world and everything is mine for the taking.

Mine. There's that word.

I might not be ravaged by an animal but I am satisfied by my..........husband?

I look at my bare ring finger but even the sight of it can't dull my mood. No matter the circumstances and the path that lead us here, we are in this for the long haul.

We are married and---I stop short. My hands paused in the air, about to throw the tissue in the bin when I spot a used condom.

I close my eyes and stagger back. Please don't be what I think it is because I will never forgive him for this.

Don't reach a conclusion.

I agree with Sidero and pull a bathrobe on me before marching back to him.

"Xander"

His eyes fly open at my broken whisper and he sits upright. I search for regret in his eyes but his stoic features are back. The soft man who worshipped me is long gone. He has his mask of indifference back in its place.

"Ask away" His calm and collected voice irks me more.

"How long Mable lived here with you?"

"She never stepped a foot inside this place"

I check for a speck of lies and find none.

"There is a used condom" I point to the door of his bathroom.

"And?" He stands and the sheet covering his body below his waist falls. I don't let my eyes wander down.

"Why did you have a condom with you? Did she store it or The One gave it to you as our wedding gift?" I step back to create some distance between us. He steps forward and backs me against a table.

"I purchased it"

"When?"

And he breaks me with his next reply.

"Today"

I close my eyes in disbelief. And here I was thinking, it was all us. Our raw, unbidden desire. Our want to get close but again I was wrong. Like everything, this was planned as well.

I step aside but he pins me to my place with his hands cascading my waist.

"Let me go, Xander"

"Where?"

"Anywhere but here" I push him but he pushes me back and makes me sit on the table and wedges himself in between my thighs. Despite my anger, my core clenches in anticipation.

"Let's solve the problem, shall we?"

He penetrates in me with one thrust. My body jerks with blinding pain but he starts moving inside me, rotating his hip and twirling my stud with his thumb and his forefinger rubbing my clit.

"Xander" I moan his name and shake my head consecutively.

I can't be this weak.

Apparently, I am. Because I feel my arousal running down my thighs. He intertwines our fingers together and places them on each side of my head.