The Tree of Knowledge

And Every Breath We Drew Was Hallelujah

Three days later, I'm back at Stone Works.

"I've got left overs!" I announce to Jace as he walks in. I hold up the Tupperware containers.

"We've got duck curry and rigatoni primavera. And I saved you some pot de crème. You're going to love it. It's like...what?"

Jace is frozen by the door, staring at me.

"Kit, what happened to your face?"

Ryan's assault split my lip open and left me with a wicked looking black eye that three days later was just really starting to bloom in shades of purple and green.

"Ryan...he..."

"Ryan hits you?"

I didn't want to have this conversation. I wasn't sure how Jace would react...

"He...disciplines me...when I need it."

"And what the hell did you do to warrant this kind of discipline?" he demands.

"I...I told him I didn't feel like having sex."

I'm trying my damndest to sound brave, like this is no big deal, but the tears spring into my eyes in spite of me. Jace just stares.

"I'm going to kill him." he announces, matter-of-factly.

He turns around and walks out the door.

"Jace!" I call after him.

Shit.

I scramble to put my skirt back on and chase after him.

"Jace!"

I run to catch up with him. Jace runs ahead of me, then stops at the corner, looking around wildly. He wheels around to face me.

"Which way is your house?!"

For some warped reason I find this little flaw in the plan hilarious. I burst out laughing.

"Kit! It is not funny! You tell me where he is!"

"Come back inside." I say to him. "Please. Don't kill anyone on my behalf, just come on.

Grudgingly, he takes my hand. I lead him back inside.

Lightly, Jace traces the edges of my black eye. His soft finger tips trail over the cut in my lip.

"Kit..."

I reach my hand up to his, holding it against my face. Like it can heal me.

"What else haven't you told me?"

With my other hand, I point to the scar on my forehead where I hit the sofa table. He strokes the little white line with his thumb, then kisses it gently.

"Why would anybody hurt you?"

I take a step back from him. I pull off my tank top. I stand in front of him, naked from the waist up, exposing the horizontal line of fresh bruises left behind by the footboard of the bed.

He kneels in front of me now, crying. He puts his warm hands on my hips and kisses each bruise, his tears falling on my skin.

I let my skirt fall to the floor. His lips brush the bruise on my thigh.

"If you were mine I would never hurt you."

I slip off my panties. I turn around so he can see the scars on my butt and my back; long, pink slashes left behind by Ryan's belt. His hands cup my ass and he kisses them all away, punctuating the kisses occasionally by lightly sucking. I gasp and shivers run down my spine. Slowly, he works his way up my back, kissing, tracing his fingertips across the scars. I turn to face him again.

"I am yours." I say.

"Then I won't let anyone hurt you ever again."

And he kisses me.

I press my body against his, feeling him hard beneath his jeans. My hands reach to pull off his shirt. I need to feel his skin against mine. His mouth moves to my breasts as I unzip his pants, my nipples rock hard as he runs his tongue over them.

We tumble to the floor, both of us naked now, and not ashamed. I lie back on the mats and he moves on top of me. Candle light flickers on the walls, making our shadows dance.

"Please." I whisper into his ear.

And he slides into me, filling me up and making me moan with pleasure. It feels like consummation at last. Like we've been waiting for this perfect moment our whole lives. He's finally mine.

And I feel myself building towards that peak as he moves in me, his every thrust rubbing against my clit, sending another little wave of pleasure through my body.

Higher and higher.

I didn't know it could be like this.

My legs wrap around him. My lips kiss his neck, his chest. I gently suck on his ear lobe and he moans my name.

"I love you" he whispers over and over. "I love you so much."

"I love you more." I whisper back, panting now, so close. So high. I call out his name as we come to our fall together, waves of pleasure washing over me. I can feel him shaking.

Welay there like that for a long time, him still inside me. Catching our breath.We fall asleep there, curled up naked as the candles gutter.