Amethyst 2. Embark ✓ [Editing Now]

20. Bruises

A/N: CONTAINS TRIGGER. MENTION OF VIOLENCE AND ABUSE.

I could feel the familiar fluttering in my heart as I made my way to Crystal's apartment.

The memories of our last encounter tormented me and I stopped, wondering if it seemed pushy of me. But it was too late to turn back now anyway. I stopped in front of a flower shop, staring at it before making up my mind and getting a rose bouquet.

I made my way to her apartment, thankful that it was late afternoon and most people were inside, leaving the alleys empty.I walked up the staircase and knocked a few times on the door. Waiting patiently. The door opened and Crystal stood there. My heart leaped in my chest at the sight of her. "He-"

Before I could say anything, she had pulled me inside, locking the door behind her and flung herself at me. She kissed me hard, till my back touched the shut door. She held my face in her hands, her tongue wading into my mouth fervently as my heart hammered in my chest. She bit my lower lip, sucking on it as she kissed me hungrily. Her soft, warm mouth moving desperately against mine. Devouring. Commanding. Possessive.

Finally she stepped back, breathing hard. I panted hard, biting my lip as I tried to regain my breath. My head felt a little dizzy from the wild kiss. "Er..I got you flowers."

I stuttered and handed her the bouquet which I had somehow managed to protect from the onslaught of passion. She looked at it, a small smile on her face as she took it and smelled it, closing her eyes. "They're beautiful Zeke. Thank you."

I nodded, raking a hand through my hair and smiling softly at her. "I missed you too."

She smiled before leading me over to the couch. She changed the vase and replaced it with the bouquet, standing back to admire it. She walked over to me and sat beside me, her eyes glistening. "Thank you. No one has ever given me flowers before."

"If it helps-" I began, my heart refusing to settle down because of her proximity. "I've never given anyone flowers either."

She bit her lip and smiled her mischievous smile that I loved so much. She sighed and hugged me close as I melted into her embrace. Taking a deep breath as her familiar, comforting scent entered my nostrils, setting my heart aflame. I hugged her close, shutting my eyes at the feeling of her warm body against mine. I could never get used to feeling of her so close to me.
She finally leaned back, her eyes shining. "I'm so glad you returned. I thought you wouldn't."

I gazed into her hazel eyes and my heart lurched. I could see the hurt behind her eyes. The hesitance. The fear. "I will always return."

I leaned forward and kissed her cheek tenderly.

"Mm," she breathed, satisfied before smiling at me. "Tell me, how's your training going?"

"Er-" I wasn't sure I was supposed to tell everyone about Helios, however, I knew telling her wouldn't hurt. "I met the first Asterius. The legendary Nuvue who sealed the Chasm and was thought to be dead."

Her eyes widened. "Did he like..come back to life?"

I shook my head. "No. He never died. Apparently he was weakened and needed a nap for eight hundred years."

She giggled and my heart gave a joyful leap at the sound. "I feel like I could sleep for eight centuries and still wake up tired and cranky."

I brushed a stray strand of hair from her face and tugged it behind her ear. "Maybe I could wake you up with a kiss."

Her eyes widened. "How would that work?"

I stared at her. "Er...Aurora? Sleeping Beauty?"

She laughed. "Oh. Mortal literature."

"Fairytales to make kids believe in happy endings," I said.

She looked at me. "But you don't."

I shrugged. "I want to. But...happiness is relative."

She moved closer to me, caressing my face. "I think people find their happy endings."

I gazed at her, my heart fluttering wildly. I gazed in her intoxicating hazel eyes. Her full, perfect lips and leaned in as if by a magnetic force. When our lips met, I pulled her closer to me.
I kissed her tenderly. Softly. A warmth spreading through my chest at the feel of her warm, soft mouth. Longing. Yearning. Lust was rising inside me in a tide.

The kiss broke and I pulled her close to me. I traced my mouth to her ear, nibbling at her earlobe as she gave a soft, sexy sigh. I loved the way she reacted. Loved the way she gasped at my touch.

She knotted her fingers in my hair, pulling me closer as I gasped against her mouth. I whispered her name, gripping her waist and letting my hands wander lower down her body and squeezing possessively.

She broke the kiss and leaned back and gazed at me, her eyes burnt with yearning. "Do you want to...take this over to the bed?"

Her eyes wandered to my lips as she bit hers and my brain went haywire as I nodded. She smiled shyly as she got up and led me over to the bed. She kissed me hungrily, her hands traveling to my abdomen as she pushed me gently onto the bed. I lay on my back, propping myself on my elbows as I gazed at her.

I looked at her wavy hair, her slightly parted, glistening lips, her long dark lashes. Her neck marked with imprints of my mouth, ending in her sexy collarbone that disappeared under her tshirt.

She reached for the end of her tshirt and tugged it off her as my breath caught in her throat.

She unbuttoned her pants and sidled out of them, discarding them to the floor, her intense gaze burning with lust. My eyes travelled down her body greedily. Studying each of her curves, her sexy legs. Her breasts. She was wearing a lazy white bra and it sent a thrill through me, wondering if she had worn it for me. When my eyes met hers, I was already breathless. My body on fire. My hart racing wildly.

She climbed onto the bed, straddling me as she pinned me down, gazing at me hungrily.

"You're even sexier than I imagined," I whispered as she trailed tantalizing kisses down my neck and to my chest. She let her hand inside my tshirt and I gasped at the feeling of her hand on my bare skin.

"What else did you imagine Zeke?" she whispered, sucking on my neck, nipping my skin tenderly as I fought for breath.

"I imagined you naked," I whispered, gripping her waist as she nibbled my ear. I had to bite my lip to keep a moan form escaping. Tingles of pleasure coursed through me.

She took a deep breath and a shiver went through me as I felt her hot breath on my skin. I realized she was taking in my scent. She bit my earlobe gently as she teased. "And?"

Her scent. Her skin. Her lips. Her comforting weight on top of me, everything was making me lose control. I wanted her. I needed her.
  
"I imagined fucking you," I growled softly in her ear as I knotted my fingers in her hair, my body alight. Sublimity forgotten.

Her lips froze as she whispered. "I love how that sounds from your mouth."

She reached for my tshirt and tugged it off me. Her hands immediately stroking my bare skin. I was craving for her touch on every part of me. I yearned for her like a drug.

"Cris..."

"I got you Zeke..." she whispered, her lips peppering my skin with kisses. I loved the sensation of her mouth on my feverish skin. Her tongue, tracing ever so lightly over me.

My breaths got shorter, laboured as her mouth travelled lower. Down my chest. Her tongue flicking, her lips sucking, her teeth grazing my skin. I didn't have time to feel conscious about my body. Her touch was so intoxicating that I could thing of nothing else except being inside her. Feeling her body on mine. Making her mine. Tainting her.

She trailed open mouthed kisses down my chest, my stomach, hovering over my lower abdomen before her hands unbuttoned my jeans and pulled the zipper down.

She lowered my pants, exposing me as her lips traced ever so slightly on my raging erection.

And I froze up.


I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't think.

I didn't know how to react. I wanted it to stop.

My vision blackened as I was taken back to when I was seven years old. When Geoffrey had come home particularly drunk. Threw me on the floor.

I started breathing hard, my body shaking as I straightened up, unable to rationalize anything. I reached desperately for the bed sheet and pulled it over myself. I couldn't stop shaking. I felt suffocated.

I felt a wave of nausea as the memories came flooding back to me. Memories I had thought that I had buried. Memories that ripped me open. Memories that left me bleeding. I was shuddering breathlessly. My body shaking. My eyes unable to see. Unable to comprehend the haze of colours and noises.

He was all I could see. He was all I could feel.

I gave a strangled cry as I felt my body relive the pain. My heart ripping.

"No...No.." I whispered desperately.

I could hear Crystal's voice as if from far away. All I felt was dread. I couldn't feel my body. All I felt was the pain. As if, that was the only tangible reality.

A void opened in my chest cavity, and I fell into a timeless warp of unending agony.