26. Lyla

Sage pins me to the wall.

He plants his lips on mine and steals the air from my chest.

His fingers grip my jaw, and I'm desperate to release the pressure. Shaking with the need for him to take me.

If I've been floating for years, Sage draws me back to myself. Back to him. To the only place that has ever made sense to me, even when it hurt too much to feel it. Until this moment, I had forgotten the comfort of belonging.

I hitch my leg up to wrap it around his hips. He grabs it, then the other, lifting me up and pressing himself between my legs. My skirt parts and I'm exposed as his hard length grinds against me.

It's been so long that I'd forgotten how it feels to come alive for someone.

He carries me across the alley, and when I tighten my legs around him and search for friction, he slams me against the other wall.

"Fuck." He growls, kissing the path from my mouth to my jaw. "You make me lose all fucking sense, butterfly."

His mouth finds mine again, but he releases one of my legs to reach into his pocket. His hips hold me to the wall, and it's been so long since I've felt anything that I pull him to me.

He breaks our kiss to open the door next to us before setting me down and pulling me inside the side entrance to Twisted Roses.

Sage closes the door behind him and pauses with his back to it. While I stand out of breath in front of him. It's silent inside the shop, and dark, except for the streetlight streaming from the other end of the hallway. The rain falling outside fills the space with a peaceful pitter-patter.

I take a step back, and Sage's eyes skim down my body. My clothes are soaked, and the chill has my nipples pebbling. Taking another step back, I reach for the hem of my T-shirt and slowly peel it over my head, tossing it to the side so I'm standing in nothing more than a paper-thin bra and skirt.

"What's wrong? You worried about something, Sage?" I step back again, slowly stepping into his room at the shop. "Think my daddy is going to kill you if you touch me?"

Sage's dark eyes gleam. A smirk lights the corner of his mouth as he lifts off the door and stalks toward me. Any hesitation strips away, and he's the hunter, out to get his prey. The confident side of him I've heard so much about reveals itself when he's been holding back.

He hooks his fingers through the choker around my throat and pulls me to him. "I'd like to see him try."

"He just might." I keep going, enjoying pushing his buttons. "And he's got a whole club on his side to help him. So if I were you, I might be a little bit worried."

"Keep running that sassy little mouth"—he drags his thumb over my lower lip—"and I'll put you on your knees just to shut you up."

I'm about to dare him to try when he picks me up and plants his mouth on mine. He carries me backward until my calves hit the chair in the center of his tattoo station, and he sets my ass down on it.

His hand wraps my throat, controlling the kiss. He takes me deeper, pressing his hips between my legs.

Sage pulls away just enough to graze his lips over mine while one of his hands slips to my skirt, tugging it up to my hips. "Fuck, I missed you."

This time, when he leans in, his kiss has lost all softness. He takes my mouth like he's been craving me for years, and I pull him closer because I've missed him too.

Undoing his pants, I tug at the front to pull them down, releasing his hard cock. He's larger than I remember, and my heartbeat thumps in my throat as I wrap my fingers around his thick length.

Sage pushes my shoulders until I'm laying back on the chair, and he grabs his cock, stroking it over me. He glides the head over my wet panties, and my hands fly to my breasts.

"Let me see them." He watches me rub my breasts through my thin bra.

Slowly, I peel the cups down, not taking it off, which helps push up what little I have.

A growl rumbles in his chest as he watches me pinch my nipples.

"You got away from me once before, butterfly." He traces over the butterfly he tattooed inside my inner thigh years ago before pulling my panties to the side and dragging his fingers over my clit. "That's not happening again."

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a condom, slipping it on, before positioning himself between my legs. Leaning forward, he once more wraps his hand around my throat.

"I'm going to fuck you until we've made up for every minute I've lost with you." He drags himself up and down, grazing my clit and making me shiver. "Until you can no longer run because your legs will be useless. Isn't that right, Lyla?"

I try to nod, but his grip on my throat limits my movement.

"Good girl." Sage thrusts his hips forward, driving himself into me.

A gurgling scream rips from my throat as he releases my neck and grabs my thighs. He leans down and worships my nipples with his mouth, licking a path from one to the other as he holds a steady pace.

He's relentless, fucking me like he'll lose me if he doesn't.

Maybe I've been lost this entire time. Out in space, wondering if there was no path home. Still, he found me. In the concrete. In the basement. Tied down by metal and hopelessness. He pulls me out of that place and guides me back to him.

Sage's tattooed arms flex with each pump of his hips. He grips my legs tighter and uses the leverage to pull me to him with every thrust. Relentless and desperate. Claiming me completely, in the deepest part of my soul.

And my body aches as he claims what's always been his. Like it was meant to be his. Even as I tear open again given how long it's been. He takes my pain and turns it to pleasure.

He's steady while I adjust, and then he unleashes himself. Knowing I can handle the beast so long as it's him.

Grabbing Sage's face, I pull him off my breasts so I can kiss him. I need to feel his tongue tangling with mine.

We're still wet from the rain. Water drenches our clothes and skin, and my back squeaks against the leather chair each time he thrusts in. I dig my fingers into his hair, scratching my nails from his scalp, down his neck, to his back.

The pain has him fucking me harder. But when I open my mouth to scream, he seals my lips to his. He steals my screams from the source.

The chair shakes under us, our bodies wet with rain and sweat as I slide up and down. But he doesn't let me go, even when my head tips over the other side and he's climbed on top of me. He kisses my throat and bites my neck.

He fucks me, and I never want him to stop.

On a hard thrust, his knee slips, and it sends him so deep I'm screaming, so he pulls back. But while I think he's worried for a minute, he looks down at me and grins when he realizes I'm flushed with pleasure.

"You want me deeper?" Sage pulls back, standing up and flipping me onto my stomach so I'm bent over the chair, and he's standing behind me.

I look over my shoulder and grip the leather chair when I see his gaze move to the scars on my back.

"Sorry. We can—" I try to move but he stops me, holding me in place.

"You don't have to hide from me, Lyla." He brushes his hand over my back, and even if nothing can erase the physical damage, he sweeps the pain away. "I want to see everything when it's you."

His hands roam over my back, down to my hips, caressing my ass.

Leaning in, he brings his mouth to my ear. "You're beautiful in every way. And no one can take that from you."

I moan as he presses his hard cock between my legs, brushing against my pussy without offering me the relief.

"Better now?" he asks, grinning against my ear.

"Yes."

"Good." He lifts, once more gripping my ass. "I've fucking missed you. You're the only place I belong."

I nod, and he reaches between my legs and shoves two fingers inside me.

"This is my pussy." He groans, pulling his fingers out and shoving his cock in. "My body. My home."

He's so deep that my body shakes at this angle. But he does exactly what he promised. He fucks me harder and deeper. His hands grip the hair at the back of my head, and he pulls me up. I'm arching so he can bring his mouth to my ear.

"You feel like heaven." He thrusts in. "I don't deserve it." He hits me deeper. "But I'm going to take it anyway."

Slipping his hand around my hips, his fingers toy with my clit. He grazes over the sensitive spot and my whole body shivers. My pussy tightens around his thick cock, and the pain of it rips my orgasm out of me. I'm screaming as he hits me deep over and over. Fucking me until we've started spinning the chair and his thrusts become uneven.

And on a final pulse, Sage releases inside me with the last shivers of my climax still rocketing. His body collapses onto mine, and his grip loosens in my hair.

He turns my face to bring my mouth to his, kissing me slowly, like he didn't just fuck me senseless. A deep kiss I disappear into as he runs his tongue over my lower lip and wipes my wet hair from my face.

"I missed you." Sage's voice is nearly a whisper.

A broken confession we've been avoiding. A truth that's been staring us in the face.

"I missed you too."