Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

ROMAIN

“ P et.”

It was Ascension Thursday and I’d arrived in the church early for service. That morning, I’d had breakfast with Maman , since it was her birthday. It had been nice, and for once she and I had actually talked about nice things. I’d shown her a project I’d made for Science class about the future of Mars, and she’d told me she was impressed. I’d been elated.

When I made my way around the outside back of the impressive building, Edouard was already waiting for me. It was a sunny day, and leaning against the church wall, he looked tall and tanned despite his strawberry blond hair, fierce and cruel as he crooked his finger for me to come close. I obeyed, grinning like a love-struck kitten, and it wasn’t until our noses practically bumped that he gave me one of those sexy smirks. I swallowed, feeling helpless like I always did when being in his presence. Edouard was charming, sensual, an absolute sadist and he controlled my very life. Before him, I’d never been with anyone else, and telling Maman that I preferred boys was a no-go. Although, she must have known by then what we did upstairs in Edouard’s room every single day of the week. I didn’t know if she cared. He could have forced me into having sex with him, could have tortured me like he did to his client’s targets that he told me about, and I don’t think she would have cared. In exchange for my freedom, she had unlimited supplies to whatever it was she needed.

So here I was once more at Edouard’s beckoning, heart treacherously thundering in my chest when he reached out and cupped my cheek. It was just me and him and our abandoned church. I had missed him. I wanted to ask him if he’d hoped to see me here as well, if he’d missed me too, but I was too still shy to ask.

Cupping my face, I cherished the way his fingertips grazed my heating skin, the way his gray eyes roamed my face, blinking with those thick, dark lashes as he dipped his gaze and stared at my lips. I licked them, still nervous being in his presence even after all this time. I couldn’t help it. It was the effect he had on me. He was my everything and his aura sucked me in, seduced me to do unspeakable things.

I was obsessed with Edouard Beaumont.

He took out a pack of cigarettes from his suit pants and nipped one out with his teeth, lips curling around it when he caught me staring. Placing a hand on my head, he gently coaxed me down and onto my knees. I watched him get comfortable against the walls, spreading his legs and popping the button with his ringed fingers, the unlit cigarette dangling disregarded.

“We shouldn’t do this here,” I heard myself say, but my voice was thick with arousal. He must have heard it too, because he let out a hoarse chuckle, then freed his thick, veiny dick, that was already flush and wet with arousal.

“Lap it up, sweet pet,” he murmured. With his hand on my nape, he guided me forward, and my complaints were choked in my throat. My own dick throbbed inside my suit pants—the only pair I owned—and I prayed to god I wouldn’t cream them.

This was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. We were practically inside the house of God. I heard the voice in my head, but my mind was too rattled to remember the reasons.

He lit his cigarette and slid his free fingers down toward my chin, making me look up at him with my lips stretched around his erection. He smiled, caressing my mouth and cheeks with his tips as he started thrusting. Inhaling another drag, his touch became more solid, and he kept my face in position as he slowly rocked his hips. In and out, in and out, my chin and neck filling with drops of spit and precum as he let out another whiff of smoke.

“Good boy.” Leaning forward, he pulled out and I gasped, busy catching my breath. He placed the cigarette between my lips and watched as I took in a drag and exhaled the smoke. Straightening his tall posture, he pulled my mouth back around his cock. “So, so good,” he hummed. “I missed you this morning, you know?”

No, I didn’t know, and it could hardly be the truth. He could have who he wanted, and I seriously wondered why he was wasting his time with me. I didn’t tell him that though. Hearing the words out loud would make the ache even stronger. The truth was that I missed him even when he was around me. Like I was already preparing for the day he’d kick me out of his mansion and throw me back at the trailer where I belonged. Living the rest of my life with Maman because there wouldn’t be a future for a poor rat like me.

“Hey.” He slapped my cheek loud enough for me to hiss and bring me back to the moment. “Where did you go?” I couldn’t really answer that question with my mouth full and all, and he chuckled, aware of that too. “Welcome back.” Flicking his cigarette away, he stretched like a cat, rocking his hips freely and rapidly now, only to freeze for the slightest of seconds, before he picked up a slow, deliberate pace, making me choke, eyes dancing with a sadistic sort of amusement. They were no longer focused on me, but on something behind me. That should have warned me, I guess. But the truth was that I was too caught up in the moment, my mouth reveling at his scent and texture, at the desire to please him.

I didn’t see it coming until it was already there.

“Father Beno?t.” Edouard said with a cool tone, and his hand crawled behind my nape, keeping me in place, as he kept on pumping right into my mouth.

“Edouard Beaumont,” Father Beno?t replied. “You seemed to be enjoying yourself?”

“Hmm,” Edouard just hummed. I froze, my earlier desire transforming into fear, as I helplessly continued the bobbing of my head. And then he came, filling my throat with his release while he kept my mouth on his dick until he fully emptied himself.

I stayed like that. I don’t know for how long I kept myself on my knees while my entire body swam with shame, but it was enough for Father Beno?t to be gone by the time I finally got back up. I was shaky, and shocked. Disgusted by myself for what I’d done. Edouard’s friends had seen me before, yes, but still I had never felt as disposed as I did at that moment.

Later, when the church was filled with families of our local community, Father Beno?t called me to the altar and disgraced me for everyone to see. He never used the words as much, but I knew they all knew. I had worked so hard to be different from my junkie mother. And in the end, I’d fallen even deeper.

Looking back, I realize that’s when the transformation started taking place. I had to. I couldn’t let them see my needy, unloving self. The one who craved to crawl on hands and knees and be adorned with toys and lace. The one who desperately wanted to be owned and loved. No. That part of me had to go if I wanted to survive.

And survived I did. Until that same person who once owned me, entered the school doors barely nine months ago. That‘s when my life started to crumble, every forged layer gracefully smashed until nothing, nothing could protect me anymore.

H e’s hot on my tail. Edouard…or the stranger who looks identical to Edouard. In the dim light I can barely make out his features, but the golden mask shines in a taunt, challenging me to give up. There’s the faint sound of a piano, but the heavy panting shoos it away, replacing my state of mine with increasing worry. I’m getting worn out.

I have lost track of time.

Weren’t we supposed to last for only two hours?

It feels like I’ve been on the run for a lifetime. I think of the other participants who were here tonight. The one who was terrified. Has he been eliminated? Of the one who fought me outside. Has he found a way inside the castle yet? I wonder which mask wants to claim him.

I wonder if I’ll be able to make the right decision when the moment comes. My insides burn at the thought of Edouard’s eyes on me, lit with a scorching desire. One I wasn’t going to give in to. Because I was given a choice by the Dictator himself.

“You’d better choose carefully.”

Carefully. Carefully. The word plays on loop in my mind, intertwining with my heavy breaths.

What would it be like to choose Edouard willingly?

Any other murmur is stolen from my thoughts, because the moment I reach the end of the narrow corridor, Golden Mask comes running for me from the other side, a grimace on his face. I dodge him, though barely, and hit the wall. Pushing myself away, I clutch my hand around the metal of my knife, then make a few faint slashes his way to get him to back off. It works. He slithers backwards, leaving me to scan the space for a way out.

“What time is it?” I ask.

“It’s too late for you,” the real Edouard answers. He’s approaching from my right side, closer than expected, since I was distracted with his look alike, and I scowl at the way my body hums when it connects to his dark, hungry glare.

I jab the knife in his direction. He grins, licks his golden tooth and takes a step forward. He’s still out of reach, but we both know I’m outnumbered. Still, I’ll fucking fight him.

“Gotcha amour ,” he says. Rolling my lips, I stare at him, the knife held high in my hand, ready to strike once more if I have to. “But you’re right. You have changed.” He chuckles. “Where did you learn how to use a knife? Surely a well-respected establishment such as this place doesn’t teach you such foul activities?”

I snort. “Who says I was taught how to use one? We’re not all killers here.” I expect him to take the bait. To become angry, or at least show some surprise at my knowledge, but he just shrugs, his grin turning into a full-blown smile. A cool, wicked smile his prey must get whenever he’s about to torture them. I clear my throat, feeling my insides tingle with fear, and fill the air with a few more slashes of the knife.

“It’s for defense,” I explain when he doesn’t speak.

He feints surprise. “Oh? You need to defend yourself in this place?”

“From you,” I admit through clenched teeth, hating that it is me who has taken the bait. His eyes flash viciously and he takes a step closer.

“Oh, you don’t need to defend yourself from me, mon chat . I already caught you.”

The next string of movements happen so fast, I can’t keep up. He swings at the knife, but I dodge his attack, slicing open yet another part of his black cloak. He roars, then goes for my throat, and before I blink again I’m pinned against the wall. He squeezes, shutting off my airways, challenging me to look at his smile while he slowly increases pressure.

“So, so beautiful. And stubborn. And lovely,” he whispers. The golden rings dig in my skin but he doesn’t seem to notice. His eyes dip to where my neck curls into my collarbone and with the tip of his own knife, he slides between the buttons of my school shirt, and tears the material open.

“No,” I gurgle.

“Yes. I want to see it.”

“No!” I pant, throat aching from the lack of oxygen, but the material is already sliding off my shoulder. He takes in the sight with heavy lidded eyes, then uses the tip of his knife to ghost the shape he carved into my skin years ago, marking me as his.

“ It doesn’t mean anything, ” I want to snarl, but nothing but a raspy groan comes out. As if he knows what I was going to say, he clicks his tongue, his hungry stare still on my collarbone, while he keeps me pinned against the wall with his other hand.

“This means everything, petit amour . This means what we already knew. That you belong to me.”

Before I realize what he’s doing, he’s already leaned in, brushing his lips over the broken tissue. He kisses the precious shape, laps around its curves, suckles at the skin until it leaves a bruise. And all the while, I stand there with a burning throat and a clenched jaw, hating my body for betraying me yet once again.

“Are you already hard for me?” Edouard mumbles.

I shake my head wildly.

When his hand finally leaves my throat, I cough and splutter, and am no competition for the way he roughly rips open the rest of my shirt.

“I’ve wanted you ever since you left that very moment.” He spins me around and I wince when my face hits the wall forcefully. He slides my school pants and briefs down my hips, making the knife in my hand feel clumsy and useless. Edouard lets out a strained sound, then slides down onto his knees and spreads my ass cheeks apart. His warm tongue laps at my entrance, and I jolt in shock at the sudden sensation. His nails and rings dig into my flesh, causing a burning ache, leaving all the space for the wet tip of his tongue to probe and dig, to lap and kiss until my body lets him come closer and find the crease between my cheeks.

“Oh, f-fuck,” I cry out. I shudder when desire blooms, and it’s making my stomach all tingly.

Edouard taps one of my cheeks, hard, and I yelp. “Has anyone touched this since you were gone from me?” He dives right back in, lapping and slurping, humming and pinching. My dick is rock hard within no time, and I grind my hips against the wall as I pant once more, this time not from the chase.

I should. I should run away from him, show him, show him?—

He slaps my other cheek, slowly standing up until he blankets my naked back, and I jolt from the ache.

“I asked you a question.”

“I—I—” He continues licking and I squeeze my eyes closed, needing to get my voice to work. My throat clicks, but no words come out.

“Come here, beautiful. Already impatient to join our play, aren’t you?” Edouard asks. My eyes pop open. The question isn’t aimed at me. I can sense someone else approaching, someone I can’t see from my angle. It makes my muscles clench. Shaking my head, I try to turn and see, but Edouard’s grip on my throat tightens and I stay put, pinched against the wall with my pants pulled down and my cock rock hard, helpless. He rubs his erection against my naked ass, making me shiver. “Show me how you make these fingers nice and slick.”

I see him then, a guy around my size, huddled in a black cloak. He comes close, and this time I can turn my head enough to see how the stranger takes Edouard’s fingers inside his mouth. A guttural rumble escapes my throat involuntarily and I look away, too ashamed, while Edouard chuckles, rubbing his cheek against the back of my head.

“Oh, he feels good, our sweet brother,” he muses. “But nothing like you, baby bird.” And then he slides a wet finger inside my hole, passing my muscle with embarrassing little resistance as he lets it disappear into my channel. I gasp, hips bucking as I moan. Edouard’s mouth is back on the hair on my nape, moaning. “God, you feel so good. So tight. Tell me, am I the only one who has played with your ass?”

I don’t want to tell him. Don’t want to feed that ego of his any more. But his touch is bliss and I’ve missed it so much. Tears well up in my eyes and I lift one arm to hide from sight, afraid of anyone seeing how much Edouard affects me. “ Oui .” The word sounds like the exact defeat it is, a mere hush.

“ Bien. Alors, maintenant… get down, darling, on your knees, and suckle on my other finger.” I feel the soft fabric of a cloak brushing my ass cheek when the stranger slides down onto his knees, lapping at the finger that’s sitting right by my entrance. I let out a moan at the sensation, then grind my jaw to prevent myself from giving in even further.

“I know, mon chat ,” Edouard hushes. “That feels good, doesn’t it?”

God, it does. His second finger stretches me open and I force myself to relax, to give in to the sensation of that licking mouth that’s lingering by my hole.

“I—I hate you,” I stutter.

Edouard’s fingers have found my prostate, and they flick the spot while that foreign tongue drags toward my balls, suckling one in and…

“F-fuck.” My hips jerk and Edouard grabs me by my hair and pulls me in and against his chest, while his fingers are still working my ass. I can’t help myself from looking down to where the stranger has now moved to suckling on my other ball, leaving my cock hard as rock, the tip furiously leaking precum. He releases me, then smiles at me from behind his simple, white mask. He has a gorgeous mouth. Full, soft lips, that are glistening with spit. Then his tongue darts out and he shows me how he licks at my balls once more. I gasp heavily, then whine as Edouard removes his fingers slowly.

“May I?” The kneeling stranger asks, his voice soft and smooth, and I am only a little surprised when not one, but two voices simultaneously reply.

“Oui.”

Who are you? I want to ask him. But a cool, blunt object presses against my slick hole, and my thoughts go numb. Everything. It all washes away when I feel Edouard entering me. He has always been surprisingly gentle, and today, two years after I left him, he’s once more careful, prepared with lube, as he fills me up entirely.

“Look at him,” he muses against my ear, and his breath causes goosebumps. “Isn’t he sweet? His name is Olivier, and he’s my friend’s chosen one.”

I shiver.

“Hmm, feel that, mon chat . And let me tell you the other reason you’re here, aside from being claimed by me, your owner.” He starts rocking, rubbing his tip against my g-spot with every roll of his hips. The knife must have clattered out of my hands at some stage, because when I clench my hands to fists, I no longer hold it. Edouard’s lips trace the curve of my neck as I stare down and right into the eyes of the stranger on his knees, who’s now licking at my cock, licking it like it’s a delicious ice-cream, his eyes flickering with adoration. Edouard’s right. He does look sweet. My entire body jerks. Like this, with both of them working me, I’m not going to last.

“I don’t want to hear it.” I pant. I don’t want to know. Edouard just hums.

“Always so proud. Regardless of what you want, I’m going to explain.”