14. Erik

Chapter 14

Erik

E rik was still trying to gather his wits when Rolf suddenly sprang off the bed and tossed him his skirt and tunic.

“Get dressed, old friend,” Rolf ordered, and he lumbered over to a gilded wardrobe, where he fished out a lush red blanket. Erik slowly put his clothes back on, keeping his eyes on Rolf as he came over to Cherine and gently wrapped the blanket around her exquisite body.

“I apologize for ruining your dress,” Rolf said, and Erik was taken aback at the tenderness in his friend’s voice. “I think this shall do until you return to your room.”

Cherine blushed, perhaps from the realization of what just happened between the three of them, or perhaps from Rolf’s attentiveness, and clutched the blanket to her chest. Either way, she’d never blushed for Erik before, and his heart felt sour and pinched.

“Erik, make sure she gets to her room all right. She might be a little weak in the legs,” he said with a wink. Cherine slowly, almost reluctantly, made her way over to Erik, who placed his hand over her bare elbow. She was so soft and smooth, it took everything he had not to start stroking her skin right there. He had to remember that his time with Cherine was coming to an end, and from the looks of it, it seemed like it could be a good thing for her. The noises she had made with Rolf inside her were something he’d never been able to replicate.

As he was leading Cherine out the door, Rolf called after them.

“Oh, and remember to keep your hands off her now, Erik. You did a marvelous job breaking her in for me on such short notice, but I think I’ll take her from here.”

Erik could barely swallow, and he quickly shut the door behind them before he could spout something to Rolf he would certainly regret.

Cherine looked at him in wild confusion. “What did he mean by that? You broke me in?”

“Come on,” Erik told her and began to pull her down the hallway, not ready for this to see the light, even though he knew, oh he knew, that this day had been coming.

“You broke me in for him ?” she continued. He didn’t dare meet her face, keeping his eyes focused on the torch light that flickered from the sconces on the walls.

“Yes,” he said quietly. “Rolf wanted you and told me I needed to get you ready for him. I was only trying to help.” The guilt began to flood him as soon as he said the words out loud, like a net had been waiting to drop.

“You only slept with me because he ordered you to?” she cried out. She wrestled out of his grasp and fell against the cold wall. “You’re spineless.”

Hot flames fanned behind his eyes. “I am not?—”

“You’re disgusting!”

He couldn’t help but laugh, soft and cruel. “Oh, that’s rich. I’m not the woman who just gave herself to two men at the same time.”

“I had to, and you know it.” She glared at him and pulled the blanket around her tighter.

“You enjoyed it,” he volleyed back.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. I enjoyed it! I enjoyed giving myself to both of you. I’m just trying to make the best out of this, this situation you put me in! Is that so wrong?”

Erik didn’t have the right answer for that, as the real answer would have given too much of himself away. Instead, he grasped her arm again and started pulling her back down the hall toward the underground.

“No one’s getting hurt here except for me,” she added. “Can you be gentler to my arm?”

He loosened his grip, only slightly, and they quickly made their way down the stairs. He saw a few men leaving the dining quarters, their eyes growing feverishly wide at the sight of Cherine clothed in only a blanket, and he pulled her along faster. They passed the guard and the baron’s prison, which was mercifully silent, until he practically threw her up against her door. He planted both hands on either side of her and leaned in. Her eyes glowed amber in the wall’s torchlight, and he had that terribly incessant urge to kiss her.

“You joke about that, dear maiden, but you will be the one getting hurt in the end.” His voice was low, soothing with an edge. He was trying to warn her not to take this lightly, but his own insecurities were getting in the way.

“I will,” she said, matching her voice to his, “or you will?”

Could she see through him? Did she know how badly his insides were churning, like his guts were being ripped apart at the mere image of Rolf’s hands on her?

“You’re his now,” he said. He tried to keep his voice steady, but he was afraid his eyes were betraying him. He couldn’t look away from her lips, couldn’t stop thinking about making her his again. He wanted to erase the touch of Rolf from her skin. He wanted to take her until he was all she knew.

“And you’ll let him just take me?” she asked, her eyes slanting with lust, her lips parting slightly until he could see the pink of her tongue.

He closed his eyes and placed his hand on the door, opening it. “Please go inside.”

“Or what?” she murmured.

“Do you wish to find out?” he said, voice bordering on a growl.

“Yes,” she answered.

His eyes flew open, and he took her by the arms, spinning her around until she was inside. He slammed the door shut, then took her by the waist and pinned her up against it, pressing her into the hard wood. His lips went for her first, kissing her violently, until they found her neck, where he started to bite her from earlobe to collarbone.

“Erik,” she whispered, trying to push him off but not pushing hard enough. She leaned her head back against the door in defeat, giving him better access to her neck. He could feel her pulse pounding beneath his lips. “What if he catches us?”

He paused to kiss her, pressing her body harder against the door as his hands got lost in her hair.

“He won’t,” he said breathlessly. “Not tonight.”

“And tomorrow?”

“There is no tomorrow.”

With that, she was kissing him, her lips and tongue searching his, as if she’d find answers there. The blanket dropped away from her hands, and she grasped his hard, strong shoulders, pulling him closer. She raised her leg and wrapped it around his high ass, squeezing him.

He began stroking her sex with his hands, worried she was too worn and tired from the threesome earlier. However, she was dripping wet, and that worry soon melted away as his fingers melted into her.

She let out a throaty moan and raked her nails up and down his back, wanting more of him, fast. He didn’t waste any time in giving her what she wanted. He lifted his leather skirt, took his throbbing cock in his hands, and with an upwards thrust, pushed into her. She was so warm and wet, unlike anything he’d felt before.

She moaned again as he entered her, a sound that made his balls draw up, unable to take the pressure. He took in a steadying breath in a last attempt to control himself and closed his eyes, letting his tongue swirl around her raw nipples, burying his face in her ample chest.

“Take me harder,” she whispered into his ear, her teeth catching the lobe and delivering a burst of pain. He grunted in return, unable to warn her that if he did as she asked, he’d come far faster than he’d like.

It didn’t matter. Her bite became sharper, her hands pulling harder at his lean hips until he was pumping her faster and faster. The door rattled behind them with each and every thrust, and soon, Cherine’s head was banging against it too. From the way her muscles tensed and seized around him, from the small, delicious moans that came out of her lips, he knew she wasn’t in any pain.

Seconds later, he came hard too, so hard that he was certain they were going to break the door down. There would be no hiding what they had done from the guard and the baron next door, but he didn’t care. He was deep inside her, erasing every last trace of Rolf. It was his seed filling her up and trickling down her leg as he pulled out of her.

She nearly collapsed against the door, but he caught her. He carried her naked form over to the bed, much like how he did only twenty-four hours before, and lay her down in it. He pulled up the blankets over her, and she stared at him with a dizzying expression.

“Will you stay with me?” she asked.

He tugged down at his clothes, smoothing them out. “You know I can’t.”

He didn’t have the guts to tell her it was all he’d ever want. What was the use now that she was no longer his?

“I better leave,” he said hastily and turned for the door.

“Wait,” she called after him, sitting up in her bed. “Please, Erik, tell me I’m going to be all right. Tell me Rolf will treat me as well as you treat me. I need to hear it.”

He didn’t like lying to her now, but he didn’t have much choice. Cherine was first and foremost a slave, and no matter how he had tried to ignore it, the truth was there. Because when it came to Rolf, he wasn’t much more than a slave himself. There was nothing Erik could do for her except hope Rolf would have a change of heart and would treat her with the love she had never gotten but certainly deserved.

“You’re in good hands with Rolf,” he told her, hoping and fearing it wasn’t a lie. He left the room, and as he slowly shut the door on the vision of her in bed, so devastatingly beautiful and wild, he felt nothing but the black tar of hate suffocate him.

He hoped it would suffocate Rolf too.