Conquer (Control) (10 page)

He pulled up to look pointedly in my eyes, almost as if he was making sure I knew he was here with me…not just physically, but emotionally as well.  His hands came up to cup my face as he used his thumbs to wipe away my tears as they streamed down my face.  “Paige, the only things that matter right now are where we started and where we ended up.  All that crap in the middle means nothing.”  His mouth came to mine again, but this time his kiss was rough, forceful to a point where he was taking from me the emotions that battered against my shell.  My tears eventually stopped and were replaced with a longing for the man braced above me.

It took everything I had to break free of his kiss so that I could speak the words that had long ago been silenced.  My swollen eyes shot to his as I whispered, “I love you, Daemon.  I’ve loved you almost my entire life and nothing scares me more than the way I feel about you. It’ll take time for me to trust that our worlds won’t come crashing down again, so please, don’t give up on me.”

His eyes went wide, but his face softened as he processed what I had finally been able to say.  Bringing his mouth to my ear, a jolt shot through my center at his deep, baritone voice.  “Those words are music to my ears.  I’ll never give up on you, beautiful.  I never have and I promise you….I never will.”

A violent shudder ran through my body and it was as if both of us could not get close to each other fast enough.  Within seconds, Daemon had my clothes tossed to the floor.  His hands and mouth were greedy.  They ran over my skin as I reached down to undo the button of his jeans.  With one smooth move, he helped free himself of the material that separated our bodies and my head fell back as he filled me with one swift move.  The combination of the emotions that flooded me and the pleasure his body was driving into me was like an aphrodisiac.   My breath was hard but shallow and my heart raced causing my head to spin.  He powered himself into me, while his hands gripped and pulled at my skin.  His fingers dug in to the flesh of my hips, lifting me so that I could take him deeper within me.  His mouth was warm as it traveled over me and when I felt his teeth bite down at the junction between my neck and shoulder, I lost myself to the moment.  Frozen in place, I screamed out his name.  My body tensed and pulsed around him just before he joined me in his own release.  This was not only about physical pleasure, but about rejoining two souls that, until recently, had been lost by their separation from one another.  Thoughts were absent, only feelings and emotions existed.  My mind and body felt drunk and disoriented from the onslaught of passion his touch created within me.  This was love.  Not just sex, not just another man who would attempt to fill a void that for so long had remained empty; but love with a man, the only man, who would ever be able to touch the true depths of my very being. 

Daemon pulled out of me and I groaned from the loss of fullness within me.  Flipping me over, he pushed me up on to my knees before pulling my body up flat against his.  His chest, slickened with sweat, heaved against my back from his labored breathing as his hands came up to cup my breasts.  He pinched the tips between his fingers and I cried out as the pleasure mixed with pain ran down the thread connecting my breasts to my core.  I arched my body to push myself harder against his hands.

His words were breathless as he spoke into my ear. “You need to understand, Damsel, that from this day forward, you are the only woman that I will bury myself within. No matter how often I have you, it will never be enough.  Even if you attempted to escape me, I will hunt you down and drag your stubborn little ass right back to my bed.”  His teeth closed over my earlobe causing my head to roll back from the sensation.  He let go of my earlobe and chuckled softly behind me.  “Give in to me, Paige.  Let go of all your grief, your fear, your anxieties about the future and let me fill the empty spaces created within you from the loss of all that unnecessary bullshit.  You can fight against me all you want, but you should know that there is nothing in this world that will keep me from having you in every way that I want.”  His right hand traveled down my abdomen, finding its way to the apex of my thighs.  When his thumb met with that wonderful bundle of nerves, my legs quaked as a shudder rolled over my body.  His long finger found its way within me causing me to tighten around him as my mouth opened to let out a silent cry.  Like a toy he wound me up until I didn’t think I could take anymore.  His hand moved from my breast to my throat as he continued his southern assault.  Just as his fingers closed, lightly preventing my breath, he pushed me forward so that he could fill me again.  Within seconds I was floating within a hormonal cloud, feeling like I had lost touch with the physical plane.   My body floated back down from its peak, only to be taken back again; over…and over.

I lost count of how many times Daemon drove my body to the peaks of ecstasy that evening.  All I could remember, all that mattered was the last thing I remember Daemon whispering as my body finally gave way to sleep.   “I’m here with you, Damsel…always and forever.”

Chapter Five

~~Daemon~~

“Come inside for a while, Buddy.  It’s hot out there and you need to rest up and get some water in you.  Paige, you should come inside as well, baby girl.”

My mom’s head was poked outside of the back door of The Center.  Her eyes were turned up to the branch of the tree as Paige and I grumbled while making our way down as instructed.  We’d spent the day playing in the backyard, chasing dragonflies and exploring the woods.  Same thing we did every day, but it never got old.  I jumped down into the bottom of the large tree and looked up to help Paige.  I spotted her sitting three branches above me, trying to get her footing on the branch below her.  A smile broke out at the corners of my mouth and I chuckled watching her attempt to climb down.  She never had any problem making her way up the limbs, but ever since that day I pushed her out of the tree, she always hesitated on her way back down.  I felt bad for having done that, causing her to fear something she never feared before.  I couldn’t help but laugh though.  She looked real funny wrapped around the limb like she was.

Paige’s eyes narrowed when she caught me laughing at her.  “Need some help?”  Her eyes narrowed even more at my question and I could tell she would rather stay up in the tree than admit that she needed my help getting back down.  

“No!”  Her cherub face screwed up into a stubborn little scowl causing me to laugh even harder.  “Stop laughing, Buddy.   It’s not funny.  My legs aren’t as long as yours.  It’s harder for me to reach the next branch.”

I stared up at Paige.  She kept swinging her foot out, attempting to step on the lower limb.  Her foot never quite made contact because her arms had a death grip on the branch she was on.  My patience was running thin so I started climbing up after her.  “Come on, Paige.  You have no problem getting up, you should have no problem getting down.”

When Paige’s foot couldn’t make contact with the limb below her, she panicked and pulled herself higher onto the branch above her.  I became nervous for her and noticed that she was becoming more upset.  “You need to climb down to me, Paige.  I’m right here if you slip.  You only have to make it down another branch to get to me.  Just try for me, please. I promise you, Paige, I won’t let you fall.”

Paige’s face turned to look at me and I saw a single tear roll down her cheek.  I knew she was embarrassed, so I tried to keep my face as blank as possible to keep from making it worse.

Her little arms finally started to relax, lowering her body enough that her foot firmly landed on the lower branch.  She slid slowly down to the limb below her and I was able to reach up and steady her as she climbed down to the branch where I was waiting for her.  As soon as she reached me, I wrapped my arms around her and held her until she started to calm down.

Forcing her little face up to look at me, I reminded her, “You have to stop being afraid of falling, Paige.  You’ve never fallen before, except for that one time, and that was my fault, not yours.  You’re a good climber and you need to remember that.  You don’t need me or anyone else to get you down.  Understand?”

She nodded her head once but refused to look me in the eye.  I knew she was being headstrong so I choose to ignore it this time instead of poking fun at her like I would normally do.

When we finally reached the ground Paige started running towards the back door.  I easily caught up to her and reached out to grab her shoulder.  Once I got ahold of her, I shoved her back so that she landed on the ground with a heavy thud on her bottom.  Almost instantly, her arms crossed over her chest and she looked up at me with that cute little scrunched up face.

“Well, what are you doing just sitting there?  Get up, Paige.  You’re not going to be able to do anything about it by sitting on the ground like that.”  When she didn’t move, I sighed and walked over to help her up.  I had every intention of shoving her back down again because she knew better than to wait for me to help.  I would keep doing this with her until she finally learned that the only person who would pick you up when you fall was yourself.  As soon as I got near her, I reached my hand down to help her and chuckled as she reached up to accept my assistance. Just before our hands joined, her little leg kicked out and caught me in the knee.  I fell to the ground and my hands instantly went to my leg from the pain. 

Paige jumped up from the ground, not waiting for me to push myself up.  She ran to the back door and opened it.  Before walking inside, she turned around and stuck her little tongue out at me.

I laughed as she disappeared inside the building.  It was about time she started defending herself.  I was proud of her.  If she kept that up, she would never end up like my mom.

I walked inside and headed back to the room my mom and I shared.  I could hear the radio playing some old Southern rock and mom sat on the bed humming along with the music.  She looked happy and I wondered why her mood had suddenly turned.  We’d been here for almost three months and up until recently, she never seemed to smile.  As soon as mom caught sight of me, she opened her arms, inviting me in for a hug.  I walked over to her and she pulled me in for a tight hug.  Holding me to her, she started singing the lyrics of the song before stopping and asking, “Do you know who sings this, Buddy?”  I shook my head and looked at her funny.  I’m seven.  How am I supposed to know who sings some random song?  She laughed before saying, “This is Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Song’s called ‘Simple Man’.  It’s one of my favorites.”  Her hand came up to ruffle my hair.  “Reminds me of you little buddy.”

I looked up at her in question and she smiled brightly.  “It’s what I want for you.  I pray every day that you’ll grow up strong, fall in love, get married and be happy.  So many people spin their wheels out there trying to get rich, or control the world, but they’re never happy.”  Her face fell as she thought back on some distant memory.  “Your daddy, well, he’s never satisfied.  When everything goes bad he turns to drinking and drugs and that’s why he gets like he does.”

My face twisted at the mention of my father.  Mom just kept rocking back and forth to the beat of the song.  “You know what I think?  I think you’re sweet on Paige.  Maybe she could be your wife someday.  You’d be lucky to have her. I bet that girl is going to grow up to be a beauty. But, Buddy, no matter who you end up marrying, you treat that girl like a queen.  Every girl deserves to be loved and cherished.  Don’t become like your daddy.  Don’t fill up with so much hate that it poisons you. Nothing good comes from it and everyone around you would end up getting hurt.  I don’t want that for you, baby.”

When Mom had stopped talking she turned me around to look me in the eye.  “You be a simple man, Buddy.  You get married, you love your girl, you make babies if you want, but you better make sure to look out for them.”

I squirmed at what she was saying.  “Mommy, I’m not marrying no one, and especially not Paige.  She’s annoying.”

Mom laughed a deep belly laugh at those words.  “You might say that now, Buddy, but mark my words; one day that girl is going to turn your head like no one else.  I can already see it between you two.  Don’t know what to call it, but you are two halves of one whole and I think God, or fate, or whatever you want to call it has plans for you.  Keep looking out for her Buddy and stop pushing that girl around.”  Mommy shot me a pointed look.  “Don’t think we don’t see you doing it.  Paige’s momma is about to whoop you good for it.  But, I talked to her.  She knows you care about that girl, so she hasn’t done nothing…yet.”

I twisted out of my mom’s hold and folded my arms across my chest.  “I’m not trying to hurt her mom, I’m just teaching her not to cry, not to sit around and take it.”

My mom’s eyebrows furrowed in concern.  “That’s a bad way to teach her, don’t you think?  Why do you think you need to teach her that, anyway?”

“Because nobody taught you that, and look what happened.  Daddy hurt you over and over again and you never did nothing about it.”

Mommy cried and folded in on herself at my words. I felt bad and reached out to take her hand.  Choking back sobs, she looked at me and finally said, “I know I haven’t been able to do much to make things better, but things are going to change, Buddy.  Don’t you worry.  Someday…things are going to change.”

~

~~Paige~~

I stood in the full length mirror putting my hair up into a bun.  Today was the first day of training with Daemon and I was excited to show him that I could kick his ass with my eyes closed if I wanted to.  Laughing to myself, I adjusted my shorts on my hips and pulled my tank top into place.  I could hear Daemon in the living room listening to the radio.