We never discussed what he did with the bodies.

Thinking about it, the last few days all we did was add more bruises to my body, and then he disappeared. I felt like I’d traded one prison for another, but now I was dangerously addicted to my jailor.

When he wasn’t trying to hurt me, he was so gentle. Almost treating me like I was fragile. It was almost harder to swallow.The tenderest touch left the darkest mark.

I needed to purge all thoughts of him from my mind, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.

Yes, something was wrong with me, because I swore I was starting to love him. It didn’t make sense to me sometimes, but he made me realize home was not a place; it was a feeling. Every time I looked in his eyes, I was there. I’d never felt so carefree while being confined.

Mason was not mentally ill, nor was he broken. He was a man who lived his life exactly the way he wanted. If it was true that it only took moments to fall in love, then I fell into the abyss long ago.

He still didn’t leave me alone for very long, but I’m sure he had a job he’d been going off to the last couple of days. I wish I could say I was counterproductive while he was off doing whatever it was he did. I tried to go into all the rooms with shut doors, excluding the basement and the room with his chair, but they were all locked tight.

His home was ridiculously large. There was a twelve-meter indoor pool located on one side. Why one guy needed so much space was beyond me.

I knew if I were going to figure out anything, it would all come from his office which sat in the straight path of a camera.

After turning up empty handed in the knowledge department, I spent the remainder of my day holding one-sided conversations with myself and his dogs, and trying to find Kendra.

When I woke up, it was dark out.

I’d fallen asleep watching a ridiculous move on LifeTime. It was ironic that my reality was more believable than it was.

Soft piano music lured me to the formal living room. Mason sat with his back to me, fingers moving over the keys. Leaning my head against the wall, I watched him from afar.

He was always so well put together. His voice always soft and eloquent. He exuded power without any effort. Control wasn’t something I willingly wanted to give up, but he forced my compliance by sheer will when he was inside me.

He was both madness and paradise. Falling for him was like slow motion suicide.

“What kind of person do you think you are?” He stopped playing, asking me without turning around.

Did he know I was there the whole time?

“I would like to say good, but I think we know that isn’t entirely true,” I answered softly.

He made a humming sound in his throat.

“People tell you to be yourself, and then they judge you for it. Whether you’re good or bad, they’ll talk about you, anyway.” He looked at me, making a come-hither motion with his hand.

Tightening the sash on my robe, I went to him, curling against him when he pulled me onto his lap.

“Look at this piano. The white keys represent happiness, goodness, and light. The black keys represent everything to do with darkness. How do you decide which one is better than the other, when they both make music?”

I understood exactly what he meant. He wanted me to be myself. The thoughts in my head were never meant to be shared with anyone else. Mason didn’t have to ask what they were, because he knew me better than I knew myself.

He was my guardian angel sent straight from Hell. If I met the Devil, I’d never be able to thank him enough for giving me Mason Andreou.

“Everything you say makes me want to stay with you forever. It’s the things you do and the secrets you keep that tell me I should run.”

“You can’t run from me; I’d always find you. We are forever.” He wrapped me in his arms, resting his head on mine. “Even in death, I’ll find a way to lay with your bones beneath the soil.”

Pulling away from him, I stood up and turned to face him, cupping his face in my hands. So many unanswered questions hung between us. I wanted to trust him more than anything else, but something in my gut yelled at me to not give myself away completely.

He reached up, easily pulling me down, so my lips met his. The kiss started softly, quickly turning into something carnal. Our teeth clashed, and our hands were all over each other, freeing one another from our clothes.

His hands traveled up to grip my hips, slowly lowering me down to sit on his lap,  pushing inside me at the same time. I moaned into his mouth, wrapping my arms around his neck.Who needed foreplay when you had Mason?

“Fuck me, Katie.” Knotting a hand in my hair, he gently tugged my head back, urging me to move. I wasn’t sure what to do at first, but after a few experimental motions, it came naturally.

The piano played an ugly melody as our bodies twisted together, hitting different keys. He buried his face between my breasts, nipping at the sensitive skin.

When the bench rocked, he stood up with me still wrapped around him. I don’t think there was a spot in the room that went untouched, we fucked everywhere.

He held me against the wall, keeping one leg wrapped around his waist, holding me in place by my throat while burying himself balls deep with every thrust.

I lost count of how many times he made me come. When he turned me around to fuck my ass, my legs could no longer hold me up. The wall left an imprint on the side of my face.

When I thought it was over, he forced me down to my knees, shoving his flaccid cock in my mouth.

“Suck harder. Take me deeper.” He coached me the entire time until he held me by the hair and drove in and out of my mouth, stopping only when he was hard again.

Our heavy breaths, moans, and grunts filled the air between us, mixing with the sound of skin smacking against sweaty skin.

By the time we were done, he had bottomed out on top of me on the floor. We wore out the living room rug; carpet burns were up and down both my arms. The scratch marks on his back were trophies of my love.