When she woke up, it was starting to get dark outside. It took her a while to drag herself out of bed. She felt sore, and her face was throbbing slightly. She wanted nothing more than to roll on her side and go back to sleep, but instead she dragged herself over to the bathroom for a much-needed shower.
Once again, the hot spray didn’t help putting any order into her head, but it helped with the rest. By the time she stepped out of the shower stall, her muscles were no longer cramped up and the throbbing had simmered down to a dull ache. As she slipped into her robe, she realized that—all things considered—she could have had it a lot worse.
When the knocking began, Alyssa groaned out loud. She was sick and tired of that sound today. Resigned, she heaved a deep sigh and padded downstairs and to the front door.
“Who is it?” she called out. She was not going to be caught by surprise again. Ever again, she decided.
“It’s Prince.”
Alyssa’s heart jumped to her throat. And then, irrationally, the anger came. It was almost dark outside. Why had he waited so long to come to her? Why had he turned his back on her in the first place?
She wrung open the door and glared openly at him. She tried to ignore the shocked expression on his face as he took in her bruises.
“What are you doing here?” she all but hissed.
Even though she had started to feel the anger bubbling up to the surface, she was still surprised by the vehemence in her own voice. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. She thought that when she would see Prince again, she would greet him with a smile and a kind word, to let him know that everything was all right and she still wanted to help him. But that was exactly the point, wasn’t it? She still wanted to help him, but everything was not all right. In fact, nothing was all right. Nothing had been all right in Alyssa’s world for what felt like ages, and she was sick and tired of it even though it had only been a few weeks since her life was turned upside down.
Prince seemed to be as taken aback by her outburst as he was by being faced with the bruises on her face. He looked at her with wide green eyes that painfully reminded her of the boy she had once known.
“Rick told me what happened,” he said when he could find his voice again. “I came to see if you’re all right.”
“Well, I’m not all right, Prince,” Alyssa spat before she could stop herself. Really, what was wrong with her? “Nothing about all this is all right.”
“Tell me what I can do,” he said, with an eagerness that for some inexplicable reason got on her nerves.
“For starters,” she growled, “you could cooperate.”
Prince blinked, and then he sighed heavily. “Aly—”
“Goddamn it, Prince!” she roared before she had a chance to rein herself in. “I don’t care what you say or do, just like I don’t give a shit about Lenday’s threats. I’m here, and when I leave I’m taking you with me.”
He stared at her with a mixture of shock and admiration. Suddenly he smiled. “All right, heroine,” he said. “Let’s talk about this. Can I come in?”
Alyssa blinked. She had not expected him to give in this easily. She nodded, dumbfounded, and stepped aside to let him pass.
Prince strode past her and made a beeline for the living room, where he sat down on the couch and motioned for her to join him. Suddenly feeling insecure and uncertain, Alyssa complied.
Now that they were close, Prince gently took her face between his hands and inspected the damage.
“That son of a bitch,” he hissed furiously. “I swear I’ll kill him.”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” Alyssa said. “I’m trying to get you out of here, preferably not in a coffin.”
Prince huffed and let go of her. He watched her intently. “You’re really not going to let up, are you?”
“Would you?” Alyssa retorted instantly.
“No,” Prince said after a moment, “I suppose not.”
“I just want to give you a chance, Prince,” she said. “Is that so horrible?”
“It’s not,” he admitted. “It’s just…I’m terrified of letting myself believe that could happen.”
“Why?”
“Because what if it doesn’t happen? I’m not sure I could take it, Aly. I’ve spent years trying to block out emotions, and then you show up and come back into my life, and I can’t help but feel. I feel it all, Aly. I’ve been feeling it all since I saw you again on the day of your parents’ funeral. I’m not strong enough to take a soul-crushing disappointment such as the one that will come to me if I let myself believe I can really have a different life and that plan falls through.”
“It won’t fall through,” Alyssa reassured him. Her head was spinning with his long confession, but she knew that right now the important thing was to soothe his fears. He was close to crossing to the other side and join her in the land of the believers, but he wasn’t quite there yet. Alyssa wasn’t going to rest until she could finally convince him. “We’ll make sure of it—together. You know you can’t ask me to walk away from you knowing what I know.”
“And what my father also knows apparently.”
Alyssa blinked. She had not expected him to bring it up just yet. She cringed. “Yes,” she said. “I’m sorry. I was desperate, and I thought he might be of some help.”
“Help with what? My rescue?” Prince said bitterly.
“No,” Alyssa said. “I was hoping he might offer some insights on the Devil’s Fighters and their ways. I know nothing of or about them, and he was my best bet.”
“Really? He was your best bet?”
Alyssa scowled. “Well, I couldn’t exactly ask you, could I? You’d just bailed on me.”
This time it was Prince’s turn to cringe. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I really am.”
Alyssa nodded. To her surprise, he also didn’t seem particularly mad about her going to his father. “How did you find out anyway?” she asked curiously. “That I went to your dad, I mean.”
“Believe it or not, the crazy bastard called me,” Prince said.
Alyssa blinked. Now that she had not seen coming. “He called you?” she repeated, appalled.
“Yes. He was sobbing, too. He says he’s sorry and heartbroken.” Prince’s features had turned to stone, as they always did whenever he talked about his father.
“I know you probably don’t want to hear this,” Alyssa said carefully, “but I think he really is heartbroken. You should have seen his face earlier today when I told him about what you did for him.”
“Maybe he does feel bad,” Prince conceded. “It’s not like I care about his feelings anyway. He also begged me to stop fighting. He said I should get out and let the Devil’s Fighters kill him.”
Alyssa stared at him. “And you’re…”
“Not gonna do that,” Prince said. “What’s wrong with you?”
Alyssa had the good grace to blush. “Sorry,” she said.
“So what’s the plan?” Prince asked after a few moments’ worth of silence.
Alyssa shrugged painfully. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
“I want to get Rick out, too,” Prince said suddenly.
Alyssa looked at him in surprise. He was rapidly going from not believing that he could be safe to a man of action, and she couldn’t be happier about it.
“We’ll get him out,” she promised. “You were right about him; he is a good man.”
Prince smiled fondly. “He is.”
For the first time in eight years, the silence that fell over them then wasn’t uncomfortable. Alyssa scooted a little closer to him, and Prince wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into his weight, and that was like coming home.
A few moments later, his free hand was cupping her cheek and turning her face gently towards him.
“I love you, Alyssa,” he said. His green eyes were as intense as she had ever seen him.
Her heart was galloping within her chest, and for once that day it wasn’t out of fear. She had not heard those words coming from his mouth in eight years, and they filled her with joy and something indefinable.
“I love you too, Prince,” she said. It felt wonderful to say it.
He pulled her closer still and kissed her—a slow, tender, gentle kiss that still made her weak at the knees. They kissed for almost an hour, like they used to do so long ago. They were starving for each other, and they both gave in to their instincts and needs. They kissed tenderly, and they kissed passionately, and eventually they both couldn’t take it anymore.
Prince carried her upstairs, lifting her abruptly in his arms. He put her down and wrapped his arms around her again as soon as they were past the threshold, holding her close. He was holding her as tight as he dared to. It was as if he couldn’t bring himself to let her go.
“I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered in her ear.
Alyssa clung back to him just as fiercely. “I’ve missed you, too,” she said, and she had never spoken any truer words.
Eventually they broke the embrace, but they didn’t interrupt the contact. His hands were instantly all over her, and Alyssa responded by letting her own fingers explore all over his body, touching every exposed inch of skin as if she was trying to commit it to memory. She fumbled with the buttons and zipper of his jeans, and soon, she had freed his glorious erection. Her fingertips traced the outlines of his hard abs, and once again she found herself in awe of his body.
Soon, they had both stripped each other naked. Prince’s eyes ran appraisingly all along her figure, and the hot fire in his eyes made her blush.
“You are so gorgeous, Aly,” he breathed. “I’ve missed your body, too.”
Alyssa smiled. “You’ve only had it once, Prince,” she said. “Wholly, at least.”
He grinned his sexy grin at her. “Not nearly enough. We must remedy that right now.”
Alyssa knew they had bigger fish to fry than their sexual desire. She knew the smart thing to do would probably to stop and sit down and try to figure out a way out of the mess they were in. But she couldn’t bring herself to push him away. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him to wait. She couldn’t resist him—in fact, she wasn’t even all that sure that she wanted to.
Besides, even if she had managed to find it in herself to refuse him, she couldn’t form a coherent sentence even if she tried. At least, not while he was doing that to her. Prince’s fingertips were teasing her nipples, pinching gently and tickling and tantalizing until they were turgid and hard. He pulled her even closer still and put his mouth into action once again. Soon, he was kissing her all over, leaving hot trails wherever he went.
In response, Alyssa’s hand traveled down to cup his erection. His cock was hard and thick and bulging, and the tactile sensation of it was almost enough to drive her mad. She longed to have him inside of her again. She longed to feel herself clench around him. She longed for those mind-blowing orgasms that he had proven to be able to deliver.
Prince must have sensed her eagerness, because he moved with renewed passion, gently pushing her backwards until her back hit the wall. He bent his head to suck a love bite on the sensitive side of her throat, and while he was doing that one of his hands travelled downwards on her body. Soon, his fingers were teasing her clitoris, and soon after that they were slipping effortlessly inside of her.
Alyssa’s world went white with an explosion of sensations. She had no idea how that was possible—especially considering that sometimes she had trouble pleasuring herself, let alone enjoying the ministrations of a man—but Prince seemed to always be able to hit all of her sweet spots, including her G-spot. He was unfailing, and he didn’t fail this time either. It was as if he already knew Alyssa’s body by heart. He remembered everything she liked, and he could effortlessly track down all of her most sensitive spots, even with his tongue.
Soon enough, Alyssa’s pleasure had escalated, and she was hovering dangerously close to the edge. For a moment she tried to push it back, not wanting to come just yet and longing to make this sweet torture last as long as she possibly could. Eventually, however, she decided that she never wanted to hold back. Not with him. She let go, and sweet miracle of orally-induced orgasms was once again upon her.
Prince grinned. He looked immensely pleased with himself, and Alyssa wasn’t about to blame him. While she was still in the throes of the aftershocks, he hoisted one of her legs up, gently but firmly. He supported her thigh with her palm, and she automatically wrapped her calf around his waist, pulling him impossibly closer still.
Prince captured her mouth in yet another hungry kiss.
“I want to be inside you,” he whispered roughly when he emerged for a breath.
Alyssa nodded readily. “Please,” she gasped out. “Please. I want you, too.”
Prince kissed her cheek then. It was a gesture that would have felt horribly out of place with anyone else in that situation, but it filled her with tenderness and had the already skyrocketing levels of her pleasure spike up instead.
He entered her then, and she gasped in surprise at his eager thrust. It didn’t hurt, however, and soon she was gasping and moaning in renewed pleasure. This time, they didn’t start out slow and then let the rhythm escalate. This time, they were both too starved for each other. Prince’s hips were thrusting at a wild pace, like he already couldn’t get enough of her, and Alyssa accommodated him readily, arching against him with every thrust.
Her body was alive with sensations. He was entering her deeper than he had before, and she was all too happy to take him in just as eagerly. No one had ever entered her this deep, and Alyssa found that she loved it. She leaned back against the wall, relishing the cool sensation against her hot skin. She tilted her pelvis up slightly and reached out to grab his buttocks—they were so firm that she thought they should have been declared illegal. She thrust upwards whenever he thrust in, until each thrust of his had his pelvis rub against her clitoris. The combination of his strokes with the grinding sensation of his pubic bone against her clitoris was mind-blowing, and soon Alyssa was having yet another orgasm.
A little voice in Alyssa’s mind told her she should probably pace herself, but she shushed it quickly. She couldn’t stop. She couldn’t slow down. She couldn’t help it. Everything about Prince was intoxicating. The way he smelled like summer; the way he handled his body; the way he could move like a porn star; the way his lips sucked at the sensitive spot on the side of her throat; and the way he looked at her like she was once again her entire world.
Alyssa wrapped her arms around his shoulders then and clung to him. Her fingertips dug into his flesh. She couldn’t let him go. She wouldn’t let him go. Not again. Never again.
She gave herself to him wholly and completely, and she abandoned every restraint. To her delight, Prince was ready to do just the same.
She didn’t know how long it lasted; it was never long enough anyway. Eventually, they climaxed together, something which Alyssa had always thought was a myth. Prince slumped against her, and she wrapped her arms around him once again, effectively holding him up.
They stood motionless for a short while, slowly coming back to full awareness and letting the world creep back into their lives. Alyssa hated that part.
Slowly and cautiously, they disentangled from their position. Prince slipped out of her as gently as he could, and he lowered her leg back to the floor. Then, wordlessly, he picked her up again and carried her to the bed. They slid under the covers and lay in silence for the longest of times, neither daring to break the spell. Prince held her close, and Alyssa was only too happy and content to just stay there with her head on his chest, listening to his previously frantic heartbeat go back to normal.
“I don’t want you to get hurt.” Prince spoke suddenly in the semi-darkness of the room. His fingers were running absently through her long, dark hair. The touch was intimate and soothing, and it filled them both with much-needed peace.
“I don’t want you to get hurt either,” Alyssa said. “That’s the whole point, isn’t it?”
“I guess,” Prince conceded after a moment.
“Don’t worry, Prince,” Alyssa said, turning her head to press a kiss to his naked chest. “We’ll make it. Everything’s going to be all right.”
“Are you sure it’s worth it?”
Alyssa heard the real question loud and clear. The real question was: “Are you sure I’m worth it?”
She propped herself up on one elbow and looked down at him.
“Look at me,” she said when she saw that he was avoiding her gaze and staring absently up at the ceiling. He didn’t move, and she repeated her request. “Prince,” she said firmly. “Look at me.”
Eventually, he did. There was a vulnerability in his green eyes that belonged to the boy she used to know, and not to the jaded man he had become.
“Yes,” she said. She locked eyes with him to make sure he heard her. Really heard her. “I’m sure. It’s worth it. You’re worth it. You have to trust me with this.”
“I trust you,” Prince said immediately, and the easiness with which he said it tore at her heartstrings.
“Good,” Alyssa said. She bent down and kissed him tenderly.
She settled back against him and listened to his breathing even out. It was touching the way he just let go of everything whenever he was around her. It was the second time now that he had fallen asleep with her in his arms, and Alyssa didn’t believe that was a coincidence.
She snuggled closer. “I love you,” she whispered quietly, unwilling to wake him.
She knew that the fact that Prince still had any trust to give was nothing short of a miracle. She knew that trust was the most precious thing he had to give, and she knew she had to guard it fiercely. And she swore she would do just that. She would guard his trust. And she would guard him. No matter the cost.