Third a Kiss

Cal muttered something and ended his phone conversation. He caught my gaze, arching his chin at the bag he’d deposited by my feet. “Painkillers, healing creams, and vitamins. Take what you need.” His green eyes trailed over my injuries once again. “I suggest you have a bath and put arnica on your bruises. They’re gonna look worse in the morning.”

When I didn’t climb off the bed, he muttered, “Use his bathroom. Heal whatever you can. I’ll take care of him.”

I didn’t want to move while Cal watched my every twitch, but the thought of washing away my sins and popping a few anti-inflammatories overrode the stiffness and soreness, slipping me slowly out of bed.

Refusing to make eye contact with him, I padded across Sully’s bedroom in my birthday suit. A sugar glider had made its home in the rafters, waking up too early for its nocturnal lifestyle. It watched me all the way to the bathroom with its gorgeous moon-size eyes.

Crossing the threshold into Sully’s personal bathroom, I paused for a moment to soak it in. Just like the other bathrooms on this island, part of it was open-air. Unlike the other bathrooms, this didn’t pretend to use any rocks or plants for privacy. A black vanity took up the only real estate against a wall with a simple mirror above it. A toilet hid behind a glass smoky door, and the rest of the space welcomed the waterfall and its pool to be the main form of cleanliness.

The bathtub rested right on the edge of the space, seemingly hung in place above the crystal blue pool, and the shower angled to spray the overflow directly onto the pebble tiled floor, draining and cascading through a carved river.

A stag beetle sipped on the last few droplets still resting in there.

This truly was utopia.

A utopia with a demon in its midst.

Twisting to look behind me, I drank in the sight of Cal as he strode to answer the door for the doctor, marched back to Sully, and crossed his arms while Dr Campbell treated his boss instead of his goddesses.

Cal looked up.

Our eyes locked.

Without a word, I turned and closed the door.

* * * * *

Night had fallen by the time I opened the door and stepped back into Sully’s bedroom.

I’d taken my time.

I’d drawn a warm bath, added generous splashes of some sort of fragrance that made my heart skip in remembrance of Sully, and sank to the depths of the humongous tub.

Resting my chin on the lip of the bath, I’d allowed my mind to drift while staring at the magnificent waterfall. Rainbow droplets fell in perpetuity, tumbling from its tower of rocks, and cartwheeling into brilliant blue below.

With my stillness and silence, creatures appeared from everywhere, going about their business in the undergrowth, the treetops, and in the liquid below.

Fish, herons, mice, a couple of monkeys, flocks of bright birds, and even a Komodo dragon slithered from the dense jungle and slipped, without a ripple, into the pool.

I didn’t know how many were native to Indonesia and how many Sully had brought with him, but all of them seemed perfectly content and at home.

He had a way with animals…pity he didn’t have the same intuition when it came to people.

To me.

If he did, perhaps things would be easy between us from now on, instead of the minefield I was terrified to face.

Sleepiness grew harder to ignore the more the sun set and darkness descended. Male voices had ceased a while ago. The doctor had most likely left after treating Sully.

Had Cal left too? Was Sully still catatonic?

Either way, I couldn’t stay here any longer, wallowing in Sully’s bathtub, falling in love with Sully’s home, being lulled by Sully’s animals.

I’d survived the risky endeavour of plying him with elixir.

I had no clue if it had saved my future or condemned it…but my time had ended on this chapter. Whatever came next, I would keep my spine straight, my heart brave, and…survive.

After I’d hauled myself from the bath, I’d applied arnica to the marks and shadows on my skin. Cal was right. Already the blue bruises had turned mottled with purple and black. Almost every inch of my body had some sort of brand from Sully’s ravishing. Places I hadn’t known were injured now held their own version of the story.

If anyone saw me, they’d think I’d been horrifically abused. Sand had chafed my knees, elbows, and belly. My cheek held four deep scratches from the palm tree, my lips were swollen and slightly cracked from so much kissing, my hipbones held fingerprint shadows, my throat glowed with strangulation reminders, my nipples still peaked and slightly scraped, and three bite marks finished the masterpiece. Two on my neck and one on my inner thigh.

My hair had suffered too, tangled and knotted from his fists, still untamed since I couldn’t find a hairbrush in Sully’s bathroom. Hopefully, with a few painkillers and some sleep, I’d rejuvenate enough that I wouldn’t have a constant reminder of what Sully and I had done every time I looked in the mirror.

Especially if that mirror was somewhere else…somewhere in Roy Slater’s house.

I winced, sucking in a worried breath.

I wanted to shake Sully awake and demand to know his intentions. Had I proved a point today? Had I made him sit up and listen to whatever existed between us? Or had I only made him more intent on getting rid of me?

Holding my breath, I left the relative safety of his bathroom and padded into the dark bedroom. Sully lay on his side with the sheet pulled over him, leaving only his torso and muscle-corded arms bare.

Still asleep, his vulnerability drew me to him in morbid fascination. He looked younger and older. Innocent and more depraved. His lips were pressed together, his forehead still furrowed, his entire body stiff and uncomfortable.

My heart squeezed as I moved closer still, unable to tear my eyes off the contours of his tanned chest, the sprigs of hair between his pecs, the way his arms flexed and threatened power even in his sleep.

He hadn’t escaped his own injuries from our time together. His bicep had chafing, his lips sore like mine, and his hands held a cut or two over his knuckles. His pulse pounded in his throat, keeping time to his slumbering heartbeat, and moonshine snuck in from the deck, illuminating a puncture mark on his arm.

An injection site.

Whatever Dr Campbell had given him, I hoped it would prevent any complications from inhaling water and almost trading this life for a new one.

My stomach ached all over again at the thought that he could’ve died today. That this male with all his destructive malice and damaged misery might no longer exist.

That would be a tragedy.

That would be…karma.

Karma for his ownership over those who should never have been bought. Karma for his heartlessness toward those who shared the same genetic makeup.

Go, Ellie.

Go before it’s too late.

This was wrong. A voyeur in the dark. A girl who ought to hate this man but was not hating him at all.

Biting my bottom lip, I sent motion to my legs to leave. Instead, they disobeyed me, closing the final distance between me and his bed. I bent without thinking, running my fingertips over his cheek.

He flinched.

He moaned.

His eyes fluttered but stayed closed, his face twisted up in pain.

Pain.

Why pain?

Why did closeness bring such agony to him?

Pull away.

Get back!

My thoughts had loudened to shouting, but my fingers switched from feathering to cupping his cheek, feeling his warmth, his realness, his existence.