Tantalus in Chains Ch. 09

He came soon after. I saw his face tighten, then relax as he shot his load deep inside me. He looked down at me with absolute adoration. I blushed and turned to wrap my arms around him, pulling him close. Then I remembered something.

"Happy birthday," I murmured against his chest.

I felt him stiffen. "You remembered?"

"Well duh. How could I forget that you were born on Halloween? The spawn of Satan and all?"

He put his finger under my chin and tilted my face up. "I'm in love with you," he finally said.

I was stunned. A wave of terror pulsed through me, a feeling more intense than any fear I'd felt all night. I couldn't tell him how I felt about him. I couldn't think of an answer, so I kissed him deeply.

He sighed when I stopped kissing him. Then he began tugging his jeans back on. Before he left the room, he stopped and looked at me. "I know why you didn't say it," he said. "I know that I have to go, and saying it only makes it harder. But... do you?"

I had been pretending to be indifferent for so long to make things easier. It was just a costume, though, and now it was slipping away in the face of his earnest questions. I smiled as my mask melted away. "Always."

He swallowed and squared his shoulders, hand on the doorknob. "I'll be back sometime." He opened the door, then turned to look at me one more time with his mischievous smile. "Oh, and you might want to make sure all of your windows are locked. That's how we got in." Then he walked into the living room. I could hear him waking Victoria up, and then I heard the soft click of the door behind them.

I dissolved into tears on the floor of my bathroom. This was exactly why I hadn't wanted to have sex with him. I knew it would be awful when he left. I prepared myself for the possibility that this would be the time he wouldn't come back, that I might never see him again. Except he promised. Surely he would be back. Wouldn't he?

He was. Two hours later, he crawled into my bed with me and held me against him. We fell asleep in each other's arms. When I woke up late the next morning (Saturday), he was gone, but a single violet was in his place.