The understated scent of roses fills my nostrils, bathing me in a familiar aroma. As the real world makes sense again, I feel her silky skin and soft body cradled in my arms. All the fucking strawberry blond hair ribbons between my head and shoulder, and I stroke it from a freckled face, finding that she is in the depth of sleep. Her expression is gentle and amiable. Not a hint of the darkness that lurks in her cherry-red soul.

"Baby..." I murmur, pressing lips into her neck, admiring the length and access as she tilts her chin up. I smile against her ear, "you're awake."

"You woke me," she rasps in a lethargic, parched voice.

"I want you."

"Then take me," she giggles and rolls, hauling my naked body over her small frame.

My dick instantly throbs and twitches to be inside her. I skim my hand past her bony pelvis and discover her pussy, drenched for me already. She's always aching, craving my touch and this morning she wakes more than willing. She must have had another filthy dream about fucking on the back of the pickup. She wants to do that again in the daylight when someone might happen upon us.

"Fuck, baby," I suck her moisture off my fingers, enjoying the sweet flavor, "you're my addiction."

"No need for rehabilitation," her eyes flutter open, so I can adore those emerald green eyes that see past my tough exterior.

She's the only one that will ever know just how soft I can be. Max is the only one that can see how deep my soul reaches. With all the darkness, there is a pool of blood at the bottom. She created that crimson lake and the longer she's in my life, the more it expands. She says I unlocked the darkness in her, but this damn woman brought depth into my pitiful existence.

My boys know how much I yearned for her since eighth grade. I let the black hole of wanting her draw me into its wrath and bury me there. I fucked it up freshman year when I let her beg me into one night. The shame blanketed me in bitterness and fury for not making her mine. Might be why I treated her so poorly at the beginning of senior year. I was only letting Cassie claim me to protect Max, in the first place.

Max still doesn't remember freshman year, but I'm sort of glad for it. I don't want her to think I took advantage of a drunk girl. I felt guilty about it for long enough, but now she approves when I take control. Only me. No one else is allowed any power over the blood princess.

I thrust inside abruptly, devouring her compressing walls and moisture with every inch of my dick. She squeals in delight, sending a fire roaring into my groin. I won't last this morning, but can finish her off with my mouth if she doesn't get there more than once. I love how easy she cums for me, basking in all the euphoria I can deliver.

"Bailey..." She murmurs, scrunching eyes shuts, tightening around me with strong limbs.

I glance at my desk where my chair sits, and think about carrying her over there. I love the way she rides me now that we've figured out how to not hurt her knee. With all the physical therapy and massages, her knee is actually getting better. Mom thinks that piece of shit man who claimed to be a dad exaggerated her condition.

Mom set up a slew of doctor appointments for Max, now that she's eighteen and doesn't need him to make any decisions. Mom will go with her for an honest opinion, but I'm hoping they'll tell her he didn't completely fuck her over.

I have all this hope that she won't need a knee brace for the rest of her life. I don't want to get carried away with the thought, but perhaps her dad was lying about it all along. She rarely sat in with him to discuss what was going on with her knee, so he could have just told her lies.

The man fed her children's Tylenol to manage the pain, for fuck's sake. He probably lied to her about everything else, too. There is a chance that her knee needs only a little bit of work and everything will be alright.

Max suddenly gets rigid, hugging me, and body quivering. Her walls feather rapturously as she rides it through to the end. I jerk out in time to finish on her stomach and she watches my cream cover her navel, biting her bottom lip.

Holy fuck.

As I clean her up, she starts rubbing her clit, and licking plump lips, consuming me. Without pause, my dick hardens again. She doesn't even have to beg to turn me on.

When she does whimper and beg, I am putty in her hands. She has supremacy when she gives me those puppy eyes and pleads me to do her bidding. I will burn down the whole world for her if she asks.

My princess is twisted, dark, wicked, and fierce. She knows how to get her way and I am all too happy to oblige. I fall over the bed, delicately flipping her to her stomach and raise her hips just enough, so I can slip inside. I grind against her ass, clutching it in my hands. I love the shape of her back and the torture of her side boob in this position.

"Is your knee okay?" I pant between pumps.

"Yes!" It's not an answer, but another orgasm ricocheting through her, "fuck yes, Bailey!"

"Who do you belong to you?" I snarl.

"The dark prince," she complies, rocking her hips.

Bracketing an arm next to her petite body, I reach for her clit with the other. She squeaks and saturates my hand in more ecstasy a few minutes later. I bite at her shoulder and ram my hips against her ass. Heat flickers behind my navel and I know I'm close again. I sit up, admiring her shape and grasp her ass, until I'm sliding out and finishing on the back of her thigh.

Max collapses against the bed while I shift off to grab a fresh towel. I wipe her clean and cover her exposed body with the comforter. Mom is moving around downstairs, but she's never complained about overhearing before. I don't know if it's something she will ever address if she does hear because Max is not quiet. I can't imagine Mom is deaf, and pray she has found a way to drown it out.

"Are you coming back to bed?" Max whines when I step into some blue boxers.

"You're not ready for another round yet, are you?" I seriously need some coffee and food.

"No, but you keep me warm," she grins in the way I've learned means she's toying with me.

She will get around to turning me on after I settle in next to her. She'll work deliberately and favor me with her body and mouth, making sure I feel just as spoiled as I make her feel. It's not about giving everything and receiving nothing in return. We both give our all, and somehow end up with more than we ever thought possible.

"You're my everything," I dip a knee into the bed and kiss her temple, stroking hair off her face, "you know that, Max?"

Green eyes flick open and consume me, "you gave me the world, Bay. I don't know how, but you did."

"You are my world," I settle down, running hands over her captivating features, "the darkness, the light, the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful... Oh fuck, all the beauty in the world right here. You're all mine."

"Always yours," she smiles sleepily.

💀

The car parks in the drive and I jump up from the couch, flipping off the TV. Dad is asleep in his chair where he's been for the last couple of hours. He watched TV with me, but he still kept looking at me like I was going to pounce on him at any moment. He doesn't remember me, and I've accepted it. I just wish he didn't think I am here to murder him. He seems more comfortable around Max, but I sort of enjoy it a little. It's the small bit of approval from Dad that I need for the woman I love.

"How'd it go?" I swing the door open as Mom and Max walk in with groceries in tow, "what did you two do? Buy the whole store?"

"She wants to make Thanksgiving dinner and a pie," Mom shrugs, pecking my cheek and continues to check on Dad.

"He's asleep in his chair."

"Did he talk to you?"

"No more than usual. He just watched me like always."

Mom snickers, "I'll get him to bed and wake him for dinner."

"How did it go?" I turn to face Max as she unloads the groceries in her hands, "what did the doctor say?"

She shakes her head and won't look at me. Frowning, I engulf her from behind, but discover her body isn't tense with disappointment. She starts to quiver and when I tug hair out of the way, she's smiling. Giggling.

"Liar," I hate that Zane revealed her tell. She's mastered it pretty well, and sometimes I can't decipher when she's fooling me, "what did they say, baby?"

"He still thinks one last surgery will fix it," she pecks my cheek to make up for giving me a hard time.

"Really?" I can't believe it.

This is the third doctor appointment in the last month. The first doctor said her father told them she was too afraid to get the surgery. It doesn't even sound dangerous, but he turned the option down on her behalf. It's the last surgery in a long line of surgeries she had the summer before sophomore year, and it will fix all the issues. She stopped right when they said it would be overwhelming and most painful. Her dad fooled everyone.

"And no more pain?"

"No pain and..." She pauses dramatically, "no brace, love."

"Seriously?"

"A brace right after the surgery, but not forever. I'll eventually get to have it taken off and that will be it. I won't be in pain for the rest of my life," I hear the emotion throttling her throat, "I might even be able to run one day."

"Baby," I fasten my arms around her waist, "this is the best news. You deserve this freedom."

"No more cinching it up or physical therapy. I mean for a while, yes, but not forever," she sighs, releasing the stress, "I thought that was my life, but it was all a lie."

"No more lies."

"You did that, Bay." She presses her cheek into mine, "you saved me from that awful man. He's not the dad I knew when my mom was alive, but all his transgressions since... You saved me."

"I unleashed your darkness, and it proved to be darker than him," I tease, nudging her cheek.

"And to think I was afraid to trust you, but it was the best decision I ever made," she leans into me heavily.

Her words make my heart patter recklessly, hopeful and feather-light. She found the one person she can trust, and I found the one person who needs the monster inside me. Never thought anyone could love me despite my cinched darkness, but she loves me for it.