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CHAPTER SEVEN
I HAD A REASON for wanting Kas right there and then.
It went past wanting to cement any hope that he’d one day be stable enough not to hurt me. It was more than some misplaced desire after being strangled.
It was my way of, once again, protecting him.
One chance.
Jareth had given him one chance.
And this was me, using that one chance to ensure that the man who’d saved my life and so casually placed a guillotine over Kas’s knew that if I could forgive what Kas just did to me, then he could too.
He had no right to hurt this man, not after everything I’d sacrificed and achieved. Not after weeks of living in fear, slowly gaining his trust, inching my way closer and closer to a sane man who could become my everything.
So yes, I became an exhibitionist.
I was aware every second of Jareth watching.
I felt his eyes on us all while I caught the occasional thread of cigarette smoke as we kissed.
I heard his sharp inhale as I encouraged Kas to thrust inside me.
It went against all etiquette that I’d been raised with. I willingly put on a show for a dangerous stranger, all to protect a dangerous lover.
I didn’t know if Jareth watched because he liked to perve or he was honestly waiting to see if Kas would try to kill me again.
A part of me rebelled at the idea of anyone seeing me have sex while another part was grateful that I had a guard ready to step in if things went too far. But another piece of me, a deeper, darker piece...actually liked it.
I was wet knowing another male watched me be taken by the man I’d chosen. A man not entirely functional or trustworthy. A man who was dominant and aggressive, who suddenly wanted to treat me as if I was made of spun glass.
No matter what I did, Kas didn’t snap. He didn’t let lust cloud his self-control.
I respected that. I wanted to honor that.
But I needed him to let go—to prove to Jareth that I was safe. That he was strong enough to fight his demons and love me instead of hurt me.
He said he was in love with me.
Heat flared in my heart.
Passion flowed in my blood.
I wrapped my legs around him, burning up with co
Roughly, completely, eternally.
Kas grunted as his hips obeyed, driving deeper and claiming me.
I shivered and clawed at his back.
Kas was going to leave this valley.
He was going to go home with me, willingly.
He was going to get physical and mental help.
And we’ll live happily ever after.
And there was no way in hell Jareth was going to get in the way of that.
Kas shuddered above me, his cock deep within my body, his weight pi
But he just froze, his breath hitched and eyes closed.
Sweat broke out over his brow. Goosebumps puckered his skin. He looked as if he fought so damn hard to stay with me but was losing with every heartbeat.
Shaking his head, he tried to roll off me.
I held him, locking my legs around his naked hips. “Stay. Stay with me. Just breathe. It’s okay.” I stroked his back as he groaned and trembled.
His hips thrust again, filling me with tease and torment. Kissing me, he poured agony down my throat. “I don’t know if I can. My head isn’t right...”
“Just hold on to me.” I ran my hands through his hair, kissing him softly, kneading his headache. Even after Jareth punched him in the skull, he hadn’t lost anymore pieces. I know Kas wouldn’t agree, but he’d improved. Ever since Jareth had walked into the valley, Kas had been...better. Not cured, not fixed, but definitely better.
“I love you, Gem. I won’t hurt you again. I won’t fucking do it.” Withdrawing, he pushed off me and tripped to the side. His shorts clung to his thighs as he pressed both palms to his temples, warding off whatever nightmares and amnesia had come for him.
While Kas inhaled gulps of air, his cock glistening in the spears of sunlight, boots crunched through the undergrowth.
My heart leaped into my throat, wrenching my eyes behind me as I shoved down my nightgown and stood. “Stay away from him.” I held up my hand. “You saw he’d rather get away from me than hurt me. He did the right thing.”
Kas buckled over, seemingly unaware I spoke to someone else, drowning beneath his headache.
Jareth eyed me lazily before skating his appraisal over Kas, his cigarette dangling off his bottom lip. He slow clapped with sarcasm. “Well, I must say, I’ve seen better sex from virgins.”
Kas snapped upright, his arms falling to his sides. He blinked at Jareth as if he couldn’t understand. Then awareness flooded his face, and he glanced down at his naked cock. His hands flew to cover himself, cupping his length and touching a part of his body that always seemed to trigger his worst memories.
I sucked in a breath.
Jareth cocked his head.
And Kas howled as if his hands caught on fire. He ripped his touch away, yanked up his shorts, and gasped as if a panic attack had crawled its way through his chest.
Jareth sniffed. “Interesting. Still have that phobia, huh?”
Kas bared his teeth. “It’s not a phobia, you bastard.”
“Definitely something you should’ve gotten over by now.”
“Shut it.” Wiping his palms on his shorts, Kas turned and stalked back toward me. Planting himself in front of me, he turned to face Jareth as if preparing to protect me all over again. “What the hell are you doing here anyway?” His face etched with darkness. “Just so we’re clear, I don’t and will never share.”
Jareth chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry, brother. I wasn’t watching her.” His eyes narrowed. “I was watching you.” He glanced at me, giving me a slight nod. “And you passed. Gemma knows what I mean.” Turning on his heel, he added, “I’m going back to the house. I’m still sore from the ass-kicking you gave me yesterday. I either need a drink or drugs. Preferably both.”
Kas said coldly, “There are no more painkillers, and I drank Storymaker’s stock.”
Jareth cracked a grin over his shoulder. “You drank everything? Every bottle in the cellar?” Whistling under his breath, he shook his head. “Impressive. I’m surprised you’re still alive. Your liver should’ve given out.”
“It was over the course of a year.”
Jareth’s attention turned sharp. “A year-long party for one, huh? Tried to kill yourself through alcohol?”
Kas didn’t flinch beside me. “Something like that.”
They held the stare for a while, unsaid things flying between them. Finally, Jareth nodded. “I saw a few bottles in the games room. They’ll do.”
“I was saving those.” Kas took my hand, leading me away from the grave, his solid and strong fingers wrapped around mine.
“What for?” Jareth asked slyly. “To celebrate love? To drown your sorrows when you kill her?”
I flinched. “No one is killing anyone.”
“Not while I’m here at least.” Jareth threw me a pointed stare, stomping out his cigarette. “However, I’m not sticking around. So I suggest that you, Gemma, give up and go home and you—” He arched his chin at Kas. “Figure out how to touch your own cock without getting PTSD.”
He left before Kas could hit him, jogging into the trees and vanishing into the dappling light.
* * * * *
Jareth looked up from pouring an incredibly generous amount of amber liquor into three glasses, his eyes narrowing as Kas and I stepped into the games room. “Took you long enough.”
Kas didn’t say anything.
He’d been quiet on the walk back, holding my hand as if he’d never let me go. Occasionally, he’d glance at me as if he couldn’t quite follow the sequence of events since Jareth had strolled into his valley. When we stepped over the threshold back into Fables, he’d raised our interlinked hands and kissed the back of my knuckles, sending butterflies dancing through my belly.
The way he’d looked at me? God, it’d stolen my breath.
His dark eyes...changed.
As we stood barely inside the doorway, a decision seemed to manifest in his gaze.
I couldn’t move, couldn’t look away. Not because his eyes were clouded with demons and etched with pain like usual, but because they were...clear. So clear they almost sparkled with resolution, as if whatever had happened on the walk back had given him some light, some hope, some power to change things he hadn’t been able to change before.
It’d sent my heart hiccupping with questions.
I’d wanted to stop and talk without Jareth’s presence.
I wanted to know what’d happened to change his shadowy stare into one blazing with conviction.
I wanted to check his head was okay, that his memories weren’t too crippling, that he was still him. We needed to talk—to finally have a conversation about all the things we’d either ignored or not been brave enough to broach, but he’d just shook his head, pressed a final kiss to my skin, and guided me into the ivy-covered mansion where so much badness had happened.
The strange thing was...walking through the foyer to join Jareth in the games room had felt different. The house wasn’t as heavy. The walls not as cloying. There were cracks appearing. Cracks brought about by a cold-hearted brother who’d returned, somehow reminding the trapped brother to breathe. To step out of his prison and see that he could survive, after all.
Jareth grabbed two of the heavy glass tumblers and came toward us. “Here. Seeing as there are no drugs, this will have to do.” He peered at the redness on Kas’s temple from where he punched him. “That hurt?”
Kas shrugged. “My head hasn’t exactly felt the best for a while.”
“In that case, have a drink. Alcohol makes most things better.”
Kas cracked a smile. “If that was the case, I would’ve stayed drunk.”
Jareth turned serious, their bond sharing things I wasn’t privy to. “Not go
Kas took the heavy tumbler, swirling the generous pour inside.
I waited for him to either deflect, refuse to reply, or plain just shut down. The Kas I’d grown to know didn’t do well talking about the past. I’d accepted he might never be ready to—