The bed next to me dips and I hear his voice in my ear. “Lots of women fantasize about being with two men, but that thought scares you. Not seeing his face, not knowing his name. It’s too much.” Sean’s finger touches my cheek and I jump. He withdraws his hand. “But you needed too much. You keep your mind so carefully under control and I needed it.”
The blindfold unties and I can see him. Sean is shirtless. His pants hang low around his hips. He’s lying on his side next to me, watching me. He reaches for me, brushing the hair away from my eyes. I’m pulling on the restraints as hard as I can. I want to scream at him but he doesn’t ungag me.
“Fear is like love. It has the same depths, the same intensity.” He’s watching me, running his finger along my cheek. He’s concerned that he pushed me too far too fast. Sean continues, “So does pain. You use pain the way I use fear—to forget.” Sean looks at me for a moment and then pushes off the bed.
The ties on my ankles come free first and then my wrists. Before Sean has time to look up, I fly at him, ripping the gag away as I go. I slam into him hard, knocking Sean backward. He hits the floor. Before he has time to blink, I’m on him. My knee is over his throat, but I don’t press down.
I’m so mad, so angry, that spots are blinking bright red and white, glittering like Christmas lights. “What the fuck gives you the right to invite someone else in here! I said I was giving myself to you! YOU!” I want to hurt him, I want to, but I can’t. I wait too long. Sean sees the chance and takes it. He reaches behind me and knocks me down. Sean rolls on top of me, pinning me to the floor with his entire body.
“It’s what I wanted.” He’s so calm, so fucking calm.
I scream and try to claw him, but Sean grabs each hand and slams it to the floor. He leans in close to me. “I want you so broken that you can’t trust yourself. I want you to give all of yourself to me.”
“You said you loved me! How could you share me?” I’m still fighting him, trying to break free. “How could you—” His lips come crashing down on mine before I can get the question out. Sean kisses me, but I don’t kiss him back. I suck his lip into my mouth and bite down.
Sean pulls away, and a bead of blood drips off his lip and onto my face. It rolls down my cheek. Sean won’t let me up. “I do love you. I love everything about you. I can’t believe you bit me.” He blinks at me several times, like I’m the weird one. I thrash under him and almost break free, but he lays on top of me, completely stilling me. “Avery, there was no one else.”
The roaring in my ears is so loud. I don’t think I heard him right. “What?”
“This is where you ask to see the video.” Sean watches me, waiting for rationality to return, but it doesn’t. He explains, “I won’t share you. I won’t ever share you. It was part of what I wanted—you, completely vulnerable to anything and everything I could possibly want—so I made you think there was another person here, but there wasn’t.” Sean stops for a second and watches the information sink into my brain. “I didn’t think you were a two guy kind of girl.” I shake my head, staring at him, wondering if it could possibly be true. My eyes flick to the nightstand—to the video camera. “Do you want to watch it?”
No. But I have to. The bastard. He planned this. The whole thing. My jaw is hanging open. I don’t understand him. I don’t know why he’d make me think that. I’m so mad. I should have known, but there was no way to know—not this. He’s so twisted. I growl, “That was a mind fuck. That’s what you wanted—body, mind, and soul. All of me.”
“Yes,” he nods, slowly admitting it. “I want all of you, in every way. I want to own you. I want you to plead with me, to crawl to me on your hands and knees and beg me to take you. I want you to surrender to me, to my wants, and give me anything and everything.”
“You don’t want me to give you anything. You want to take it.”
“Perhaps.” I give him a look. “Fine, you’re right. It’s not the same if there’s no fight. I want to break you down and make you mine. Doing this let me fuck with you in every way possible, and god, I want that more than anything.” He leans down and presses a light kiss to my lips.
When he sits up, Sean lets go of my wrists. “Watch the video with me. I want you to.” Sean stands and offers his hand. I take it and he pulls me to my feet. His hands slip around my waist until he finds the zipper. He pulls it down and my new dress falls to the floor. I’m standing in front of him wearing a little black bra. He reaches around and undoes the clasp. Sean takes the bra off me and tosses it on the floor. I’m naked. His eyes sweep over me, before pulling me to the couch on the other side of the room. Sean pulls me onto his lap and plays the video. His hands wander while we watch, and I can’t hide how turned on I am. What the hell is wrong with me? Sean doesn’t say much. He just watches me, taking in my reaction.