Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 21813 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21813 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
“Oh God.” I take her to the car and open her door. I help her in and tell her to stay put, then walk to Clarice, who meets me behind my car.
“Sorry about earlier.”
She waves me off. “No worries. No one was hurt, and I was able to assure them they would not only be refunded but would receive a little financial siphon.” I nod when her brows rise. I know what she means.
“I will have the money for you tomorrow. Meet me in town at Cherry Hill Bank at 10:00 a.m. I will make sure you and everyone is squared away.”
Letting out a sigh, she nods and tsks. “Men. I tell ya,” she mumbles as she walks off.
“Clarice?” I call after her. Opening her car door, she stops before getting in. “Next time, make sure you know exactly what types of husbands are coming here. We aren’t all willing to share,” I say sinisterly, and she nods, this time cracking a faint smile.
“Yeah, I won’t be letting that happen again.” She climbs in and shuts the door. Starting her car, she drives around to the back of the house, surely to shut it down and clean up the mess left behind.
What a job to have.
I will make sure she gets a little extra too. Once she’s gone, I go back to the car, grab my first aid kit, and meet Hanna on her side.
“Can you bend over the hood for me, beautiful?” I take her hand, and she climbs out. Nodding, she comes with me as we round the car and bends like she was told. I place the first aid kit on the hood, then lift her dress. “Hold the fabric for me,” I tell her gently.
“Okay.” She takes the silk and holds it up for me.
Opening the kit, I pull out alcohol wipes, triple-antibiotic ointment, some gauze, and medical tape.
“This will hurt, but you can take it. I promise it will only sting for a few seconds.” She nods again, and I open the alcohol wipes. “Here we go.”
The second it touches her tender flesh, she hisses, “Ow. Shit.”
I massage the skin around it to try to keep the nerves and tissue focused. “I know. You’re doing so good, baby. I’m almost done.”
She cries silently, and I hate it's because of me.
“I wanted it. Please know that,” she reassures me, and I look up to see her eyeing me over her shoulder. I must be wearing my regret on my face. Hurting Hanna is never my intention. Not unless it brings her pleasure.
“I know. You are such a good wife. Letting me love you and brand you like this.”
She smiles lovingly under my praise.
“I love you,” she whispers, and I lean in and give her soft, open-mouthed kisses.
“I love you, baby.” I get back to the task of tending to her wound. I blow on the now clean skin and soothe the cut with the tri-biotic. Finishing up, I put the gauze on and tape the edges, and when I’m done, I kiss the skin all around it.
“Good girl. You are all done, beautiful.” I take her silk dress and pull it down gently over her ass, then help her back into the car. Once she is in, I grab the kit and put it away. When I reach the driver side, I look up at the house one more time and take a mental picture. This house will be engraved in my memory forever. This place rebooted my marriage.
Chapter 7
Hanna
Theo climbs in and starts the car. My cuts are sore, but the numbing ointment he put on with the padded gauze helps the pain. We get back on the main highway, and soft music comes through the radio.
We don’t say anything at first. It’s not an awkward silence. No, it’s far from that. It’s a comfortable one. A content quiet that holds promise and hope for our future. What happened tonight would make many people think we’re anything but healthy. In fact, most would say we’re crazy. But that’s Theo and me. We thrive under the lust. The dark and passionate kind of love. There is more to us, yes, but we need each other the way we had back there. It’s how we started. It’s what helped us fall in love. It healed parts of me and fulfilled parts of him.
We needed one another like this again. And I believe we will have it going forward. We just needed a little… reminder.
“I love you. Thank you for this Halloween.” I smile, and when he chuckles, I look over at him. His all-black outfit and painted face, sexy as they’ve been all night, and in between us is his Ghostface mask smeared with my blood from his marking. I bite my lip and smile wider.
“I love you too, Hanna.”