Empire of Sin: Chapter 12

There’s been tension in my bloodstream for days. Maybe even weeks.

Since the day I fucked Anastasia and she disappeared on me, leaving only her virgin blood and a black butterfly behind.

Back then, I resisted the urge to find her, because fuck that. I don’t chase girls. They always fall into my lap and bombard my phone with calls.

But during those weeks, I couldn’t touch any of those girls and Dan started sending stupid messages in the group chat we have with our friends in England. Two of whom are Ronan and Aiden, my brothers-in-law.

Daniel: Breaking news from the Empire State. Knox’s dick is broken.

Aiden: Now, this is interesting. Tell us more.

Daniel: He hasn’t shagged for weeks.

Aiden: Bit weird that you even know of his shagging schedule, Sterling, but okay.

Daniel: That’s not the point here, fucker. It’s that he. Hasn’t. Shagged.

Cole: Agreed. Kind of a record for Van Doren.

Ronan: Did someone mention my dear brother-in-law?

Daniel: The one whose dick is broken, yes.

Ronan: I take back the dear part and also the brother-in-law part. I know no one whose dick is broken.

Aiden: Should we start to pretend he doesn’t exist in public, Astor?

Ronan: Eventually.

Cole: What’s the exact story, Dan?

Daniel: Nothing specific, just the fact that he refuses to shag. Real question, should I take him to the doctor? Trick him into it maybe? Because he needs his dick checked.

Aiden: Or you need to be less obsessed with his dick, maybe.

Daniel: You shut up. Any suggestions?

Ronan: Hookers, a solution as old as time and just as efficient. No doctors are needed, Danny boy.

Cole: Does Teal know you’re talking about hookers?

Ronan: For her brother, not me, and fuck you, Cole.

Ronan: Un-fuck you. Don’t bring it up to Teal.

Cole: Screenshot shared as we speak.

Ronan: You fucking bastard…

Daniel: Hey, motherfuckers. This is about Knox and his broken dick.

Aiden: He’s probably fucking someone behind your back.

Daniel: What? Why would he do that?

Aiden: Let me take a wild guess. Your unhealthy obsession with his dick, maybe?

Ronan: Or maybe Knox just lost his balls.

Cole: RIP.

Knox: I’m right fucking here in case you forgot, arseholes.

Aiden: Even fucking better.

Needless to say, it’s become a running joke in that fucking group chat that I’m contemplating muting until someone else becomes the joke. The most likely candidate—Ron.

Point is, this whole mess is because of Anastasia.

Deep in the back of my mind, I recognize that this is headed to the unhealthy obsession level, that I shouldn’t allow myself to be sucked into such a bottomless pit.

Which is why I have to fuck her out of my system, once and for all. That’s the plan, anyway, when I walk into the supply room.

But I’m greeted with light.

There’s never light when I take her against the wall and wrench one orgasm after the other from her. Anastasia hates it, I realize—the light. She’s more comfortable in the darkness, like me, where we can be ourselves without thinking about our identities, where we are, or the consequences.

It’s on now, the supply room’s white neon light, and it highlights the dullness of the space. The unorganized piles of papers lying around that should be in the archives.

It also puts focus on the tiny woman standing in the middle of it all, arms crossed and foot tapping on the floor. A red flush covers her cheeks and her lips are pursed in a stiff line.

I know I should probably focus on her obvious displeasure, but my gaze is stolen by the undone third button of her blouse and the hint of her lace bra and creamy breast. I would’ve never pegged her as the lacy type, but she is and it’s a fucking turn-on.

“Do you have anything to tell me?” she asks in a tone as rigid as her posture.

“I love the view.”

She follows my gaze and bunches her hand in her shirt, then jerkily buttons it. “You’re such a pervert.”

“Let me turn off the lights and I’ll show you how much of a pervert I actually am.”

“Like hell you will.” She stomps toward me, the force in her steps rattling her small body. “Didn’t you say you hate liars?”

“I did.”

“Then why are you one yourself?”

“Me?”

“Oh, don’t give me that tone. Gwen told me you accepted Sandra’s case.”

Gwen. Of course. I should’ve known that she’d tell her the news, given that they’ve grown close ever since King’s daughter started interning for Nate. Not that I’m watching Anastasia all the time.

Fine, so I do watch whenever I have the chance, but it’s only to find out what she’s up to.

Nothing more.

“I thought I needed to convince you,” she continues.

“You do.”

“No, I don’t. You already accepted the case.”

“You need to keep convincing me so I don’t drop it.”

“You can’t do that to her.”

“Believe me, I can.” I won’t, but Anastasia doesn’t need to know that.

“You’re an asshole.”

“Glad we agree. Now, are you done?”

“I’m not done.” She’s glaring, and I can feel the heat of it through her thick glasses. “I don’t like liars either.”

“Even when you’re one yourself?”

“I have my reasons.”

“And what makes you think I don’t?”

“What are they then?”

I reach a hand out and grab her by the throat. I don’t do it suddenly, but she startles, her body going still in my hold, and the anger slowly dissipates from her features. “Continuing to touch you, to make you squirm and have that fuck-me look. Or maybe I just want to play with you, maybe it’s to debauch and fuck you up until I get my fill. Maybe it’s all of the above. Do you have a problem with that?”

She’s silent, her lips parting, and I can’t resist the urge to run my thumb over their fullness, feeling her shudder.

“W-what if I do?”

“What if you what? Have a problem with it or don’t like me touching you?”

“Both?”

“Then I’ll stop.”

Her breath stutters and I smile, tightening my hold on her throat. “For now. But I’ll still come back for more. I’ll still find you in every corner and every fucking nook. I will haunt the fuck out of you, Anastasia, until you have no way out but back to me.”

I feel her melting as she leans closer, her lips pulsing against my fingers. The heat of them alone makes my cock rock-fucking-hard.

An inexplicable need I’ve never felt before thunders and roars inside me with a wrecking force.

The need to slam her against the wall and fuck her.

The need to drive so deep inside her, I won’t know where she ends and I begin.

The need to have her so full of me that she’ll struggle to breathe like that first time.

I don’t have such thoughts about the women I fuck. Not even close. They’re always a means to an end, a way to release the pressure and get it over with. It’s been a chore at times, a fucking instinct like breathing and eating.

It’s different with Anastasia.

Because I know, I just know that if I fuck her again, everything will be blown out of proportion. And not only because I rarely fuck the same woman twice or because she’s turning into an unhealthy obsession.

It’s all of that and more.

It’s the way she easily submits to my dominance, how she trembles in my hold, even when she’s bent on defying me.

The way her small body feels so close to mine and how her breathing hitches the moment my fingers dig into the sensitive, easily reddening skin of her throat.

“What if I keep running?” Her voice is low, so low that I barely hear it.

“I’ll keep chasing you.”

“What if I run fast and disappear? What if you can’t find me? Will you give up then?”

“I’m not who you’re running from, beautiful. I won’t slow down and I sure as fuck won’t give up. So if you feel like running, do it. Believe me, I will enjoy every second of hunting you down.”

She licks her lips and her tongue grazes my thumb. “And then what?”

“Then?”

“When you find me, when you catch me and forbid me from running anymore, what are you going to do?”

“Bend you over the nearest object and fuck that tight cunt of yours until you can no longer hold in those screams. Until I have to grab you by the throat and jam my fingers into this mouth to mute you, but guess what?”

“W-what?”

“You’ll probably never shut up, will you? You’ll just keep screaming until everyone can hear you. Until everyone knows you’re being fucked deep and raw by me.”

She’s flat out shaking now, a different type of red that’s nothing like the anger that was covering her cheeks. And my cock becomes painfully hard, so hard that I can barely contain it without adjusting my trousers.

“Wouldn’t everyone think you’re harassing me since you’re a partner and I’m just a lowly employee?”

“Am I harassing you, my little liar?”

“Maybe you are.”

“Maybe you’re too scared to admit how much you like it.”

“Maybe you’re too arrogant and think everyone will fall for your charms.”

“I don’t just think it, I believe it.”

“That’s what all arrogant jerks say.”

“I think I have enough reasons to be arrogant.”

“Like what?”

“My looks, for starters. Even you fell for it that first time in the bar.”

“That wasn’t a very studied decision. Besides, I would’ve slept with the first man who appeared. I wasn’t being picky.”

My jaw clenches so hard, I’m surprised a tendon doesn’t snap. “You would’ve slept with anyone. Interesting.”

“Yeah, so it’s not about your looks or your accent or the scent of your cologne.”

I smile. “Good to know what you liked about me.”

“I’m saying that so you have no misconceptions.”

“I don’t have those, beautiful. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

“Because you would’ve slept with anyone, but you didn’t. You let me fuck you any way I wanted. You didn’t even comment on being tied up or thrown down, you took it all like the good little submissive you are.”

“I…am not.”

“If you repeat that a hundred times before you fall asleep, you might start to believe it.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” She grabs the forearm of my hand that’s on her throat. “You’re not the only fish in the sea, Knox.”

“What?”

“You’re not the only one with a useful dick out there. So if I want more fun or to let go, I’ll just go to a bar and pick someone else to spend the night with.”

A muscle tics in my jaw again. My body tightens and so does my hold on her throat. She wheezes, her face reddening with the lack of air and I release her because I’m two seconds away from suffocating the fuck out of her.

“You don’t want to play that game with me, Anastasia.” My voice is eerily calm considering the fire that’s eating me from the inside out.

“Why? Because you’re the only one allowed to play games?” She tilts her head to the side. “You don’t know who you’re up against, Knox. You really, really should’ve pretended you didn’t know me, but you made it hard for both of us and started a needless game. One that I decided to play.”

“Hmm. We’re playing, then?”

“We are. And guess what the first rule is?”

“Enlighten me.”

“No fucking.”

“Today?”

“Ever.”

I chuckle, the sound dark and ominous to my own ears. I approach her and she must see the menacing look in my eyes, because her feet falter. But she does manage to stop herself before she steps back, I’ll give her that.

I tower over her tiny frame so that I’m looking down on her. She’s so small, I want to throw her over my fucking shoulder. “Let’s see how long you’ll last, because I promise that I’ll fuck those words out of you, beautiful.”