Page 210 of Once Upon a Fable

My hips pulsed with another painful urge to climax. I flinched and fisted my hands. The urge to come became almost unbearable. A means to an end. A way to get rid of the tight desire between my legs and wake up properly.

Stop it.

Ignore it.

My body had other ideas. A crest of agonizing lust made my back arch.

This was yet another problem caused by that trespasser of mine. Until she’d come along, whenever my body had demanded an orgasm, I’d been able to ignore it. My hands hadn’t shook as I forbid them to touch myself. My heart didn’t race trying to override my unanimous decision not to self-pleasure.

I was happy not to touch myself. Relieved even.

But thanks to her?

All I could think about was her welcome, her wetness, the way we fit so perfectly together.

Ah, Christ.

My cock rippled with pre-cum, creating a damp patch on my boxer briefs.

Seemed just thinking about her had the power to make my body disobey. My teeth ground to dust as I squeezed my eyes closed andfocused on the constant sickness inside me instead of the overheated lust in my blood. My head still pounded. My eyes still felt too big for their sockets. My ears still rang with concussed bees.

Focus on getting strong again. Sex has to wait.

But...sex with her. Sex with someone who actually gave me pleasure instead of pain.

Iwantedthat.

I wanted to touch her, hold her, kiss her—

Another ripple up my cock. Another damp spot.

Ah, stop.

The flutter around my stomach came again, wrenching me upright.

I grabbed my head, sinking all ten fingers around my skull as pokers of pain stabbed from all directions. It took a horrifyingly long time before the library stopped spinning, and I trusted my stomach not to evict the pasta from last night before opening my eyes again.

The flutter returned around my belly—a sensation of something wriggling on a fishing line.

You’re the spider now. And she’s the fly.

Gemma.

She was moving around. Wherever she was, we were bound, and that knowledge sent a dark thrill through me. I was alive to feel her. I’d left that decision in her dangerous hands, wondering if she’d do what others had done.

However, even in her rage last night, she hadn’t come to harm me in my sleep. And really, I had to face the facts—the fact I was alive was a blessing in itself. After her mood last night, I honestly hadn’t known what she’d choose. She’d certainly looked pissed off enough to do me serious bodily harm if it ensured her freedom.

Sweat ran down my temples as I looked down at the belt around my waist. The chain pooled onto the floor, then snaked its way out to the door to wherever she was.

Two p.m. in the afternoon and she still hadn’t come to find me.

I could feel her.

Moving around.

Existing in my home.

But I couldn’t see her, and that was almost as bad as not knowing what drawers she was poking through or what she’d been doing while I’d been imitating a useless corpse.