Page 32 of Sorrow & Strangers

“Fuck,” I curse, and then force myself away from him.

The second I’m outside his spell of temptation, I push into a run. I shove people out of the way, uncaring. I just need to get away from Max, from this club, from that feeling. The outside air sobers me completely, and I keep running in the direction of Avalon.

“Summer!” Max calls from behind me, and I can hear him gaining on me.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I consider kicking my heels off. They’re slowing me down too much, but then I feel his hand wrap around my arm, stopping me.

Anger roils inside me. The familiar feeling eclipses everything else, and I lean into it. “What the fuck was that?” I snarl, yanking my arm free of his grip. I don’t think Max deserves this, but I will throw all my rage at him as long as it subdues the need I felt when I was pressed up against him.

“I wasn’t . . .” He hesitates, and then his eyes flash. “I wanted to kiss you.”

“That’s not what happened,” I snap. “What happened is that you saw your broken friend, and you wanted to fix it.”

Max narrows his eyes. “You think I pity you?”

“Fuck you, Max,” I throw at him.

Max moves in quickly and slams his lips to mine. This kiss is like the first, but not nearly as contained. He tangles his fingers in my hair and pulls gently, thrusting his tongue past my lips when I gasp from the slight sting of pain. At least I’m telling myself that’s why I opened for him, not because I wanted him to deepen the kiss.

I moan, that throb in my core alerting me again. I pull back, and this time I slap him hard across the face. The blow has enough power behind it that it forces his head to the side. I see Max’s eyes flash green and feel his muscles ripple against me.

“Run. Or I’m going to fuck you just to prove you wrong,” he says without looking at me.

My core heats at his words, my need intensifying. “Max . . .” Even I can hear that my voice sounds lower, seductive.

“Three . . .” Max begins, slowly turning his head back to face me. “Two . . .” He looks at me, his eyes still flashing with the green of the berserker. “One⁠—”

I cut him off by slamming my lips to his, unable to hold myself back. The need so desperately deep and undeniable, my body aching to feel . . . alive.

Max lifts me easily and walks into the alley beside the bakery, slamming me against the wall. The rough bricks dig into my back, but I don’t care.

My tongue flicks against his, and he growls, pressing his hard body tighter against me. He tugs my dress up and slides his hand over my ass. Gripping my panties, he yanks, the lace pulling tight against my skin before tearing. I moan at the sweet, delicious sting. The tiny part of my brain that is still rational knows I should pull away. I should stop this now, but I can’t.

Lost in lust, I bite his lower lip hard, knowing it will send him over the edge. Max roars, and my legs are forced open a little more as his body grows. The berserker side of him, his id, is pushing forward, and I can’t wait to taste him. He pulls back and looks at me as he fumbles in his pocket for his wallet, still supporting me with just one arm. I know he’s giving me time to change my mind as he finds a condom and tears it open, but I won’t.

I kiss him again as he yanks at his pants, opening them and pushing them down over his hips. He sheaths his length and thrusts his cock inside me, pulling my hips toward him to seat himself deep. I dig my nails into his shoulders at the feeling of being stretched, and Max’s moan almost completely undoes me. My body has been craving this, but my grief has been muting my need, overpowering it, but now, there is only the overwhelming desire to feel pleasure, to feel alive, to feel wanted.

Max draws his hips back, and when he shoves himself into me again, the stone scrapes against my ass. The pain only adds to the intoxicating pleasure. He hooks his arm under my knee, opening me more for him and thrusting again. His size is just . . . perfect. I’m stretched just enough for it to be bittersweet. Buried deep, Max pauses and closes his eyes. I can see him trying to slow his breathing, and I know he’s attempting to regain some control. The veins in his neck are thick and pulsing as he struggles to keep his monster in check.

Join the club.

About to beg him to start moving again, I squeeze my internal muscles around his cock and lean forward to lick up his throat. Max moans, the sound so primal it sends shivers down my spine. His hands tighten on me, and he withdraws only to thrust hard and fast. It is so fucking perfect that my eyes roll back in my head. I dig my nails harder into him and drag them down his strong arms. Sticky, warm blood wells beneath my nails, and it seems he also enjoys a little pain with his pleasure, given the way he hammers into me.

I rock my hips, needing more, and Max slams a hand to the wall beside my head. I hear the brick breaking beneath his palm. Max deepens the kiss, devouring me. His groans of pleasure make my core spasm with the sweetest of pleasure, and I am completely lost to the feeling. He bites my lip hard, the coppery taste of my blood making my tongue tingle. His thrusts become harder, more animalistic, feral, almost punishing, and I am fucking desperate for more. Harder.

The bricks at my back crumble as he thrusts me into the wall, and then it’s there, that newly unfamiliar feeling of the pinnacle of my pleasure. It’s coiling and so close to springing, a condensed heat that I want to bathe in, and it is so, so close.

I feel compelled to reach for it, chase it, and then Max angles my hips and slams into me, hitting the exact right spot. The world collapses around me, and the pleasure makes every single muscle contract. My toes curl, and I dig my nails into him harder as I cry out, that apex of pleasure and completion cascading through me, wrecking me.

Max’s thrusts become more erratic, and then a roar rips from his throat as he follows me. He deepens the kiss, both of us breathless, completely undone. Max leans heavily against me, my core still trembling around him, but even before the high of my orgasm has cleared from my mind, my body goes rigid.

What have I done?

Max breaks the kiss and pulls back, a cautious look on his face.

I focus on him. It’s not Connor’s face. I knew it would not be. The whole time we were having sex, I knew it wasn’t Connor. I knew it was Max, so why, now that we’ve finished, am I looking at this male, not understanding what just happened?