AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When we come up for air, we’re on the other side, the thundering of the waterfall softening in this narrow cavern. She barely takes a shallow breath and she’s yelling at me, brushing her hair away from her face. But once she’s finally wiped her eyes, she stops mid protest, looking around us in awe.
I pull her up a step naturally formed in the rock, beyond it creating a calm pool the size of a large jacuzzi tub, where the water reaches the middle of my thighs. She follows blindly.
“Oh my God…” her whisper echoes softly.
The waterfall still splashes us, but I press us against the eroded rock, as far as we can go. We’re utterly isolated here. Alone in this atmosphere broken out of fairytales, moss, and low plants clinging against the rock.
“I believe I promised you punishment. This feels like the perfect place to start,” I tell her.
Disbelief laced with uneasiness falls on her features and she turns around, pretending to admire the space.
Oh, so that’s how it is.
Grabbing her shoulders, I whip her around, and press her back against the hard, rock wall.
“I’ve done my part. I came here, played your game, danced with you, now it’s your turn. You have a debt to pay, little witch.”
Her eyes widen as I strengthen my hold on her. She looks between us, her body stiffening as she weighs the implications of my words, twisting them in her mind.
“L—Like, now?!”
“Now, later, tomorrow, many days after. You crossed us, cheated us, and stole from us. Did you think you would get away with a dance?”
“I have your money,” she says, her voice losing its courage.
“And we have a reputation that won’t be built on leniency.”
Her lips part, but she’s stunned into silence.
“You wanted to be in control, paint me to your liking, and wield my shadows. But our world is built on the shadows of yours, and no amount of color will pull it out of darkness. You need to learn that these things do not go unpunished.”
Fear falls over her gaze, but her expression transitions seamlessly to brazenness.
“Teach me, then.”
It takes me a couple of seconds for my brain to fall back into its place.What did she just say?
Instinctively my hand goes straight to her throat, squeezing lightly until her pulse vibrates against my skin, and with parted lips and doe eyes, she awaits her punishment.
I should… I really should make her pay. But I knew from the moment I saw her face painted so beautifully on that canvas that I was lying to myself—it was never going to happen. Not in the way men like us are expected to do it. Our mafia will not be built on her shadow, there are plenty of others out there who will be part of the ground we step on.
“What’s your real name, little witch?”
“Annika.” She doesn’t even hesitate.
“Annika…”I drag the sound through my throat and fuck me if it doesn’t belong.
Leaning in, I brace my forearm on the rock wall.
“Tell me why.”
My hand on her throat is just a touch now, brushing my thumb against her pulse as I cock my head and wait for her words to come.
“Umm… why what?”
She swallows, slow and hard, her pulse quickening as I drag my palm up her throat.
“Why—” Pressing my thumb against her jaw, I turn her head to the left—“did you decide to”—I lean in, dragging my nose up the length of her throat, drawing in her scent—“play this game with me?”
