Misted (Team Zero #5) by Rina Kent

Hawk removes his fingers and although I’m still riding the remnants of my orgasm, I can’t resist the urge to trap him back in.

Slap!

I yelp as the sting hits my arse. Before I can recover or form any thoughts, his hand goes down on my behind again. And again. It’s against the fabric, but I feel it straight to my core.

The building need soaks the insides of my thighs. I’m so disoriented, I can’t form a clear idea, but my body fires up with need, begging for more.

He pulls me back by the fist he has on my hair until his face is mere inches from mine and I can breathe him in. “Why the fuck where you holding it down?”

I try to deny whatever’s happening and squirm. His strong hand comes down on my arse again. Any words I had to say turn into a strangled moan.

Oh. God.

“Next time.” Slap. “You won’t.” Slap. “Hold in your screams for me.” Slap. “Is that understood?”

My lungs heave harsh breaths until I’m a panting mess. The burn starts in my behind and spreads all over my sleek skin like unhinged fire. What on earth is happening to me?

“Answer me,” he growls against my ear before biting it between his teeth and sucks.

“Oooh...”

“I said.” Slap. “Answer me.”

I release some sort of a whimper-moan as I nod. “I… I won’t.”

God. Why am I letting him do this to me? Why can’t I stop it?

He strokes my sore arse cheeks in long, soothing circles. “Good girl.”

I mumble something like an affirmation, unable to form any words. I feel so elated, I want to rub against him and offer my body as a sacrifice.

Don’t stay alone with him.

A simple rule I broke it more than I can count in mere weeks. It doesn’t help that he’s not leaving me the hell alone.

Hawk presses into me from behind. His hard chest glues to mine and an unmistakable bulge pokes at my arse cheeks. Even through his jeans and my knickers, I can feel him pulsing with need.

The thought that it’s for me engulfs me with a sense of fullness I haven’t felt in years.

I rub myself against him, soaking in how he hardens more in response.

He flips me around, hand still fisting my hair. I mourn the loss of feeling him at my back but staring at his face this close is worth it.

I can drown in his azure gaze and never come back. I wouldn’t have any regrets either. If it were up to me, if it’d keep him safe, I’d be drowning into his ocean and enjoying every wave.

My palm finds his cheek. Hawk’s shoulders tighten and he breathes harshly like a wild animal, but he doesn’t stop me.

The need to kiss him pulses inside me like a living being.

Once. Just once.

I’m aware that I’m hopelessly searching for a bit of affection underneath all the hate, but I’m ready to ignore everything if he just kisses me.

One more time.

Kiss me, I beg with my eyes.

Kiss me, I call with my half-empty heart.

Fucking kiss me, I scream with my body.

He pushes me away. His fingers untangle from hair and all his heat leaves me cold and abandoned.

Without a word or a mere glance, he steps out of the room.

The door shuts behind him with a loud thwack.

My eyes water, and it takes everything in me not to break down in sobs.

What did I expect anyway?

It was only a deal. Just a one-time thing to save Ink. Hopefully, Hawk will leave me alone now.

I saunter to the bathroom, still feeling Hawk’s torturous touch inside me and on my arse. The image that greets me in the mirror causes me to stop in my tracks. My hair is dishevelled, strands of red poking everywhere. My lipstick is smudged. My robe tangles around my middle.

But that’s not what stops me. It’s the strange glint in my eyes. I don’t remember seeing that before. The feeling of being… alive.

I look royally fucked, but… alive.

Just like I felt all those years ago.





9





Mist





You were the vessel of my darkest desires until you became the most ominous of all.



Past,

Our pauses in the waiting room are getting smaller and smaller. Sometimes, we’re banned from here and forced to stay in our white cells for days.

It’s been a whole week since I’ve last seen Hawk, but he continues to brood with no care in the world.

The other Zeroes, or what remained of us are huddled against the wall. Ghost doesn’t remember me. He’s facing away with Shadow sitting with him. Sometimes, I don’t remember him either, so I can’t blame him.

I settle beside Hawk until only a small space remains and poke his side. He pays me no attention and continues fiddling with his shoelaces. I smile to myself. Some things never change.

Since that first day, he’s been the same steady, albeit silent rock. When I started forgetting about everything, he gave me a journal so I can write what I don’t want to forget. I only agreed on the condition that he writes in it, too.

He sometimes scribbles some notes, and I hold them like a treasure.

I’ve been here for so long, I forgot to count. I still forget who I am sometimes. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to escape, but the tiny hope never left me.

I’m thirteen now. I think. Hawk is fifteen or sixteen. He’s grown taller and broader. Ink has been tattooing him for the past months, but Hawk still refuses to let me see. Whenever I ask, he says with a grumble, It isn’t done yet.