Pain and Pleasure by Callie Vincent

21

Esmeralda

A guard stays behindto clean up the mess of the dead man in the cell. I watch him grab a mop just as Dante grabs my hand and pulls me away, walking me out of the cell and down the stone hallway.

We're nearing the spot that had shackles on the wall and Dante stops. I see candles lit against the stone and my eyes travel the length of the chains, fascinated. Dante watches me from the corner of his eye, but we stay silent.

"The way I yelled at you when you got home earlier...I'm sorry for that," he says suddenly.

"I acted out of line tonight and I realize that," he says quietly.

I look over to him and see that he too is staring at the wall, but he's also unbuttoning his shirt. My eyebrows knit in confusion as he strips from his shirt.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"You're angry at me, pequeña. I feel it dripping from every pore in your body. You want to make me pay. And I'm telling you that I'm willing to oblige."

"And why would I want to make you pay?" I ask him.

"For not trusting you to handle your own. For not being there the way a man should be for his woman. For not treating you like the empowered woman that you are," he says earnestly and tears form in my eyes once more.

He sees this. He finally sees me.

He grabs my hand and I resist for a moment but look into his animal eyes that show nothing but earnest and genuine emotion. I let him guide me to the wall and he grabs the whip that lays on the floor. I pull back and he shushes me, rubbing my hand with his thumb in gentle caresses.

"Trust me, Esmeralda. Let me bare myself to you the way you've always bared yourself to me," he says, pushing the whip into my hand.

I stare at him with large, confused eyes. My tears are pouring over. This is how he views vulnerability? What the fuck has this man been through? He kneels before me and bows his head, awaiting an expected blow. I stand there, shocked and staring at him.

I drop the whip to the ground, and he looks up at me as I go to my knees, pressing my forehead against him.

"I will not do this to you, Dante. You don't need to bare yourself to me this way. I just want to see your heart, I want what's inside here." I tap on his chest, and he catches my fingers in his hand.

"And isn't that the most painful of all? This black and bleeding heart that beats only for you," he whispers against my lips, making more tears escape from my eyes.

"It's okay. Because mine beats for you too," I say earnestly, pulling him into a long embrace on the cold, cement floor.

This dark and damaged man has no idea what healthy, reciprocated love feels like, and I can honestly say that I really don't either. And if our love will always be this dark and twisted, then I guess I really don't care. Because this love is the only love I want. This love exceeds every dream and hope I've ever had. This love that's so deep and all consuming.

I pull back from him and caress his face, his stubble longer than it has been yet. He looks so beautiful, even when he's like this. I lean forward and whisper against his lips.

"Let's go to bed."

After some silence, he nods, his lips moving against mine. He stands with me in his arms and carries me up the stairs as if I weigh nothing. I burrow my face into his neck and breathe away the stress of tonight as I get lost in him.

He walks us to his bedroom and closes the door behind him before carrying me to his bed. He sets me down gently and begins stripping me slowly, peeling off my bloody and ruined dress before lifting me and carrying me to the bathroom.

We both catch our reflection in the mirror, his eyes landing on the red handprint that is slowly fading away from my face. I see his eyes darken as he stares and I reach up to touch his cheek, pulling his gaze away from the mirror and to my eyes.

"It's okay. I'm here and I'm with you," I whisper to him.

He nods slowly and sets me down to turn on the shower before stripping from his pants and removing my bra and underwear. We walk into the shower together and stand under the warm spray, our bodies close and hands roaming.

His hands skim down to my ass, and he grabs a handful before smashing his lips against mine, kissing me fiercely and stealing my breath as he consumes me with his mouth and hands. He lifts me up and wraps my legs around him, the heat of my sex touching his newly hardened cock.

I kiss him hard and slip my tongue inside of his mouth, molding his tongue with mine. He groans into me as I start to grind against his cock, the tip kissing the inside of my pussy. He slides in slowly and we both sigh in relief, like an itch that's been dying to get scratched.

He moves slowly at first, sliding me up and down the length of his cock all the while staring into my eyes. The feeling he gives me is almost overwhelming, taking over my heart and soul the more I stare at him. I start to cry again, my lips trembling as he turns to press me into the wall so he can move one hand from supporting me to touch my face.

"Do not cry anymore, mi ciela. We're here. We're right here." He whispers against my lips and I nod profusely.

"Always," I say before his lips descend on me once more.

He picks up his pace inside me, fucking me with an urgency I've not known before, pounding up and into me, hitting my cervix each time. I cry out against his lips, my climax creeping up on me like a freight train. I come around him and he roars out against my mouth.

"Emmie, fuck!" he yells out, pressing me harder against the wall as he fucks me deeper than he ever has before.

I feel his hand move to my clitoris, rubbing me slowly as I come around him once more. I whimper against his mouth, and he fucks me harder, my legs shaking around him. His hand moves from my sex to my thigh, trailing slowly back to my ass, his fingers toying with the forbidden place that no one has ever touched.

My eyes widen and I gasp against his mouth. His fingers spread my ass cheeks, one slipping slowly past the ring of muscle, breaching me and making me cry out.

"Easy, mi ciela. Just relax against me," he murmurs against my lips.

"Touch yourself," he says darkly and I let my hand slide to my clit, massaging it slowly as his finger stretches deeper into that forbidden place.

He rubs in and out at a leisurely pace, my pulse quickening as a tightening pulls in my stomach. I can't believe this feels good. It shouldn't, but it feels fucking wonderful. And it's all because of him.

"Fuck me there," I say and his eyebrows raise, but his eyes darken.

"Fuck you where?" he teases me.

Please don't make me say it.

He pauses suddenly, his cock and fingers frozen inside me. I grind against him, desperate for more friction and movement. After several moments of pause, I grow frustrated.

"Please," I beg and he licks at my lips.

"Please what, Esmeralda?" he asks.

I throw my head back and groan out loud, his lips now at my throat.

"Fuck me. In my ass, Dante. Please." I beg out, sounding desperate.

He immediately sets me down and spins me around, my breasts plastered against the wet shower wall. He kicks my legs open, one hand on my hip as the other stretches around to rub my clit. I wiggle my ass against him and he moans at the back of my neck as he pushes the tip of his cock around my ring of muscle.

"Eres mi perdición." You are my undoing, he says before pushing his cock past the right ring and drives into my body.

He rubs at my clit in slow, soothing circles as he fucks my ass at a languid pace. My pulse thumps loudly against my throat and I moan against the shower wall. He kisses and licks at my neck as he fucks me to the point of madness.

I feel an orgasm brewing inside of my core, but this one feels different. It feels deep and foreign, but I welcome it nonetheless. He's pushed up all the way into me, his fingers rubbing against my clit furiously as I come hard and long around him. He shouts against my neck before pulling out and coming all over my back.

I feel him breathe heavily against my shoulders before raining kisses down on me. He spins me slowly back around to face him, his lips kissing me slowly. We lose ourselves in this kiss, soaking up one another. After several long and unhurried minutes, he pulls away from me and washes both my body and hair before rinsing himself off.

We step out of the shower, and he towels us off in silence before sitting me down to brush my hair. He dresses me in one of his shirts. It's large and white and covers my thighs, but it smells like him. He dresses in a black t-shirt and slacks before turning to me.

"Do you even own sweatpants?" I ask playfully and he looks at me as if I have three heads.

"Those exist?" he quips back, winking at me.

"Come, you haven't eaten and I'm starving. Javier has leftovers." He grabs my hand and pulls me out of his room and towards the kitchen.

As soon as we reach the dining hall, Dante freezes. I hear chatter and laughter echoing out of the corridor and I frown in confusion. It's probably just Ricky and my mom, I don't know why he's acting like a cat with raised hairs right now. It isn't until we step in, that I see the reason why his guard is raised.

Seated causally at the dining table, with cigars in hand, is Dante's brother and business partners. They spot me with him, my hair soaking Dante's white shirt that clings to me, their gazes landing on our entwined hands, but instead of letting me go, Dante grips my hand tighter.

My eyes wander from the men to the small and beautiful woman sitting next to Dante's brother. She looks about my age, maybe a few years older. Her hair is long and dark, with a few caramel highlights scattered throughout. Her golden eyes land on mine and there's a spitefulness in them. It confuses me deeply, but I can't help but feel even more intimidated under the stares of Dante's men.

"So glad you decided to join us, little brother. And Esmeralda, always a pleasure to see you. Please, sit down," Dante's brother commands.

Dante looks at me from the corner of his eye, offering me a small smile that does nothing to calm me. He walks me to the dining table, sitting next to me but across from everyone else. The women eyes us the entire time and I feel a blush creeping to my cheeks.

"It's good to see you again, brother," she all but hisses out.

They all stare us down and I feel a wave of nausea hit my stomach and climb up my throat, but I hold it back. My hand tightens around Dante's as we face his family together, truly for the first time.