Water’s Edge (A Series of Sharp Edges #1)

26. Mattie

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

mattie

R ipp’s fingers lazily trace patterns across my back. His taste is still thick on my tongue as I lay in the afterglow of my release that chased his. Our bare skin presses together as our bodies curve to match the other. I try to hang on to this comfort just a little longer before the weight of our situation sinks back into my body.

Warm hands knead my shoulders, and I arch my back into him. Tension I’ve been holding for twenty-eight years melts away. “That feels almost as good as your cock,” I laugh.

Ripp’s lips ghost my skin, working their way to the sensitive patch of skin behind my ear. “I was made to worship you, little bug,” he whispers.

I clutch the vial around my neck, a small piece of my stranger swirling inside. Its heat fills my palm, and I sigh, wishing I could bottle up this moment too. The witch’s words slither to the forefront of my thoughts. My fate is sealed. One way or another, I’ll cease to exist as I am now.

Ripp’s hand moves over my chest, just above my galloping heart. “Mattie,” he murmurs. “What’s troubling you?”

A cracked laugh slips from my trembling mouth. “That’s a loaded question.” I roll to face him, and his arms adjust around me, stroking my back again. “If I choose to die instead of waiting out this ticking clock I’ve become, would it complete the ritual?”

The words hang between us, and he closes his eyes. His face tenses, and his words come out strained. “It’s not that simple.”

“My life has never been simple, Ripp. My folks would argue differently, but look around. Trying to live simply is its own struggle.” Everything my ma tried to shield me from came crashing down long before she made her exit. Trying to shield me from the outside horrors only gave the ones at home more power.

Ripp’s eyes open again, and he stares into me, trying to read me. I squirm under his gaze, wishing I could go back to the moments before. “How much do you know about your family?” he asks. The question is heavy, charged with what he is about to say.

I raise an eyebrow and roll to my back, staring at the ceiling unblinking. “Probably not enough,” I finally answer. “I suppose all the pieces have always been right here in front of me. I just didn’t know where they fit. Maybe I’m choosing to not remember.”

“Your father,” Ripp says, urging me to continue this increasingly uncomfortable conversation.

“Was a piece of shit, and now he’s dead,” I say sharply, finishing his sentence. “No use in raising the dead.” I try to turn away, but Ripp grips me tightly, pulling me back into him.

“Listen to me, Mattie. The more you run from this, the faster it will chase you. I need you to remember what it is the sheriff thinks your family has done.” His words land in rough blows. I cringe, knowing I can’t escape from them. “The only way out of this is through it,” he pleads.

The room spins around me. My fists clench, and nausea causes saliva to pool in my mouth. I swallow before speaking. “My family hasn’t done anything. It was all Pa. He’s the reason Ma’s not here anymore.” My voice quivers, but I pull strength from Ripp’s touch to continue. “She tried to protect me until she couldn’t anymore. She left me here with him, and I knew I couldn’t let her fate be mine too.”

Ripp’s hands clasp my face, and he kisses my forehead. “He’ll never hurt you again, little bug. I’ll drag his pathetic soul from whatever hell he dwells in just to destroy it for you.”

“I killed him,” I choke out, past the sob lodged in my throat. “At least, I think I did. It all feels so far away. But I woke up by the lake, covered in blood that wasn’t my own, and he never came back. They found his body along the Blackwater river, and I told them to fucking burn him. I buried Ma behind the cabin.”

My confession burns in my cheeks, and I try to avert my gaze. His hands jerk slightly, bringing my eyes back to him, but the tears still come. Rivers of salt spill across my lips, and I struggle to sniffle back the snot keeping the air from my lungs. I’m a fucking wreck, and knowing that only makes me cry harder.

“Shhhh,” he soothes, holding my sopping face to his chest. “You’re doing so well. You don’t need to hold on to darkness that doesn’t belong to you anymore.”

“Because I have my own,” I wail. “And it’s fucking killing me.” He strokes the back of my head and lets me cry until those cries fade into soft sobs. I’ve bottled everything inside me for so long, and he has shaken it until it has no choice but to explode out of me—a downpour of suffering ready to drown us both.

“You were born into the darkness, so you became the darkness to survive,” Ripp whispers softly into the top of my head. “You’ve grown to always lick your own wounds and bury your own dead. Of course, you ache for the taste of blood and the soft caress of death.”

“I used to hide from him. In the lake. I’d let myself sink and pretend I was dead,” I admit through hiccupped breaths. My morbid sense of humor peeks through for a moment then, and I give him half a grin. “I guess I thought I’d return the favor for everyone who reminded me of him.”

“You’re divine violence, little bug.” His chest rumbles against my head with his words.

I look up at him, and his eyes blaze blue, like the hottest part of a flame. Pure desire swirls in them, and I can’t believe I’ve finally found someone who looks at me like I’m something worth looking at. I’ll make whatever sacrifice is asked of me to not have to drift in this void alone ever again.

Morning finds us too soon. We’re still a tangle of limbs from the night before, and the foreign feeling of joy spreads through me, realizing he’s still here. He’s still in bed with me. The warmth of his body makes its way down my back, and his hands spread my thighs, rolling me until I’m centered before him.

I look down at the godlike being between my thighs. His eyes are lit like hellfire as he takes me in, as though I’m the one to be worshiped. My legs tremble in his grasp, and my body begs to be devoured.

“Ripp,” I pant. My breasts shake with each breath, anticipating the feel of his mouth on me. The warmth of his breath singes every delicate nerve of my core. His tongue traces along my slit before swirling gently around my clit, sending waves of pleasure through me. I moan as I toss my head back, unsure if I can handle his slow torture.

His tongue thrusts rhythmically into me, and my inner walls clench, trying to draw him further inside. An ache builds low in my spine until it radiates out, consuming me. I roll my hips into his face, his nose pressing into my sensitive bundle of nerves with each motion. “Fuck, I can’t,” I cry needily.

My stranger pulls back, and I knot one hand into his hair, trying to bring him back to fill the emptiness he so suddenly left. “Breathe, little bug.” He grins, my arousal glistening around his lips. Words try to come out, but I choke on them as he dives into me again.

Spots cloud my vision as the storm building inside me swirls into a hurricane of ecstasy. My back arches, thrusting myself into him, and my head hits the pillow. My hands fist the sheets as moan after moan pours from me. If I have to die, surely it’s better to go out this way, letting him suck the life out of me.

His hands press into my stomach in tandem with his tongue curling inside me. Both of our bodies seem to vibrate together until I can’t tell where mine ends and his begins. Just as I’m sure I’m about to break apart, my last bit of restraint falls away and release takes me. My wetness pools underneath us, and Ripp laps at it before dragging his tongue through me one last time. I shudder with an aftershock from the feel of him against my sensitive skin.

He crawls up to me and cups my cheeks in one hand, opening my mouth for him. His mouth parts, filled with my arousal and his saliva, forming a mix that looks almost pearlescent, like it holds both our magic. I stick out my tongue for him, and he spits the mixture into my waiting mouth. He moans as I swallow and lick the remaining drops from his lips. Ripp eagerly presses his mouth to mine, swirling our tongues together and letting me again taste what he’s done to me. “You taste like eternity,” he moans into my neck. “Like the beginning and end of everything. An entire universe is between your thighs, and I plan to remain in it forever.”

The sun, just rising, filters through the window. Ripp looks so fucking beautiful. I’m scared to blink and wake up, realizing this was all a dream. He pulls me up, cradling me as we sit on the bed. “Teach me to use that coffee machine. Let’s get your day started.”

“I’ll never turn down a cup of coffee,” I laugh. “But I’m pretty sure you’ve found a better way to start my day.” He stands, bringing me with him. Then, he goes to grab my discarded towel from last night and cleans us both off. “What are you in such a rush to do today?”

He flashes me a wicked smile before pulling on his jeans and heading out of the room towards the kitchen. His words float down the hall. “Killing the sheriff, of course.”