11:30 PM ( 3.5 hours ago). DIMera compound. Wine cellar. Gemini Island.

 

The flicker of candlelight bounced around the dark walls. She stared at John’s chest, refusing to turn around. She could sense movement behind her, hear the scrape of steps, and her flesh prickled. 

 

Tony.

 

Gently, John slipped his hand along her shoulder and gradually secured the back of her neck. Her gaze tipped up, and he stared down at her, shadows casting his face in monstrous features. Unprepared, he pulled her to him and spun her so that her back rested flush against his hard body. 

She should have closed her eyes. 

“Don’t be alarmed…”

The sight before her chilled her blood. She literally felt the heat drain from her face, leaving her body cold and her lungs devoid of air. Her head felt faint, and the sudden sensation of John’s mouth near her ear sent a tingle up her inner thighs. 

“Breathe,” he commanded. 

Marlena pulled in a lungful of air, the taste of earth and wine and blood pungent on her tongue. The wine cellar might as well be a catacomb from her memories. Cages and bars lined the walls where wine racks should be. Chains dripped from the ceiling. Torture devices with restraints were positioned amid wine barrels as decorative art, and the women who were tied there in the past were a living art themselves, painted right out of the bowels of hell.

 

Marlena’s gaze was foggy, her eyes closed. 

Then bright visions. 

They were there. 

Hunting her mind. 

She saw a woman bound in rope. The woven jute twined her body as she was suspended mid-air, her breasts mashed against the bindings, her legs bent and feet positioned near her ass, exposing her to the big shadow. There was a man in a black leather suit... and he used a device to whip her pussy, and the moaning she heard before were like salacious sounds in her mind. 

It all bled together until she felt as if she was falling through the floor. Then Tony's gruff voice slipped around her body. 

“When Stefano took control on this compound…I was never introduced to this place. Marlena, do you remember anything about this cellar?” 

She swallowed forcefully.

“Don’t you even dare talking to her, you sick fuck.” John’s body heat was a furnace compared to the stale, cold air of the cellar, and without her permission, her body pressed into him, seeking warmth. She felt him tense, and she immediately tried to turn around. His arm banded her waist to hold her against him. 

“Doc,” he whispered. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” she hated lying to him, but Tony was there and she would not let him hear a note of dread in her weak tone. 

 

Tony.

 

She felt nothing but revulsion for this man and yet, the thought of sharing him with the vision of this bound woman sent a ripple of resentful fire along her skin. The visions, they were overwhelming, and…she was not even sure how it made her feel. She had too many emotions right now, and she was not thinking clearly. She moved forward, scanning the small space.

 

Finally, John spoke. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” 

“But John, can’t you see she starts to remember—” 

“I said. We’re getting out of here.” There was a hint of something bitter in his voice, but she didn’t speak. 

“John, I think it’s Marlena’s decision,” Tony said, as she moved quickly, trying and failing to move away from him. His arm was like an iron vise. 

“John, I want to leave.” 

“And to what point is that, Marlena?” Tony moved closer.

“Tony, leave her alone.” John greeted.

She shook her head and stared at him, tearing her mind’s eyes away from the woman in her visions. “Tony, we live in a devious and dark world. That house is the underbelly. I don’t know what happened to me here, years ago, but I know that you are just as twisted and forceful as your father was.” 

“What are you talking about?” he countered. 

“You made us come here, hoping I will remember something about my past here,” She fired back. 

“And you allowed me to.” 

 

Confusion furrowed her brow and she stared at the ground, done with trying to reason with him. She couldn’t have John’s hands on her body and his words in her head and be in that dreadful room with Tony. 

Anxiety unfurled within her, when he gripped her hand.

“Let me go.” His hand was unmovable. But when his fingers released her side to lock around her hand, her heart fluttered with a hollow ache. 

“Tony, I said leave her alone.” coming closer, John placed a rough hand on his shoulder.

“Marlena,” he ignored John’s words. “I want to show you something I found yesterday.”

He stepped from behind her, their hands linked, and pulled her through the passageway of the cellar. 

The farther they went, the darker the room became, each step a reverberating warning tapping her spine. The horrific visions were left behind, and she realized with a pulse-pounding shudder that those visions were memories. 

“John, I don’t want to be here.” She whispered, her words falling from her lips to the unforgiving floor.  

When Tony finally stopped and turned her way, her mind was screaming, the pounding in her head wouldn’t stop, Marlena placed her hands to her aching temples. Inside the blur, she saw a man in a pitch-black tux, and intense eyes boring into her from behind his devilish smirk. 

She couldn’t make out his face, but she did get a clever view of the room surrounding him. It was a sex dungeon. And she was alone with him. Fingers threaded around hers, he pulled her closer, pressing her back to the bars along the wall. The cold iron bit into the exposed skin above her gown. He assaulted her, he hurt her…

 

Her hands formed claws around her head. If the only thing she needed to attack back were those deceptive eyes, then she would claw at them until he bled. 

“Doc, talk to me baby, what’s wrong?” John turned to face her, shoving Tony to the nearest wall. Her eyes were still covered, her breathing ragged.

“I see him…he- he holds a whip…” he couldn’t miss the panic in her voice.

“Who holds a whip? Doc, do you know who hurt you?”

“Oh, oh, my god..it’s... it's Stefano!” her vision blurred with furious tears.

That rare smile hitched the corner of Tony’s mouth when John shot him a look. 

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know what she’s talking about,” he commented as if carrying on their conversation from before. 

“I didn’t choose the name, John. I don’t particularly like it. Some things in this world are just branded on you without consent.” 

“Tony. Stop with the mind games. Why is she here? What is happening to her?” 

Marlena finally reacted. 

“Oh, my god. John, I was here…” John grabbed her arms to steady himself. She was terrified to ask, but she needed to know. 

“What happened to me here, Tony?” 

 

John’s hands roved down her arms to lock around her wrists. She knew he could feel the erratic beat of her pulse. He held her securely as he moved in to hold her, their breath mingling and her brain losing the will to reason. 

“All in due time, Marlena. But first, I have a debt to settle.” 

John tore his gaze away from her and looked up at him with hooded eyes, his expression a mix of contempt and helplessness. “What the fuck are you talking abo-”

“A suo agio, soldato Black.” (*Italian: At ease, Soldier Black.)

John froze. 

As if time stood still. 

He was hollow and cold.

“What have you done to him? John!” his face so close, she stopped breathing. Cupping his chin, she caught in his gaze, but there was nothing to his eyes. To Tony’s command, he pushed her arms above her head and bracketed her wrists against the bars. He was a dominant, smoldering force as he towered over her, and she’d never felt more helpless…or scared of him. 

“John, listen to me, fight it! You gotta fight him! It’s me! It’s Marlena!”

“Save your breath, darling, he can’t hear you. John, fallo.” (*Italin: Just do it) With the slightest shift of his hand, John unbuckled his belt. Panic was a living force inside her, her eyes pleading with him, until he whipped his belt off and shackled it around her wrists, securing her arms to the bars. The cold touch of fear gripped her lungs and squeezed. 

And stopped.

“Tony, please, why are you doing this?” As soon as the question left her mouth, she knew it was useless. He was doing this because she was their prisoner in the past. And he was full-on DIMera. 

“It was after my 35th birthday,” he said, trailing a fingertip down her forearm tenderly, teasingly. “There was so much blood...” He looked down at her and winked. “I could hear you scream.” Ice dumped into her bloodstream.

“You are a madman.”

“That was the family my father created.” He brushed a loose wisp of hair away from her eye.

How much pain will she suffer at his hands? As he backed away, she didn’t drop his gaze. She won’t give him the satisfaction.

If he was going to hurt her, then he was going to look her in the eyes while he was doing so. 

 

He flicked his knife out from his pocket. 

The blade was shaped like a talon, the handle white bone from some animal. He guided the tip of the knife along her stomach, the blade snagging the fabric and making her belly tremble. 

“You know, that night when my father returned from the cellar, I got a glimpse of you before the door got shut. Laying there. I knew I was going to have you,” he said. “I had to wait for him to leave, A pastime to keep me entertained while I had to be patient.” she lifted her chin higher despite the desire to look away. “You won’t kill me. Nor John.” 

“No,” he confirmed, daringly slipping the blade between her cleavage. Her nipples tightened painfully. 

“I swore I wouldn’t. Release her hand, soldier Black.” The feel of the cold steel, when he released her, scraped the soft flesh of her breasts arousing an ancient ache in her chest. Her hand hung by his belt in mid-air. Her wrists sore. “And I can’t spend the next how-many-ever years like this,” she said. “Fearful to live every day. Dreading your little tortures.” 

 

Marlena’s breathing ratcheted as the confession poured. “Please, Tony. Just push the knife into the hilt. Or let  us go so this can be over. I don’t want to remember.” The blade halted its path, poised over her heart. 

Trepidation clawed at her insides as the blue flame of John’s gaze strayed from her face to her chest. A dark spark ignited in the depths of his sinister eyes. Tony moved past John, his hand traveled to her waist, where he possessively grasped the flare of her hip, his body coasting closer to hers. The air between them charged. 

A dangerous bait with one touch, the volatile molecules daring either of them to strike a match and combust. “Brave words for a little slave.” He dug the tip of the knife into her skin, breaking flesh. “But I’d rather see you break.” 

“Slave?”

Panic rose as the blade needled her skin. 

“Please, don’t…” Her eyes glassed over, the thought of him scaring her in front of John in his state was too distressing at that moment. He stilled, his gaze watching her closely, and a strange mix between fury and morbid curiosity crossed his features. His attention slipped down to inspect her wrists. Tony pulled the knife away and, as she felt a trickle of blood leak down, he swiped his thumb across to gather the drop. She watched, shocked, as he brought his thumb to his mouth and, after a beat where she stared at the red coating, he sucked his thumb into his mouth. 

 

A madman.

 

His deviant action did something torturous to her body, sparking red visions, and she gasped a breath into her aching lungs, starved of oxygen, and some other demanding, burning fear. He braced his palm on the bar beside her head, placing his mouth near the shell of her ear, lips grazing as he said, “You taste familiar.” 

 

A hard shiver racked her body. Before she could measure a response, the feel of his hand prowling down her thigh stole the air from her lungs. “Tell me what you remember, because I know you do,” he demanded. 

Marlena shook her head, adamant. “No.” 

He could take whatever else he wanted—but he couldn’t have her mind. 

John's vacant gaze bored her eyes.

Tony bunched her gown in his fist and shoved his hand between her knees, forcing her thighs apart. She swallowed the rattle in her throat as he dragged the silky material higher, his coarse fingers trailing the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. 

 

“That will be the last time you say that word to me.” His hand traveled up agonizingly slow, a challenge alighting in his eyes. “One thing, in particular, I remember about you,” he said, and she was no longer able to discern his words, her mind a tangled, conflicted web of denial. 

She tried to focus on what he was saying as her body battled the unwanted stimulation of his hand and its path toward the apex of her thighs. “The sound of your crying. The taste of your sweet tears. How I wanted their taste on my tongue. I came down to see you one night. I knew father would not approve, but I had to look at you, I had to touch you—” his fingers prod the seam of her panties, “—you never cried for me.” 

 

Every fiber of her buzzed like a flame. Trying to devour her. Her treacherous body didn’t know whether to pull away or seek his friction, and she was humiliated when wetness pooled in the seat of her panties, proving his touch affected her. 

What he was saying finally registered past the haze of fear and heightened tension.

“You’re revolting.” Marlena jerked against the leather belt, trying to inch her body away from him. A cruel smile slanted his mouth. “Stop playing games with me, Marlena.”

The way he was staring at her, that darkness in his eyes a bottomless abyss, his finger hovering so close to her folds. “Cry for me, Marlena.” His finger rubbed the fabric of her panties, and hellfire stoked the fiery embers in his eyes as a muscle tightened in his jaw. “Stefano used to sit with you for hours,” he said, his voice guttural, strained. “I need to know what he told you.” Mortified, her anger latched on to her nerves, and her teeth sunk violently into her lip. The coppery taste coated her tongue as she met his vicious gaze. She didn’t owe him anything. 

He wanted to see her weak, frightened. He wanted to torment her and get off on her tears. She won’t give this monster the satisfaction. 

Time suspended, and she felt every action in excruciating detail—the feel of his abrasive palm pressed to her; his finger sliding through her slick lips; the way his hand cupped her on reflex; every muscle in his forearm tensed. 

“I don’t know what you want,” she said, breathless. “If you’re not going to use your knife, then you might as well release us.” She licked her lips, wiping the blood away with her tongue and drawing his gaze to her mouth. Fire and ice collided. Her heart thrummed so violently she feared her chest might crack. She couldn’t hear over the roar in her ears.

She yanked at the restraint as her mind started to clear. 

He kept backing away. 

He couldn't leave them there. “I want answers, Marlena.” He flicked the blade of the knife back and forth across his hand. “And if I won't get them from you, I will get them from him.” he glanced towards John.

 

Bastard.

 

“He knows nothing of that time. He wasn’t even here. You made your point. Now…let us out.” 

“I could,” he said, flipping the blade out once more. “Or maybe I’ll just leave you here for old time's sake.” The sounds farther ahead in the room made themselves known, and a cold sweat coated her skin. She held his gaze, imploring him, uncaring that her vulnerability was now bleeding through. 

A shaky breath leaked out. “I’ll do anything you ask of me.” He gripped the knife hilt, those intense eyes narrowed. With another fierce curse, he strode forward and cut the leather belt, setting her free. She pulled her wrist into her hand and massaged the irritated skin. John still said nothing as he started in the direction they came. 

“Go upstairs. John and I are going to have a little man to man.”

“No. I won’t leave him with you!” she argued.

“If you wish to save him. You’d stop acting like a fucking brat, and go upstairs” he seethed.

She followed the dim light out of the wine cellar, unwilling to think rationally about what she offered up in exchange. She knew she was there in her past. Whatever weakness he may have for them, she won’t find it there tonight.

​
 

******

 

2 AM. DIMera compound. Master bedroom. Gemini Island.

 

“What did Tony say, do you know what happened to me here?” 

“Yes,” he told her honestly. “You were his- their…prisoner.” That was all the truth she’ll extract from him tonight. He placed his hand over one of hers and removed her warm touch. Then he slipped a finger beneath the strap of her nightgown and tugged it aside, revealing the skin above her heart. “You have them too…you wear yours inside.”

She nodded lightly, her gaze dropping to the floor. He hooked his finger under her chin to bring her eyes back on him. 

“I need to know for sure, John, I need to open these scars, make them bleed,” she said. “Finding ways to live a life amid the darkness, to change this life for the best.” Her eyes shimmered, teary and haunted, and so fucking beautiful his chest might crack in two. She captured her lip between her teeth, and the yearning to steal those lips for himself—to feel their warmth and softness against his mouth—became a maddening desire.

“Jesus,” he said, taking a step away from her and spearing his fingers into his hair. What he knew was fucking with his head so hard, he couldn’t think. 

“What’s wrong? Just tell me please!” 

“You were their slave. Their sex slave..you were tied there, for, for months...”

Her expression changed, and her eyes glazed. “I was, I was what?”

“The only reason he released you eventually,” he continued, making sure she heard him in her dazed state, “you agreed to marry him. Tony wanted you to remember when Stefano kept your marriage license. You owe all DIMera’s properties now that Stefano’s dead.”

Thunder was a distant roar now. The heavy pour of rain pelted the windows, filling the silence. A forceful swallow dragged along her throat, and she lifted her chin in defiance.

“No. this can’t be.”

 

A disturbance from the hall drew John’s attention. He glanced out over her shoulder, his gaze drawn to a shadow right away. Confused, she tried to catch his gaze, but he was focused on that hallway. She followed his line of sight to a bloody, dangling figure - Tony. 

 

She saw it as soon as John did—but he was already moving, his arm reaching around her waist to draw her behind him. The moonlight streaming through a stained-glass window glinted off the steel barrel as Tony drew a gun from his waistband. 

Stupidly, she thought about how he was supposed to be laying dead somewhere, and how it was not possible for Tony to be aiming a gun on them right now. But all thoughts ceased the moment the deafening bang cracked the air. 

She couldn’t think. 

She couldn’t feel. 

A numbness spread through her body like ice water pouring into her veins. She realized Tony’s aim was directed on John, and all of a sudden pain lanced her body, a shock to her system. 

“Fuck,” John cursed. “Marlena, look at me.” His eyes were wide and fierce as he gazed down at her. Other expletives fell from his mouth as he grabbed hold of her arms and maneuvered her closer, drawing her shoulder toward him. 

 

Her eyes were drawn to the red dripping on her nightgown. It bloomed like sick poppies against the white. His hand went to her shoulder, to where the bullet grazed. When her eyes made the connection to the wound, her nerve endings flared as if burned, the pain finally registering. Marlena shook her head, shock still clouding her mind. “It’s just a flesh wound,” she heard herself say. 

Then she realized why John was so angry. She stepped in front of him—she tried to take the bullet for him. His expression all hard edges. As her senses returned, she looked up at John. Anger seared the depths of his eyes, and he turned his focus on Tony.

“Didn’t expect to see me here, didn’t you, John? How about showing some mercy for your brother, huh?”

“There will be no mercy.” John cupped the side of her face and swiped his thumb across her lips, smearing blood spatter away from her mouth, before he sealed his lips over hers in a demanding, soul-searing kiss. “Get back inside and lock the door,” he ordered, but she grabbed hold of John’s arm. “I’m not leaving—” 

“Go to the bathroom. Put pressure on the wound. I’ll be there soon.” He looked once more at her injury before he placed a kiss on her forehead and rushed into the fray.

​
 

******

​

She was sure when the shock of the day’s events wore off, she’d feel something about that. Guilt, remorse. 

Sorrow. 

The only thing Marlena wanted to feel was the security of his strong arms. At this moment, she felt safe, loved. He handled her like she was porcelain. Like she might shatter. 

Silently, he entered the master suite bathroom and turned on the light, setting the dimmer low, somehow knowing her eyes couldn’t handle any bright lights. He watched her shoulder, it was covered neatly. White bandages wrapped tightly. Her gown was stained. The shiny nightgown was soaked with blood. John’s gaze snagged hers, and he must read her thoughts, because he palmed her cheek and said, “He’s dead.” 

She pressed her lips together. 

“Oh, God, John... we need-” 

The ghost of a smile stole across his mouth. “Don’t think about it now, Doc. He’s scorched earth. We can talk about it in the morning” 

She nodded sagely before he stood and moved to the shower. Her gaze studied the scrapes on his hands that must have been caused by Tony. 

John killed him. 

For hurting her. 

She should feel appalled, maybe, but all she could feel was relief. He turned on the spray, testing the temperature, before he began shedding his clothing, which was even more ruined than her gown. As he stripped the jacket off, revealing the bloodstained skin beneath, she gasped. 

“John, you’re hurt.” He glanced at the slash along his rib cage like he just remembered he’d been injured. 

“I’m fine.” He proceeded to remove his pants, and she watched with bated breath as he revealed all his enticingly sensual skin and lean muscles.

“Where’s my doctor's bag?” She knew she packed one. John scrubbed an impatient hand through his hair and then grabbed the bag from a dresser. He started prepping the wound, and she took the cotton from his hand. 

“This is my job,” she told him. While she was tending to his cut, cleaning, and bandaging, John watched her with a curious arch of his eyebrow. Admittedly, she’d never had to bandage someone after a fight to the death…but she’d had plenty of practice. 

 

A tremor leaked into her hand as she finished off the dressing. She bit the corner of her lip. He took her hand and guided her around so her back was to him. The feel of him expertly unlacing the backing of the gown sent an arousing shiver over her skin. Soon her nightgown fell to the floor, leaving her bare. She stepped out of the gown and he tossed it out of the bathroom. 

“We’ll burn it,” he said, a hard edge to his voice. He opened the glass shower door and led her inside the stall. The warm water melted over her skin, cleansing away all thoughts of horror and death. John tipped her face upward and skimmed his fingers over her jaw and cheeks, careful of the bandage protecting her covered wound, gingerly washing blood from her skin. Much in the same way she washed the blood from him, trying to bring him back from the brink, seeking the man behind the monster. He was looking for the woman beneath all the anguish. 

“He deserved worse,” he said, and she knew he’d referred to Tony, trying to alleviate her burden, her guilt. 

“I know,” she said, even if she didn’t fully believe it yet. “I’m fine,” Marlena repeated his words back to him, but the doubt in his eyes conveyed what he’d unwilling to voice. 

“What happened—?” she started. 

“Not tonight.” His heated blue gaze flitted over her features, so intense, an ache lodged at the base of her throat. “Tomorrow, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. But tonight, all I want is to feel you and know you’re mine.” His words were an aphrodisiac, sending a blazing shock of arousal between her thighs, heightening her awareness of his erection pressed to her belly. She licked her lips, gaze casted on his beautiful face. 

 

He didn’t give her a second to respond. He nipped her jaw, trailing a lingering kiss over her lips, before he spun her around to face the tiled wall. Planting her hands to the tile, he lifted her hair from the back of her neck, making her shiver. 

“Don’t move,” he ordered. 

She held still as he grabbed the shampoo bottle and doled out a generous amount into his hand. As he began to lather it into her hair, washing away all the grime and blood from today, the action did something to her heart. Hands that were rough when fisted in her hair, were now gentle and soothing, taking extra care to offer her comfort. The sudsy foam slipped over her shoulders and down the valley of her chest, drawing his attention, then he’d all urgent need as she felt the press of his hardness against her backside. 

 

He lowered his mouth to the nape of her neck where he first placed a kiss, then to the dressed wound on her shoulder. 

He suddenly tensed. “You tried to take a bullet for me.” His voice was guttural, raw. She remained silent, unsure how to respond. “I don’t know whether I should punish you for that stupidity, or kiss you until you’re crazed with need.” He made a sound of appreciation as his hands slipped around her front, spreading shampoo suds over her breasts and making her knees weak. 

“Those options sound like one and the same,” she said, nearly breathless. 

“Hmm.” Mouth hovering over the juncture of her neck, he nipped the tender skin, causing her belly to flinch. “Don’t ever do it again.” He didn’t give her the chance to counter as he turned her around and pressed her back to the wall. Eyes fierce and blazing, John proceeded to kiss her desperately, making good on his threat. 

He cupped her face, tilting her head up and holding her firmly in place, as his mouth sealed over hers. He stole her breath, tongue delving deep to claim her mouth for himself. As he pulled away, his gaze flicked over her features. He pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek, before working his way down her body, dropping kisses over every bruise and scrape. 

Marlena was almost a heaving puddle by the time he reached the apex of her thighs. She could feel his breath hot and clipped as he roughly gripped her leg and deposited her foot on the shower ledge, spreading her open to him. Warm water cascaded over the planes of her body to wash the suds from the shampoo over her skin as he rubbed his hand up her slippery flesh. Then he sucked her clit into his mouth. 

 

She trembled at the salacious feel of his tongue flicking over the sensitive bundle of nerves, already wet and needy to feel him inside her. He reached up and rubbed the soapy water over her breast, pinching her nipple between the slats of his fingers, as his mouth brought her close to the edge. 

 

Torturous thoughts of him leaving her —assaulted her, and she said, “Don’t stop…please…” A sound of anguished need rumbled out against her sensitive flesh, heated by his breath.

“I want you to come for me, Doc.” He licked her slit all the way to her clit, decimating her sanity. “Because when I fuck you, you need to be ready.” 

Her eyes shuttered closed at the coarse tone of his voice, and Marlena nearly came on command, as he lapped at her pussy. Her hips undulated as her body begged for friction, and when he rubbed his fingers over her folds while sucking her clit, she came un-fucking-done. She clawed her fingers into his hair as she shattered against him, back arched off the shower wall. He rose to his feet to swallow her moans, picking her up by the backs of her thighs and pressing them under the spray of water. She locked her legs around his hips as the rest of the shampoo washed away. John turned the water off before he carried her out of the shower. 

 

He kept her cradled in his arms as he ran the tap on the soaking tub. She broke the kiss to give him a questioning look. “I think we’re clean enough,” she said, her tone mocking. The depth of his blue eyes was startling. “I don’t know how to be gentle, but for you, I’m going to try. This way, I won’t lose control.” 

His admission sent a ripple of awareness over her. She stared at him, realizing for the first time his affinity for water. She wondered if he was even aware of it, or if there was a subconscious part of him that required the cleansing agents of the water. It was the shower that brought the man back from the dark edge tonight covered in blood. 

 

So it made sense that, after all the bloodshed, a day that was steeped in so much death, they should end up together in a tub of water, purifying each other as they become one. She held his unsure gaze and nodded. 

“I trust you,” she said, before she kissed him, loving the way he lost himself so furiously in her he groaned against her mouth. 

He stepped into the tub and lowered them, placing her back to the deepest section. The water rose to her waist as he settled between her legs. He braced an arm over the lip of the tub and, god, the sight of his arm strained above, holding his beautiful body carved of hard, lean muscle over her, was the sexiest thing she has ever seen. Marlena shook her head against the tub. “You’re just…a dreamboat,” she smiled. 

 

His laugh came sudden and unexpected, and it was the most beautiful sound. She stared up at him in wondered, imprinting the image of his smiling face in her mind. He ran his thumb over her cheek, gaze lingering on her face. “God, I’ve wanted you just like this since we left Salem.” His confession slipped over her like a tantalizing current, carrying her uncertainty away as he coaxed her into a sensual kiss. His hand roamed her body worshipfully, his touch becoming more urgent, frantic.

 Rough. 

 

Although she could feel him holding back, restraining himself. She didn’t want that—she wanted all of him. Fury and wrath and wild, unhinged passion. She turned the kiss more heated, scraping her nails down his back to urge him closer. The press of his cock to her entrance sent a desperate, empty ache into her core, and she lifted her hips in silent surrender. He broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers, as he took measured breaths. Then he captured her jaw, tilting her face toward him so he could stare into her eyes as he pushed against her folds. 

“You’re so fucking beautiful, Doc, you destroy me.” He entered her slowly, the water dulling some of the friction, but not enough. “Fuck, you’re still so fucking wet…” He said it like an accusation, as if he was angry with her or the water for betraying him. His eyes shut against the onslaught as he tried to ease inside her without causing pain. “You’re so tight. God….” 

 

She bit down on her lip, the fullness of him entering her, as he filled her, sank inside and sent a flutter of elation to her chest, she couldn’t stop her hips from grinding against him, demanding more. The coppery taste of blood slipped into her mouth from her split lip. His gaze trapped the sight, his body stilling. Like a predator sensing prey, hunger seized him, carnal and consuming, before he stroked. 

She licked her lips, and he tracked the movement with ravenous intent. “Hurt me until it feels good,” she said on a breathless plea.

“You make me fucking crazy,” he said, his voice so damn sexy she lost her mind. She was not sure if he even realized it, his eyes blazing and devouring her as he was forced to relinquish control. His mouth descended on hers, running his tongue across her bottom lip first to lick the bead of red, slowly, seductively, before he captured her mouth in a brutal kiss. She was on fire as he tasted her, his blaze consuming. He thrust inside her fully, his hips spreading her thighs wider as he drove deep, penetrating her until she was forced to sink her teeth into his bicep. The primal act fueled him on, and he pulled out slightly only to thrust in harder. 

A moan released from her unbidden, and she watched as gooseflesh raised along his skin at her desperate sound. He moved faster, harder, thrusting in deeper each time, until there was no control left to cling to. Water sloshed around their bodies, the sound mingling with the slap of their flesh, so erotic. 

 

John came undone on top of her, his body smooth and abrasive at the same time, their skin conducting a heated current, igniting flames. Marlena dug her nails into his flesh, feeling his skin break beneath her desperate grip, her ankles linked and her heels digging into his backside, as he fucked her with ruthless abandon. As his hand speared her hair, angling her body where he wanted her to go deeper, he hit the needy ache inside her and she cried out. “Baby, are you hurting?” he asked around his clenched jaw, unable to stop moving completely. She shook her head against him. 

“Keep going…it feels good.” 

He whispered a harsh curse before he lifted up and gazed down at her. “Good girl.” Wrapping his arm around her lower back, he hoisted her against him. “Because I’m about to destroy that pussy.” The rough cadence of his voice sent an arousing shiver over her heated skin, and she circled her arms around his shoulders as he carried her from the bathroom to the bedroom. 

 

Gone was the careful man who was too gentle with her body as he dropped her on top of the duvet, staring down at her like a beast about to mutilate his meal. Mindful of her shoulder, she lifted up on her elbows to take him in, hard and erect, and his eyes pure hellfire.

 

The top of his lip carried some of her blood. She swallowed at the sight. “My blood…it’s on your lip” He met her gaze with vicious hunger. “I want every part of you staining me.” He prowled over her like a crime lord bent on conquering, a monster unleashed from the bowels of hell to deliver damnation. 

 

He collared her throat with a grip meant to dominate and kissed her like he had been starved, and punishing her was the only way to satiate that hunger. They were battered and bruised and wounded, but all pain was forgotten as carnal lust and need fired through their veins, drawing them closer. His hold around her throat tightened as he moved down her body and captured her nipple between his teeth. The slight pinch shot to the neediest, empty part of her, and she bucked her hips, demanding him to fill her. 

He groaned against her and, as if she weighed nothing, he flipped her over and pulled her ass up against him. He backed up enough to rub his hand over her ass cheek, then bit the tender flesh, eliciting a throaty cry from her. 

“Grab the headboard,” he commanded. Her body piqued, she reached out and gripped the oak, the sharp edge satisfying as it dug into her flesh. Then the feel of his cock pressing against her was all it took to send her right over the edge, and she felt herself soaking her thighs. 

 

He slammed inside her, hard and relentless, not holding back. His hand anchored around her neck to fasten her throat in a choke-hold, arching her body in a lewd position meant to give him the best angle. 

It was filthy, raw. 

Deviant. 

And her whole body ignited like gasoline on fire at his cruel touch. His other hand snaked around her pelvis, fingers expertly seeking the bundle of nerves that was already too stimulated and, when he rubbed her clit, she almost broke. 

“This is mine,” he declared, his voice a gruff assertion. “Say it. Tell me who this pussy belongs to.” 

Marlena gasped on a moan, the constriction of her throat surging to a heightened, desperate frenzy to reach climax. 

“Yours,” she managed, her voice strained. “I belong to you.” 

He drove into her with malicious longing, almost like if he didn’t take every piece of her, she’ll vanish.

“Mine,” he growled, thrusting so hard and deep inside her, she felt the slap of it in her lower back. His thrusts intensified, the sound of his dark groans so sexy it curled in her belly, spreading over her back and deep in her core…until he pinched her clit, and she broke. 

 

“That’s it, Doc,” he said, fucking her harder, “come for me. Soak my fucking cock.” He choked up on her throat as her body tensed, then loosened his grip, sending a euphoric rush through her whole body. Her skin sizzled, a web of pleasure spun around her, lighting up her body like a live wire. As she came, she felt him grow harder, his thrusts desperate and pounding against her ass until he drove so deep and held there, releasing a torrent of curses as his hot breath touched her skin.

 

He released inside her, pulsing against her inner walls, sending another level of arousal coursing her veins. His arm shackled her chest as he held himself there, suspended as the last of his orgasm claimed him, his labored breaths raining down on her back. Then he pulled her away from the headboard and propped her back against his body, his chest and arms caging her against him. Their breathing began to slow, their bodies coming down together in sync. 

No words were needed, and she laid her arms over his, relishing in the strong feel of him, knowing they belonged to each other. He kissed her then, lovingly, searing their bodies together in a physical oath.