The Oath We Give (The Hollow Boys Book 5)

coraline

“Coraline, the plan is going to work,” Silas tells me again, hands in my hair as he holds my face. “I promise.” 

“But what if he finds out we moved the wedding up, and then what? He shows up with a bomb strapped to his chest? This isn’t just about me and you—it’s your family too, Silas,” I murmur, heart racing, even though it’s been hours since he told me what Easton said.

“He’s not going to. He won’t hurt you. I just need you to trust me.” 

Yeah? And what about you? I want to say. Who protects you? 

The piercing sound of my phone alarm rings out, making me flinch. I set down my paintbrush, running two frustrated hands through my hair. 

I’m getting married for the second time tomorrow, and all I feel in my stomach is dread. I know Silas says he has a plan. I know I trust him. 

But there are too many lives at risk, too many people I’ve grown to care about that could get hurt in the crossfire of this. If Stephen were to find out about what the boys plan to do, it could be catastrophic, and for what? 

For me. 

All of this for me. 

My teeth grind together as I press my hands onto the black canvas, shoving it forward and watching it smash to the floor, paint splattering across it. 

I thought spending the day in my studio would help ease the nerves, but I think it’s only made it worse. Being alone with my thoughts, with no one to talk me out of my spiral. 

A spiral that’s leading me into dangerous waters, ones that Silas would hate me for entering. 

“Getting cold feet, Hex?” 

I don’t finish my thought because Silas is leaning against the front door. My heartbeat thumps in my throat, drumming loudly in my ears. 

It’s unfair for him to look this good in a suit. Impossibly strong, muscles unable to be hidden by the slick black material. He wears a smirk, staring at me with an arched eyebrow. 

“They say it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding day, Hawthorne.” I stand from the stool, leaving the canvas on the floor. 

He pushes off the doorframe, stalking further into the room, his hands deep inside of his pockets. 

I hate that even though I want to protect him by keeping my distance, by doing something stupid like calling Stephen and offering myself to him to save Silas, I still want him close to me. 

When he’s in the room, it’s hard to not want to be next to him. His entire existence is a balm for my soul, like he was made to keep me calm. 

“I have a gift for the bride that needed to be delivered personally,” he grunts, coming to a stop when he’s in front of me and peering down at me with a smile in his eyes. 

My eyebrow lifts. “Can you stop buying me shit, please?” 

“Stop being easy to buy for and I’ll think about it,” he mutters, leaning forward and placing a kiss on my forehead before producing a black box from his pocket. 

Despite my fear of tomorrow, I let myself have this moment with him, unsure of how many more I may get, knowing in my heart that I’d do something stupid if it meant he was safe. Even if it made him hate me. 

He flicks the box open with a pop.

“How very alpha male of you,” I laugh as I look down at the nipple rings resting on top of the plush material. “You afraid I’ll forget your initials?” 

Two silver nipple rings, crafted with the initials S and H on each side, stare up at me. 

“My mom gave you her shoes for something old. Lilac gave you something blue. This is something new.” His eyes darken, those eyes like sodden earth, steady ground in which life could grow but chose not to. A place to settle roots and bloom. “As a reminder of who you belong to.” 

My teeth sink into my bottom lip. “In a fake way or in a real way?” 

His fingers move to tuck a piece of loose hair behind my ear, a habit of his that I’m growing fond of. “Nothing about us has ever been fake, Coraline.” 

He steps closer, neither of us saying anything as I search his face, eyes darting between his gaze and his lips. Silas’s breath fans across my face as he slowly leans in until his lips are barely hovering above mine. 

My hands rest on his chest, pushing him back just a bit. 

“I’m afraid I’ll hurt you. There is something wrong with me,” I mumble. 

Large palms enclose my hips, tugging me into his hard chest. “Touching you has always felt like more of a gift than any curse, Hex.” 

“And if it kills you?” 

“Would hurt less than never kissing you again.” 

The pads of his thumbs brush over the curves of my hips, warming my skin. I detail every inch of his jawline with my fingers, the skin soft beneath my touch before he presses forward, sealing our mouths together. 

I shouldn’t be doing this. Not when I know what I’m going to do after today. I shouldn’t let him in, just to break my heart and his by pushing him away. 

But his lips are addictive, the way they devour every inch of me, drinking me down like he can’t ever get enough of me. My body is a well that he loves to drown in. 

“Be a good girl and take your shirt off.” He nips at my bottom lip, tugging the material of my shirt upward toward my chest. 

Desire washes over me, wanting to succumb to the pleasure of being with Silas one last time. Just to be selfish one last time with him. 

I abide by his rules, finishing the job of removing my shirt. He knows me well enough to know there is no bra underneath because his palms are there to grasp my boobs, squeezing the soft flesh, making me arch into him with a gasp. 

Fire burns in my lower stomach, hands gripping his shoulders for support as he buries his face into the side of my neck. His lips settle against the soft spot between my neck and shoulder. 

“Silas,” I moan, feeling the pressure of his mouth. “I can’t hide hickeys in my wedding dress.” 

“Good,” he grunts, biting down on my throat to prove his point. “Let them all know that you belong to me. This body, those witchy lips, your heart. It’s all mine.” 

I know by the time we’re done, my skin is going to be littered with purple and red marks, marked and tainted by his mouth for the world to know that I’m his. 

Even if it’s just for a few more days. 

My arms wind around his neck, and in one second, I’m on the ground, and the next, I’m lifted by my thighs, legs wrapping around his hips, causing my shoes to fall off as he turns and walks us backward. 

My hands are greedy, tracing the lines of his shoulders and face as he kneels on the ground, laying my body horizontally across the floor. 

I gasp as my back hits something cold and wet. 

“What—”

“Let your body make art for me, Hex,” he murmurs into my throat, working his mouth down my chest, tongue swiping against my erect nipple, making me moan. 

He takes his time undressing me and himself, and I’m glad for it. I want to savor every second of this. Ingrain it deep into my brain so that it can be a secret place of happiness for me in the future. When the world turns dark again, Silas will be there as a beacon of light. 

They say the Hollow Boys are pure darkness, rotted evil. 

Those people have never loved one of them. Never peeked beneath the veil and saw just how blinding the light beneath is. 

Silas forces my thighs apart, spreading me open for him. The cool air brushes against my naked core, making me flinch, but his warm mouth replaces the chill. Just the sight of him on his knees worshipping me between my thighs is enough to send me over the edge. 

His long fingers dig into the sensitive skin of my inner thighs, spreading me open for his tongue to delve between my folds. If there’s one thing I know about him, it’s that he’s always hungry. Always desperate to give me more orgasms than even I knew I could handle. 

He wants me wrung dry and numb when he’s finished. 

His greedy tongue swipes over my clit, sucking the bundle of nerves into his mouth. My back arches from the canvas, paint stuck to my back as I wiggle my hips against his mouth. I place a hand on his shoulder and the other on his head, grinding myself against his strong tongue. 

“Fuck me,” I choke out when a finger slides inside my pussy, massaging my inner walls with measured skill. “God, you’re too good at this.” 

His eyes slit, smirking up at me between my thighs. His large hands crawl beneath me, cupping my ass in his palms, gripping me tightly to his face before my entire world spins on its axis. 

Literally. 

Silas flips our bodies with ease, his back now flat on the canvas while I straddle his mouth. He continues to drag his lips up and down my folds, tracing circles around my clit. The pressure of my weight on his mouth makes my stomach tighten. 

“You’re going to ride my face and soak my tongue like a good girl, baby,” he hums, making me shiver. “And then you’re going to ride my cock and let me fill that tight pussy up.” 

I nod shamelessly, muffled moans echoing around the empty studio as I rock my hips back and forth. My core squeezes as I chase the delicious friction between my legs. 

“Play with your tits while I fuck you with my tongue, Hex.” 

My hands run the length of my body, cupping my breasts, toying with the piercings, evoking a hiss of pleasure from me. When I’m with Silas, everything is warm, that empty part in me heated by his existence, and right now, I’m burning up with him. 

“I’m so close,” I whimper, humping his tongue faster, desperately close to the edge. 

Silas flattens his tongue, pressing hard against my clit, moving his head with my jerky movements. The swell of my orgasm builds in a dull but looming wave. My breaths come in uncontrollable and erratic bursts as my hips squirm in his grasp, but he holds me close, refusing to let me stop. 

When his teeth skim my clit, I loose a scream, his name on my lips as I fall over the cliff and into a pool of ecstasy. My climax moves through me like water, cascading over my entire body, making me shake with pleasure. 

Silas works me over, continuing to lick and play with my pussy until I’m begging him to stop. Begging him to fuck me. My hand crashes down on the canvas as he moves me down his body until I’m straddling his chest. Red paint coats the material beneath us, swirls and splashes of color beneath us, marking every desire-fueled movement, and I’m silently glad there will be something physical to remember this by. 

“You gonna ride my cock? Be my good fucking wife and let your husband use that tight cunt up?” he grunts, guiding me onto his lap. 

The veins of his cock press against my wet pussy, making me shiver as I grind against it, needing him inside of me, every brutal inch. 

I bite down on the inside of my cheek, lifting myself up to align him with my entrance and slowly lowering myself onto him, relishing the sensation of his cock filling and stretching me inch by inch. 

Silas’s lips part slightly, and he throws his head back onto the canvas with a groan. As he bottoms out, fully inside of me, I keep still, barely moving before I roll my hips, slowly lifting myself up before coming down again, stroking his cock with my inner walls. 

“Silas,” I whimper, digging my nails into his chest for support, savoring every single inch of him buried in me. His fingers sink into my skin at my hips, helping me bounce up and down his length. 

We move in sync, fucking one another like our bodies were made for it. The way he rolls his hips into mine and my body meets his. 

“So good for me, baby. Taking this cock so well. What a good fucking girl,” he murmurs, sitting up and placing his lips on mine. He curls his arms around my waist and uses it as leverage to thrust up into me. 

My tongue swipes against his swollen lips, biting down lightly. Our movements become faster as the hunger in us builds. Silas moves one of his hands to my mouth, dipping his thumb into my mouth. 

“Suck it,” he orders, and my tongue is already obeying, sucking slowly before he pulls it away and moves it to my throbbing clit. His thrusts hit harder, making my ass recoil with every deep stroke. 

“Fuck, fuck, oh fuck,” I murmur at the sensation of his finger moving circles around the sensitive bud while his cock impales me, stretching and massaging my inner walls, those piercings along his shaft rubbing against me. 

My walls tighten around him, making him groan into my body, forcing him to move with urgency. Like all he can think about is making me come. 

“So fucking tight. So fucking good,” he whispers against my sweaty skin, my climax fast approaching. 

Silas fills me up perfectly, every stroke hitting exactly where I crave him. His hands grip me so tightly, burning bruises into my flesh, marking me beneath the skin, as he uses my body as an outlet for his sexual desires. 

The knot in my stomach tightens, his name falling from my lips like a prayer. 

“Come for me, baby. Milk my fucking cock.” 

I meet his hips once, twice, all of my nerves wound up before snapping. Another orgasm smashes through me, drenching his length in my wetness as he continues to fuck me. My inner walls clench around him, giving him what he needs to reach his own high. 

“That’s it. That’s it. Gonna fill this cunt up,” he grunts in my ear, pumping into me until he moans against my skin, fucking his come into my body, draining both of us before he slows, eventually coming to a stop. 

We stay there, wrapped around one another on the canvas. Sweat coats our skin as we listen to each other’s breathing, my body still shaking from the force of my orgasm. 

“So pretty when you come for me, Hex.” 

Silas pushes my hair out of my face, painting my forehead with paint by accident as he smiles at me, teeth and all, giving me my favorite gift. 

His happiness. 

“If you don’t believe in the curse, why call me Hex?” I breathe, dropping my forehead to his, my limbs feeling weak. 

I feel his fingers at the back of my neck, rubbing softly. “Hexadecimal.” 

“Huh?” 

“It doesn’t mean cursed, baby. It’s short for hexadecimal,” he mumbles, rubbing his nose against mine. “From the moment I saw you leaving that fucking hell house, there was the secret connection between us. I understood you, saw your pain, and wanted to take it away. Like I knew what you needed before you asked. I’m not calling you cursed; I’m saying you’re a special language only I can decode.” 

Tears burn the corner of my eyes, slipping down my cheeks silently, knowing that there is no one who understands what I need more than him. In a moment of chaos, he knew how to help me find peace, never once making me feel damaged or broken.  

He has always seen me as just Coraline, and that’s always been enough for him. 

My heart cracks. What’s left of it shatters. 

Silas leaves me at the apartment after we clean ourselves up, honoring the wedding gods by spending the night with the boys tonight, leaving me alone with my sister to prepare for tomorrow.

Leaving me to make a choice, one that I hope he forgives me for someday, when he has some time and space to understand why I did it. That I didn’t make this decision lightly, and it was for him. For the people he loves.

I can’t put him and those people at risk. Not for me. I’m not worth that. No matter how much Silas tries to convince me otherwise.

As the night falls and my sister drifts to sleep, I sit alone in the apartment, listening to the dial tone of a phone number I never wanted to call.

“There you are, Circe. I’ve been waiting for you.”