Cain

I yawned as I set the Vudu doll down on the nightstand and glanced at the clock on the bedside. It was almost midnight, but we managed to finish making the doll. Every time I looked at it, I got chills from the waves of dark energy I could sense from it, but I ignored it.

I couldn't die anyway. What did I look like being afraid of a faceless doll?

After restless hours of research and perfecting the magic, I was beat. I had experience with magic considering I had made all of the artifacts in hell, but it was still draining. I let myself relax into the fluffy pillow in Iris's bed and a small smile appeared on my lips.

Her sweet scent wafted into my senses and I sunk into the bed. I closed my eyes, and when I heard the shower stop, I was immediately awake. I didn't know how long girls truly showered until I stayed here with Iris. I was cursed to remain young forever, but I felt myself aging as I waited for her.

I'd almost recognized her routine and I knew in a few seconds, she'd be blow-drying her hair. Like clockwork, the sound of the dryer floated through the room and I smiled to myself. I didn't know where my sudden energy came from, but I knew it had a lot to do with the small surprise I had for her.

We'd been busy all day so it didn't feel like the right time to give her it, but we were finally done. I just needed her to get out of the damn restroom before I barged in. I messed around on my phone and checked on my sister before setting it down and checking on the present I had.

I was nervous as shit and I completely hated the feeling. I'd always prided myself for being so smooth, but I felt like I was going to break out into hives as I thought about what to say to her. Looking at the time, she was most likely done putting on lotion and just getting dressed.

I relaxed knowing that I had at least five more minutes, but my eyes widened when the restroom door opened. Her eyes landed on me as I awkwardly sat on the bed and she raised a brow. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," I said quickly...maybe too quickly.

"Weirdo," she muttered with a small smile on her face. I expected her to be dressed when she came out, but she was wearing a fluffy pink robe that ended a little bit above the halfway point on her thighs. She was usually more nervous about what she wore around me, but I was glad to see that she was loosening up a little bit.

She walked to a drawer in her room and I eyed her every move until she looked at me through the reflection in the mirror. "Stop staring at me."

"I'm not staring."

"Then what do you call this?" She laughed softly.

"Admiring my beautiful girlfriend," I said as I stood up from the bed. She smiled at me before continuing to look through her drawers and I wrapped my arms around her waist. Her cheeks became a light shade of red at the gesture and I placed a kiss on her neck before resting my chin on her head and laying my arms on her shoulders.

"I hate when you do that," she groaned as she tried to move her head away.

"It's what you deserve for being so short."

"I'm not short," she said. "You're just tall."

"Well, get on my level and you don't need to worry about me doing this," I said in a mock voice.

"Rude ass."

"I have something for you," I said before she could turn her attention back to getting dressed.

"What?"

I stepped away from her and took her hand into mine. I rushed her to the bed and sat her down at the edge of the bed before moving to where I had the gift. When I picked it up, I held it behind my back and gave her a large grin before standing in front of her.

"Here, hold this," I said as I passed her a small gift bag. "Don't open it yet, I wrote a poem for you."

Iris

I took the small sparkly grey gift bag and held it in my hands before looking up at him. He looked at me before taking a tiny note out of his pocket, and I smiled as I watched him unfold it. When he was done, he cleared his throat as he looked down at the pink sticky note containing whatever "poem" he had written.

He cleared his throat and I waited patiently for him to continue.

"Roses are red
Violets are blue
You're the most annoying person in the world,
But I l-mmm."

"You what?" I asked as he abruptly stopped reading.

"Nothing," he said as he crumpled the note in his hands. "I'm bad at poems. I don't even know why I wrote one. I'm better with gifts, so open."

I smiled slightly at his nervousness and placed the gift onto my lap before pulling out the wrappers. I reached my hand into the bag and pulled out a small grey box. I peeked up at him to see him looking down at me curiously and I took a breath before opening the box.

My mouth dropped as I saw something bright shining back at me and I immediately shut it. "Damn, you could've at least pretended to like it."

"Cain, this looks super expensive," I said as I passed it back to him. "I can't take this."

"Why not?" He asked as he slowly pushed it back.

"I don't want you wasting your money on me."

"Whatever money I spend on you isn't a waste, it's an investment," he said.

"Investment?" I questioned. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Okay, so maybe investment was the wrong word?"

"Just explain yourself," I said. "Maybe I'm the slow one here."

He gave me a "really" look and I gave him a defensive shrug. "I just mean that I don't see this as a waste. I'm investing my time, my energy, my heart...my everything into you."

"You realize if an investment doesn't work out, it's a waste of all of those things, right?"

"No, even if it doesn't...you're still worth all of those things. Besides, investing in you also benefits me," he said.

"How so?"

"If things go left, you'll always be one of the most eventful parts of my thousands of years here," he said.

"Why are you thinking about things going left?" I teased.

"I'm not, I'm just saying," he said, completely flustered. It was strange to see that underneath the man that he was at work, he was a huge dork. But I loved it. "I'm trying to be sweet Iris, stop ruining my moment."

"I'm sorry," I laughed. "Continue your moment."

"Nothing that remotely revolves around you, is a waste. You mean everything to me and I-mmm."

You love me.

"You "Or something" me," I answered for him.

"Exactly," he said with a charming smile. "Now accept the damn bracelet before I superglue it to your wrist while you're sleeping."

"Who thinks to do that?" I giggled.

"Come on," he said as his mood became more serious. "If you don't want to wear it because you don't like it, then let it be that. But don't turn it down because you don't think you're worth every penny plus more spent on it."

His words tugged on my heartstrings and I hesitantly pulled the box back to me. I bit my lip as I opened the box once again and I tried to hold back a smile as I looked down at the diamond charm bracelet.

"I love it," I said as I looked at it.

Cain sat down beside me and removed the bracelet from the box. I held my wrist out for him and he put it on me and clasped the lock. When it fit perfectly, I frowned and raised a brow at him. "How does it fit so well?"

"Well, I needed to know the size of your wrist in the past...I remembered it," he said.

"Right," I said nervously.

"Yup, I also measured your wrist while you were sleeping the other day."

"You are so weird!" I giggled. He smiled at me and I looked at the bracelet before looking at him. "Thank you so much."

"Of course," he said softly. His eyes locked onto mine and his lips moved down to my lips before I looked away.

"I- umm, I should get dressed," I said.

He nodded slowly in understanding, but his eyes kept me in the same spot. "Have you checked on your grandfather?" He questioned.

"You know he's not here," I said softly. "You literally took him to the hospital." Once a week, my grandfather spent the night at the hospital so they could check in him, and this was one of those nights. I'd go with him, but he always insisted on being alone.

"Must've forgotten."

"Mhmm."

"Umm," he began as he lightly shook his head. "The bracelet. I wanted to do this thing where we change it every year to something important to us. Like on our anniversary or something."

"That's cute," I said softly as I played with the charms already in it. Of course, there were diamond versions of our signs along with tiny stars and a crystal ball. Almost everything that had represented us since we'd met, was on here.

His finger moved below my chin and tilted my head to look in his direction. A small smirk played on his lips before he slowly leaned into me and our lips connected.

His kiss was slow as if it was gauging my reaction, but when I deepened it, he took it as a signal to let his domineering side take over. Usually, I would've been cautious about how fast we moved, but right now I wanted to completely forget about all my insecurities.

I just wanted him, and he wanted me. That's all that mattered.

I moved back onto the bed and Cain followed me as our lips moved against each others. My head hit the pillows and I opened my legs as he moved between them. Although my head was fuzzy from our kiss, I was highly conscious of his hand placement along my body. If I was nervous, now would've been a good time to push him away, but I wanted to test my boundaries.

I wanted to drop my inhibitions and let him "or something" me the way he fully wanted to. The way I wanted him to. I wasn't new to sex with him, but I was new to sex with this side of him. The Cain beyond the whips and contracts was still a stranger to me, but I wanted to meet him.

I didn't care if I got the Dom, the dork, the bank robber, or killer for all I knew. I wanted to know every side whether it was good or bad. It felt unhealthy, but I was a woman in love. How could I not be when he touched me the way that he did?

His hand glided up my lip and up my robe to my hip and I relaxed. He pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. "We can stop here, you know?"

"I don't want to."

He was getting prepared to ask me once again, but I pulled him down and trapped his words with a kiss. At my approval, his hesitance began to dissipate. After a few moments, he pulled away once again and I groaned. "We're not having sex."

"What? Why?"

"I want to," he said as he swallowed a breath. With a shift in his movement, my breath hitched as I felt him completely hard between my legs. "But I already told you I wanted to wait."

Until you see yourself the way I see you.

Those were his exact words on the rooftop. I heard him say it, but I thought it was another move that boys made. I didn't think he was serious.

"Okay, okay," I nodded breathlessly. "I see myself the way you see me right now."

"How do I see you?" He asked.

"Uhh," I said as I squinted my eyes and looked at the ceiling. "As a bitch laying on a bed with a pink robe?"

"You fucked up at bitch," he teased. "No sex." I frowned and he kissed me on the neck before glancing up at me. "But I want to try something."

"What?"

He propped himself up with his arms on either side of me and his hand moved to the rope holding my robe together. "Are you comfortable enough to take this off?"

꧁꧂

Author's Note