Radley's Home for Horny Monsters by Annabelle Hawthorne (chromebook ebook reader TXT) 📕

lack of interest, there was a part of him that wanted to know just how grateful.

His cock rose in his pants. Lily’s face broke into a broad smile, her eyes never leaving his. She licked her lips hungrily, lips that begged to be kissed, licked, and even fucked.

You’re so disgusting! His mother’s voice was stronger than ever, reverberating through his being. The past few days had silenced her, bringing him overdue peace. Now, having discovered that his mind had fractured, she had a newfound strength, a way of terrifying that little boy who still hid deep inside, the one that thought he had finally found love and acceptance.

“You’re much cuter in person,” Lily told him, her fingers trailing down his body. “I think we could come to a mutual-” She frowned as she looked down and realized his cock had gone completely limp. She stared at his crotch, disbelief on her face.

“You need to go,” he told her. Lily’s face was frozen in shock as he pushed her gently to the front of the house. “And tell those assholes at the Society that I have no interest in ever letting them near this place.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Flabbergasted, Lily could only sputter at him as he shut the door in her face.

NIGHT HAD FALLEN, AND Mike paced the house, wandering from room to room with no direction. He uncovered furniture, opened drawers, attempting to reconcile the idea that he really might have to leave. A gigantic hole had formed in his gut, one he feared could never be filled. He had found something special in this house, something that made him a real person, no longer the damaged creature he had once been. He couldn’t explain why, but he just knew that there was no way his brain had made everything up.

His mother’s voice hounded him, louder than ever. A couple of times, he swore he could see her standing in the doorway, or walking out of sight down the hall. At first, he had thought she was one of his girls, his lovable monsters, but she constantly mocked him from out of sight.

“Why am I so damaged?” These words had floated around in his mind all day, migrating eventually to his lips. He found himself asking nearly every room this question, waiting for one of them to answer. He couldn’t stay any longer, not if it meant his sanity, yet he knew that he couldn’t go. To leave was to admit defeat, to give up on the life he could have had.

He sat on his bathroom counter, staring at the empty tub across from him. It was huge, too big for any normal person to simply take a bath in. He couldn’t believe that anybody in their right mind would build one so large. It definitely wouldn’t be reasonable for a single person to use it. He had never prided himself on being a man of too much imagination, and he knew for a fact that he needed to figure out, once and for all, if what he had experienced was real.

He turned the faucet knobs and watched the water emerge from the bronze handles. Water, hot and cold, flowed freely, filling the tub with great speed. Mike stripped off his clothes, testing the water with his foot to make sure it was the right temperature. Everything would need to be perfect if he wanted to see her again, to gaze upon Naia. He was living in a world where nothing made sense anymore, other than the fact that he could still feel her presence, like a fading dream.

He sat in the middle of the tub, watching the water climb to his waist, then his chest. He turned the faucets off, blinking sadly. She still hadn’t come.

Yet something about the water gave him pause. Staring at its rippling surface, he sensed a kinship, a bond that had yet to be broken. Whether Naia had been real or not was no longer the issue-he fully believed that she existed, even if everything else told him that she was just a shattered fragment of his mind. The whole world no longer felt real to him. Sinking below the water’s surface, he kept his eyes open, watching the outside world ripple in place  and exchanging the cold, harsh reality of air for the warm, quiet tomb of water.

Naia, he thought, sending his heart into the universe. Please come back to me.

Letting his breath out was the easy part. The bubbles rose from his mouth, dancing in circles on their way to the surface. Sinking to the bottom, he forced the air from his lungs, ready to take a huge step forward into the unknown. He had no idea where he was going, but he did know one thing.

He could no longer live without them.

He drew water into his lungs, fire filling his chest. The world around him dimmed and he clenched his fists in determination. To his surprise, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as he thought it would, the sudden intake of water.

She appeared before him, a shimmering image covered in light. Naia placed her lips to his, then breathed life into his lungs and pulled out what he had inhaled. Mike threw his arms around her. Naia lifted him above the water, holding him tightly against her naked body. The last trickle of water left his lungs, and Mike took in a deep breath of air.

“Naia!” He crushed her in his arms, afraid that if he let go, she would disappear. She held him back, ignoring the tears that ran down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” she told him, stroking his hair. “It wasn’t up to me, I promise.”

“What happened?” Mike asked. “It was like I went back in time, and nobody could remember anything, and everybody was gone.”

“Well, not anymore.” Naia smiled and placed a kiss on his forehead. “It was the geas again. Something happened to the house, and the geas was responsible. It