Safeword Quinacridone Read Online Free

years ago when she’d been addicted to one-night stands — needing the adrenaline rush of sex with a stranger the same way drug addicts craved their next fix. She hadn’t stopped until she’d landed in the hospital with two broken ribs, a cracked cheekbone, a tear in her anus, and countless bruises. Everything had healed with no lasting effects but the experience convinced her to make better choices in how and where, although it hadn’t brought a total halt to her adventuring out to find people who’d take care of the itch.
    She’d only brought a dozen or so strangers home in the two years she’d lived in her current house, mainly because she’d accumulated a few fuck buddies she could call on who fucked her like she needed — rough and without care. She was sore for days after a session with Junior — her arms bruised from his hands grabbing and holding her in place, her ass aching since his idea of preparation was a pre-lubed condom. She only needed to find strangers once every couple of months now, to get her fix.
    Customarily, she asked a series of questions to see if the guy was seeing someone, because she never wanted to be the ‘other woman’. Sex with a single guy was fine — no strings, and no one gets hurt. However, the one time she’d discovered someone she’d slept with was in a monogamous relationship it had devastated her ... despite the fact she’d asked him beforehand and he’d lied. Promises should be kept, and while she loved having her body used for sex, she never wanted to be used to hurt someone, or break a promise. However, it seemed safe to assume Travis was single.
    The backs of his fingers gently touched the side of her face and she turned her head slightly, regarding him with one eye.
    His tone serious, he said, “I’m going to ask four or maybe five questions, and I need you to answer honestly. If I’m still invited I’ll come with you no matter your responses, but I must know the answers before I can follow you home.”
    “What questions?”
    “How were you hurt? I need details.”
    She looked back at the steering wheel. “Why is it important?”
    “Because I don’t want to do anything close to what he did. Please look at me.”
    She shifted sideways and focused on the dash in front of him. “Unless you’re planning to punch me in the face I don’t think there’s a danger of that happening.”
    His voice remained kind. Soft. “Is that all he did? Monsters who’ll use their fist on a woman don’t usually stop there. Did he rape you?”
    Her head dropped and her gaze fell to the gearshift. She extricated a piece of grit from a seam in the plastic with a fingernail as she said, “I’m not comfortable talking about it. I went home with someone I didn’t know and he hurt me enough to land me in the hospital. We had sex, but it wasn’t rape because I went to his place to fuck. I’m not telling you anything else about it.”
    “No means no with me, even if I’ve already been promised sex. If you said no and he did anyway, it was rape — doesn’t matter if you’d said yes earlier. How long ago was this?”
    She shrugged without looking up. “Not quite three years, maybe two and a half? I don’t know; it’s not recent. I’m not emotionally scarred or anything.” She flicked her hands, brushing it off. “I made a mistake; it won’t happen again.” It wasn’t rape. She couldn’t deal with it if she labeled it that way. She’d said yes earlier, so it’d been her choice.
    “How often do you invite people you just met back to your place?”
    “Not as much as you probably think, and I always insist on protection. I haven’t been tested in about four months, but I was clean and I’ve been safe every time since, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
    His fingers touched the bottom of her chin, gently lifting her face until her gaze met the warm and confident eyes of the man who had kissed her, not the one she’d had dinner with. “A final question