The Wrong Bride: Ares and Raven’s Story (The Windsors)

“You’ve been quiet all evening,” I murmur as I walk out of Raven’s bathroom. I lean back against the wall and watch my wife. She’s in nothing but a towel, seated in front of her vanity with a blank expression. She’s been combing her hair for several minutes now when it rarely takes her more than a few moments. I can pretty much guess what’s going through her mind.

She looks up at me through the mirror and forces a smile as she puts her hairbrush down, but she makes no move to come near me. Instead, her gaze travels back to her face, and the way she stares at her reflection breaks my heart.

She and I have been existing in an environment that has been wholly supportive of our marriage. Everyone around us has acted like my past with Hannah is non-existent, and the fact that very few people ever even knew about Hannah and me made it much easier to live in our facade.

I expected this trip to be hard, but this has exceeded my expectations in the worst way. I should have done more to make her feel better, but there’s nothing I could have done without breaking my promise to her. She asked me to keep the peace and put her father first, and I’ve tried my best to do so… but I shouldn’t have.

“Raven.”

I walk up to her and grab her hand, pulling her to her feet in one swift motion. She’s gasps as she crashes into me, and I wrap my arms around her with a smile on my face.

“Ares,” she says, her voice soft and filled with anguish. She’s stiff in my embrace, and it pains me. She isn’t herself here, and I wish I could just take her home.

“Cupcake,” I whisper as I lean in, my lips brushing over hers. She tenses, and a sense of loss washes over me. Normally she’d have smiled as she rises to her tiptoes, kissing me in that way she knows drives me insane. But here, now, she avoids my touch.

I let my fingers trails up her spine, until I’ve got them buried in her hair, my grip tight. I force my wife to face me, yet she still defies me, averting her gaze. “Baby, look at me.”

She inhales shakily as her long lashes flutter for a moment before she looks up at me, her eyes filled with tears. Fuck.

“Ares,” she whispers, my name a plea on her lips. “Please don’t. I can’t do this tonight. I can’t keep up the pretence tonight.”

“We stopped pretending long ago, Raven, and you know it.”

She looks into my eyes, and my beautiful, strong wife… looks broken. “Did we?” she asks. “Or are we just fooling ourselves? Even my mother is trying to push you two back together, and it’s exhausting, Ares.”

She tears her gaze away and pushes against my chest, but there’s no way I’m letting her go. Not now. Not like this.

“Just now, Hannah mentioned this would be the first time in years that the three of us would be spending the night in the same house, didn’t she? Do you know why that is, Ares?”

I shake my head, unable to tear my eyes off her. My heart is racing, and a deep sense of dread fills me. Even though I’ve got her in my arms, it feels like I’m losing her.

She looks into my eyes as a tear runs down her cheek, and I catch it with my thumb. “It’s because I could hear you two,” she whispers. “That wall my bed is pushed up against? Hannah’s bed is on the other side of that wall. Every single time you stayed over, I could hear you two. I could hear her moaning your name. I could hear how badly you wanted her, how loving you were with her.”

Fuck. Fuck.

“I thought I was over it, you know? But the memories still plague me. It still hurts, Ares. I thought I’d be able to deal with the pain, but seeing you with her today? I…”

She pushes against my chest again, and I tighten my grip on her hair, tilting her face toward mine as I lower my lips to hers. Raven inhales shakily as my lips brush against hers, and I kiss her tenderly, slowly, taking my time with her, reassuring her in the only way I know how to.

Her arms wrap around my neck, and I pull her flush against me as I deepen our kiss, my tongue brushing over her lips in a demand for more. She opens up for me, and I take my time teasing my wife, proving to her she’s the only one I want.

The distant sound of a door closing makes her pull away, the passion I’d lit in her dousing as she takes a step away from me, her gaze wandering to the wall by her bed. I suppose Hannah just walked into her bedroom, but I won’t let that deter me. The ferocity with which I want to reassure my wife startles even me. I’m not even remotely concerned about Hannah — Raven is all I can think about.

“No,” I tell her as I pull her back to me, my forehead dropping to hers. “I’m not letting you go. I’m sorry, baby. I’m so fucking sorry. I can’t erase those memories, but I swear to you that they don’t matter as much as the present, and if you let me, I’ll try to overwrite them, okay? Isn’t that what I promised you in the car? Fuck the past, Cupcake. All I care about is you and me, here and now.”

She pulls away a little to look into my eyes, her gaze searching. She’s looks at me with such strong doubts, and all I want to do is take them away.

I smile at her as I pull on her towel, letting it fall to the floor before I take a step closer to her. Raven watches me with wide eyes as she walks backwards until the back of her legs hit her bed. I smirk as I push against her shoulder, and she falls onto the bed, her eyes on me.

“Ares,” she whispers, her tone admonishing.

I smirk as I let my own towel drop to the floor and grab my cock, pumping up and down. “Just looking at you has me hard, baby. You have no idea what you do to me, do you?”

I place my knee between her thighs and lean in as I lift her leg to my lips, placing a soft kiss on her skin. Raven gasps, and the sound is so fucking sweet.

I leave a trail of kisses on the inside of her thigh and inhale deeply as I reach her pussy. “You smell like fucking cupcakes.”

She chuckles, and it’s the first real laugh I’ve heard all night. “It’s the soap I use.”

I look at her and press a kiss right on top of her pussy, loving the way she bites down on her lip. “You’re already wet for me, aren’t you, baby?”

I part her legs wider and drag my tongue up, until I’ve got it pressed against her clit. Raven covers her mouth with one hand and buries the other in my hair.

“Ares,” she groans. “I need you closer tonight.”

I smile as I kiss her stomach, and then her hipbone, slowly making my way up, until I reach her breasts. “Yeah? Tell me what you want, Raven.”

“I want you to fuck me, Ares. I need you to take me hard and rough. Make it impossible for me to think of anything else.”

I smile as I take her nipple into my mouth and suck down on it. Her words are like fucking music to my ears.

I move up higher and press my cock against her. Raven lifts her hips in an attempt to get me to slide in, and I chuckle. “You want my cock that badly, baby?”

She nods, her hands threading through my hair. I push in slowly, enjoying the way her lips fall open, the way ecstasy overtakes her gaze. “Ares,” she moans, before wrapping a hand over her lips.

“Nah,” I whisper. “I’m not having any of that. I’ll make you scream my name tonight, baby.”

She shakes her head, and I chuckle. Even now, she’s taking into account other people’s feeling. No. Fuck that.

I pull almost all the way out and smirk at her as I thrust into her, hard, the way she likes it. She moans against her hand as her bed hits the wall, and I can’t get enough. I watch her closely as I do it all over again, loving the way she tries to stay in control of her pleasure and fails.

“You know what?” I murmur, pulling out of her. She whimpers, and I laugh as I turn her over. “Get on your hands and knees for me, Cupcake.”

She does as I ask, and I lean in, enjoying the way her pussy is on display for me. “I’ve always wanted you this way,” I groan, right before I place my hands on her ass, kneading softly. I lower my lips and taste her, my tongue lapping at her, teasing her clit. The way she moans is fucking magical. I smirk as I push two fingers into her while I continue to torture her clit, enjoying the way her moans get louder when I find her g-spot. I’m making it my mission to erase every single bad memory she’s got. When she walks into this room, I want her to remember the way I made her pant my name, and nothing else.

Raven’s moans come quicker, louder, and I increase my pace, sucking down on her clit when I’ve got her at the edge. That does it for her, and she comes all over my tongue, my name on her lips.

I pull away and rise to my feet before I lift her into my arms. I push her against the wall, and she wraps her legs around me. “I need you, Raven,” I tell her as I guide my cock into her pussy.

I thrust into her hard, the sounds we’re making disturbing the silence in her quiet room. “Oh God, Ares,” she moans as she tightens her legs around my waist.

I hold on to her hips tightly as I fuck her hard, fast, making her take all of me.

“It’s too deep,” she pants.

“No,” I tell her. “You can take it, baby. Look at how well you’re taking my cock.”

“Oh God,” she whispers, her head falling back.

I smirk and lean in, kissing her exposed neck, earning myself another moan from her. I suck down on her neck, leaving a small mark.

“When you moan like that, I can’t hold it, baby. You drive me fucking insane.”

I pull away a little to look at her. The desire in her eyes, the way her lips are slightly parted, her pupils dilated. “You’re the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen, and I will never get enough of you.”

“Ares,” she groans, and I fuck her harder, taking her roughly, without mercy, without any regard for the noise we’re making. The angle I’m taking her at has me rubbing against her g-spot, and the way she’s moaning for me tells me I’ve got her close.

“I love you,” I whisper. “I fucking love you with all I am, Raven.”

She looks into my eyes with so much love in her expression that I can barely take it. “I love you more, Ares.”

“Fuck,” I groan, unable to take it for even a moment longer. I come deep inside her, my forehead dropping against her. “I’m not done with you,” I warn her. “There’s no fucking way I’ll let you fall asleep tonight.”

She giggles, and it’s the first genuinely happy sound that’s come out of her mouth since we got here. I’ll do anything to replicate it.