I fuck Mara in the snow, in the cold, like she’s the only warmth in the universe, and I have to stay inside her to keep warm.
The scent of her skin fills my lungs, rich and alive.
The pleasure I feel is so much more than physical.
I finally realize what happiness feels like.
There’s no malice in it. No greed. It’s not something you seek for yourself.
It flows between two people, around and around, back and forth, given and received in the same breath.
Her happiness makes me happy.
And even if it didn’t, I want it for her anyway.
That’s what loving her means—I want her safe, protected, flourishing, whether it benefits me or not.
It hits me so hard that I let out a groan. Mara touches my face, tilting it so I look right in her eyes.
“I love you,” I tell her.
“I know,” she says.
That’s what makes me cum. Not the physical act of fucking—the emotion of it. Finally being known. Finally being understood.
I explode into her. It rips through me, painful and pleasurable, just the way I need it—the only thing that satisfies.
She clings to me, biting down hard on my shoulder. Tasting my blood in her mouth.
When I set her down, the sirens are closer.
“Listen,” I say, holding tight to her hand. “I need you to do something for me. Can you do it quickly, before it’s too late?”
“Yes,” Mara says at once.
“Good.”
I retrieve her coat and wrap it around her shoulders, explaining exactly what I need.
When I’m done, Mara nods and kisses me once more.
Then she runs away through the maze, leaving me alone with Shaw’s body to wait for the cops.
