We Were One Once Book 1 by Willow Madison

stand in
attendance at the door at the beginning of a party. She’d put her
finger in my mouth as she’d lean over to say good night. She’d lift
her skirt to reveal just the hint of her underwear when we were
alone. She would dance in front of the fire so I could see her body
through her thin clothing. All in secret, it became our
game.
    I found more reasons to be
at home, just to be near her so I could play our wicked games. I no
longer waited for her to do something. I would tell her what to do,
and she did it. I became bolder, more demanding, as the months wore
on, and she did exactly as I told her to do. It was my first taste
of the power that I would come to crave.
    I didn’t touch her, not
exactly, only indulging over her clothes. I would make her stay
perfectly still while I touched her in the gentlest ways. I’d graze
her stomach, her new breasts, her back, her legs, and once, between
her legs, under her skirt but over her underwear. I made her put
that pair of pink panties under my pillow, all in
secret.
    I stayed away for months
after that. I kept the underwear hidden inside a pair of socks in
the back of my drawer, but I kept away from her. I tried to stay
away as well, but I was weak with longing for her.
    I know it isn’t the usual
fairytale story of romance, but Gillian did need my love. She needed me there.
She needed a protector.
    I saw what her mother did
to her. Gillian never broke her silence, not even when I saw it
with my own eyes. She never admitted the bruises and welts were
Anya’s doing. Gillian was very good at keeping secrets by then.
That first year of getting to know each other, I would only gently
touch a bruise or other angry mark, and she would just smile,
letting me.
    It wasn’t until the next
Christmas, when I couldn’t stay away any longer, that things
changed.
    Father and Anya had been
away on business trips for weeks before. It took all of my
restraint to stay away while I knew Gillian was home alone. I knew
our games were heading down a path that I couldn’t stop though. All
I could do was stay away.
    I’d surprised the household
staff by arriving earlier than expected for that second Christmas
break. I was excited to see Gillian again. I wanted to show her the
present I’d brought for her. I was determined to make up for our
lost time. I was going to start fresh with her.
    I’d reasoned with myself
that when she was older, we could have a real relationship; I just
needed to wait for her. I loved her. I would’ve waited a million
blue moons for her if it meant we could truly be together, that our
love wouldn’t need to be a secret forever. I was a fool in
love.
    I asked the cook where Mrs.
Vanderson was, and I was told she thought Anya had gone out for a
drive since the sun had melted the ice off the roads for the first
time in days. I knew Father was still at the office and wasn’t
expected for hours. It was my chance to see Gillian alone before
the holiday parties and family gatherings.
    I raced up to her room, not
bothering to knock when I heard her muffled voice inside. She was
the only one who knew I was arriving that day, and I had told her I
wanted to see her right away. She knew I had news to share with
her.
    The scene I walked in on is
one that has haunted me even to this day. It changed the course of
our lives. Even now I shudder with the memory of it. It was the
first time I saw Gillian fully nude.
    And Anya had clearly just
beaten her, my beautiful naked Gillian. There was a belt in Anya’s
hand still, raised and ready to be lowered again. Gillian was on
her knees before her mother. Anya was sitting on the bed with her
legs spread.
    The looks on their faces
are perpetually frozen in my mind. Perhaps, because they were both
still for so long, each not moving from their spots in the room.
The belt sagged, but Anya’s arm remained raised. I, too, stood
frozen in the doorway.
    My memory tricks me. It’s a
dreadful game I play with myself because I know we each