Read Unmasked: Volume One for Free Online Page B

little light to apply my makeup.
    The moment I turn on the shower, I hear his voice. It’s so clear in my head, as if he were standing right next to me.
    “I was right. You are beautiful.”
    I resist the urge to look in the mirror as I reach for the handle to turn on the water in the shower. I’m not beautiful. No matter how many times Daimon says it, it doesn’t make it true. I have to keep reminding myself of that or I’ll lose my footing.
    I step over the side of the tub and into the shower, then I slide the shower curtain closed. Shutting my eyes, I step forward and tilt my chin down so the water runs over the back of my head. The water slides down the sides of my face, collecting at my nose, lips, and chin. Streaming from me like a warm, cleansing waterfall.
    After I wash my hair and face, I lather up my body in mounds of suds. Then I lean my head back and allow the water to rinse away my filth. Closing my eyes, I savor the warmth as it streams over the curves of my shoulders. Between the valley of my breasts. As I have so many times since Daimon was last here, I imagine his touch trailing delicately over every inch of my body.
    I slide my hand over my slick belly and stop just short of my mound. I’ve wanted to touch myself from the moment he left my apartment, promising to return. But I can’t allow myself to think of Daimon that way.
    I also can’t stop thinking of him this way.
    I slide my finger between my legs and easily find my clit. Moving my finger in a gentle circular motion, I imagine it’s Daimon’s tongue, licking me clean.
    I didn’t know much about sex until I left my parents’ basement and got a computer. I’d been touching myself for a few years by the time I moved out at the age of eighteen, but I didn’t know why it felt so good or that someone else could touch me and it might feel even better. But my computer introduced me to a whole slew of websites, which taught me everything from how to touch myself to what to imagine when I touched myself.
    The novelty wore off after a few months on my own, and I hadn’t pleasured myself in more than a week until today. So imagining Daimon’s mouth on me is easy and my muscles quickly begin to convulse and contract at the thought of him pleasuring me.
    A knock on the bathroom door makes me jump and I knock the top of my head against the shower head. “Ow! Who’s there?”
    “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
    That voice. Even with the warm water drenching my skin, it still sends a shiver through me.
    “How did you get in here?”
    “Your door was unlocked and you didn’t answer when I knocked. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
    “I’m fine!”
    My door is never unlocked. I want to say this aloud, but part of me wonders if I left it unlocked by accident. Maybe I was subconsciously hoping he would let himself in. Our minds have a way of tricking us into acting on our desires.
    Desire . Do I really desire Daimon in my home?
    “May I come inside?”
    His question stuns me. I can’t have heard him correctly. No, I’m definitely hearing things. I won’t even respond.
    “Alex?”
    Oh, heavens. The way he says my name.
    “I’m coming into the bathroom.”
    “Why?” The word escapes my lips sounding more like a shrieking cry than a question.
    “So I can be near you.”
    I don’t know how to respond. I’ve never heard a more beautiful sentence in all my life. And this very thought fills me with shame.
    I turn the shower off and listen as the water drips from my hair and body onto the floor of the tub. Both of us are silent as we await my response or the next words out of my mouth. It is clear that the next move is mine.
    I cross my arms over my chest and clear my throat. “Can you please hand me the towel on the rack?”
    I hear a soft rustling as he lifts the towel off the rack on the wall. I consider jutting my arm out through the shower curtain, but I decide against it. Let him figure out a way to get the towel to me. Though