Vlad holds me even tighter, and I feel heat in my lower abdomen—sweet anticipation of something bigger. He whispers to me: “Want to become an adult, Kara? Want to find out what it’s like to be with a man?” But he isn’t a man—he’s a boy. Do you understand what you’ve done? Do you understand what I’ll have to do with him now?”
I don’t understand anything—I’m like warm wax in his hands. Vlad kisses my neck, collarbones, shoulders—and it’s nothing like what the other one did. But who was he anyway—was he real?…
Vlad slides my dress down from my shoulders. I gasp, struggling to breathe.
He doesn’t do anything else—he just looks. And I’m burning.
“That’s how it should be with a man, Kara,” Vlad says. “I won’t forgive that my first kiss you gave to someone else. But your first time will be with me.”