“Did he?” I ask, already knowing the answer. Douchebags like that don’t stay once they get what they want.
She snorts. “Nope. This continued throughout our entire relationship. We were on one of our breaks when I met you. I thought it was over for good. He left town and he’d never done that before, but honestly, I was okay with it. I was tired of being the only one who worked and the only one paying any bills. All he did was sit on the couch day in and day out. Watching television, playing games, doing whatever it was he did while I was out working.”
“Why’d you push me away, Tulip? He come back and sweet talk you?” I ask.
I feel wetness gather on my chest and I know that she’s crying. I don’t push her to speak right away, I decide to wait. She’s not someone that you can push, she needs to take her time and with me, she can have all the fucking time in the world, as long as she’s right next to me when she’s taking it.
“No, he didn’t. It was just after that night, I knew without a doubt that I couldn’t be with someone like you,” she whispers.
“Because I’m half-black?” I ask.
There’s a pause and I close my eyes knowing without a doubt that’s exactly what she meant. Now I know my gut was right when she said it months ago, I was just hoping that I was so fucking wrong.
“Louis?” she asks.
I release my hold on her and am surprised when she pushes up on my chest. Opening my eyes, I look up at her. Watching her, I’m struck speechless not just by how fucking gorgeous she is with her hair falling down around her face, but also by how surprised and sad she looks staring down at me.
“You really thought that’s what I meant? That I cared that your skin tone was a couple shades darker than my own?”
“Won’t be the first or the last time, Tulip.”
She shakes her head, her hair flying everywhere. “Well, that’s not the kind of person I am, Louis. I’m offended that you would even say something like that, let alone think that about me,” she snaps.
“You said you didn’t want to be with someone like me…”
Tulip’s lips drop open, then snap closed. Her eyes narrow and she slaps me in the chest. “I meant someone famous, sexy, and so sweet that he makes my teeth ache. Joey is the only man that I’ve ever been with other than you, and you’re so far above me it’s intimidating.”
Blinking, I can’t help myself. I burst out laughing at her ridiculous explanation of someone. Lifting my arms, I wrap my hands around her back and tug her against my chest. “Fuck.” I laugh. “I’m an asshole.”
“No shit,” she snaps again, her face nuzzling my neck.
I hum, my hands running up and down her back. “I’m sorry, Tullie. I just assumed. I mean this is a small town in Texas and I’ve heard a few murmurs around town.”
“Well not from me.”
Shaking my head, my arms flex around her. “No baby, not from you,” I rasp. “But your explanation is still shit. I’m a little famous, but there aren’t any paparazzi following me around. I’m not that sweet, and if I stopped working out, I wouldn’t be built like this.”
“I’m five-foot-three and I have cellulite,” she whispers against my throat.
Tangling my fingers in her hair, I gently pull her face against my neck and smile at the way her face is pink with embarrassment.
“I’ve seen everything that you have, Tullie. Nothing on your body turns me off, so you can stop that shit. I like you just the way you are. Honest to fuck, I liked you the way you were too, and I wouldn’t mind if you put a few more pounds back on.” I grin up at her. She shakes her head, her lips turning up into a grin. “Why’d you go back to him?” I try asking.
Tulip’s eyes shift to the side as she shrugs one of her shoulders. “He was comfortable, he promised to change and this time he gave me a ring. It didn’t happen.”
“What did happen?”
“I thought that he was who I deserved. I don’t come from money. I don’t have anything. I started working at Headlights to make ends meet. He kept telling me that we didn’t have enough, so I started stripping.”
“Then what?” I ask, unsure if I want the truth, but I need it.
She inhales a deep breath before releasing it. “Then I walked in on him fucking Raylee on my couch.”
“Fuck,” I hiss.
“Wyatt and Rylan helped me throw the couch off of the balcony and it broke. That’s why I don’t have one anymore.”
“Tullie, baby, I’m sorry.”
She smirks. “No, you’re not.”
“I’m not sorry he’s gone, but I’m sorry as fuck that he hurt you.”
She hums, her eyes searching my own. “So that’s pretty much everything,” she whispers.
“I can live with all of that, baby. No more of this bullshit about you not wanting to be with someone like me though. Tonight proves that you want me just as badly as I want you. I’m taking all of you, Tulip. Making you mine.”
“What if it doesn’t work out?” she asks.
Touching my mouth to hers, I whisper. “What if it does?”
Chapter Seven
TULIP
My alarm sounds from somewhere in the apartment. Rolling onto my back, I sit straight up and gasp. Turning my head, I lick my lips at the sight of the toned bare chest lying next to me. Reaching for the sheet, I quickly tug it up to cover my naked chest. It all comes back to me, everything about last night.
Louis saw me strip. He came home with me. He did things to me, I did things to him, we had unprotected sex and then… I told him everything. I just opened up like a dam and told him about Joey and the toxic relationship that I had with him. He knows that I have zero self-respect now.
I start to slip out of bed to not only find my phone, but get ready for the day and hopefully not expire from embarrassment. I don’t get far. Louis’ arm snakes out and he wraps his hand around my waist before he hauls me against his side.
My back is pressed to him and I gasp as he rolls over to his side, his hard length nestled between the cheeks of my ass. I hold my breath as his hand slides up the center of my chest until his fingers curl around my breast.
“Baby,” he murmurs against the side of my neck. “Where are you goin’?”
His hand begins to massage my breast, his fingers plucking at my nipple in the best way. Arching my back, I push my ass against his dick, moving up and down, wishing that he was inside of me. Needing him to fill me and stretch me like only he can.
“Tulip?” He chuckles against my skin.
Turning my head slightly, I look back to him. He’s grinning, knowing exactly what he’s doing to me, exactly how he’s playing me and he doesn’t care—frankly, neither do I.
“Work. I need to get ready for work,” I exhale.
He doesn’t say another word, instead he releases his hold of my breast and slips one arm beneath my body, the other he slides down my hip before wrapping it behind my knee and lifting my leg to place it around his upper thigh.
The hand beneath me wraps around my breast and begins to play with the neglected one. His free hand slips between my legs and my eyes slowly close as he begins to rub circles against my clit.
Lifting one of my arms up, I wrap my fingers around the back of his neck and hold onto him as my hips begin to shift and roll against his touch. His hand leaves my breast, sliding up the center of my chest and I gasp as his fingers loosely wrap around the front of my neck.
“Please,” I whisper.
He hums, his mouth touching right below my ear. “Please, what?”
I growl in frustration. He knows what I want, knows what I need, but he doesn’t give it to me. Squeezing the back of his neck, I let out a groan when two of his fingers fill me. “Is that what you want?” he asks.
My eyes roll in the back of my head as he pumps in and out, curling his fingers inside of me at just the perfect moment. “No,” I breathe.
“Liar.” He laughs softly.
“I want you,” I whisper.
&n
bsp; His teeth nip my skin as his fingers begin to play me harder and faster. Sweat gathers against my skin, my hips shifting and moving, searching for my release.
I’m so close and yet so far away. I want to feel him fill my body. This could be the last time that I ever have him inside of me and I want it to last forever.
“You have me,” he rasps.
“Inside of me.”
Without another word, his fingers leave my center and he replaces them with the head of his cock. He fills me in one swift shift of his hips. Whimpering, my fingers flex against the back of his neck, his do the same against my neck.
“Fuck,” he hisses.
“So good,” I groan.
His fingers don’t leave my center, they move toward my clit and he begins to pump in and out of me at an unhurried pace as his fingers play me. Pushing my hips back with each of his forward thrusts, we become breathless. The sounds of skin slapping mixed with our panting breaths fill the room.
I’m so close, so damn close. My eyes slide closed as my fingers grip the back of his neck even tighter. His fingers hold my throat a bit firmer and then it happens. My mouth and eyes open simultaneously as his fingers play my clit harder and faster.
I come.
It’s earth shattering. Something I’ve never experienced before. No sound escapes my mouth as I stare at the blank wall across from me, unable to move, frozen in my spot as Louis continues to thrust in and out of my body.
“Fuck,” he rasps. “Fuck.”
On his second uttered, fuck, he comes as well. I feel his cock grow, then empty inside of me. He twitches as he fills me with his release and I can’t stop my breath from hitching at the feeling. I love it, love the way he feels inside of me, and the way that he fills me completely.
“Tullie.”
I hum with my eyes closed, unable to even attempt to move. Somewhere in the apartment my alarm begins to sound again on my phone. I don’t even try to get up and find it though. I’m far too content lying in his strong arms with him buried deep inside of my body still.
“We need to talk about safety,” he rasps. “I shouldn’t have done that again.”
He pulls out of me and rolls onto his back, gathering me in his arms so that I’m plastered to his side again. I’m confused by his words, maybe because I’m still in my post-orgasmic haze, I’m not sure.
“Protection, Tulip,” he clarifies, his chin dipping slightly.
My eyes widen and I blink. “I’ve only ever been with Joey,” I say in a rush. “I was tested as soon as I kicked him out. I didn’t know what he could have given me. I got a clean bill of health, I promise,” I ramble.
Louis shakes his head, his lips tipping up into a small smile as he lifts his hand and wraps his fingers around the back of my head to keep me from shifting around.
“I get tested regularly as well, for fights. I’m clean, too, but I’m talking about more than just diseases, Tullie. What about babies?”
I blink again. “I’m on birth control,” I explain. “I have been since I was fourteen. Joey demanded it.”
Just saying the words, it makes me feel almost dirty. I don’t know why. I have never done anything wrong, never cheated or been with anyone but Louis and Joey. But admitting that Joey required I be on birth control so he didn’t have to use a condom from the age of fourteen, it feels—wrong.
“Okay, baby,” he breathes. “Yeah, so we’re good?”
I nod, biting the corner of my lip. “Yeah.”
He leans forward, his lips brushing mine. “Good, because you’re the only one that I want and I liked what we did a fuck’ve a lot, baby.”
“Only one that you want?” I whisper against his lips.
He nips my bottom lip with his teeth. “Only you, Tulip. I came back for this, for you. What we have, it needs to be explored.”
LOUIS
Tulip doesn’t respond to my words, my declaration of wanting her and only her. Instead, her phone alarm sounds again and I loosen my hold on her so that she can scramble off of the bed and go in search of her device.
I watch her move around her small apartment, fucking mesmerized by every single fluid move that she makes. That is, until she disappears into the bathroom. I take that moment to climb out of bed.
Tugging on my boxer briefs, I make my way into the kitchen to see if I can make her something to eat before she goes to work.
Opening up her fridge, I freeze at the sight in front of me. Empty. Completely fucking empty, save for half a bottle of ketchup and what looks to be a box of baking soda.
I hear her footsteps down the hall, then they stop. Lifting my head from the fridge, I turn and look toward her. Tulip’s lips are parted and her eyes are wide. She looks like an adorable shocked pixie.
“I haven’t been to the store, haven’t had time,” she mumbles.
Nodding, I slowly straighten my back and close the refrigerator door. I ignore the fact that she works at the fucking grocery store. My eyes scan her and I take her in again, but I focus on the changes in her body. She’s not just slimmer, she’s downright skinny. Her face is sunken in, her eyes have dark-rimmed bruises beneath them. She looks exhausted.
“I’m taking you to breakfast,” I announce. She opens her mouth to argue with me, but I only shake my head. “It won’t take long. I’m sure you need to get to work, but you need to eat something and I’ll be damned if I let you go to work hungry while I’m right here.”
Tulip’s eyes narrow and I watch as she adorably crosses her arms over her chest. “I don’t need your charity. I haven’t had a chance to go to the store to stock up. I’ve been eating. I buy food at work,” she snaps.
I almost laugh in her face, because it’s obvious as fuck that she’s absolutely not buying food at work, but I don’t call her on her bullshit. Instead, I nod my head a couple of times like I’m really buying her shit.
“Let me feed my woman,” I murmur, closing the distance between us.
I decide to use a different approach and as soon as my hands wrap around her hips, she melts against me, proving that I’ve made the right decision.
“Louis,” she breathes.
Shaking my head, I dip my chin and touch my mouth to hers. “Baby, let me feed you.”
“Your woman?” she asks.
With a grunt, I slide my tongue along her full bottom lip before I slip it inside and taste her sweet fucking mouth. Breaking the kiss, I lift my head and look down at her. “Yeah. My fucking woman. Now, let me put some pants on so that I can feed you, then take you to work.”
“I can drive myself—”
Holding up my hand, I cut her off in the middle of her fucked up sentence. “I’ll take you and I’ll pick you up. Gives me something to look forward to,” I say with a grin.
Her brows knit together and she watches me for a moment, licking her lips before she takes a step back. I release my hold on her hips and wait to see what she’s going to say or do next. Something flashes across her face, but I don’t know what it means. I can’t read her quite that well, yet.
“Okay, but I need to leave, in like, five minutes,” she says.
Nodding my head, I hurry past her and into the bedroom. I quickly put my clothes from yesterday back on, deciding to shower when I get home. Honestly, I kind of want her scent on my skin, enveloping me for as long as possible.
Once I have some clothes on, I shove my keys and phone into my pocket as I head back out to the living room area. Tulip is standing in the middle of the room, her gaze focused on a big empty space in the middle of the room. I assume it’s where the sofa used to sit.
“Tullie?” I ask.
Slowly, she turns her gaze toward me. She’s got wetness swimming in her eyes and my feet carry me toward her. My arms automatically wrap around her to comfort her as I pull her against my chest.
Lifting one of my hands, I cup the back of her head, tangling my fingers in her soft hair. “Talk to me,” I gently demand.
“He never called me his woman. Not once.
And here you are, day one and you’ve said it more than once.”
Touching my lips to the top of her head, I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath. “Because you were never meant to be his, Tullie. Mine. You’ve always been meant just for me,” I mumble.
Chapter Eight
LOUIS
I watch her walk into the grocery store. She’s wearing a pair of once tight jeans that hang loosely now on her hips and a grocery store branded polo shirt tucked in. On her feet, she’s got on a cute as fuck pair of white tennis shoes. Her hair is in a high ponytail and she’s never looked better.
My phone rings in my pocket and I dig it out just as the automatic doors close behind her and she disappears.
“Yeah?”
“You gonna tell me what happened last night? You straight-up disappeared on me,” Ford’s voice asks.
Shifting my truck into reverse, I back out of my parking spot, then shift it into drive and make my way toward home.
“Tried to talk to Tulip, but she wasn’t havin’ it. She did agree to meet me after she got off of work, so I waited in the parking lot for her,” I explain.
Ford chuckles. “Like a true fucking stalker.”
“We talked,” I say.
“Y’all good now?”
Nodding as if he can see me, I clear my throat before I answer him. “Yeah, I think we are. I can’t really tell with her.”
“She’s probably just gun shy. That Joey is a fucking douche,” he murmurs.
“Yeah, she told me a bit about him,” I admit through gritted teeth.
There’s a moment of silence and then Ford speaks. “So basically, now I’m the only single one of the group. Good fucking times,” he snorts.
“What about Laurie, that friend of Hutton’s?”
He grunts but doesn’t speak right away. “She’s knocked up by one of the members of Beaumont’s band. We had a thing, but neither of us tried for seconds.”
“Because?”
“She made it very clear that I was too rough for her.”
KILLER: An Unfit Hero Novel Page 6