by Riley Ashby
My moaning grew and escalated, different from what he’d done to me before. I was near the top. Something had to break.
His chest covered mine as he brushed his lips against my ear. “Come for me.”
And I shattered.
My legs shook as I cried out, voice echoing through the empty house, but answered with his own low growl in my ear as he suddenly stopped moving and pressed into me, teeth on my neck, his cock buried so deep it caused an ache in my chest.
“Keep going,” he gritted out through his teeth. “Louder.”
But I wasn’t in control of myself. All I could do was feel—his hands, his lips, his cock, his chest on mine as we crested and fell together, wrapped in each other’s arms. Everything feeling like the stars had aligned this way for a reason.
He didn’t leave me for a long time; he held himself inside me while we breathed in unison, faster, and then at a normal rate once more. He rolled me to my side and clutched me against his shoulder, tucked blankets around our bodies still entwined as one.
“Do you need something to help you sleep?”
“No.” I shook my head against his chest. “I’m almost there.” Because even with everything he’d done, and all the distrust and secrets still lingering between us, the only place I wanted to be was against him. His skin slid against mine beneath the soft covers, the very scent of him sinking into my pores.
“Go on then.”
I was already slipping away, every last bit of energy spent on fear and anger and grief like I never thought I would know again, but somehow leaking out of me in rivulets everywhere his lips touched me. I pressed myself closer against him, and he held me that much tighter as I slipped away.
Waking up was quiet.
I trembled all night, paralyzed by dreams of being tied down while spiders, rats, and snakes crawled over my naked body. My eyes opened with no alarm, no prompting, just happy to be free of the dreamscape.
“Breathe,” he whispered. “I’m here.”
He was right there.
I closed my eyes again.
Quinn’s eyes were shut when I awoke, but I saw she was awake by her breathing. Neither of us had moved much in the night, so we were still facing each other, but she’d shifted up a little bit so we were eye to eye.
I brushed her hair off her face. “The night is over.”
“Seems like a double meaning.” A smile danced on her mouth.
Propping myself up on one elbow, I put my lips against her temple. Even her hair smelled like my cologne now. “You need to eat. Do you want anything specific?”
“Always pushing food on me,” she said, still not opening her eyes. “I’m not hungry.”
“Liar. Find your appetite while I cook.”
I tried not to make too much noise in the kitchen, but I didn’t hear any movement above me as I went about cooking. When I returned upstairs with a tray of food, she was still under the covers in the same position I’d left her in. I knelt next to the bed and waved the plate in front of her. “Tofu and potatoes,” I said, trying to make it sound enticing.
A smile ghosted across her face for a fraction of a second, and she slowly moved to a sitting position with a resigned sigh. She still kept as much of her body under the blanket as possible. I handed her the plate and munched on a granola bar while she took small bites of the food. It took a while, but eventually, she finished everything I’d cooked.
“Was it good?”
“Yeah.” She had some color back in her face now, and her eyes looked clear. “Guess I was hungry,” she said, looking sheepish. I tried to smile at her, reassure her that she was safe, but I didn’t know if it came across. She laid back down and tugged the blanket up once more.
“Can you try to get up?”
“It’s not that easy,” she whispered, and a tear slipped from her eye and rolled across her face. Without thinking, I reached forward to wipe it away. She didn’t move, but I heard her breath catch. I sat back. Was that wrong? Last night she wanted comfort, but maybe this morning what had happened had sunk in more, and she wanted space.
“I know it’s not. I can carry you if you want.”
That earned me a laugh. “No, I don’t want you to carry me. I’m worn out, not injured.”
“Do you hurt?” I put one hand beneath the covers and slid over her thighs, between her legs, feeling where my cum dried on her skin after I finally slipped out of her last night.
“No.” She smiled. “Nothing about that feels wrong. But … maybe I should clean up.”
I waited while she put her pajamas back on and used the bathroom, and when she came out, her eyes were clear. I held out my hand, and though her fingers were cold in my palms, she held on to me firmly.
She followed me, shuffling her feet like a child. I set her on the couch and built a fire, then tossed a blanket over her. She hadn’t reacted to anything else I had done but did tug the blanket up tighter around her waist.
“Do you want some coffee?”
“Yes, please.” She paused. “Can you put some rum in it?”
I almost denied her, but didn’t she deserve some booze in her coffee? It was barely midmorning, but she did oblige me by getting out of bed.
“Why the hell not.” I started a pot brewing. “But you have to drink some water first.”
I poured us each a healthy measure and added a bit extra to mine. She drank a full glass of water, and only then did I hand over the coffee. She reclined against the couch, holding the mug in her cupped hands. I sat next to her and placed one hand on her knee.
“Do you want to talk?”
She shook her head, placing one hand over mine.
I stroked her thumb. “Do you regret last night?”
She bit her lip as she shook her head. “I didn’t even have to beg.”
My tongue tutted against my teeth. “Be careful, honey. You’ll be making up for that oversight.”
“I’m sure.” She played with the collar of my shirt, running her fingers over the lines of my tattoo. “No. I don’t regret it in the least.”
“Good.” I scrolled through my phone until I found the Kindle app I’d downloaded the night before. I kept the screen tilted toward her so she could see.
“What are you doing?” she asked. It heartened me that she was showing interest. Our shoulders touched as she leaned closer.
“We’ve got a lot more book to go,” I said, showing her the screen. “I got one of those dyslexic fonts you told me about.”
She visibly brightened. “Really? Does it help?”
I couldn’t respond for a moment, as struck as I was by her joy. She looked so purely happy, I think for a moment she forgot why she was sad.
“Yeah, it did. The words aren’t such a jumble.”
She smiled and leaned back against the couch, our shoulders still touching. After a beat, she put her head on my shoulder.
“Read on, then.”
At lunchtime, she got up with me and helped prepare our food. We ate while standing in the kitchen, unconcerned about manners. My throat was dry from reading out loud, but I didn’t mind.
“Can I ask you something? About yesterday?”
She nodded as she took another bite. “Go ahead.”
“What did you do to him before I showed up? His head was bleeding before I got to him. Did you do that?”
She grinned at the memory. “Yep.”
“Can you show me how?”
She shook her head. “It’ll hurt. You don’t want any more blood on your floor.”
I took a step closer and tilted her chin toward me. “Don’t you worry about my floor.” She smiled and looked down, and I moved my hand before I could do anything more. I walked to the front closet and grabbed my snowboarding helmet. “You think this will keep me safe from your prowess?”
Her mouth twitched. “Maybe.”
“Okay.” I put it on and pulled the visor over my eyes. “Show me.”
She reached up and rapped on my forehead with her knuck
les. “I guess that will do.” She glanced behind her, then backed up until she stood with her back against the wall. “Come here and hold me against the wall.”
I did as she asked, resting my palms lightly on her shoulders.
“No, you need to really”—she put her palms over mine—“push me into the wall, or else it won’t work.”
I applied more pressure slowly, worried she would panic. She laughed. “Don’t go soft on me now.” She licked her lips and lowered her voice. “Push me into the wall like you did the other night.”
With no warning, I was careening forward. Her hand, resting on mine only a second before, pushed on the back of my head, and I slammed into the wall. Even with the helmet on, my brain rattled inside my skull.
“What the hell?” I pushed back from the wall and caught my breath. When I looked up, Quinn was across the room by the door. Blanca and Nicky looked back and forth between us, unsure how to react. “How did you learn that?”
She shrugged as she walked back toward me. “Self-defense was a part of my therapy. Whenever I get stressed out, I take another course.”
I took off the helmet and inspected the wall where I’d made contact. “Come look at this.” There was a dent the size of a quarter in the drywall. No wonder Colby had bled so profusely. I turned to face her. She blushed and looked away.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“I’ve never admired someone so much.”
“Because I know basic self-defense?”
“Because someone bigger than you tried to hurt you, and you were able to hold your own until help came.” I touched her hip, and when she didn’t recoil, my hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her to me. “I thought I knew everything about you.”
“We don’t know each other at all.”
“I know you.”
“Hmm.” She looked me up and down, then dragged one finger down the middle of my chest. Goose bumps erupted on my skin. “Is that so?”
“Better than you realize.” I put my other hand on her neck. When I spoke again, my voice had dropped. “I should leave you alone.”
She raised one eyebrow. “Why don’t you?”
“Another mystery.” I ran my thumb over her lower lip. “If you want me to stop, I will.”
“I know.” She was staring at my neck now. “I should want you to.” She chuckled a little and put her fingers on my breastbone, tugging lightly at the collar of my shirt. “Is that fucked up? After what happened to me yesterday, I should run from you. But I’m not.” She bit her lip and looked up at me beneath her lashes. “I did do a good job holding him off, didn’t I?”
“Honey, I’m gonna have to repaint because I can’t get that blood out of the drywall. You kicked his ass. All I did was deal the finishing blow.” I rubbed the back of her neck, and she let out a little moan. “You felt weak because I tricked you, right?”
She cocked her head and rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”
“You disarmed me from the start. I just didn’t let it show.”
“You’re fucking with me.”
“I’m not. I begged to be the one to come get you. I had to promise to follow so many rules, and I just threw the most important one out the window.”
“Maybe it won’t matter. Maybe I don’t want to do it again.”
My heart was beating so fast it was a hum. “But you do, don’t you?”
She blinked rapidly while looking at me, chest heaving with rapid inhalations. “I…”
I grabbed her neck, lightly, relishing the whimper that fell from her lips. “I won’t hurt you. Do you understand?”
Her lips glistened as they parted, the word no louder than a sigh. “I do.”
“Then don’t lie to me.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck as I lifted her off the ground and put her against the wall, right below the spot where I’d slammed my head only minutes before. Her legs hooked at my back, holding her up, pulling me against her. I put my nose against her hair and inhaled, breathing in my own cologne mixed with the scent I could only describe as undeniably her. The smell of dust after rain mixed with the best memories of my childhood, like something made uniquely for me.
“You’d say yes.”
She grabbed my face and pulled my lips to hers, then paused and waited for me to take the lead. But I held still and let her guide me, waited as her lips brushed my cheeks, my eyelids, my nose, and finally, my mouth. She trembled as I matched her pressure, then pushed harder, parted her lips with my tongue, and tasted the remnants of coffee and alcohol.
When she spoke next, it came as a gasp.
“I would.”
If I’d thought I was falling before, this had to be hitting rock bottom. His lips stole my breath as surely as he’d stolen my body, locked me here by myself, twisted my mind so badly the only way out was to let myself collapse into him. But I didn’t regret it, couldn’t, not when his hands were keeping me aloft, when he was holding me together between his body and the wall.
“I don’t know who I am. Why I’m like this when I’m with you.” I grabbed his face and lifted him to look at me. “You make me this … different person. But how can I do this when …”
“If you feel lost, then at least we’re together.” He kissed my chest along the line of the clavicle. “You have no idea how close you’ve come to ruining everything.”
My nipples pressed hard against my shirt, begging for more touch. “Put me down,” I whispered, and he lowered me gently. I placed his hand over one of my breasts and closed my eyes; his other hand pulled my chin to the side so he could kiss my neck. “What would I ruin?”
“Don’t think about it.” He covered my mouth and spoke into me, the words passing between us like telepathy. “Just … don’t talk.”
I didn’t know how long he kissed me, we kissed each other, how long I let his hands roam my body with abandon. Stepping away from him, what we were doing, where we were going, was as impossible as waking from a dream.
But when a car door slammed outside, I jumped as if slapped.
“It’s okay.” He caught me as I started, held me steady.
“Is he back?”
“Relax, no one can get in.” He held me by my arms as he looked toward the door. “But I don’t know who it is. Go in the library and wait for me.”
“How can you say everything is all right if you don’t know who it is?” My voice was fever-pitched, but I couldn’t reel it in.
“I will handle this. You have nothing to worry about. Go wait for me.”
My lips were glued together, and my tongue was dry as sawdust. I couldn’t speak, but his authority calmed me. I nodded. He wasn’t going to let anything happen.
“Everything will be fine. If it’s Colby, I’m going to kill him.”
His voice was light, but the words gave me a chill nonetheless.
“What if—”
“Don’t. Everything will be fine. Wait for me in there.” He turned me by the shoulders and pushed me gently toward the library, and I forced myself to walk without looking back. He would wait until I was inside the room before he opened the door, but every instinct screamed at me not to turn my back on the door. It wasn’t until the library door clicked shut behind me that I was able to release the tension in my shoulders.
I stared at the clock, counting the minutes as voices conversed on the other side of the door. The room was well soundproofed, but it sounded like … a woman? And Gunner was angry. I couldn’t make out his words, but his voice was raised above its normal timbre. I was listening so intently at the door that I nearly screamed when someone knocked.
“Come on out, Quinn. Everything’s okay.”
I clenched my fists to stop my shaking. He’d laugh if he saw how tense I was. “You sound angry.”
“I am. But it’s safe to come out.”
My heart was racing. “Give me a second.”
He paused. “Take your time.”
I pressed my fingers into my eyes and took deep
breaths. He wouldn’t tell me to come out if there was danger. I had to believe that. I’d made the decision to trust him, despite everything.
My hands were sweaty, and I wiped them on my pants before I opened the door. Fuck, I was still in pajamas. Why didn’t he have me get dressed? Ugh. I looked around the room, desperate for anything to cover myself a little more. I grabbed a sweatshirt tossed over the arm of one of the recliners and quickly pulled it on. His cologne still lingered, and with a final deep breath, I opened the door.
Gunner was standing in the kitchen talking to a woman with short blond hair pulled into a tight ponytail. When she turned around, I nearly pulled up short under the gaze of her gray eyes. This woman was tough, but I didn’t think she was part of the Disciples. She was dressed like a businesswoman, not a gangster.
She cut me off before I could ask who she was.
“That won’t work.” She gestured at me with her finger. “Go change.”
“W-what?” Why did she care what I was wearing?
Gunner put his head in his hands and sighed. “Parker, this is Quinn. Quinn, this is my … sister. She wants to teach you a few things.”
“But not in that.” It was the only indication she gave that she heard him speak. She nodded at me. “Go put on something you can sweat in.” Her eyes lowered to my chest. “And a bra.”
My face flushed as I turned and rushed up the stairs. No way I was going to be doing anything with her. I’d gone from confused to outright embarrassed. Why was she here? There was no way she was his sister. If the pause in Gunner’s speech hadn’t given that away, her appearance would. Her light hair, short stature, and pale skin made her Gunner’s opposite in every way. I didn’t care to know the reason she’d decided to surprise us here or whatever she had to teach me.
I put on some gym shorts and a tank top and stashed Gunner’s sweatshirt under the bed. I paced the length of the room, waiting for Gunner or the woman herself to come and try to convince me to come down. I knew I didn’t have a choice—one or both of them would make me—but I wasn’t showing my face until I had to.