I pull my girl from the restaurant, thinking we all need to get out of here. The rain has calmed, but the gray clouds moving above us say it won’t be long before it starts back up.
Claire and Austin are standing outside his car, and as soon as K sees her, she runs over and grabs her best friend in a tight embrace. I have no idea what went on here. I only see Claire’s swollen face and a line of blood running down her thigh. I know K’s wrists are bloody, but I haven’t had a moment to look her over well.
My stomach turns. I have no idea what was done to those two.
“We need to go, Bryce,” Ben says. I look to see Jace, already in the car, before turning around to the restaurant.
Bones and Sweep are inside cleaning up a dead body.
What about the cameras in the place?
What about the broken door?
How will they clean all of this up?
“They know what they’re doing,” Ben says. “No one will know we were ever here, but we need to go.”
I turn back to him before looking over at K and Claire, still hugging. Claire is crying and so is K.
“Austin,” I say. “We gotta go.”
Austin’s eyes connect with mine. He’s in shock at all of this. I am a little, too. And somehow, I feel like we all just got a lot closer.
This is a secret we’ll all share. Something we’ll never talk about again, but also something we’ll never forget.
Austin reaches for Claire’s arm, pulling her from K. “Come on,” he says. The two break apart reluctantly. K wipes her face, and then I see her eye is swelling, with blood appearing under her skin. That motherfucker hit her. The urge to go back inside and kick his head in is strong, but once K comes to me and we climb into the black SUV, I know we’ve won.
Cain is gone and we’re headed home.
Together.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kathrine
I gaze out of the window, staring at wet streets and puddles near the sidewalk. A light drizzle has started up, causing the Christmas lights to look hazy from the dark tinted SUV.
I gently rub one of wrists, my mind elsewhere. Claire’s body on the floor, the sight of Cain over her, I tremble, and sadness shows itself, streaming down my cheeks.
I stare mindlessly, replaying every detail that happened back at that restaurant.
The loud sound of breaking glass, the terror in Claire’s voice.
“Whoever it is. He’ll kill them.”
“Don’t think that way, Claire. We’re getting out of this.”
I move my wrists again, feeling the zip tie cut deeper into my flesh, and then someone runs into the kitchen. I try my best to look, but in my odd position on the floor it’s hard to see who it is.
“Claire.”
Austin! Oh God.
“No!” Claire says. “Get out of here! He’ll kill you.”
Austin’s eyes go to her bunched-up dress. “No, baby.” He removes his coat and drapes it over her before dropping to his knees. Removing a knife hidden on his belt loop, he grabs her arm and moves her to the side. With one strike, he cuts the zip tie.
“Harrison.” I hear and shut my eyes for a brief moment at the sound of Jace’s voice.
“Give me your knife,” he says to Austin.
I feel his hands on my wrists, and I wince when the hard plastic digs deeper into my skin before I hear the sound of it snapping in two. My wrists sigh in relief, and I quickly bring my aching arms in front of me.
The sight of blood is not shocking. I could feel my skin was broken. Jace grabs my arm, helping me off the floor. My shoulder throbs, and I can’t control the shake throughout my body. I pull my long coat tight.
“Jesus, what did he do to you two?” Jace asks, looking over my face.
Everything hurts.
Everything.
We quickly walk out of the kitchen, but the sight before me causes my heart to seize up.
“Bryce,” I call out, seeing him with a look I’ve never witnessed before. Rage and blackness cover his face.
But the instant he looks up, something snaps free.
Everything happens too fast after that. Cain gets loose, his head connecting with Bryce’s.
My heart jumps in my chest, pushing forward, urging me to step in and help Bryce.
I see the knife Cain used on me and I move, but Jace grabs my wrist, causing me to stay put and wince at the same time.
I look away from Bryce to the door, when a man in all black appears. He raises his hand without a second thought. My whole body jumps as Cain stiffens before falling to the floor.
“K.” I hear. I jump when someone touches my arm, quickly turning to see Bryce. I look up at the rearview, my eyes connecting with Ben’s.
“We’re at my apartment,” Bryce says. My eyes move to Jace who holds a smoke between his lips, looking at me in sympathy.
How long was Bryce talking to me? He doesn’t urge me to move, giving me a moment to gather my thoughts.
My vocal cords sting when I say, “Okay.” I rub my throat where Cain had his hands around it.
Bryce’s eyes go there, and a pained expression covers his features. I don’t look back at Jace or Ben before opening the door and stepping out into the cold.
“Ben, let me know as soon as you hear from Bones that this shit is taken care of.”
“I’ll call you in the morning. But there’s no need for you to worry, boss.”
“Yeah, well, we thought that last time,” Bryce says. I look up at him before I close my door, shutting off their conversation.
So many questions.
I want to know countless things, but right now, I need to get out of these clothes and into the burning hot shower. I need to wash away everything I saw and everything that happened.
I can’t deal with this.
I can’t deal with any of this.
The quakes in my body keep me from fading, reminding me I’m alive. The ache in my shoulder and burn in my wrists tell me that we made it through this.
He said he was going to kill me.
He’s the one who’s dead.
The SUV drives off as soon as Bryce nears me. I look back, seeing Jace watching us. He gives me a nod and they disappear down the road.
“Come on, baby. It’s freezing out here.”
Bryce grabs my hand and we make our way up to the apartment.
The ride up is quiet, both of us in our own heads.
That man that Bryce called Bones shot Cain without so much as a second thought. How can you look so cold while taking another man’s life?
Not that he didn’t deserve it.
Oh God, did he.
My gaze bounces from the reflective elevator doors to his.
We stare without word, but not without thought. Bryce was going to kill Cain, too.
If I wouldn’t have said anything, Bryce would have stopped Cain’s breathing. He would have done it with his own two hands.
The hand I’m holding. My digits flinch, but our eyes stay connected. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude fills my chest, drowning my heart.
He would have done that for me.
My whole life I’ve gone unwanted. I’ve always felt like I was a nuisance, someone who was expendable. Never have I felt more loved than I do right now.
A crushing need to have him hold me has me turning into his arms. He stumbles back into the elevator wall as I wrap myself around him.
My face goes into his chest, his chin over my head. Arms I love and so desperately need comfort from grip me tightly.
I’ve never counted on anyone.
I’ve never needed comforting because I didn’t know what it felt like to be comforted.
When you grow up with a heartless monster, you learn to shut certain things off that other people use on a daily.
The warm embrace from a loved one. The sweet smile you receive from a person who cares for you so genuinely.
I never had those things, so I never knew I needed them. My body adapted
to its surroundings. It became as hard as it needed to be to survive.
There wasn’t time for love and feelings.
Yeah, I got slapped around, my hair pulled out so many times I was sure it would stop growing. I was raped, my body taken without my consent.
But did my feelings get hurt?
No. Because I knew that was how my life was. I’d accept it until I got the hell out of there.
But now…
Now I know this is what life can be like.
This is what I want.
Bryce was going to murder someone for me. He would take another man’s life to make sure I was okay. I know it’s sick and twisted. I know we’re both messed up, but it’s not our fault. We were born in chaos. We grew up in tragedy.
Now we’ll live in pure fucking bliss because we deserve it.
Our paths crossed so many years ago and somehow, we found our way back to each other.
How could I ever turn away from that?
At this moment, I give myself to him.
Completely.
No more second thoughts, no more worry that he’s going to walk away from me. I breathe in deeply as he holds on to me, and then I hear the elevator doors slide open. I pull away from him and he takes my hand, walking us to his apartment.
We let go of each other as we step inside. I shrug my coat off and place it on a stool beside the kitchen island.
“I’ve got to take a shower.”
He nods but doesn’t say anything.
Aftershocks vibrate through my body, heralding I’m not over what happened. I watch as Bryce walks to a cabinet and grabs a bottle of bourbon and a crystal glass. My eyes then jump to the stove clock. It’s well past midnight.
He twists the top off before pouring a healthy amount. I let him drink it in peace, telling my feet to move. I reach down and remove my heels, leaving them on the floor.
After Saw would have his way with me, I’d scrub my body so hard I’d look like I had road rash. I never could get clean enough. I walk up the stairs, my eyes going to the vast wall of windows. Atlanta glows in the night. The moon hangs high in the sky and the freezing rain still falls, a sign that no matter what happens, life goes on.
One by one, I strip each piece of clothing off as I walk to the bathroom, leaving a trail behind me. Turning the shower on, I step inside and grimace when the hot temperature stings my wrists. I hold them up, watching as my blood is removed. Crimson mixes with water, swarming around my feet before flowing down into the drain.
I twist and lean my head back, letting the hot blanket of water soak into the strands of my dark golden hair, weighing my neck down. My hands crawl up my body, gently touching my battered skin. I reach for the soap, on a mission to wash myself clean of the horrible night Claire and I experienced.
Claire, my sweet friend.
God, sadly I can imagine what she’s going through right now. Having someone take from you what you’re not offering up is the most horrific thing to experience. It belittles you and makes something that should be priceless no longer worth anything.
I rinse off and grab the towel from the rack, drying my hair and wrapping it up before drying my body and stepping out.
I walk over to the mirror and gasp in shock. My face is reddish pink, crimson mixed with a light purple. The skin around my eye is red-veined as blood sits on the surface from where his fist connected. I swallow, trailing my finger down the side of my sore cheek where he slapped me. My chin aches when I lightly put pressure on it, and the sight of purple appearing along my jawline isn’t surprising. My hands start to shake at the thought of his wrapped around my throat squeezing tightly.
A tear trickles down my cheek and fear replaces concern.
“You ain’t leaving here alive.”
My battered heart hammers and my knees give out, causing me to fall to the floor.
He was going to kill us.
We were going to die.
I shake uncontrollably, a puddled mess on the tile.
A sob releases from my chest and tears flow down in thick rivers.
“Oh God,” I weep, holding my face in my hands, feeling the stretch in my cut wrists. My shins chill from the cold floor and I try to take deep breaths, but I keep feeling his hands around my throat, squeezing, cutting off my air supply.
“No, no, no,” I cry more, scratching at my throat, gasping hysterically.
I jump when hands touch me and cower away with wide, tear-filled eyes.
“K, it’s just me.” Bryce holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
His expression kills. Soft and understanding, worried and angry. Hurt that I’d pull away from his loving touch.
“You’re safe,” he says, and with those two words, I crawl to him. Naked, a battered, bruised mess, and full of everlasting gratitude. I could bow at his feet.
“He saved us,” my heart says.
He saved me in every way a person like me needs to be saved. My heart has been trapped in a prison cell for so long, it doesn’t even breathe the word freedom. My mind has been trained to shut off emotion and never let my guard down.
But Bryce has opened all doors and demolished all walls.
“Let me have it,” he says, holding me tight. “Give me love, baby.”
Those words filter through to a place deep inside, because he’s not talking to me, he’s talking to it. He wants everything I have to give. My love, my complete heart.
My soul.
And I know this, because I know him.
I wrap my arms around his neck, and he lifts us from the floor. He kisses my forehead as I link my ankles around his back. The towel in my hair falls, leaving strands of wet hair free to air dry.
I move my head back as he carries me to the bedroom. I look over his strong jawline, the deep wrinkle between his brow, and his pouty lips.
My hands move on their own, running over the birthmark on his neck. It pulses evenly, proving to me that this isn’t a dream.
That he’s real.
What we have is almost tangible, so alive and full of raw energy you could reach out and touch it.
Without pause, I bring my lips to his, kissing him with so much passion, it drips like melted honey.
Soft cotton rubs against the sensitive flesh between my legs as our kiss deepens. My body turns warm, my tears dry up, and all I want now is to have him.
He carefully lays me on the bed, but caution isn’t what I need. I want him to own me.
Take me fast without attentiveness.
Claim me as his.
Make me forget.
I pull him down with me, reaching for the bottom of his T-shirt. It falls to the floor after going over his head, and his hands sink into the mattress beside mine, landing on threads of my hair. Loose strands tug from my scalp, but they don’t rip. My hands go to his face, and I take his pouty lip between my teeth.
He doesn’t touch me, and it drives me crazy. I want him naked like I am.
I want him exposed like I feel, inside and out.
I need us to be on the same page.
“Touch me,” I urge.
He stiffens, looking unsure.
“Bryce, I’m not glass. I won’t break.”
His eyes blink over my bruises and lacerated wrists. The soft glow of the bedside lamp makes them look nicer than they are. In tomorrow’s light, they will be an ugly reminder of what we went through.
“I don’t want to hurt you… I don’t know where he…”
“Fuck him,” I say. “Look at me.” His eyes bounce up to mine. “He only hurt the outside.”
He releases air I didn’t know he was holding. Jesus, he’s been thinking this the whole time.
“He came out with his pants undone,” he says. “I thought… I didn’t know if…”
I shake my head. “Claire.”
His mouth forms an O.
“While you were there?” he asks.
“Yes,” I confirm. We don’t say anything for a moment. I let
the information I just told him sink in. He thought Cain raped me. God, the agony he must have been going through.
I’m in awe of the careful way he pays attention to every detail of my face. He scans me over before reaching his hand up and running a finger over my sore cheek. “You’re okay?” he asks softly.
“I’m okay.” I nod.
He grips my hair and pulls me to his lips. We collide like fallen stars, shattering, sending fragments of dust and solid rock into the atmosphere.
The moon gets jealous and the sun burns brighter.
We’re Heaven and Earth, heart on heart.
Bryce erases bad memories, replacing them with new profound ones.
His kiss heals old wounds, and his touch scabs over broken skin.
Passion and love mingle with every move between us. I reach down and grab the waist of his gray sweats, pulling them down just enough. Panting, desperate to feel him.
I don’t need any warm-up. I don’t need anything but him inside of me, skin on damaged skin, and with one easy move, he slides in effortlessly. I arch up and he dives deep. We kiss and bite, touch and grip. My hands go to his lower back, and I dig my fingernails into his skin.
“You are my world, girl,” he says, his voice filled to the brim with raspy lust. He groans and sinks his teeth into my neck. My hands find the pillows above us, and I grasp them as he digs his feet into the mattress. His lips kiss my chest, moving over the mounds of my breasts.
I’m shaking and coming undone beneath him. He’s trying to hold on, making this last as long as possible. My hands move from their grip on the pillow and I lean up, bringing him with me as I twist us and climb on top.
We come apart before I sink back down on him. His head falls back, exposing his lean neck. His eyes shut and I move my hips, causing him to hit all the right places. Rough hands grip my ass, pulling me forward.
I one-hand the headboard, grasping onto it for leverage. Digging my knees into the bed, I look down at his beautiful face, trying not to think about how my own looks. His hand comes up and he gently touches the side of my cheek. I lean into him before his fingers go to my lips and I open, softly biting down. My orgasm knocks my head back, and I ride it out until he groans and comes inside of me.
I fall to his chest, breathing hard, loving the way his heart beats under my ear. He wraps his arms around my back, pulling me tight against him. Slowly, he pumps in and out of me until his body shakes one last time and he slides out.
Give Me Perfect Love (Give Me Series Book 2) Page 16