“Do you want it here?” he whispered against my lips. “From behind? In your bed?”
“Stop talking,” I moaned. “I want to come.”
With a wild growl, he picked me up, holding my body against his. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he pressed me against the wall, thrusting inside me, burying deep.
“God,” I gasped, biting into the skin of his shoulder, but he didn’t stop. He held me against the wall and moved inside me, his thrusts relentless, driving me closer and closer to the edge. I wanted hard and fast and he knew how to give it to me.
“Fuck, Zoe,” he grunted. “You make me burn. Just you. Only you.”
Abruptly, he pushed me back onto the kitchen countertop, my back flat on the cool surface as he stood over me. Holding a leg over his shoulder, he didn’t slow his rhythm, pounding in and out of me. Watching him over me like that almost undid me, seeing the unmasked pleasure on his face. I’d never seen that look in anyone’s eyes before and somehow I knew this was just for me. This took him as completely as it did me.
As I felt an orgasm building inside me, I took my breast in my hand, kneading the sensitive flesh and my other hand went towards my clit, which was open and wanting at this angle. As my finger began to circle, Will gasped, his hand tightening on my thigh.
“Don’t stop,” I moaned as I began to come, calling out his name. Arching my back, I tightened around him urging him to follow and he did. The look on his face gave away how hard his release was as we watched each other fall over the edge.
“Zoe,” he gasped, slumping over me, my legs wrapping around him.
My hands ran through his hair as the stubble on his jaw rasped against my naked breasts, both our chests heaving with exertion. That feeling of pure need I’d felt earlier was more than satisfied. It’d been quenched for now.
“Take me to bed,” I whispered, moving against his length that was still deep inside me. “We both have some explaining to do.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Will
I carried Zoe to bed, pulling the covers back and setting her gently onto the mattress. Tucking the doona up to her chin, I stroked a thumb down her cheek, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. With a sigh her eyes began to droop, and I suddenly began to worry about her eye. I couldn’t see in the semi-dark, but it would probably bruise something fierce.
Her apartment was small, so there was no missing the bathroom. As I cleaned up, I couldn’t help but let my thoughts wander and my anger simmered as I began to mull over everything that had happened tonight.
She’d hit him. Not the slap she’d clocked me with – it was a full fist punch, her entire weight had been behind it. She’d probably given that bastard a black eye.
Zoe was the strongest woman I’d ever known. I hadn’t heard all of their argument, but I could guess the extent of what her ex had done to her. If I could go back there right now, I wouldn’t hesitate beating the crap out of him. I wanted to smash him into pulp for hurting her.
She was better than that. She had the strength to stop when she had every right to lose it. She was ten times the human being I had been.
Whatever she chose to do now, I would do it, even if she didn’t want me. I’d told her that I’d do anything and I intended to keep that promise from now on and forever. She’d trusted me then and she’d trusted me now when she asked me to bring her home.
I was hers to do with what she wanted.
Going back into the kitchen, I opened the freezer and found a packet of frozen peas. Grabbing a tea towel from the bench, I wrapped them up and went back into the bedroom, hoping to god that this wasn’t the last time I would see her.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Zoe
It didn’t register completely when Will took me to bed and pulled the covers over my naked body. Nor did it register when he went out and came back. A cold cloth pressed against the side of my face and I gasped at the sudden temperature change.
“I nicked your peas,” Will said, propping himself up on an elbow beside me.
“S’ok.” I took the packet of frozen peas he’d wrapped in a tea towel and pressed it against my eye. I was sure I’d have a shiner there for a week or so.
“I’m so sorry, Zoe. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I promised I wouldn’t and what did I do?” His hand caressed up and down the curve of my waist, the muted glow from the security light outside highlighting the worry in his features. “I’ll understand if you want to end this. I don’t want you to, but…”
I silenced him mid-sentence, pulling his bottom lip into my mouth, my fingernails pressing into his back. “Shut up.”
“Zoe,” he breathed against my mouth and I dropped the frozen peas on the floor.
“Tell me the truth. Everything.”
He took a deep breath. “I don’t know where to start.”
“At the beginning helps.”
“The beginning…” He let out another long sigh. “I didn’t want you to have to deal with her. I thought I could have words with her and get her to back off, but she turned up anyway.”
“Who was she to you?”
“She was my girlfriend. We’d been together for around three years.”
I’d been with Jason for almost two years. I knew a long relationship like that would have had to have been serious. We’d both had someone before, but even though, it still hurt that he’d loved someone else. But, despite my jealousy, I had to keep asking questions if I was going to get over this. If we both were. “What’s her deal?”
“Mish is a model. She does stuff like fashion week and sometimes goes overseas. A year and a half ago was when it went bad. She was opening a show for some big designer in Sydney. It was a big deal so, I went to surprise her. You know, to be supportive. It wasn’t until I caught her in the act that I realized what had been going on. Every time she’d go away, she’d screw her way through any male model she came across.”
“You walked in on her?”
“In the throws.”
I frowned, understanding how being cheated on tore your heart in two.
“It really messed me up. I blamed myself for the longest time. I agonized over everything I’d done, wondering where it’d gone wrong. I must’ve done something to push her away, but I didn’t know what. She crawled back and I let her, but it wasn’t the same. The trust was gone, you know? I ended it a year ago. That was a month before that gig. You know the one I saw you at?”
“Yes. How could I forget?”
“I felt like I was drowning and you brought me back. This mysterious woman in the crowd threw me a lifeline.” He let his gaze fall away from mine. “The other day…on your birthday, she started messaging me. Saying she missed me and wanted to see me. It was so out of the blue, it threw me.”
“That’s why you were so distant?” I asked with a scowl.
“Yeah. I’m sorry. It’s just been such a fast turnaround…you know with you and…” He stopped mid-sentence, a pained expression on his face.
I knew what he meant. The emotional turnaround and given us a both a serious case of whiplash.
“I know now that I didn’t love her. I thought I did at the time, but what that was pales in comparison to what I feel for you. It was a mistake.”
“Will…”
“I didn’t mean to, Zoe. I didn’t mean to do it.”
I ran a hand up his warm chest, feeling the pounding of his heart. I trailed my fingers along his collarbone and up his neck, finally cupping his face. Looking into his eyes, I realized how sincere he was. I’d never thought Will would be the kind of guy to cry, but his eyes sparkled.
“Seems we both had psycho ex’s that wanted to capitalize on our fragile emotional state,” I said, shifting against him, so our legs tangled.
He gazed at me with a puzzled look, like he didn’t understand the meaning behind my words, that I was beginning to forgive him.
“Jason and I…” I began, but he placed a finger over my lips, silencing me mid-sentence.
“You don’t have to,” he whispered. “I’m not mad at you for not telling me. I understand why you didn’t. You stood up to him. When it came to me, I caved.”
“I want to.”
“You’re stronger than you realize, Zo. You put me to shame.”
“I need to tell you, Will.”
“Okay. If it’s what you want.”
I took a deep breath, wrapping my arm around his familiar body. I needed familiar to get through this. I hadn’t told the entire story to anyone since I lay in the hospital with Dee at my bedside. I never told my parents the whole truth; they didn’t need that kind of worry. So much time had passed, I wasn’t sure if I remembered how it went. I’d been out of it mentally for a long time. “I knew something was wrong the moment he came home. He was different. He couldn’t look at me. I asked him what was wrong and he just laid it out there. He’d been seeing another woman behind my back for six months. I’d been oblivious. I was happy.” I stifled a sob.
Will’s hand tightened on my waist, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.
“My first mistake was to slap him in the face. Then he told me that he was in love with her and they were getting married. The next week. My second mistake was to punch him in the face.”
“It wasn’t a mistake.” Will’s voice was quiet and thin.
I silenced him with a finger over his lips, the tension set in his jaw, unnerving. “Then he hit me.”
His eyes squeezed shut.
“My reaction was to run. He’d never raised a hand to me before. Ever. I was terrified. He came after me of course, and grabbed my arm just as I was about to go down the stairs. I yelled at him to let me go, and he did. I turned and that was when I felt his hand on my back.”
“God, Zoe.”
“I remember everything. I remember falling down onto the concrete below. I remember screaming. I remember the sound my arm made when it broke.” Tears began to spill out of my eyes.
“That scar on your arm,” he said, tracing the lines of my tattoo.
“I had to have surgery. It wasn’t healing and they had to fix it. I couldn’t deal with seeing it, so I had it tattooed.”
“It doesn’t look like a surgical scar.”
“I broke it so badly, the bone was sticking out.”
He drew in a sharp hiss. “Bloody hell.”
“Mrs. Cooper downstairs heard my screams and came out. By that time Jason had already ran. She called an ambulance and Dee.”
“That bastard ran off?”
“I could’ve called the cops. He could’ve gone to jail. But there were no witnesses. It was my word against his and I didn’t have the kind of money it took to fight it in court. I had no choice but to let it go. It was a week or so before I got out of hospital and in all that time, Dee and my parents were the only people who came to see me. It wasn’t until I went home that I knew that he’d been telling lies to everyone. I tried to tell them the truth, but they were quick to brand me the jealous ex-girlfriend. I got hateful emails and messages. I deleted everything. Got a new number, got a new email. I had to fall of the face of the earth or end up in some psycho hospital. They seemed to forget the part where Jason had blatantly cheated on me. They all sided with him and believed the story that I’d just fallen.”
“Everyone but Dee.”
“Dee was the only friend I had outside of his.”
“If I ever see that bastard again…”
“It’s over, Will.”
“What about the other woman?”
“I tried to find her in the beginning, to talk to her. Tell her the truth. But, I couldn’t find her and nobody would talk to me.”
“What did he say to you tonight? Why was he even there?”
“He wanted me back.”
“What the fuck?”
“He didn’t admit to it, but something must’ve went wrong with his marriage. He must’ve seen how well I was doing now and wanted to crawl back. You know, the whole victim messed up mentality. Maybe he wanted to take advantage. I’d never let him. Not after what he did.”
“Zoe,” Will murmured, holding me close. “God, your resolve is so bloody strong. I feel like a coward next to you.”
“I was a coward,” I said. “For two years I was. Then Dee got me to play in this silly little band called The Devil’s Tattoo. Somewhere along the way I decided to live again, but even then it wasn’t right, not yet.”
He pressed his lips to my forehead, fingers trembling against the skin of my face.
I wasn’t quite finished yet. “How the hell does someone recover from that kind of betrayal? I never did. I realize that now. I’m sorry I ran off that day. I’m sorry.” I couldn’t help the tears that began streaming from my eyes.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Zoe. Nothing.”
“I panicked.”
Will let out a long shaky breath and pressed his lips against my forehead again. “I wish I could take it away. I want to make it better.”
“Did you mean it? What you said before?” I whispered.
He cupped my chin and drew my tear stained face to his. “I love you Zoe Granger. I don’t even know how that’s possible. But I do. I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid I’d scare you away.”
“I never thought I’d be able to let anyone else in,” I said carefully. “But you walked in with your infuriatingly sexy stubble and turned me upside down. The effect you had on me scared me shitless.”
“If it’s any consolation, I felt exactly the same way.”
“Then,” I whispered. “You took it away.”
He gazed at me with hope in his eyes and my heart did that flip-flop it had done the first time he’d spoken to me. “Zoe, tell me I haven’t fucked this up.”
“You really are a class A jerk, Will Strickland.” After what we’d been through, he still hesitated. I captured his mouth with mine and kissed him, taking control. “You’re mine.”
He had me on my back a second later, a knee pressing between my legs. “If I’m yours, then you’re mine.” He kissed me long and slow, his tongue teasing mine, and it was full of everything he felt for me. Everything fell away and it was just me and him.
The cold packet of peas was back against my face, and instantly it cooled everything else down as well.
“How’s your hand?” he asked, pulling it up to his mouth, lips brushing against my tender knuckles.
“Sore.”
“You have a mean right hook, Zo.”
“I never knew.” I pulled my hand away and pressed it against the top of the frozen peas.
“Do you think it might be broken?”
“No,” I shook my head. “It moves okay. I think it’s just gunna bruise a little.”
“Damn,” he sighed. “You have an awesome new guitar to play, too.”
For the first time in days, I smiled a genuine smile. It would take a little time, but somehow I knew we were going to be okay. He loved me.
“We’re going to Europe in two weeks,” he said, suddenly serious. “I’ll be gone almost three months.”
“I know.” And I didn’t like it one bit, but maybe time apart would do us good.
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“It’s okay, I have a Fender to keep me warm at night.”
“Zoe,” he groaned, pulling me against the length of his body. “You’re making me feel inadequate.”
I ran a thumb over his nipple in slow, lazy circles and teased the edge of his jaw with small fluttering kisses.
“That’s a little better,” he said through heavy breaths, moving against me, the frozen peas falling aside again. “Seriously though, Zo. You need some rest. It’s two am.” He rolled me over, wrapping his arms around me, obviously intending to stay. I pressed my body back into his, closing my eyes. He could stay as long as he wanted.
“I love you Zoe Granger,” he said against my hair. “I know you’re not ready to say it. I know it’ll
take time after everything, but I’ll wait.”
“Will.”
“Shh,” he whispered, capturing my lips with his thumb. “I’m never letting you go again.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Zoe
Three months later…
The day after our last gig, Will took me down to the police station and we both lodged our statements. I told them everything from the beginning. The day Jason had come home and told me about his cheating, his assault, the slander that had followed. Even Dee came and gave his statement, though he hadn’t been a direct witness. They said without substantial evidence, there wasn’t much they could do to pursue a charge for the earlier assault, but they could seek a conviction for the previous night. With the statements from Will and the bouncer from the bar and some CCTV footage, they were able to pin a charge. It went to court a few weeks later, but he got off with a caution and a mild good behavior bond.
It wasn’t ideal, but hopefully it would serve as a deterrent. He had a record of sorts, so next time he wouldn’t get off so easily. To top it all off, I now had a fresh stamped and sealed retraining order. Unfortunately, reality didn’t always see the bad guys going to jail.
It took a week before the bruise went down on my hand before I could play guitar again, but the one on my face took a little more time to heal. In the two weeks before The Stabs went off to Europe, Will spent every moment with me outside of rehearsals. He was true to his word and stuck by me. He made everything better.
He didn’t hear from Mish again and I hoped it was for good. And to date, there hadn’t been a peep out of Jason, either.
For the two and a half months he was away, Will sent me messages and emails, updating me on everything that was going on and all the things he wanted to do with me when he got back. It was lonely without him, but the time apart had done us a world of good like I had hoped. It gave us both time to readjust and get our heads on straight. And when the skies cleared, both our worlds were still full of each other. I still hadn’t told him that I was in love with him, too. That I was saving for a face-to-face encounter.
What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 3) Page 101