by R Holmes
There were so many questions racing through my head, many in which I didn't have an answer to and it made me uneasy and anxious.
The door creaks open behind me, a sliver of light shining against the wall, before closing back. Rustling sounds and I hear Sebastian removing his clothes, then the covers being pulled back as he slides in behind me and hauls me against his body. For a few moments he says nothing, the only sound in the room the sound of our breathing. Then his lips find my neck in the dark of the room and he plants soft kisses against my nape.
"I love you."
My heart stops in my chest. It's the first time either of us have said those words out loud, even though I've felt this way for a while I was too afraid to voice it to him, scared he would run in the opposite direction because we had only been together a short time. But in the short time we had been together, it was powerful and all consuming.
I turn around, still in his arms to face him. The steel gray of his eyes shine in the moonlight. There's stubble along his jaw, the start of a five o'clock shadow. I run my fingers along the coarse hair and he closes his eyes, leaning into my touch.
"You see me, Pres. You see past what the rest of the world sees. The rich, stuck up douche who has more money than sense. You see the man I really am, the man I hope to be. You believe in me, and in turn, I believe in myself. That I can be this person that’s worthy of someone like you.”
Tears leak from my eyes, and this time they’re happy ones. His thumb swipes them away before they can fall.
“And I love you.” Barely above a whisper, he still hears my truth. His gaze locks with mine and burns with intensity. I want to kiss everywhere on him. The imperfect bump along the ridge of his nose, likely from a fight, the sharp cut of his jaw, the corded muscles of his neck. His lips, sensual and full. The dark eyelashes that fan out on his cheeks as he sleeps.
I am wholly obsessed with this man.
"I'm sorry he hurt you, Pres. I'm so fucking sorry," he whispers.
Nodding, I run my fingers over his face. Everywhere I can feel, reveling in the true intimacy of the moment. The fact that he is truly seeing me for the first time. The real me. All of my secrets in the light, laid out upon the table in front of me.
The truth is, I don’t know who I am anymore. I don't know who I'm going to be tomorrow, I just hope that whoever it is that Sebastian still loves me. I hope that he can love me through these moments where I feel like I don't even know who I am on the journey to finding who I should be.
"I've been running for so long. Hiding. What am I going to do now?" I ask him.
He shakes his head. "He'll never fucking hurt you again. Do you understand me? I’ll never let anyone hurt you again."
I wish he knew what he was up against. He doesn't know the evil that they're dealing with and that scares me even more that I have to fear for his life, not just mine. I'd willingly hand myself over to Eric if it meant I could keep Sebastian safe. I'd do it without question, without even thinking.
Instead of answering him, I press my lips against his, hoping that I can show him how I feel with my touch, with my soul. The things that can’t be felt with words. He opens his mouth, deepening the kiss, our tongues tangling together in a kiss so fierce I feel the air leave my lungs in a whoosh.
"I need you." He breaks free of the kiss.
He rolls us over, settling between my thighs, rubbing his hardness against my aching center. His lips wrap around my taut, sensitive nipple, sucking it into his mouth. My back bows from the bed, pressing further against him. Unlike the other times we've been together, this time wasn't frenzied and turbulent. It's slow and languid in a way we've never been together. Like we're both afraid that any moment what we have will be ripped from us. His hands roam my body in exploration. He lines the head of his cock with my entrance, dragging himself through the folds of my pussy, coating his cock with my wetness, then pushes inside excruciatingly slow. Inch by inch until he's seated inside of me, stretching me around his cock.
I'm so full of him, I'm already close. This time it is different between us. We are closer, more intimate, completely giving our damaged pieces to the other.
"Fuck, I'm so in love with you," he whispers, dropping his forehead to mine as he peers into my eyes, whispering his words of affirmation, caressing my broken soul, healing me in the only way he knows how. His hips pull back out of me to thrust back in slowly, so deeply. Over and over he thrusts inside of me, each moment building closer and closer to me falling apart around him.
Sebastian Pierce is making love to me. Softly, slowly, with so much tenderness it brings tears to my eyes. He’s claiming me, and little did he know I was already his. Body and soul, without question.
His thumb finds my clit and he rubs in tandem with his thrusts. Slowly bringing us to the edge. Soft, firm circles against my clit when he fucks me so deeply he bottoms out. Every nerve ending in my body is alive and desperate for him. I run my nails down the muscles of his biceps as he hovers over me. I want more. I wrap my legs around his waist and try to roll us over, not without his help seeing as he’s a giant.
He gives me a small smile before grabbing my hips as I slowly sink back down on his cock.
"Oh fuck," he groans. I'm seated to the hilt on him, and I tighten around him, pulling another groan from him. It makes me feel powerful to bring him pleasure.
I start riding him without restraint. Up and down I slide down on his cock, while he squeezes my hips in a punishing grip trying to hold onto the little bit of control he has. I move slowly, deliberately, wanting this to last forever. The unexplored intimacy between us.
"You're so tight, so fucking perfect." He sits up and grabs the back of my neck and yanks my head to him, taking my mouth in a wild kiss. It’s always like this between us. Pleasure like I've never known.
His arms wrap around my back and he pounds into me. Hard and deep, brushing against the spot inside of me that makes me wild, until I feel myself falling.
A blissful orgasm starts deep inside of me and blossoms, pulling me wholly under. I feel Sebastian tense beneath me, and plant himself deep as he comes. I feel him shooting in deep spurts inside of me as he empties. Our labored breathing mingles, sweaty and sticky with sex, but neither of us moving. We stay like that for so long, he softens inside of me and I feel his cum spill from me, and only then does he lay me down beside him then get up for a damp rag to clean me up with. He takes his time, caressing my body as he does. It's so sweet, tears well in my eyes.
Tomorrow, things will change. We have no control over what is truly coming, and I don't think either of us are ready to admit it. That slip of paper changes everything for them, tying this world back into mine. One that I wanted no part in. We’re fighting wars within ourselves that now we would be united in.
Hours later before the sun was set to rise, I was draped across Sebastian's chest, the steady rise and fall of his chest giving me peace. He fell asleep shortly after making love to me, whispering sweet nothings in my ear as he dozed off. I wish with everything inside of me that we could hold on to this moment. Continue to stay in this bubble that exists with only us. A blissful ignorance that blocked everything else out.
But, like all things… it comes to an end.
* * *
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24
Sebastian
After the last few days with Presley, the last place I wanted to leave was the room. I'd had her in more ways than I could count, and it was still not enough. But, in light of everything, home is the safest place for us all to be. Especially since Ezra has seemed to be hanging on by a thread. We were all on edge and anxious he was going to have a mental fucking breakdown. So, we're headed back.
We make the fifteen hour drive home in twelve. None of us are eager to return to a world that's threatening to implode at any moment, but craving the familiarity of our house. The information we received was a shock, and if anything I'm more worried than ever about Ezra.
Presley retreated inside herself. She
's barely said a full sentence on the entire ride home. Instead, she's been lost in a trance for most of the drive, her eyes glued to the windshield as we drove. I’m fucking terrified to lose her and it seems like she's slipping right through my fingers with each mile we get closer to St. Augustine.
By the time we make it home and pull up at Presley's, I'm in a shit mood and exhausted. I planned to run home, grab new clothes and shower then come back to stay with her. We get out of the Tahoe and I get her bag out of the trunk, then shut it behind me.
"Looks like Rory got the window fixed and the new door installed." I nod towards her house.
"Yeah it looks great. I feel better knowing no one will be able to break in now."
We walk to the door and get inside where I drop her bag on the bed.
"I'm going to head back to the dorm and shower, grab some clothes and come back. I was serious when I said you aren't staying here alone, Pres."
She nods, bending down to scoop Hope into her arms. The kitten purrs in her arms and rubs against her touch. Obviously she missed her, and that makes me fucking all weird inside which I'll never admit out loud. I imagine her holding a baby, and then I realize I'm fucking insane at the way my heart speeds up at the thought of her holding our kids.
And now it's time to go.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asks, eyes wide.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, like that."
"Just admiring your beauty," I lie, but not really because I'm completely fucking obsessed with her. "I'll be back, lock the doors and keep your gun close. Just in case. Rory texted and said he installed an alarm that triggers loud as fuck if someone opens the door once you arm it. He left the instructions on the kitchen table. Something about an app." I drop a chaste kiss to her lips and a quick rub behind Hope's ears. "I love you."
"I love you too. Be careful." I pull her to me, cat and all, and let my arms linger, soaking in the moment before I have to leave.
I feel like a fucking sap, but everything about this girl makes me weak. I’m gone for her.
I walk out the front door and have barely made it down the stairs when my phone rings in my jeans. When I pull it out, I see Mom's name flash on the screen. Finally, she calls me back. It's only been close to two weeks.
"About time you called me back," I joke when I slide the bar and answer.
"Hi, sweetie. I was wondering if you could come home for a little while, I need to discuss something with you." She doesn't sound like herself and it immediately raises red flags.
"Everything okay?"
There's a brief pause followed by a hum, "Of course. Can I expect you soon?"
"Yeah, I'll be there in twenty.”
We end the call, and I'm left with more questions than answers. After I stop by the dorm and change, I grab my keys and walk across campus to my car. I pull up to the estate just under twenty minutes and it's eerily quiet. At any given time, there's usually at least four employees on ground. The pool guy, landscapers and gardeners, gatekeeper.
Today, there's no one which does nothing but make my stomach twist even tighter. Something's not right and I feel it. Parking the car, I open the door and hop out, entering the house through the door connected in the garage.
"Mom?" I call. The heavy door of the garage shuts behind me, echoing through the empty house.
Her voice carries from the dining room, "In here."
I walk through the massive arched door into the pristine dining place that holds more than its fair share of bad memories. Everything about my childhood home is cold and sterile like. Sure, the dining room table costs twenty five g's by itself, and that's nothing compared to the Persian that sits underneath it. But all that shit is materialistic. It doesn't make you feel loved or welcomed. A house isn't a home unless it's truly lived in, and never once have I felt alive in these walls. It’s always been a place for my parents to show off their wealth.
My mom's sitting in the plush leather chair facing the fire. She doesn't speak when she hears me enter. I walk around the chair to her, to drop a kiss to her head, and then, I see the bruises.
Her entire face is black and blue. One of her eyes are swollen shut, her lips busted on one side. She’s had the shit beat out of her.
"Mom, damnit," I cry, dropping to my knees in front of her. The purple and blue shaded bruises span her jaw, snaking up to her black eye. She looks so small and frail in this moment that I can't help the tears spring to my eyes. Fuck, she's not been the most present mother but she's my mother. Any guy with a heart would feel the same if someone had done this to his mother.
Even more now that the only other woman I've ever loved has been abused at the hands of someone who promised to love and care for her, now just like my mother.
"What happened?" I ask even though I know it was him.
She looks away from the fire into my eyes, and the unshed tears are what nearly break me. I've never in my lifetime seen my mother cry. Not when my father openly cheated on her, embarrassed her in front of their friends and his coworkers, not when her parents died. Even in the worst times of her life, she put on a brave face and lifted her chin higher. Until now.
"Your father and I are divorcing."
I suck in a shocked breath. "Seriously?"
She nods, bringing the bourbon she’s been swishing around absentmindedly, in the ornate tumbler to her lips, draining it dry. "This," she gestures to her face, "is the result of that conversation."
"He's such a piece of shit. I'm going to fucking kill him." I rise from my knees, and start to pace the dining room. I'm fucking done with his shit. He's hurt our family enough and this is the last goddamn straw. Rage courses through my veins as my eyes flit over her injuries. It makes me insane every time my eyes drift back to the bruises.
"Fighting with him will do no good, Sebastian. You know the type of man your father is. He loves it."
She's right, but it does nothing to lessen the anger I feel.
"I'm moving out. I've let all of the staff go. He has no idea, but I'll be gone tonight. Staying with a friend in Peillon. I wanted you to hear it from me and not your father."
"You're leaving?" My jaw is on the fucking floor. I'm truly shocked that she's actually leaving. After her everything he’s done and she’s stayed. I feel nothing but relief.
"I am. And I don't expect to return anytime soon. I will miss your graduation son, and I am so very sorry. I believe that if I don't leave, I'm not sure what your father will do. I have to."
The words puncture my heart, stripping me to the core. "Graduation isn't important, Mom, you being safe and as far from that mother fucker as possible is what's important. It’s just a piece of paper and a crowd of people I can’t wait to never see again."
The corner of her busted lip curls up in the smallest of movement, a hint of a smile. "I'm sorry your father and I have never been the type of parents that you deserve, Sebastian. I mean that with all of my heart. I can't ask you to forgive me, as I can't seem to forgive myself, but I ask that you live your life happily, free of the Pierce curse. You have the power to change your future and I know that you will." She brings her hand to my jaw, cradling my face in her hand.
"Andrea," my father's voice booms from the foyer. Lost in conversation, we didn't hear the front door open and my father slip in.
Seconds later, he's rushing through the door towards mom who instinctively cowers in fear.
"Do not fucking touch her," I bellow stepping between them.
The asshole has the audacity to laugh in my fucking face. "Get out of the way Sebastian before you get hurt. I am in no mood to deal with you."
He pauses, as if waiting for me to actually follow his instructions and now it's my turn to fucking laugh.
"You are deranged if you think I'm fucking scared of you. Get the fuck back. Pack your shit and get out."
The darkness in his pupils swirl paired with the sinister smile upon his lips, "You’re forgetting your place. This is my house, my money,
my cars. Everything you own is mine, Sebastian. All of it. You want to act folly, protecting your mother from the punishment she has earned and rightly deserves? It's gone." He snaps his fingers in front of my face and like the proverbial string, my restraint goes with it.
I grab his lapels in my fist with one hand and my fist flies back with the other, clocking him on the jaw and he staggers backwards against the wall.
"Fuck you," I spit. Before he has the chance to rear back, I hit him again. Blood splatters from his nose as it crunches beneath my fist, and I don't feel even remotely bad. I don’t feel… anything. He deserves this shit and more and when he falls onto the floor beneath me, I take a moment to drink it in.
My father, a Pierce in all his glory, at my fucking feet, bleeding like a stuck ass pig. Not so high and mighty now. It seems anticlimactic to what he actually deserves.
He spits a mouthful of blood onto the rug then drags his hand under his nose to wipe away the drip of blood into his mouth. "You are fucking dead to me, do you hear me!" He screams, the words echoing around the marble walls. I drop down to my haunches in front of him, leaning into his face
"You've been dead to me. You ever fucking touch my mother again and I'll bury you six feet under this goddamn house. Along with all of this expensive shit that you seem to cherish more than your family. Funny, hope that fifty thousand dollar couch keeps you company in hell, asshole."
Throwing his head back he laughs manically, like a true psychopath. "Oh, Sebastian, you have no idea the power I have over you and your bitch of a mother. You think I don't know about that hot little piece you've been fucking? And your teacher none the less. Tsk Tsk. I thought I taught you to be more discreet not so fucking sloppy. Better keep an eye out on that one, someone will fuck her right under your nos—" I cut him off with the slam of my first. Over and over I hit him until my knuckles have split open and my blood mingles with his.