He would free her from that dark, twisted, malignant row that held her – whatever it took.
Eden yanked up his shorts and jeans, grabbed his T-shirt and followed behind her.
He would make her believe in him.
He reached the bottom of the steps. Scanned the room. He looked behind crates and abandoned pieces of furniture, but she had gone. He felt a surge of panic until he noticed a glimmer of moonlight coming through the boards ahead. Sliding his fingers between them, he felt them move. He pushed them aside and barely squeezed through the gap, one that, no doubt, would have been effortless for her.
He stepped out into the breezy, rain-soaked courtyard, but there was no sign of Jessie. He continued on through the gap into the next. Then ahead, he saw it. In the brick wall was a gap, this one a deep and narrow V. As he looked through, seeing the alley beyond, he worked out exactly where Jessie had come from that night – how she got in and out of the lock-up so furtively. And now she was stood in front of it, slamming a rock against the padlock with a force he’d not yet seen, the rain pouring around her, a flash of lightning igniting the alley, the music and laughter spilling out from the buildings behind.
Too big to squeeze through the gap, he instead used the jutting bricks as an aid to climb over the wall before nimbly descending the other side.
He reached the mesh door just as she slammed it before hurrying across the room to her inner sanctum, no doubt with the intention of locking him out of there instead.
But he got there just after her, the door almost rebounding off him from the force as he kicked it open. He caught it in his hand as he stared through the darkness.
He leaned against the doorframe, knowing she’d be able to see him even if he couldn’t see her. ‘Jess, we need to talk.’
It was a couple of minutes before he heard a match being struck, saw a soft glow of light to his left.
Seeing her perch on the edge of the sofa, he closed the door behind him.
As darkness pressed in on her from every corner, she clutched something in her hands. And he knew what.
He’d passed the tiny store on the way back to the row earlier when he’d headed back with the contents of Pummel’s list. The packet of pencils in the window had caught his eye. At first he'd walked past, but then he’d backed up.
He’d left them on the sofa for her to find.
He never bought gifts unless they were for his family, but the urge to get her something had been overwhelming. And it had been about more than just another attempt to win her over. He knew a bigger part of him wanted to do it because he wanted to make her smile, his way of letting her know that someone had thought about her.
Even as he’d retreated, he’d turned back to look at them once more, had wondered if he’d done the right thing. Thankfully, he’d left them there.
Now she clenched his gift in her hands. ‘What’s this?’ she asked, meeting his gaze.
‘I thought they’d come in useful.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘For bribing me?’
He sat down beside her. ‘You might find this hard to believe, but people are capable of doing nice things sometimes, Jessie, simply because they can. It’s not always about ulterior motives.’
‘But I know what your ulterior motive is, remember?’
The suspicion that remained in her eyes hurt more than he knew it should have – for her sake, as well as his. ‘You don’t even know how to handle someone being nice to you, do you?’
‘And that’s what that just was, was it – you being nice?’
‘You asked for it that way. I told you I have no qualms in giving you what you want.’
‘Except to leave me alone – because that doesn’t suit you, does it?’
He frowned, irritation striking his chest again. ‘I’m getting a little sick of this toing and froing, Jessie. This one step forward and two steps back.’
‘You and me both. Which is why I told you this is over,’ she said, placing the pencils aside before pulling away from the sofa. ‘It’s not fair to either of us.’
‘You want out of here,’ he said, following her, ‘and I want you out of here. What’s the fucking complication? What do I have to do to make you extend a little bit of faith in my direction?’
‘I did,’ she said, spinning to face him. ‘Then I walked in and saw you with Tatum. Saw you…’
The pain in her eyes struck a chord way too deep.
‘You can’t even say it, can you?’ He closed the gap between them, needing to be rid of the space between them. ‘What was it that did it, Jessie? What was the clincher?’
He already knew. He just needed to hear her say it. He needed her to hear her say it. He needed it out in the open. Now.
‘What do you think?’ This time her steely glare was molten. ‘You gave me hope up in my room, and then you kissed her. I know you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do – I’m not naïve. I know how this works. You could have let her kiss you but… you kissed her back, Eden.’
His heart pounded a little harder as her true feelings finally unravelled before him. ‘You’re jealous?’
‘I’ve been jealous from the moment she touched you. What just happened in that lounge was worse though. Even around here, a kiss can mean something. And if you’re even thinking of telling me it meant nothing to you, all you’re admitting is how cold, how hard, how determined you really are.’ She paused for only a second. ‘You said you’re not my enemy – that kiss made you my enemy more than anything else you’ve done.’
Warmth saturated his chest. ‘Then what was that on the stairs if I’m your enemy?’
‘That was closure.’
‘No,’ he said, stepping closer. ‘You don’t get to walk away from me, Jessie – not with how I felt back there. You think I’m going to give up because you’re having some kind of hissy-fit?’
Her eyes widened with indignation. ‘Hissy-fit?’
‘Yes, Jessie,’ he said, his hands low on his hips, his gaze staring hers down. ‘A hissy-fit. That’s what I call it when someone is so confused, the feelings inside so intense, so messed up that the only thing they can do is throw up barriers rather than face what’s going on inside. You care about me but what terrifies you more is that you now know I care about you. You felt it back on those stairs as much as I did. The only difference is, I’m less scared of facing it than the prospect of losing you, whereas you’d rather lose me, let me walk away, than face the alternative.’
She took a step back. ‘You have no idea what the alternative is.’
‘Because you’re too fucking distrustful, too consumed by this place to help me understand.’ He closed the gap between them again. ‘Do you want to know how many times I’ve let myself come like that? Unprotected? Been that at ease, that relaxed, that caught up in the moment that I didn’t care of the implications? Once. Back there. That was my first time.’
Her eyes flared for a moment. But then they narrowed again. ‘Because there were no implications.’
‘Don’t,’ he said, hoping the gravity in his voice was as clear to her as it felt to him. ‘Don’t you dare fucking treat that admittance like it’s another lie.’
‘But that’s just it. You’re asking me to give up everything based on your word – my home, my security, my freedom, my life – and hand it all to you. Three days, Eden – I’ve known you less than three days. Have you any idea how crazy that is?’
He held her gaze for a moment longer before he dragged himself away. He grabbed the first thing he could – a ball from the pool table – and smashed it against the far wall.
* * *
Jessie flinched, her attention dropping to the ball as it clinked to the floor before she stared back at Eden.
He stood with his back to her, taking deep and steady breaths, his interlaced hands clenched at the back of his neck.
Never had she felt so pathetic. Never had she felt more like Pummel had won. Never had she felt more sickened about flogging herself. Only now she was flog
ging Eden in the process, his powerful response telling her just how much she was putting him through. Something that every instinct told her he didn’t deserve.
Her throat constricted as she fought back the tears – tears that were harder to fight when she heard him sniff back his, taking a deep masculine breath as if to deny them. Tears of anger, tears of frustration, tears of sadness – she couldn’t be sure.
But, like him, she had finally had enough of the toing and froing.
She needed one final way to be sure. She made her way over to one of the crates. She lifted the lid and rooted around in the musty blankets. She took the pack of syringes out that she had taken from The Row and removed one. She slipped it into the skin of her inner elbow, as routinely as a diabetic, before drawing out her blood.
Re-joining Eden, hand trembling more than she hoped it would, she handed it across to him. ‘A syringe is all you need. Take it to your niece. The longer it has been out of my body, the weaker it becomes. You won’t have long.’
He looked down at her offering before his red-rimmed eyes locked on hers. ‘It’s your blood? It’s your blood that heals? Just like with vampires?’
‘And like I keep telling you: just as temporary. I’m not trying to hurt you, Eden; I’m just being honest with you. I’m telling you I can’t handle it. I can’t handle seeing you like you were tonight. I can’t play this game. I’m starting to feel too much for you. I never intended to, but it’s happening. We’re crazy believing you can get your hands on that necklace in the next two days. And the longer this goes on, the tougher the sentence for me. I really am sorry.’ She wiped a tear from her eye. ‘What happened back there was more than it should have been. And if we keep going like this, you’re going to end up dead and I’m…’ She pressed her lips together. ‘I can’t let it happen to you. We both lost it back there. We could lose it again.’
‘I didn’t lose it – I let it happen. I wanted it to happen. I wanted it to happen with you. You talk about a kiss; well I’ve kissed countless women. You, I can’t. That should tell you more.’
Her heart pounded as she stared at him. As the darkness closed in on her, she could only see the light – the same metaphorical light that she had seen when he’d looked up at her on his knees that first night she’d laid eyes on him, his life in her hands.
‘It’s got fuck all to do with me not wanting to,’ he added. ‘Because I do. But if I kiss you, I know I’m not leaving without you. Whatever that entails.’
‘And that scares you?’
‘It fucking terrifies me.’
She bit anxiously into her bottom lip as she held his gaze, equally knowing what the implication meant. ‘If those pencils really were a gift, no strings attached, that’s the kindest thing anyone’s done for me in a long time. I think this would make us even. That little girl needs you more than I do. I’m big enough to look after myself.’
‘So am I,’ he said, holding her gaze. ‘It didn’t stop you saving my life.’
‘That was my choice. You don’t owe me for it. But if you feel you do, then do this for me. Get as far away from here as you can, while you still can.’
He looked down at the syringe in her open, cupped palm again before he looked back into her eyes. ‘I can’t.’
Her throat tightened. ‘Yes, you can. For that little girl, you can.’
He shook his head, his gaze unfaltering. ‘I can save you both.’
She exhaled tersely. ‘Not in time.’
‘Fuck time,’ he said. ‘Nobody ever has enough of it. It’s what you do with it that counts.’
The resilience that once infuriated her now made her want to wrap her arms around him. ‘You’re a fighter to the core, aren’t you, Eden Reece?’
‘Mostly I’m a pain in the arse. But luckily my indisputable charm makes up for it,’ he said with a faint smile. Then the sombreness was back. ‘I feel I should ask if you want me to go, but I know you’ll lie. I’ll know you’ll say yes.’ He closed the gap. He brushed her hair back from her shoulder. ‘But you’ve been telling me to go since the minute I got here.’ He cupped her neck, rested his thumb beneath her chin. ‘So how about, just for a change, you beg me to stay? How about you make the demands you want,’ he said, taking the syringe from her hand and dropping it to the floor as he closed the gap between them, ‘instead of everyone making demands of you. I’ll ask you again – what do you want from me, Jessie?’
She still wasn’t convinced she was doing the right thing, but after this she knew she’d know.
Her heart was worth the risk to know.
‘I want you to kiss me, Eden.’
She stopped breathing as his hands cupped her neck, his thumbs beneath her jawline to tilt her mouth to his. His lips met hers – warm, soft, masculine lips that tenderly caressed hers as if they had all the time in the world, as if nothing else mattered, as if everything could just fade away around them.
And it did.
Maintaining a hold that was as firm yet gentle as his kiss, he finally parted her lips, his tongue meeting hers with a slow and purposeful ease as if their mouths belonged that way, as if their lips were made for the very intention of meeting.
The heat that burned in her chest pooled equally deep in her abdomen at knowing he finally stood in front of her as raw and honest as he could be.
She clasped his jaw as he clasped hers, reciprocated his kiss, relishing in the warmth of his mouth, the heat of his lips, the reassurance of his hold as one arm slipped around to hold the small of her back, his other sliding up to the nape of her neck.
She caught hold of his hip, feeling the hardness of his erection pressing against her. Only this time he was in no hurry to take her – but she was to take him.
She grasped the hem of his T-shirt, tugging it up between them, hoping her intention was clear enough.
He loosened his arms, pulled away from his kiss only long enough for her to get the clothing over his head.
She pressed her palms flat to his chest, his hard body, his smooth, firm skin beneath her sensitized palms forming a fist of longing deep in the core of her sex. She reached between them, finding his belt, her trembling fingers unbuckling it before tearing open his jeans, Eden doing nothing to stop her as she backed him against the sofa.
As he fell down into it, his strong arms braced, her kisses against his bare chest as she knelt between his spread thighs were as instinctive as sliding her fingers down over every taut groove on her way down to his boxers to free the hardness already breaking against its confinement.
Exposing him slowly, she glanced back into his eyes – eyes whose glossiness mirrored her own need. She pressed her chest against his, kissed along his jawline, his stubble grazing her cheek as she lingered on his tense, warm neck, on his fast-beating pulse throbbing beneath her lips.
And as she coiled her hand around the base of his silky, rock-hard erection, it was her turn to kiss him. He remained motionless as she placed one then another feather-light kiss on his lips, before gently running her tongue between them, tasting him like he had tasted her.
Sliding her cupped hand gently up and down his shaft as he parted his lips to her, she let her tongue meet his again, only pulling back slightly as his hand closed over the top of the one that she held him with.
He glided her hand up to his tip, smeared her palm over his pre-cum before sliding her hand back down again, encouraging her to tighten her grip, letting her know he was anything but fragile. With his other hand, he gently gripped the hair at the back of her head, guided her down to take him in her mouth as he held the head of his erection towards her.
In a move that was carnally instinctive, she licked from where their hands gripped his base right up to circle the underside of his head before licking off what he had to offer at the tip.
His fingers tightened in her hair, the muscles in his abdomen clenching beneath her palm. But when she released him from her mouth only to look him in the eyes, she saw his frown was anything but one of disapproval.
It spurned her on more; gave her the reassurance she needed.
She kissed gently back up his torso, relishing its warmth, tasting his skin, her lips grazing over every finely honed muscle on a path back down over his belly button. His erection jerked as if to meet her, his hand still holding himself towards her, his hips lifting slightly, eager for her to take more of him.
But this was a moment she wanted to savour. She slid both hands up his chest, feeling the smooth curves under her palms as she glided them up across the breadth of his shoulders, back down over every hard muscle before taking him into her mouth again, consuming at least the first two inches of him before gradually taking him deeper.
His groan was almost feral as he spread his thighs further in a move that was painfully masculine. She adjusted her position to take him deeper into her mouth, as deep as she could without choking, the fingers of his clenched hand brushing her lips.
Despite handing the control to her, he still had moments of impatience. Entwining his fingers in her hair, her encouraged her to take him deeper still.
When she looked back up at him, his head was resting back on the sofa, his eyes closed, his teeth gritted, his hand having freed the nape of her neck to clutch his own.
She couldn’t remember having seen anything more beautiful, more sexy, more compelling. And she knew in that moment, as impossible as it felt, as implausible, that she was well and truly falling for him.
Her own need escalating off the back of his, needing to feel the thrust of his hips elsewhere than against her mouth, she slid her lips slowly off him.
Her toes tingled as her gaze met his again, her thighs trembling as she kissed back up his chest. She slipped her knickers off, unbuttoned her cardigan, her damaged dress parting across her bare breasts.
Both hands clasping her behind, he had her astride him a second later, her thighs parted either side of his.
The second she felt his rigidness against the pliability of her sex, she knew she wanted to relish the moment. Seemingly so did he as he tugged off her cardigan, throwing it away before fully opening the front of her dress, sliding it down her arms to expose her to him. Eyes fixed on what she was offering, he took both breasts in his hands, massaging them with a firmness that clenched her insides, his thumbs working her nipples in firm, circular strokes before locking his mouth over each in turn.
Blood Deep (Blackthorn Book 4) Page 31