A Stone in the Sea

by A. L. Jackson

  I set my hand on her cheek, words strained as my eyes darted over every inch of her face, memorizing this moment. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you.”

  A small gasp escaped from between those full lips, and a gentle smile tweaked just one side of my mouth as I tilted my head, shifting so I could brush my fingertips along the butterflies taking flight on her hip, my voice growing softer with the power of this admission. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with her.”

  Tears streamed ceaselessly from the corners of Shea’s eyes, gliding down the side of her face and into her hair as she stared up at me.

  “Yes, you were,” she said.

  Wind pummeled at the outside walls, its power matching the devotion I felt inside. I took her hand and pressed it over my pounding heart.

  “You told me you wanted this more than anything, Shea. I’m giving it to you. All of it. Every piece of me…it belongs to you. I have so much shit in my life, and I always thought that was all I was ever going to have. That this life was a trade-off for the band making it, retribution for all the crimes I committed on the road to getting us here. But you changed all that. You gave me hope. Something good to hang onto, and I’m not ever going to let it go.”

  Awe settled on her face, and she was back to caressing mine. “Find love and bring it here,” she murmured just below her breath.

  Confusion dented my brow, and a small smile wavered on her mouth as she started to explain. “My grandma…that’s what she told me right before she passed.” Sorrow clouded her expression, yet somehow all that love still came shining through. “And it was you who found me.”

  I breathed in her storm, a vibration thundering through my body. “And you found me. Didn’t know how lost I was until you did. Until you filled me with everything I’d been missing.”

  “I love you, Sebastian. More than you could know. More than I can understand.”

  “Pretty sure I do.”

  Propped on my left elbow, I let that hand find the back of her neck, lifting her a fraction from the bed, holding all her warmth against me, her nose brushing mine. She exhaled, and I sucked her in.

  My right hand trailed down her side, over her slender hip, fingers flicking along the crease at the inside of her thigh. I dipped under the front of her leg so I could grab her by the back of the thigh. I bent her leg up, spreading her wide. Feeling another wave of desperation, that throbbing need, I ran my hand up and down the miles of soft skin, gripping at the flesh of her ass before I skated down the back of her leg and back up again, taking greedy handfuls as I went.

  Lightning lit up against the window, illuminating the hunger and need smoldering in Shea.

  Wasn’t lying when I told her I’d been dying to take that sweet ass.

  But not tonight.

  Not when violence skimmed beneath my skin. Not when my body burned with the need to protect. Not when I was half mad with lust, half mad with the thirst to ruin anyone who brought harm to this girl. Not when I felt myself standing at the cusp I’d been standing on all along.

  Not when I was finally ready to jump.

  I pulled back enough to grab the base of my cock, glancing up at her face as I aligned my tip at the heat of her center.

  She locked eyes with me, her chest heaving, and her breaths shallow.

  I pushed forward, the walls of that perfect pussy gripping my head, begging for more as I held back her thigh and slowly eased in until I was taking her whole.

  I stuttered out a strangled groan. “So good. Every time, Shea. Every time and I just want more. Not ever going to stop loving you.”

  And I fell into her, my body rocking into hers. For the first time, slow and deliberate, that energy consuming us from all sides.

  Dark.

  Light

  Heavy.

  Soft.

  I blinked erratically, dizzy with this, dizzy with her.

  My cock was bare, burning into her as I claimed her in a way I’d never claimed a girl before. Her body taking all of me, filled up so full she was gasping, writhing below me, sharp, shattered gasps tumbling from her mouth.

  I kissed her there, on that innocent mouth, wanting those sounds, too, greedy and desperate to take it all.

  Refusing to ever let her go.

  “Sebastian,” Shea rasped as her fingers sank into the straining, bunched muscles of my shoulders as I worked over her, and I could feel it building, the intensity that bristled through her—her walls clenching, her thighs shaking, before her mouth parted and her head rocked back on her pillow.

  Muted moans. A choked sob of pleasure.

  My name. My name. My name.

  She chanted it again and again, the drum of her song beating into me. Every inch of me tightened, pleasure building strong and fast.

  I took her as deep as I could get her as this girl splintered in my arms, seeping into me, sinking fast to where I’d felt her slipping into since the moment I’d met her.

  All that beautiful bliss broke, speeding through my cock and my heart and my mind.

  Pouring into her, I came in the well of that sweet, tight body.

  Some secret part of me was hoping it would take root.

  That Shea would be tied to me forever.

  She and I creating something good.

  But I knew without a shadow of a doubt that we already were.

  Fingers dug deeper into my shoulders as Shea searched for her breath, our bodies still alight in the passion that swelled between us, a buzz in the air, the energy refusing to let us go.

  I pressed a closed-mouthed kiss to her lips before I pulled back to cast her an adoring smile. “I love you.”

  The one she sent me back reached in to touch me all the way in my scarred heart, this girl fully seated within the cracks.

  Right where she always belonged.

  “I never needed anyone to love me until I needed you,” she said.

  I brushed back the hair matted to her forehead, and I felt the frown grow on my face. I hated to go back there, but I knew this had to be resolved before we could move on with our lives. “My attorney got the article pulled.”

  Swallowing hard, she nodded. “That’s good.” It sounded like it was hard to say.

  I glanced to the side, building up, playing with a lock of her hair before I peered back at her. “Tomorrow I’m going to make a statement. I want the world to know you’re with me. No more speculation about you and Kallie. I’m going to tell them you’re my family now. They’ll hound us for a while with the news, but they’ll get bored after a while.”

  Darkness skated across her features.

  “Baby, I know it’s scary, but it’s the best way. The more we hide, the more they’re going to want to know. Let’s just get this out of the way so we can move on and put it behind us. We’re going to have to face it some time. We might as well do it now.”

  She shook her head, like she was trying to silence me.

  “Sebastian,” she whispered, and those tears just wouldn’t quit. “I want that, more than anything, for the world to know you’re mine. But there’s something you need to know about me before you do that.”

  Dread curled in my stomach and I clung to her a little tighter. “There’s nothing you can say that will change the way I feel about you.”

  Intensity swelled, working right back into a restless frenzy, and I knew…I knew I was now in the eye of her storm.

  A counterfeit calm.

  “What is it?” I demanded, just needing to know.

  Wind battered the window pane, and I jarred with the sound of the doorbell ringing below.

  Shea’s eyes grew round with worry.

  I shook my head. “Leave it. Whoever it is can wait. I need to know what you’re talking about, baby.”

  She hesitated, before the bell rang again, followed by a fist pounding on the door.

  “Shit,” I muttered. That same anger blistered through me that I’d been subject to throughout the entire day. The sorry fucker who had the audacity to come
knocking at Shea’s door, shoving microphones and cameras in our faces, was going to pay.

  Shea wiggled out from under me and started to roll from the bed. I snatched her by the wrist. “This isn’t over, Shea.”

  She grimaced as she looked back at me from over her shoulder. “No, you’re right. This isn’t over.”

  She rushed to pull her pajama shorts back on, fumbled through the buttons of her sleep shirt while I was dragging on my jeans, because I sure as hell wasn’t going to allow her to face whatever bullshit was waiting for her outside alone. My bullshit. What I’d dragged into her town and into her life.

  Guess maybe that statement I promised to make would be coming tonight rather than in the morning.

  Someone pounded again and Shea jogged downstairs. I was right at her heels. I haphazardly raked my hands through my hair, trying to tame what I was sure were the telltale signs that Shea and I had just been going at it. Considering Shea’s mussed-up state, there wasn’t going to be much denying it anyway.

  More fuel for the fire.

  Fucking fantastic.

  Shea hit the bottom floor and rushed toward the door. She stopped short to peer through the peephole.

  A small gasp shot from her and she took a shocked step back, and her head began to shake in clear confusion as she warily inched away from the door.

  I moved around her, pushing a hand out toward her as if to tell her to stay.

  I peeked through to see what had Shea completely frozen.

  Two police officers stood behind a middle-aged woman who was dressed in a cheap suit, her dark hair twisted up in a shrewd bun.

  My chest squeezed, and over my shoulder, I glanced at Shea, looking for help, for an indication of what the hell was going on, before my own reality slowly pressed in.

  In resignation, I shook my head. “Baby, they’re coming for me. I pushed down that asshole at the hospital who was implying we weren’t watching Kallie on the beach. He was tossing around the threat of charges today.”

  Should have known those bastards would never let me get away with defending those I cared about.

  “Baz, no.” She swallowed hard, like she couldn’t fathom it.

  “It’s going to be okay,” I promised.

  Reluctantly, I unlocked the door and pulled it open. I stood in the doorframe with arms crossed over my bare chest, almost daring them to come for me, silently calculating how I was going to make that scum’s life a living hell.

  The woman in the suit reared back, like I’d taken her by surprise, before she cleared her throat and lifted her chin in authority. “I need to speak with Ms. Bentley, please.

  Not for me.

  What the fuck?

  My hackles rose, apprehension shaking me down, and I slowly turned to look back at where Shea’s hands trembled where she twisted them out in front of her.

  Her voice cracked. “I’m Shea Bentley.”

  The woman set her hand on the door, as if she were holding it open, keeping us from slamming it in her face.

  I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to do exactly that, to run for Shea and wrap her up.

  To preserve and defend.

  I knew it all the way to my soul.

  That was my job now—taking care of Shea, taking care of Kallie.

  “I’m Claribel Sanchez with Child Protective Services…”

  I felt the bottom drop out of Shea’s world.

  It dragged mine right along with it.

  Shea took a defensive step back as the woman took one forward. Claribel Sanchez produced the folder she had tucked under her arm. “We have an emergency injunction in the care of your daughter, Kallie Bentley. I’m sorry, but we have to remove her from your care pending further investigation of the incident occurring yesterday.”

  “N-n-no,” Shea stuttered over the denial, and she backed up more. Anxiety and desperation scattered through her, defenses turned to full throttle, like she was considering bolting up the stairs and going for her daughter.

  I cut in, trying to diffuse the situation. “What is going on here? Kallie was released from the hospital without injuries. She’s in no danger.”

  The woman had the grace of appearing sympathetic as she glanced between Shea and me, who looked like she was about to succumb to the worst kind of anxiety attack. “I’m sorry, but that’s for the court to decide. She’ll be removed from her mother’s care until it’s resolved if Ms. Bentley is fit to maintain custody.”

  “Please,” Shea cried, stepping forward as if she were going to take hold of the woman, beseeching, imploring, breaking another piece of my heart. “Please don’t do this. My child…she’s my life. I would never willingly allow anything bad to happen to her. That article…they lied…I was in the water with her and a wave knocked her from my hold. Please. Don’t do this.”

  Desperation poured from her.

  More sympathy from the woman, her eyes traveling around the sanctity and peace of Shea’s house, like she was forming her own judgments and maybe they were contrary to the court’s.

  But I knew well enough that none of that mattered.

  This woman was simply doing her job.

  How the hell could they determine that from gossip rags? Not interview those who were there? This was fucked.

  I dug my phone from my back pocket. Kenny was on speed dial. It went right to voicemail.

  Fuck, I silently cursed, ending that call and dialing Anthony. He answered on the second ring. “What now, Sebastian? Please tell me you haven’t gone and gotten yourself into more trouble,” he asked, resigned, drained from the day.

  “CPS is taking Kallie. Get Kenny and now. I want to know who did this and get this reversed. Immediately.” Hysteria and anger gushed from me in a steady stream of words. “Tell him to get a team together. Whoever is the best. I want them working on this tonight.”

  For Shea, I knew even one night was too much.

  “Shit,” he hissed. “I’m on it.”

  I clicked off the call.

  The two police officers stepped inside with the clear intention to dissuade any untoward opposition on my part, prepared for my counter attack.

  “No,” Shea begged when the woman began to inch toward her. She stretched her arms across the stairs, a barrier across both railings. “No,” she said again.

  “Mommy?” That tiny voice drifted from the top of the landing, her fist rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she hugged her butterfly in the bend of her elbow.

  “I’m sorry,” the woman said again, taking the opportunity to edge around Shea when all of her attention lifted to her daughter.

  As she passed, Shea latched a hand onto the woman’s arm. “Please don’t do this. I will do anything. Please.”

  “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be,” the woman returned, slanting her own plea to Shea from over her shoulder as she jerked her arm free and continued the climb to the top of the stairs.

  Claribel Sanchez went right for Kallie, picked her up, and dashed right back down.

  April appeared at the top of the stairs, confused, obviously trying to decode what was taking place, before she shot me a look that blamed me for all of this.

  Pain lanced through the room, and it was like I could feel Shea splintering, completely breaking apart.

  “Please, let me at least tell her goodbye.”

  The woman gave her a reluctant nod, and Shea rushed forward and grasped both sides of Kallie’s frightened face. She whispered urgent words to her daughter. “Don’t be scared, sweetheart. Mommy is right here and you’re going to be home before you know it. Whatever you do, don’t forget how much I love you.”

  Kallie started to cry, finally catching up to the torment rolling from her mother.

  Pleading eyes moved to the woman. “Where are you taking her? Tell me she’ll be safe.”

  “She’ll be placed with her closest blood relative until the courts decide on the appropriate placement for her.”

  If Shea was a fit mother.

  That
’s what Claribel Sanchez was saying, and I knew she was just doing what she was paid to do, but fuck, anyone could see this was the safest place for Kallie. That this was where she belonged. That Shea would die before she allowed anything to happen to her daughter.

  I would, too.

  “Charlie?” Shea begged with a small surge of hope as she began to frantically stumble along behind the woman who headed outside, the two officers leading the way.

  The woman just gave a short shake of her head, and swiftly darted out into the dense, hungry night. Clouds billowed thick in the air, suffocating as they sank low to the ground.

  Drowning out breath.

  Drowning out hope.

  Kallie stared back at Shea from over the woman’s shoulder, bewildered brown eyes swimming in fear. A little hand stretched for her mother as the woman sped down the steps.

  Another stake to my heart.

  How could I stand here and allow this to happen? But what was I supposed to do? I hadn’t ever felt so tied up in chains in all my life.

  Helpless.

  Because I’d always fought my way out of every situation.

  Fists. Fury. Rage.

  They had always been my solution.

  But I knew throwing punches would only do more harm.

  Shea clamored down behind them, and I followed right behind her. I was doing my best to keep calm, to keep cool, to ignore my temper that was demanding I step in.

  Fight.

  But that was only going to make it a thousand times worse, and I wasn’t about to be responsible for putting Kallie and Shea in a worse predicament than they were already in.

  Two cruisers were parked at the curb, a cheap blue import sandwiched between them and my Suburban.

  But it was the black Mercedes sitting in front of my SUV that captured my attention. Sleek, low, and foreboding.

  Claribel Sanchez jogged toward it, her hand on the back of Kallie’s head as if she were protecting her rather than ushering more trauma into this little girl’s life.

  Scarring purity.

  Ruining all that innocence.

  Bringing darkness into the light.

  My gut twisted into knots with the intense need to intervene, to keep this little girl, my Little Bug, from experiencing even a second of this ordeal.