by Aliza Mann
“It’s perfectly fine if you aren’t. This man tried to hurt you. He tried to hurt us. And now you have to face him after something so very traumatic. It’s all right to be scared.”
Terra walked around the hallway. We were one of the last cases remaining, and her footsteps echoed off the white marble floor. “I’m not afraid. I’m angry…angry about all of it.” Her hands moved to her hair and she smoothed over the tight bun she’d pulled her curly hair into earlier that morning. “I’m pissed that he walked into my garage and nearly killed someone…the man I love.”
There it was. In the middle of the most unromantic setting, on the most uninspired day, she said it aloud. It for sure wasn’t muffled in soft, sweet kisses, but she had said she loved me. She may as well have written me a sonnet for how beautiful it sounded. “I love you, too,” I whispered.
And in that moment it all stopped: her pacing and fidgeting, the fear in her eyes, the tension in her shoulders…Everything. It all eased, and the world opened up. We were two souls who knew we would be okay. We would be there for each other no matter the outcome. No matter the risks. I was hers. She would be mine.
“What did you say?” Her voice was a whisper, trembling with…something. I couldn’t figure out if it was happiness or fear.
“I said I love you, too.” Sure, we’d copped to it before when I thought I was dying and then again during sex, but to say it again to her with no trauma or sex involved, I truly was free.
“That’s what I thought you said.” And then, the smile. Her honey-colored eyes gleamed with tears, and in nearly the greatest of inopportune moments, she walked over to me, wrapped her arms around me, and pulled me into a kiss. The sweetness of her mouth on mine nearly made me forget where we were and the entire reason we were there.
I drove into her, her mouth on mine and mine locked on to hers, nipping at her lips and hopefully, prayerfully, driving away all the demons we were about to face.
“Ms. Terra Ellis,” a voice called.
I pulled away reluctantly, begrudgingly, and turned to face the short and rather uninspired-looking bailiff. He was pale, lips pressed into the thin line of authority. “We’re here,” I called out.
“We’re ready for you,” he said, then stepped back into the courtroom.
I turned back to her, giving her shoulders a squeeze and resisting the urge to pull her back into a kiss. Terra was wiping her mouth, fixing her smudged red lipstick with her pinky finger. “Yeah, okay,” she whispered, moving her hands to one of her black pencil skirts I’d grown to love.
“I’m right here with you,” I said, this time not missing the opportunity to press my lips to her forehead.
“Thank you,” she said, grabbing my fingers and giving my hand a squeeze. Almost as if she wanted to reassure me that she was fine.
I took the first steps toward the double doors that represented her freedom from her menace of an ex. Through the doorway, we walked to the front of the rather plain room, to a seat behind the prosecuting attorney. The moment we took our seats, I heard high-heeled footsteps quickly coming down the aisle. Looking up, I saw Gloria. And I was relieved. This was too tough an experience for her not to have her full support and body armor around her. She’d already told her aunt not to come, since she’d been so nervous about the trial. We’d promised her a call immediately following to let her know how it went. Had she been there I thought she would have cursed at and threatened bodily harm to Marcus in front of the judge and been charged with contempt, but I kept that to myself.
I stood to let her pas and Terra practically fell into her arms. Gloria took a seat on the other side of Terra and held her hand. I held the other.
“All rise for the Honorable Judge Tiana Worthers. The 36th District Court is in session.”
I stood and watched as the elderly African American woman took her position behind the raised desk and positioned herself in the chair. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. You may be seated,” she ordered.
I looked around for the schmuck and didn’t see him anywhere in the room. There was only a rather smarmy-looking man at the table across the aisle from the prosecutor from the District Attorney’s office.
“The court calls the case of the people versus Marcus Dyland. I understand he’s being tried for attempted murder in the first degree, carrying and discharging a concealed weapon with the intent to harm, extortion in the second degree, drug possession…My, my. You’ve been a busy young man, Mr. Dyland. You waived your right for an arraignment?” As she said his name, a large screen monitor in the corner of the room came to life and there he was, looking a bit worse for the wear if it was even possible.
“Your Honor, my client was in distress and not aware of the implications to waiving his arraignment. He does, however, plead not guilty to all charges,” said the scuzzy attorney, who half stood from his chair as if he were physically unable to make it all the way up.
“Mr. Probst, of course he does. I also see here you’ve requested his bail be lowered,” Judge Worthers continued. Her voice was a mix of age and wisdom, along with a hint of no bullshit.
“Yes, Your Honor.” He half stood once again.
“Let’s keep it nice and easy. Bail is denied. All around. Your client appears to be a flight risk. He has a history of violence against the victim and known drug use and activities. The two don’t necessarily mix. Would you agree, Mr. Todd?” She directed her attention to the prosecutor.
“Most agreeable, Your Honor. Our request is in line with your statement. We have presented the court with statements from the arresting officer, ballistic reports on the bullets matching the gun used at the scene, and collected statements from the victims. All have been filed with the court, Your Honor. We are requesting the maximum sentence possible at this time.”
Terra shifted in her seat as she hung on every word of the prosecutor, who was standing in his pressed, yet-worn navy blue suit. Her nerves were getting to her, but at least she didn’t have to face Marcus in person. He didn’t seem to see anyone directly, but his eyes held straight ahead on the monitor. Just as well. If he were in the room, I might have gotten myself thrown in the clink alongside him, miserable snake that he was.
“All right then. I have reviewed the case file and agree that we should move forward with the trial. The defendant will hereby be remanded to the Wayne County Jail without bail until such time as his case is heard. And that is my final decision.” With a pop of her gavel against the smooth wooden block, it all ended. Marcus’s face was gone from the now-black screen and there was movement in the courtroom once more as the two lawyers, the bailiff, and a stenographer busied themselves with leaving or handing off paperwork to one another. It was all a bit anticlimactic, if anyone was asking me, but at least the bastard wouldn’t be able to bother Terra.
I barely went home anymore, and I probably had about 50 percent of my belongings at Terra’s house, but the outcome of the arraignment made me feel just that much better about returning to work and leaving her alone in her home during the day.
I stood and waited as she said some things I couldn’t hear to the attorney. In the end, they both nodded and started toward the row of benches I was seated on. “Everything good?” I asked, as if I hadn’t been seated in the same room and heard the judge hand Marcus his ass.
“Yeah. We appear again during the actual trial. This judge has been known to take a hard line on domestic assault cases, so he doesn’t expect to have difficulty with conviction.” Terra grabbed my hand again and led Gloria and me out of the room, I contrast to me leading her on the way in. Her steps were quick as we snaked through the long corridors and finally made it past the armed guards positioned at the one way in and out and out into the cold winter day in Detroit.
I tried to keep pace, but since the injury, I was somewhat slower. A pain shot from somewhere inside my chest and I gave Terra a little tug on her arm to
hopefully slow her down. “Hey, lady. Slow down for the invalid, if you don’t mind, please.”
“Oh,” she said, stopping abruptly and turning to face us. Gloria, who’d been a few steps behind us caught up and probably couldn’t help her concerned expression. Terra looked to me and asked, “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to…I didn’t mean…” She struggled, the words jumbling as they escaped her. Her eyes were filled with tears she’d been holding back, and I could do no more than pull her into my arms.
My injured side of my body protested the movement, but I didn’t care, fighting through the pain to hold on to the one thing I’d come to love more than anything. Terra was my world. If I could yank the sun from the sky and gift it to her to make sure she had no more cloudy days, I would. “It’s okay, Terra. He can’t hurt you anymore,” I whispered into her hair, and kissed the top of her head.
Gloria flanked Terra and slid her arm over her shoulder as I held her. To onlookers, we probably looked like a human shield. Which was fine, because that’s exactly what we would be to her forever. “It’s okay,” she whispered to Terra.
“It’s been so long…I’ve had to deal with him for so long. I can’t believe it’s over, I just…”
“It’s okay, baby. You’ve got me now. You’ve got the both of us. No one will ever hurt you again. I just hope no one else tries to shoot you. Bullets actually do hurt, as it turns out.”
The vibration of her body as she laughed into my chest aggravated my pain more, but the sound. Oh, the sweet sound of it was the painkiller I needed. All the pain in the world didn’t stand a chance against my Terra. I would endure it all just to hold her in my arms in the middle of a crowded downtown street.
“You’re so crazy, Ash. But thank you. I never thought I’d be thanking someone for my life, literally, but thank you for taking my bullet.” Our huddle broke apart, but the feeling of love and support lingered around the three of us.
“Not many men can say that. Terra, I’m so glad this first step is over. I’ve got to get back to Soar, but please call me once you get this one back to bed,” she said, pointing at me.
“Hey,” I protested. “I don’t have to sleep all day anymore. I go back to work next week, I’ll have you know.”
“Whatever. Until then, you should rest some more. So stubborn. Glad I don’t have to deal with that thick skull. Anyway.” She turned back to Terra and kissed her on the cheek. “Call me. No matter the time. Whatever you need, okay?”
“Okay. Talk to you soon…and thanks.”
With a squeeze of Terra’s hand, Gloria headed down the street, immaculately dressed and as commanding as ever. I was glad my girl had a friend like her.
Speaking of my girl, I turned back to Terra. “Now then, ready to repay that old bullet to the chest debt by taking me home and—”
Terra took a step back and looked at me with one brow cocked. “And what, you perv?”
“And playing another game of cards with me. But this time, the loser ends up doing whatever the other wants.”
“You aren’t tired from all the activity today?”
“No. But…I want to be. I want to be utterly exhausted and laid out on my arse.” I landed a kiss on her impossibly sexy lips, and only stopped for fear of a ticket for indecency. It was, after all, a time for celebrating.
* * *
—
The celebration started on the couch and ended up in the bedroom. I hadn’t been able to really take control since the surgery and my body ached to drive into her, to seize her…to make her mine. Terra was naked, her body open to me. All the parts of her primed and ready, her deliciously wet center bared inches from my body.
“I want you to hold it right there, Terra. Do you understand?” I asked. My voice was that of a lunatic’s, rough and aggressive.
“Ummm-hmm,” she whispered, more of a purr than anything else.
I lowered myself to her, my knees on the floor at the bottom of the bed and her arse raised, rested atop pillows I’d strategically placed to get her into the position I wanted her in. The one I needed her in to do all the nasty things I’d been dreaming up since I left the hospital.
“Use your fingers,” I demanded, taking her hands and maneuvering them until her succulent pussy was open for me. Wrapping my hands around her thighs, I held her in place as I dove in tongue first and massaged her clit, applying just the right amount of pressure to make every part of her quiver. The sweetness of her essence filled my senses, my nose with her scent, and my taste buds with her incredible flavor. I didn’t stop there. I ran my tongue down her center, diving into the tight opening of her body and fucking her with my mouth.
“Ashton,” she cried out, her legs locked by my arms, fighting against my iron grip.
Back up I went, teasing the tight nub until she gasped and panted. I pulled her onto the pillows once more and dove in again, clamping my mouth over her sex and sucking, my tongue exploring every part of her and taking my sustenance from her body.
Using my right arm, I took two fingers and pressed them inside her tightness, driving in and out as I focused on her clit with my mouth. Good girl that she was, she didn’t move her legs. She lay open for me, granting me the room to explore.
Sweat broke over her body and I felt a hand in my hair as she stiffened, then began to move against my mouth. Her sex clamped around my fingers as her body reacted to each and every movement against her skin. To all the things I did to her. I wanted her to feel my desire, how much she meant to me. She needed to understand that I was hers to command and she was mine forever.
Her arching body increased the pressure against my mouth and we moved in sync, the sweet sounds of her moans and wetness music. A delicate harmony that I alone conducted. Terra moved to her own rhythm, taking what she needed, grinding against me at a faster and faster pace. Evidence of her passion flooded the constricted space, my fingers drenched inside her as I kept up the maniacal suckling. I wanted every drop of her essence freed from her body.
The rocking pace accelerated, the leg I no longer held draped over my shoulder with her heel pressed into my back.
Her body rocked, her legs spasmed and locked, and no matter how badly I wanted to watch her come undone in that moment, it was more important for me to take all her pain away. I needed her, if for only one small moment, to forget all the ugliness she’d had to face. All the sadness she had endured, and just to be.
A relentless jerking overtook her until nothing was left. Her moans and screams, my name and Jesus’ mostly, began to subside, only to be replaced with “Fuck…shit that was good.”
“Oh no. You don’t get off that easy, baby,” I said, releasing my hold on her thighs.
I stood over her to take in the sight, her warm brown coloring blushed red in the places my gruff touch had just been. Her eyes were half lowered, a satisfied half-smile on her lips that still had lipstick smudged from my hard kiss. I loved the way her coils were mangled and lay askew amid the million needless pillows on her bed. She was everything I never knew I needed in a woman. More than I could have dreamed of on my own.
There was no way I was done, and for her sake, I hoped she was ready for it.
Chapter 22
Terra
Remnants of the late afternoon sun gleamed across Ash’s body. While I could be physically sated for the remainder of my natural days if I never had sex again, he made me want it still. More of him. All of it. The hot kisses all over my body, the stiffness in my muscles that could be relaxed by only his touch, the heat of his skin against mine. All. Of. It.
I needed him, even if he had been apart from me for only mere seconds.
“Are you hungry, Ash? You look starved,” I whispered, teasing.
“You don’t know the half of it. But if you think I’m letting you out of this bed, you must be barmy, Terra.”
“Look at that English coming ou
t. Trying to impress me?” I couldn’t help the smile on my face. Especially after his sensual lips spread wide, revealing those magnificent teeth of his.
“Obviously. If you think that’s impressive, get a load of this.” As he said the words, he dropped the last piece of clothing remaining from our game of strip Uno. He’d won, obviously.
With his pants off, I could see he’d gone commando. His cock stood at attention, the delicate curve I’d grown attached to on full display with a teardrop of pre-come on the very tip of the swollen head. My mouth went dry. I bit down on my lip in anticipation of his big frame on top of mine.
Since we’d stopped using condoms, I craved the feel of his shaft deep inside my body. I spread my legs for him, at once ready for him to take me and use me at his discretion.
“Terra…you are a masterpiece,” he growled. He leaned forward, planting his hands on either side of my body and positioning himself for entry. I watched as his manhood sank into my sex, the familiar sting and intense pressure both welcomed and anticipated. My body reacted to him immediately, accommodating the girth until there was no more room.
The moan that escaped me echoed through the room and Ash pulled out until only the tip of him remained inside, then slid inside once again, this time at a faster pace. I raised my legs and locked them around his back, trapping him inside my body and ensuring that I didn’t miss a minute of his bumpy ride.
“Oh, Ash,” I cried out, raging against the increasing pace of his heated strokes. My voice was foreign to my ears, my body was not my own as I gave myself over to him. I was his. The intensity of our union was nearly too much. Too intense. Too good.
I’d never watched anyone before as we made love, but with him, with this wonderfully surprising man, I found my strength. My freedom to open my eyes and see all the beauty between two bodies. With each stroke, I rode the waves closer and closer to another release that threatened to tear me apart.
“Terra…tell me again. That you love me…you love this,” he demanded. His voice was ragged between panting and groans that sounded near pained.