She gagged at my response. Of course, I felt like shit about it. It was wrong of me to show up like this but fuck I was here and I wanted to know who bruised her.
“It’s settled then. You didn’t fuck anyone; your head just got caught in the crossfire between two prostitutes. No one forcefully grabbed my arm; it just slipped into their grip by mistake. Does that sound about right to you?”
“So, now you’re a fan of playing games with me Liv because we know what happens in the end. I always win.”
“Can you please just give me my damn wrist brace Ocean? Jesus!”
I grabbed her hand, slipped the brace on fastening it up for her making sure it wasn’t too tight and then let her hand go.
“Now you have it and it’s on, so talk.”
She sucked her lips into her mouth, biting down on them.
All I wanted was a simple answer to a simple question, even being the asshole right now; it was all I was asking.
“Liv, come on. Please tell me who grabbed you.” I asked her calmly this time hoping she’d give.
“Oh, so now it’s back to Liv. What happened to baby a couple seconds ago? Am I not your baby anymore, Ocean?”
She turned her head to the side looking at the door.
I moved my hand to run my fingers through her hair and away from her face.
When her whole body tensed from my touch, I immediately sobered up from my high that was wearing off. She didn’t even want me touching her.
I pulled my hand back, stepping away still watching her plastered onto the wall. I hadn’t even realized that she was trying desperately to get away from me.
I backed away from her until I hit the mattress of her bed with the back of my legs and plopped down leaning forward bracing my elbows on my knees staring at the floor.
What the fuck have I done?
****
Livie
When Ocean pulled away from me, I thought that’s exactly what I wanted; to be far away from him, but I was wrong.
I didn’t think he would give up so fast after how mad he got about my bruise. I knew him and Law weren’t stupid but right now, he was the last person that should be in my face demanding answers. Though he had hickies on his neck, I believed him when he said he didn’t have sex with whoever bruised his neck with their nasty mouths.
I pulled myself back together, making my way towards him. We had a deal and I was going to start living up to my end of it. If he stayed here for me, I promised him I would fight. So here I go, on my way to fight for my Ocean.
When I reached him, I held my breath in case my thigh would protest against me squatting down in front of him. It did exactly that. I felt my muscles start to cramp up but I breathed through the pain for Ocean.
Finally squatting down in front of him, I looked up to his face. He had his eyes closed as tears escaped from them.
When the pain in my leg got to intense, I grabbed onto each of his legs to support myself. Well, my right hand grabbed his thigh. My left hand was limp.
He jerked up nearly head butting me. The look on his face was of embarrassment, shock, and pain.
“Hey, sorry about that last part of what I said. I’m upset but I didn’t mean to take it there.”
He blinked at me a couple times just looking at my face. My right leg started shaking from the pressure I was putting on it. I was up to running half a mile on the treadmill but even that wasn’t enough to keep my muscles from spazing out from my healing wounds.
When I couldn’t take the shaking anymore I slowly stood up and when Ocean extended his hands for support I grabbed onto them. When I did, he held my hands tightly in his.
He placed my hands on his shoulders and I stood there for a while not knowing what to do. I knew what my heart wanted me to do but I wasn’t sure if that’s what he wanted from me anymore.
Giving in to my heart, I did what always felt natural with being around him. I slid one of my hands over his tense shoulder and into his short brown curls starting from the base of the back of his neck.
He sucked in air through his mouth as his hands grabbed the back of my thighs, bringing me closer to him. He buried his face into my stomach and I laughed. In that moment things felt almost normal, like I’d never tried to kill myself and he wasn’t trying to push me away.
He pushed out his lips giving my stomach a kiss through my tank top. I twirled his hair around my fingers while my other hand rubbed the tension out of his shoulder as best as my limp hand would allow me to. He moaned into my stomach and I laughed again.
“You’re really not going to tell me who grabbed you?” He asked with his face still shoved into my stomach.
I shook my head. “What makes you think someone grabbed me, Ocean?”
He breathed heavy into my belly. “I might have a hangover from last night and…well, I’m not stupid baby. You don’t lie very well and I saw it all over your face. So can you please tell me?”
“I can’t right now. I promised someone something and I can’t break that promise. I’m okay though and no one is hurting me if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t think my physical trainer or the two body guards I’ve adopted would let anything happen to me or Dulce.”
I let my hands fall away from his shoulder and the chocolate brown tamed curls to keep the temptation of telling him the truth at bay.
He scooted back on my bed bringing me with him. Carefully, he grabbed the back of my legs bringing them forward then lifting me to sit on top of his lap. I braced my hands on his shoulders to keep from losing my balance as he sat me on top of him.
Once situated on his lap with our chests and everything else touching, I refused to let go of his shoulders and I couldn’t stop staring at the hickies on his neck.
He brought his head down blocking my view of the ugly things mocking me in my face, only allowing me to look into his whiskey colored eyes. Tired and unfocused eyes stared back at me.
“I didn’t have sex with anyone, baby. I know what it looks like but it’s the truth if it still counts for something. I don’t expect for you to be okay with it but I can’t leave here with you pissed at me. I am sorry. You will always be my baby, even in times like this when I fuck up and do dumb shit just to keep the pain buried deep.”
I closed my eyes for a brief moment and when I opened them, his eyes were on my lips.
“I believe you.” Is all I could say at the moment because I was still pissed and hurting.
“I made you a promise that if you stayed I would fight, so I guess this is my first battle I have to overcome, right?”
He didn’t respond, only stared at me. I felt his dick jump underneath me and I automatically responded by arching my back, pressing my chest up and into his face. He groaned as his hands came around, palming my ass pushing me down onto him.
I couldn’t help what he did to my body and I didn’t want to help it. I wanted to give myself to him over and over again until this place was a fading and distant memory.
When he looked up at me, he smiled shyly.
“Did you kiss them, Ocean?” I asked as I ground my heat against him.
He looked from my lips to my eyes repeatedly before he answered. “No baby, I only wanted you.”
I moved my trembling fingers over his lips, tracing them until he opened his mouth pulling my finger into the warmth beyond his lips.
Sucking on my finger, he slipped a hand underneath my top flipping up my sports bra up grabbing my breast.
“I hate you for letting them do that. It’s not fair.” I whined as he massaged my breast in his hand.
“I know baby. I’m sorry.”
I moved my left hand away to smack him but he caught it, bringing my hand to his lips kissing each of my trembling fingers.
“Can I kiss you, Liv? I won’t try if you don’t want me to and I’ll understand, but I really want to.”
I shook my head not wanting his lips on me after what he allowed other women to do to him. Drunk or not, it wasn’t fair but then agai
n he warned me before he left me. At least he was honest about him not being good anymore.
He swiped his tongue along my bottom lip and I caved.
“One kiss, only one kiss. You can’t do an…”
He silenced the start of my rambling with his lips on mine. A soft, sweet kiss took me by surprise.
I was expecting a rough, hot and heated kiss from Ocean because that’s how he looked at the moment. But no, Ocean kissed me like he never kissed a girl before and I let him.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Lawrence
Man, I felt sorry for Sunshine. I thought about getting up to go check on her but I was hoping she was cutting his balls off to hand to him. So, if that were the case I’d let her be.
On another note, something was definitely up between Blue and Sunshine. First, the bruise on Sunshine then Blue telling her to be careful; not something you want to say around me of all people.
These girls were mine and I’d fuck up any man or woman for that matter, for hurting them. My mom didn’t raise me to beat on a woman and I really never would but if done right, a smack in the face wasn’t really classified as beating. Or so I told myself for comfort.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Blue was acting different. For one, she let me put my arm around her without a fight or an insult. She also let me pull her close to me, hugging her as she sat next to me staring up at the clear blue skies above.
I’m not one for staying put for too long or quiet so I gave her shoulders a squeeze to bring her back to reality. When she did, her eyes reverted back down at her sneakers again.
I pulled my arm off her to stand up. Extending my hand to her I asked, “You want to go for a walk with me?”
She looked around before she got up. “Okay.”
Not even an eye roll. I felt myself getting more irritated by the second. As we continued to walk towards the half-mile track on the opposite side of the courtyard, I slipped my hand into hers.
This time she did try to pull away from me but I held on tight. No way was I letting go, not now or ever.
“So, you want to tell me what happened today?”
She looked down at our hands. “You don’t have to hold my hand. I’m not a baby. I can walk a track without skinning my knee.”
“You’re right, I don’t have to do anything but holding your hand is something I WANT to do, so that solves that. Are you going to talk now or forever hold your peace?”
“Forever holding, pendejo.”
“So you women are going to make us do this the hard way?”
That comment caught her attention because she turned swinging herself in front of me. “What’s that supposed to mean Lawrence? I already told you! You don’t have to do anything, easy or hard. Just leave me alone.”
“Is that what you really want me to do; leave you alone?”
I took her silence as confirmation she didn’t, which I already knew. I let go of her hand and took a few steps back. The face that she made in that split second was the answer I needed.
She looked like I just took away her lifeline as she searched for a new place to hide. With me, she felt invisible and I just took away her shelter from whoever or whatever was hurting her.
“You can stand there like you don’t want my help or you can take my hand and walk with me. Fine if you don’t want to talk about what happened; I’ll find out eventually. I just want to be here for you. Your choice.”
It was becoming clear to me that very important choices were already taken from her so in order for this to work I had to step back and move at her pace. I didn’t want to lose her before I even got her.
****
Ocean
I needed to stop Liv before she undressed me. Begging for just one kiss turned into a frenzy of emotions and Liv’s need to prove that I was still hers.
What she still didn’t know was that everything about me, everything in me was made for her. My flaws and my addictions to destroy myself were a part of me but Liv was my cure. She was my rehab.
I pulled myself away to catch my breath. “Baby.” I said, laughing as she grabbed my face to steal my lips again. “Come on baby, we can’t do this yet.”
I reached up into my hair to pry her hand away and I stilled when I felt her wrist brace. She was trying to rip my hair out with her injured hand and nothing about the grip she had on my hair felt injured.
I lowered my hand to try a different approach. I wedged my hand in between our chests and when I ran my fingers across her hard nipple I pinched the hell out of it.
She moaned loud, biting my top lip.
“Fuck.” I said with a lisp as she pulled my lip out, biting down hard again before finally letting it go.
“You pinched me, it hurt.”
She said breathless while she straightened her shirt and hair as best as she could.
I looked at her as she started to realize what we were doing and her face flushed as she looked at the bed beneath me. I reached up, grabbing her by the back of her neck for one last peck on her swollen lips.
She braced her hands on my chest, un-mounting me, leaving my lap empty but also one hard dick. She raised her eyebrows looking down at my bulging zipper.
“Ready to go.” she said steadying herself, making her way to the door like nothing ever happened.
Wicked!
She exhaled loudly, grabbing the handle pulling the door open. Standing in front of it about to knock was that fucking creep from the other day.
My dick officially went limp and the adrenaline to kick his ass replaced my sex-crazed hormones. I watched in slow motion as his eyes scanned her forearm where the bruise was.
I KNEW IT!
I jumped up off the bed, heading for the door when Liv slammed the door in the assholes face.
“Ocean, listen to me!”
I could easily move her out of my way within a second but after what I did to her and how I showed up, I cooled it long enough to hear her out.
“What?!”
“You can’t just go beating the shit out of people, no matter how much they deserve it. Dulce and I have to stay here for three and a half more weeks, you and Law don’t. It’s not that easy, Ocean.”
“You’re really trying to protect that son of bitch? He put his hands on you leaving a goddamn bruise, baby. Not a sticker saying good job; BUT A BRUISE!”
She pushed me in the chest with both her hands. “I punched him in the face first Ocean, it was my fault.”
I closed the distance between us. “Baby. I. Don’t. Care.”
“Well I do, damn it! We have to be smart about this until we’re out of here. I promise to tell you everything once we’re home but for now, just let it be. Do this for me; it’s the least your hickey covered ass can do for me other than get me all hot and bothered and ready to have sex with you!”
She had a point.
I took several deep breaths, pulling her into me by the closest belt loop of her shorts.
“Once you’re home, you tell me everything. Not one detail left out. If I feel that you’re lying to me or trying to save his sorry ass, Law and I are coming here for him. I promise you he won’t make it to the hospital once we’re done. Oh and that only applies if he keeps his hands off you until then. When I come back on Tuesday baby, you better not have so much as a scratch on you because I’ll kill his ass.”
“Deal. Let’s go.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ocean
Reality has a long lasting and sobering effect on fuck ups like me. Today I was reminded why Liv was and still is the center of my universe.
For three more weeks, she would be here alone and without me to protect her from the goddamn creep that looked like Dexter and again I had a fucking problem. I knew waking up without her tomorrow was going to send me into another coke mission.
However, for right now, for these last few moments with her that I had left I was going to be the man she needed.
When we stepped back into the heat of the courtyard,
the sun was going down allowing for more shade, Law was walking hand in hand with Dulce. The dip shit was making progress, I thought smiling at him.
Liv tiptoed close to my face, also looking in their direction. “I know right. I hope we all make it out of this in one piece, because they belong together. I can see it.”
I kissed the side of her head as I spotted the creep staring daggers at my cousin. I swear if I hadn’t shown up with these damn hickies fists, knees and Jordan’s would have been stamped all over his face.
“Come on.” I said, grabbing Liv by the waist to catch up with the lovebirds.
I had an idea that would allow us to get in some free hits and I knew Law wouldn’t pass it up. It was the only way to drive the message that he doesn’t mess with our women without Liv flipping out on me.
****
Lawrence
“I am not being your own personal cheerleader, Lawrence!”
I looked at Ocean and Liv who were talking by the picnic tables. When he told me the idea of playing a game of touch football here in the courtyard in order to lay the creep that was messing with our girls on his ass, I said “HELL YES!”
“Please Blue, just hang out by me on the field. It’s just one game of flag football. It’ll be over before you know.”
She crossed her arms under her breasts, nearly spilling them out of her tank top. “Aye dios mio, I’m up here, you ass!”
“I know, but so are they.” I said, pointing to her tits.
She frowned and smiled at the same time, if that was even possible. “Fine. One game and then I’m sitting down with Sunshine. Why does she have to be by herself again?”
“Blue all the wrong questions, just be my cheerleader. You won’t be sorry, okay baby.”
That last bit slipped out. I didn’t mean to call her baby yet, but it was natural. I watched her face, carefully searching for any emotion and what she did kick started my heart.
Her smile reached her eyes as I looked at her. “So, the great and powerful Lawrence is really shy and insecure under all that muscle and cool facade.”
Oceans Submerged: Book Two, the Oceans Series Page 13