“Gabi,” I say, not sure why I use that abbreviated version of her name.
She tries to pull away, but I don’t let her. Instead, I turn her to face me and I lean down to kiss one of those tears. I taste the salt of them and when I’ve kissed them all away, I set my forearms on either side of her face. She looks up at me, her hands on my shoulders.
“Everyone I love is dead. Everyone but Gabe. And he’s…he’s not…”
“Shh.” I lift her to me, hug her, holding her tight as she dissolves into tears. If I let her go, I wonder if she’ll disappear. Melt into her pain. “You may be broken, but you’re not alone. You don’t have to be, at least.”
She turns her head away, shakes it, pushes at me to get up.
“Don’t push me away,” I say, not letting her go.
“One heroic act does not a hero make,” she says, repeating my words from earlier.
We just stay like that for a long minute. Then, without asking, I begin to undress her. I didn’t bring her out here to watch her cry. I brought her to stop the tears.
When she resists, I tell her to be quiet. I leave her bra and panties on and stand to strip off my clothes. I then lift her up and carry her into the water.
“Stefan, no!” She clings to me and struggles against me at once.
“Yes.” I hold tight to her and she gasps as I walk in deeper. “I won’t let you go. I promise.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“I’m scared.”
I stop when the water comes up to my chest and she’s partly in it. The sea is cool and calm. “Do you trust me?”
She looks up at me and I know I’ve given her no reason to trust me. The opposite.
“Do you want to trust me?” I rephrase.
She nods and I get the feeling she’s desperate to.
I take another step. “Watch the sky, Gabriela, and know that I won’t let you go,” I tell her as I swim out and she slowly relaxes, loosening her death grip, and, finally, floats.
We stay out there for a long while, neither of us breathing a word and something shifts between us. It swells as I float alongside her, holding her hand, never letting her go. We’re weightless out here, both of us weightless, at least for a while.
9
Stefan
It’s midnight when we’re back at the house and I carry her to my room. She doesn’t resist when I strip off her clothes, her underthings still damp, and put her in the shower under a flow of hot water. I strip too and step in beside her and there’s no resistance when I kiss her. When I take her in my arms and kiss her as the water washes sea salt from us.
She opens to me and I cup the back of her head. I don’t ever want to stop kissing her. Don’t ever want to stop holding her like this.
When the water begins to cool, I switch off the shower and dry her then myself before lifting her up and carrying her to my bed. I lay her down and lie down beside her, shifting so I’m on top of her but keeping most of my weight on my forearms so I don’t crush her.
I slide one hand down and cup the mound of her breast. I run my fingernail over her nipple, and she moans into my mouth. When I pull away, it’s to look at her.
She licks her lips, reaches up to touch my cheek, slides her hand down to my chest and sets it against my heart.
We don’t talk. We don’t say a single word. Not for a long while. We just kiss and kiss and look at each other. And I can’t get enough of touching her. Tasting her. Can’t get close enough to her.
“Christ, Gabriela,” I start. “I want you.” I roll off her and onto my side to slide my hand down over her belly.
She cups my cheek, touches her mouth to mine. “Kiss me again.”
I do.
I do more than that as my fingers slip between her legs and she opens to me and she’s wet. Her pussy is as wet as her mouth that I can’t stop kissing and I touch her, moving my fingers through her folds, finding the swollen nub of her clit.
I drag my mouth from hers and, leaning my head down, I lick one nipple, then slide my tongue across to the other and back and forth and back and forth before slipping down between her legs, my tongue leaving a wet trail as it travels over her belly button to the seam of her sex, as I push her legs wide and look at her like this. Beautiful and open and mine.
“Stefan,” she starts, trying to close her legs.
I put a hand on each thigh and stop her. “Mine,” I say. “All mine, Gabriela.” I kiss her pussy, lick it, then slide back up to kiss her mouth. “You taste so good.”
I take her hand and guide it to myself. And when she grips me, fuck.
Her eyes are wide as she looks at me, at my thick, ready cock. She slides her hand over the tip, smearing pre-cum there.
I close my hand over hers to show her how to move.
“Grip it hard,” I say, thinking about how tight her cunt is going to feel when I’m inside her. Wanting so badly to be inside her. “Like this.” I move her along my length and I’m pretty sure I can come just watching her watch me and it takes all I have to hold back because fuck, what I want right now is to sink my cock into her wet cunt and feel her virgin blood spill all over me as I make her mine.
I take her wrists in one of my hands and raise her arms over her head to wrap her hands around one of the rungs of the headboard. I kiss her again.
“Keep your hands there. Don’t move,” I tell her as I move down over her body, my tongue sliding over her center, down to the seam of her sex. I grip both thighs and open her wide, pushing her knees high and in the moonlight coming in from the open balcony doors, I can see all of her, her wet, open cunt, her tight little asshole.
I lean my face down and lick her and her hands are in my hair instantly. I grip her wrists and raise my head.
“What did I tell you?”
“Not to move my hands.”
“Do it or I’ll take you over my knee and spank you before I make you come.”
Her eyes are dark and they glisten in the moon but it’s not with tears as she puts her hands back over her head to grip the headboard and I resume my work, circling her clit before sliding my tongue between her folds, licking the space between her pussy and her asshole before circling that tight little hole, too.
“Stefan!” Again, her hands are in my hair.
I get up on my knees, turn her a little, just enough to give her a smack on the ass.
She gasps but this isn’t like last night. This is erotic. Last night was punishment, albeit mild.
“You shouldn’t—” she starts
“What? I shouldn’t what? I can lick your pussy but not your asshole?”
Even in the moonlight, I see her face flush with embarrassment.
I grin, flip her over onto her belly. “Up on your elbows and knees. Spread your legs wide for me. I want your cunt and your asshole open to me, Gabriela, because you’re mine. Every part of you is mine.”
She’s turned on, I see it in her eyes, smell the musk of her arousal in the air. When she moves, I watch her. She lifts her hips high, spreading her knees wide and watching me with her cheek on her forearm. I settle myself between her open legs and spread her ass cheeks wider, look at her, all of her, and I dip my head down and I tongue her asshole again, tongue it and rub her clit between my fingers until she’s gasping, her hands fisted, her back arched deeply.
“Stefan. Oh fuck!”
“Come,” I command as I swipe my tongue greedily over her cunt and back to her asshole. “Come with my tongue in your asshole and my fingers on your clit.”
“Oh, Stefan!” she cries out, gasping, bucking with orgasm, panting and whimpering my name over and over and over again.
And fuck.
That.
That chanting of my name. All I can think as she collapses on the bed, breathless, her body jerking with aftershocks, is that I will never get enough of that.
I get up on my knees and tug her down the bed by her ankle, then flip her back over and grip one thigh, push it up.
She nods, kissing me like she’s starved.
“Say it.”
“I like it,” she’s out of breath, her eyes only half-open.
“You like what?” I taunt, rubbing my cock between her dripping folds while I watch her.
“You’re going to make me come again,” she starts, trying to kiss me.
I draw just out of reach. “Say it or I’ll stop.” I take her hands, weave my fingers through hers and spread her arms wide to look at her like this. “Say it. Tell me how much you liked it when I licked your asshole.”
“I loved you licking my…my asshole.”
I smile wide. “Good girl.” Fuck. “You don’t know how badly I want to fuck you right now.”
“Yes.”
“No. Not yet.” I kiss her soft mouth before rising up on my knees. “You’re too sweet. Too innocent for me, you know that?” Not that I will let her go.
She leans up on her elbows, looks at me, at my cock in my fist. I let her watch as I smear it through her wet folds, watch her gasp and bite her lip when I rub against her clit.
“Come here, Gabriela,” I tell her, cupping the back of her head, as I lean over her, my cock at her face. “Open your mouth.”
She opens, sets her little pink tongue to the tip of my cock. I close my eyes and fist the base of it when she circles, licking pre-cum from me before closing her lips around my tip and sucking.
“Fuck.” I push deeper but what I want to do is to thrust into her, to fuck her face. Fuck. I want to be balls deep in her sweet little mouth and come down her throat until she chokes on me.
Her hands move to my abdomen, pushing against me.
I look down to see her panicked eyes and I draw out, let her catch her breath. I settle myself between her legs again, rubbing my cock between her folds before taking it into my fist and pumping, watching her watch me.
“I’m going to come all over you. I’m going to mess up that pretty face of yours. Open your legs wider, let me see you rub your greedy little pussy. Let me see you make yourself come.”
She does, sliding her hand between her legs, rubbing her clit with the pad of two fingers and fuck, watching her like this, looking at her face, at her dirty fingers doing their work, hearing her come again, it sends me over the edge.
I come hard, sending ropes of cum across her belly, her breasts, her mouth. I cover her with it, and seeing her like this, seeing her soiled with my seed, it sends a final wave of pleasure through me and I shudder with it, shudder as I empty, as I collapse beside her on my bed.
10
Gabriela
I wake up to find myself alone in Stefan’s bed but there’s a note on the nightstand propped up against the lamp. I pick it up to read it.
You looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you.
I’m meeting with one of my lawyers, but I’ll be back later.
x
Stefan
I smile, touch the letters, hover over the small ‘x’.
Wrapping the sheets around myself, I walk out onto the balcony and to my room, tuck the note into my nightstand drawer and go into the bathroom to shower.
I think about yesterday. How it started, how it ended.
I’m still sad about Alex. I will feel his loss for a long time. And I should. I want to. He was my friend and I will remember him and when we find out who set that fire, I will avenge his death.
But Stefan, what he did, he didn’t even have to tell me about the memorial service. I wouldn’t have known. And he certainly didn’t have to take me.
This makes for a second heroic act. Do the two combined a hero make?
Instead of a shower, I opt for a bath and I soak for a long time thinking about all the things that have happened in the last few weeks. How much my life has changed. I think about what Stefan told me about being careful and I get the feeling I was wrong about him and Rafa. Maybe he doesn’t trust him like I guessed. Maybe the three of them, Rafa, Clara and Stefan aren’t the Three Musketeers.
I remember when Clara called Rafa and I heard his side of the conversation. He told her he missed her. Was that just cousins talking? She was swimming naked in Stefan’s pool the night they were all here. That’s not something cousins do, at least not any cousins I know.
But what I’m thinking makes no sense. If she’s having an affair with Rafa, she wouldn’t be swimming naked in Stefan’s pool with Stefan watching.
What had he said about that? She’d lost a bet? What kind of bet would any woman agree to that would have her stripping off her clothes in front of her male cousins to swim naked?
I shake my head to clear the thoughts of her, of the image of her perfect body, a body like I’ll never have. Where she’s built like a woman with heavy breasts and perfectly proportioned hips, I’m built more like a boy. Well, okay, not quite a boy. I’m a small B cup on a really good day, but I have a good butt. I just don’t have that hourglass figure she does.
When I’m finished with the bath, I get dressed and go downstairs to have a late breakfast. As soon as Stefan is finished with the attorney, I will talk to him about Gabe. Get a date so I can tell my brother when I’m coming to see him.
I guess we need to talk about the wedding too. Will he still want to go through with it? Does what’s happening between us change things?
Whoa. Slow down.
What is happening between us? We had sex. Almost.
No, it’s not that. He was nice to me. I think he really cared that I was sad. That’s why he took me out to Skull Rock. And he heard me at the restaurant. He repeated my words, didn’t he? About being broken and alone?
Together, we’re not alone. We may both still be broken, but we’re not alone.
Warning bells ring in my head.
I’m getting carried away. What did he say about me? That I’m sweet and innocent.
He’s a man. I never thought about what he’d do sexually. I never considered that what we’d have would be real. Not that I’ve had much time to ponder it.
The fact is we didn’t even have sex. He wants to wait until we’re married. He’s weirdly old-fashioned. But no matter what, the fact that he’s my first, and just the circumstances around our relationship, it makes sense that I would feel attached to him.
I just have to remember he’s experienced. He won’t feel the same attachment I’d naturally feel for him.
Collateral damage.
The words ring in my head.
Miss Millie appears with coffee and I shake off the thought.
I don’t want to think about this right now. There’s nothing to think about. This is all going to play out the way they want it to. By they, I mean my father and Stefan. I have no control over this.
No, that’s not true. I have control over one thing. My heart. I can guard it. I have to.
But am I too late already?
“How about some French Toast this morning, Gabriela?” Miss Millie asks and not a moment too soon as that was a dead-end road I was traveling.
“I would love French Toast. Is it okay if I come help? Maybe eat in the kitchen? I don’t want to sit here by myself.”
She seems confused for a moment but then nods. “Come on with me. I should have suggested it myself. With Stefan gone so much, I don’t want you to feel lonely.”
“Is he gone again? I thought he was in his study meeting with his lawyer?”
“That’s this afternoon. He went to pay Rafa a visit this morning.”
“He’s visiting Rafa?”
She’s walking ahead of me but stops, turns to me and I see on her face that she is thinking she said too much.
“I don’t think he’d planned it, dear. Come on, let’s get you some breakfast.”
“I thought he was here,” I mutter, watching her walk ahead of me.
Does he lie so easily? Why didn’t he tell me he was going to see Rafa? Because I know what it’s about.
Me.
/> 11
Stefan
Rafa seems surprised when he opens the door and finds me on his doorstep.
“Stef,” he starts. His gaze shifts over my shoulder momentarily. Has he always done that and I’m just realizing it? “What are you doing here?”
He’s barefoot and bare chested and when I step inside, he buttons the last of the buttons on the jeans he must have just pulled on.
“Dropping in,” I say, studying him, eyeing the tattoo over his heart. A symbol of his pledge. His fealty to my family.
He glances toward the bedroom door, seeming anxious.
“Bad time?” I ask.
“No. Of course not. Just have a girl in there,” he says. “Come in. Let me go tell her to have a shower and I’ll make coffee.” He closes the door and I walk through the open plan living area to the kitchen counter while he momentarily disappears into the bedroom. He’s back not two minutes later.
“Who is she?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “No one special.” He switches on a burner, fills the bottom of the small espresso pot with water and measures out espresso. He sets the pot over the flame and turns to look at me. “What’s up?”
“Does your dad get pissed when he sees that?” I gesture to his tattoo.
He touches the space over his heart, looks down at it. “I don’t show him. Easier that way.”
“But he knows it’s there. Does it piss him off?”
He shrugs a shoulder and busies himself getting two espresso cups. “Doesn’t matter, Stefan. I stand behind it.”
“Do you?”
He turns back to me, cocks his head to the side. “Something going on?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you took Gabriela to Taormina?”
He gives a short chuckle, like he was waiting for this. “I just felt sorry for her, that’s all.”
“And that you didn’t take soldiers?”
His jaw tightens.
The coffee pot steams and he switches off the burner then pours espresso into two cups. He hands me one and we sit at the counter.
Damage Page 7