Little Bird: Criminally Yours

Chapter 19

Easton’ssharp blue eyes cut through me like glass. Disappointment swam in their icy depths, and I shriveled up under his hard glare.

“Don’t worry about me,” I whispered, standing to slam the door in his face, but he stopped me. Sticking out his hand, the force of his strength sent me to the ground in shock.

“Don’t hide from me, Harley. We don’t keep secrets,” he reminded me, our argument from last weekend coming to the front of my mind. I couldn’t believe we were having another one so soon.

If we had stuck to writing letters, we wouldn’t be in this mess. He wouldn’t know my biggest secret.

“We don’t keep secrets? Then why the fuck were you arrested, East?” The words tasted like acid on my tongue, and the hurt that rippled across his face was far worse than any of the thoughts that plagued my mind.

“You want to take out your anger on me? You think I’m clipping your wings by making you face the fucking truth? I want you to fly, Harley. Don’t you ever forget that. I’ll trap you inside of a cage until I make you see your worth, little bird. And when you realize how powerful and beautiful you are, I’ll show you how to fly again. And only then will you truly soar, my little bird.”

I teared up at his words, at the tone of his voice, at the love shining in his eyes, and hated myself a little more for the person I had become.

“Tell me, East. Why must I share all my secrets when you’ve hidden the biggest one? We’ve been beating around the bush for a year now, and you still won’t tell me. What are you so afraid of?” I screamed, standing up to face him.

The fucker had the audacity to grin, the most devastatingly handsome smile, that made my knees knock together with my love for him.

“Losing you.” He swallowed and I took a step back.

“You can’t mean that,” I whispered, some of the anger deflating with his vulnerability. I didn’t know I meant so much to him. He’d never voiced his feelings like that, gone that raw, and I sure as hell couldn’t read his mind.

“You are the only person I care about, Harley. I don’t need anyone or anything else as long as I have you by my side.” Shaking my head, I pushed past him, and my hands sank through the material of his crisp white button-up, the curve of his hard abs just beneath my fingertips nearly drew a moan from my lips.

“Where the hell are you going?” Easton followed me through his apartment. I grabbed my bag from the kitchen counter and shoved my feet into my heels from earlier. My feet ached as I slipped the thin strap around my ankle.

My fingers grasped the bronze handle of his front door. Throwing the door open, I stepped into the carpeted hallway.

I had to get out.

I had to get away from him.

I needed air.

“Harley, don’t run away from me!” His calloused fingers wrapped around my bicep, tugging me back into the apartment.

“Let me go. You have to let me go. I can’t do this. I can’t.” The walls were closing in, and I sucked in a sharp breath, my lungs burning with the lack of oxygen, black dots swimming in my vision.

“I’m never letting you go, little bird. Don’t make me do the impossible.” I fell to my knees, and he was there, holding me, his touch setting my skin ablaze. His lips ghosted over my cheek, soft, warm, and soothing.

“You weren’t supposed to find out!” I cried, curling into a ball, holding my shaky legs together with my weak arms. He wrapped himself around me, holding me together as I fell apart.

“I don’t care. I just want you, my perfect little bird.”

Chocking on a sob, I shook my head. Perfect. I was so far from it.

“There’s nothing perfect about me,” I cried, my chest heaving with sobs. His arms only tightened their possessive hold.

“I was framed for dealing drugs at a club by my foster brother,” he whispered near my ear, and a new pain sliced at my broken heart—pain for him. “Gray changed our plan at the last minute to get home to his pregnant girlfriend faster, and I fell hook, line, and sinker because I trusted him. I vowed never to trust anyone again after that day.”

Taking a slow deep breath, I slowed my racing heart and listened to his confession.

“Then, you wrote me a fucking letter, and that all went to hell because I can’t deny you anything. My biggest secret is of being betrayed by the man I called my brother, not because I want to hide it from you, but because I am ashamed.” He pulled away from me, the security of his touch no longer wrapped around me.

I looked at him through blurry eyes. Waiting for him to yell, like my parents had, like my school therapist had, like everyone had.

Instead, he cradled my face in his big hands, his fingers sinking into my hair, thumbs swiping at the hot tears rolling down my cheeks.

This man always surprised me.

“I don’t want you to be ashamed. I don’t want you to hide. I want you to live, Harley. I want you to eat whatever the fuck you want. I need you to love your body because if you don’t, I’m going to lose you. I thought prison was my hell, but a life without you in it is not worth living. I need you to learn to love this beautiful body.”

He pressed the softest kiss to my cheek, and the noise that tore from my throat was raw and broken. “Please don’t cry, little bird. Please, baby, I can’t fucking breathe when you cry.”

I wanted to stop. I hated being so weak, but his words were my undoing. He was my biggest weakness. I wanted to be perfect for him.

“Your eyes bring me peace.” He leaned forward and kissed my eyelids before leaning back, his artic eyes roaming over my body.

“What are you doing, East?” I whispered.

“Showing you everything I love about your body.” I hiccupped on a cry, butterflies erupting from their dormant cocoons in my stomach and wreaking havoc.

Picking up my hands, he kissed each fingertip. “These fingers shared the secrets of your heart long before I knew it was meant to be mine. They made me fall in love with you with each perfectly written word.”

Kissing a trail of heat up my one forearm to my shoulder, he did the same to the other, a wicked grin tugging at his ruggedly, beautiful face. “Arms that wrap around me while I’m making love to you, pulling our bodies impossibly closer together.”

“You don’t have to do this,” I whispered as he lowered himself to my flat stomach and pressed a soft kiss through the thin material of my dress. I moaned.

“A perfect stomach to one day grow our babies.” Heat crawled up my neck and into my cheeks at his comment, but he didn’t deter from his mission.

He picked up my one foot and gently took off the heel, then repeated the same to the other. Massaging the soles of my feet, he grinned. “Beautiful toes that curl with each orgasm I give you. Two perfect feet that brought you to The Rose to meet me.”

“Easton, really, I get it.” I squirmed uncomfortably, but he shook his head.

“I am not done, Harley.” He kissed a trail up my calves, and goosebumps skated up my spine. Heat pooled in my belly at the simple action. “Gorgeous legs made to wrap around my waist when I’m deep inside of you.”

His lips moved against the soft skin of my thigh, and his head peaked under my short dress. I sighed in relief when his lips skimmed over my quivering heat. “I don’t think I need to remind you of this beautiful pussy that weeps for me, how it sucks the cum from my cock. Do I, Harley?” he teased, his hot breath blowing against my hot center.

“Remind me, East,” I whimper.

“You need me to remind you how perfect your pussy is, Harley?” he growled, and I unashamedly pushed my heat into his mouth, wishing I had listened to Kennedy and skipped underwear tonight.

His lips were perfectly soft and just a tease of what I could have before he pulled away. His eyes were bright with desire for me. Crawling over me, he stopped just in front of my face and kissed my lips like I was made of porcelain.

“Most importantly, my perfect little bird, you have these fucking lips. They bring me to my knees with the smallest smile and suck my soul right out of my body with one kiss. I don’t care what you look like; I don’t care if you are thin, fat, or in between. All I care is that you are here with me, that every night your warm body is curled around mine. I can’t lose you to this disease. I won’t survive.” He gripped my chin and forced our eyes to lock, his brows furrowed in determination. “Do you understand me?”

I want to tell him I understood, but I’d be lying. I didn’t understand how his love for a body I hated was infinite. What happened when I put on the extra weight? Would he love me then? Would he have still brought me home that night?

“You’re thinking too much. Don’t you understand, Harley? I’m not in love with your body.” He pauses, and my heart stilled with his words. “I’m in love with your soul, baby. Your body is just a vessel. We won’t take it with us when we leave.”

“I hate my body,” I cried, finally saying my truth out loud for the first time.

“Let me teach you how to love it, Harley. Don’t run from me, from the future we are going to have. Please, little bird, let me teach you how to fly.” We were still on the floor of his entrance, my back pressed into the floor as he hovered over me, waiting.

“Teach me, Easton,” I finally whispered, tears slipping down my cheeks. “I want to soar.” With a grin as wicked as the gleam in his desire-filled eyes, he easily lifted me into his arms and took me to his bedroom, where he showed me all night long just how much he loved my body.

Blindingwhite light pressed against my eyelids, making me force them open. He’d forgotten to close the blinds again.

“East,” I groaned, patting his side of the bed only to find it cold and empty. Sitting up, I noticed he had dressed me in one of his big shirts. “East?” I called again, and he stuck his head out of the bathroom, shaving cream on his face. He grinned.

“Ready for more already?” He winked and ducked when I threw a pillow at him. “How about after breakfast?”

“Why aren’t you in bed with me? We should be sleeping and having sex all day,” I moaned, watching desire pool in his gaze for me.

“Tempting, but I have work.”

“Speaking of, you still haven’t told me about it.” I got out of bed and raised my arms above my head, stretching the stiffness out of my neck and back. His shirt lifted up, exposing my bare butt, causing him to groan.

“I’m sure they won’t mind if I’m a few minutes late. Come shower with me, Harley. Let me make you sing one more time.”

Because I couldn’t resist this man, I took his invitation and sang his name like it was my greatest prayer.

At his kitchen counter thirty minutes later, he was guzzling down a cup of coffee while I picked at a bowl of cereal under his watchful gaze.

“Have you thought about therapy?” He wasn’t looking at me as he voiced the question I’d been dreading.

“I tried it a few times,” I whispered, dropping my spoon in the half-full bowl and pushed it away.

“Did anyone ever go with you?” He was gripping the counter now, his intense gaze on me.

“What do you mean?” I stood, taking my bowl to the sink and tossing the soggy cornflakes.

“Has anyone ever supported you, Harley? Your mom? Dad? Friends?” I opened my mouth to tell him to shove his question up his ass, but then I saw the concern in his features.

I sighed. “No. They ridiculed me. Mom yelled; the therapist yelled. Everyone just didn’t understand.” He nodded, taking the bowl from me and putting it in the dishwasher.

“Will you go with me? Will you try again with me?” Sniffling, I scrunched up my nose and blinked away the tears threatening to fall.

“East, you don’t have to do this. Really.” I hugged myself, trying and failing to be in control of my emotions.

He stepped into me, backing me against the counter. A tear slid down my cheek, and he kissed it away. “Except I do. I’m not letting you suffer alone. You aren’t alone anymore.” He brushed his lips with mine. “You have me.”