50. Freya
50
FREYA
I jolt as the door to the guest room opens.
“I thought you were going to the bathroom?” Oz questions, his face guarded.
I push my bag back under the bed with my foot. “Just needed a moment,” I say.
Oz comes fully into the room and closes the door behind him. “What did Zach say to you?”
“I—” I cut myself off and dig my tongue along my back teeth. “I don’t want to talk about it. Not yet. I just want to be here and be happy that Layla is okay. That River and Eli are alive.”
Oz drags his teeth over his lip. “Come here.” He moves into the middle of the room, and I walk around the bed to join him.
He brushes my hair back and cradles my face in his palms. “Thank you. Thank you for bringing my sister home.”
My throat burns as I swallow. “I let him get away,” I whisper.
“You kept her safe,” he counters. He shifts his hand to the back of my neck and rubs his thumb up and down over my pulse. “We’ll find him, Freya, just like we found your father. We’ll make him pay.”
I lean into Oz, letting my hands rest against his knitted sweater. I want to believe him. I want to trust in this and let him hold me until the world is safe again.
“I love you, Oscar Reynolds.”
Air rushes from Oz’s mouth and then his lips are on mine, kissing me, devouring me. The scruff of his beard is rough against my cheeks and the sensations rush down to my core.
“I need you,” I say between kisses, my hands dropping to his pants.
“Aye. You’ve got me. Always.”
I get his zipper undone and pull him free.
He groans into my neck, his cock hard and heavy in my palm.
I squeeze him once and then Oz is picking me up, his large hands under my thighs.
He carries me to the bed and lowers me onto my back.
I wriggle out of my jeans, pulling them, along with my panties, down to my thighs.
Oz tugs off his sweater but neither of us get fully undressed, we can’t wait that long. Need and desperation fill the air. I want to feel him inside me. I want to remember what it’s like to be owned by this man.
“Oz,” I moan.
He throws his glasses onto the bed before his hands return to me, slipping under my shirt.
“I’m here,” he says. “I’m right here.” He notches himself at my entrance and pushes inside.
I gasp, stretching around him as he slowly eases the entirety of his length into me, going so deep I feel him in my soul.
“I love you too, Mo Leannan, so freaking much,” he says, staring down at me.
I reach up and curl my fingers around the nape of his neck. “Show me.”
Oz braces himself above me, his biceps straining against the sleeves of his t-shirt.
I undulate my hips, urging him on, and his eyes flare.
He thrusts into me and I choke on the air.
Oz lowers his forehead to mine and we cling to each other, dipping in and out of open-mouthed kisses.
I bring my heels together behind his back and hold him close, like maybe if I hold on tight enough, I can keep him buried inside me forever.
Oz switches between hard and fast and soft and slow. Pleasure flows out from where we’re connected, rolling like waves through my body. We breathe each other’s air as he murmurs words of praise and love between fraught kisses.
He holds himself up on one arm and his other hand dips between my legs. His fingers trace around where we join, and his teeth dig into his lip as he watches. “So gorgeous. So beautiful. Your cunt’s all puffy and swollen around my cock.”
His words make me pulse, desire a wave of heat over my body. Oz’s thumb finds my clit and rolls it in circles. “Come for me, beautiful. Let me watch you fall apart as I fill you up.”
It doesn’t take much more than that. I tilt my head back, gasping for air as my climax hits me and Oz’s warmth floods deep inside of me.
He pumps into me a couple more times before easing out. Wetness spills from between my legs and Oz groans at the sight. He gathers his cum on his fingers and pushes it back inside my soaked cunt. “Such a good girl for me.”
He kisses my belly before putting my panties and jeans back in place and zipping me up.
“Oz,” I protest. “I need to clean up.”
He shakes his head. “Stay like that. I like knowing I’m inside of you, marking you.”
I rest my hand on his cheek. If I’m honest, I like that too. “Okay.”
He presses his lips to mine before standing up and tucking himself back into his pants. He holds out a hand. “Come on, let’s go join the others. The pizza should be here soon.”
My heart flips.
“I’ll be down in a minute,” I say.
He frowns.
“As much as I love your family Oz, I don’t want your parents knowing we just made love. I need to brush my hair,” I explain.
He takes me in and gives a sheepish smile. “I’ll see you in a minute.”
I swallow. “See you then.”
After Oz leaves, I stay lying on the bed for a moment, staring up at the ceiling. A sob rises inside of me. I bring my hand to my mouth and roll onto my side, curling up like a fetus.
I want to call him back. I want all of them to be here, to hold me and never let me go.
My stomach hurts and I feel sick. I can’t do this.
Then an image of Layla lying in the limo flashes at the front of my mind, Zach holding the needle to her neck. I see Josh’s beaten body and watch the safehouse exploding behind my eyes.
I screw up my face and force myself to get up. I grab the bag I packed from under the bed and leave my phone on the pillow.
I move quietly as I sneak downstairs, passing the laughter and chatter coming from the living room and heading straight for the front door.
I wait for another laugh before easing the door open and slipping outside. A few steps onto the drive, I turn back and look through the windows.
River is covering up a smile as Jude laughs and Eli scowls at the TV.
Oz watches his sister, curled up between their parents, pride and love showing on his face.
I pause for a moment, taking them all in. I ache to go back inside and join them, but I should have known being part of a family like this was not in the cards for me.
My gaze flits between the sling River’s arm is in and the bandages on Eli’s neck. They’re hurt because of me. Because of my brother. Or half-brother, I guess.
I draw back my shoulders. I’m the reason Layla was in danger in the first place. I won’t risk them anymore.
I couldn’t tell Oz what happened in the limo because Zach’s condition for letting Layla go—for staying away from everyone I care about—was that I had to stay away from them too.
I have to leave and never come back.
I am the queen, and this is my sacrifice.
So, I do the one thing I promised I’d never do again.
I turn my back on the men I love, and I run.