Tangled In Lies (Tangled & Torn #1)

32. Evangeline

Chapter 32

Evangeline

P hoenix barrels into the music room, startling me so much I nearly fall off the bench.

My gaze snatches on his bandaged hand right away.

I shoot out of my seat. “What happened?”

I’ve been hiding here since he left, needing the escape only music—and now also Phoenix—can offer me after the news Holden dropped on us, impatiently waiting for his return.

We rush toward each other, diminishing every inch of space between us.

“It’s nothing.” He gathers me the second he’s close enough.

One hand goes into my hair, the other presses against my lower back. He descends on my lips with a desperation that steals my breath.

Together, we move backward until I bump into the cool material of the piano. I get lost in his kiss, unable to ignore how my entire body comes to life under his touch .

Nothing, and no one, can render such an all-consuming fire inside me like this man can. He ignites me.

When we finally come up for air, I gasp and stare at the rapid rise and fall of his chest and what appears to be blood on his shirt.

My hand reaches for him. “Oh my God, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He steps back.

I immediately mourn the loss of his proximity.

But then he holds out his uninjured hand toward me. “As much as I want to fuck you on this piano, I told you no one else gets to see what’s mine. Say it.”

I take his hand and stare at him. “Say what?”

“That you’re mine.”

I don’t know what happened in the hours he was gone, but there’s so much devastation in his gaze that my heart makes a sad extra thump.

I swallow and stare him straight in the eyes. “I’m yours.”

The second the words are out of my mouth, he’s back on me, that same wildness in every brush of his lips, every swipe of his tongue.

“Hold on.” His hands go under my butt to lift me into his arms.

I circle my legs around his waist, and he carries me out of the music room.

Somehow, we end up in this position a lot.

Getting into the bedroom is a team effort, but neither one of us seems willing to let go, so we manage.

The second the door is closed behind us, all bets are off.

After Phoenix left earlier, I changed into a T-shirt and yoga pants, and Phoenix rids me of both, plus my bra and panties, in less than thirty seconds .

“I need you.” His mouth is back on mine, his fingers trailing down my body until they disappear between my thighs. “Fuck, you’re so wet.”

He enters me, pumping in and out. Circling his slick fingers over my clit.

I throw my head back on a moan, slightly wobbling on my feet.

This man can make me forget my name, even though it seems like he’s the one who’s trying to forget something. But I’m okay with that, for now. I can, or rather, I want to be that escape for him, the person who takes him to a place where he can forget, where nothing but the two of us exists.

Without warning, he drops to his knees, and hooks one of my legs over his shoulder. His fingers sink into my butt cheeks to draw me toward his mouth. I only have a split second to sink my hands into his hair and to hold on for dear life.

Apparently, Phoenix is on a mission to kill me.

He doesn’t just devour my pussy, he’s going for utter destruction, holding me so close to him, I’m not even sure how he can breathe. When he sucks on my clit, then bites it and tongue-fucks me, I’m getting genuinely worried I might not survive this impending orgasm.

“Phoenix . . . Phoenix, I’m going to . . . oh my God, I can’t.”

Coherent thoughts leave my brain, my senses completely overwhelmed by the way his fingers dig into my butt, or how one of his fingers keeps circling my hole. The noises he makes are almost animalistic, and the scent of him, of us, permeates the air. My fingers tangle deeper into his soft hair, and I gaze down at him.

The sight of Phoenix on his knees in front of me is utterly mesmerizing, like I’m his queen, and he’d do anything for me.

Black dots send my vision hazy. He continues to lap at me like he can’t get enough but always stops when I’m right at the edge.

“Don’t you dare come until I’m inside you.”

“Phoenix, please.”

My moans turn into whimpers, and he finally takes pity on me. He slowly gets me back on my feet and sweeps me into his arms, not wasting a second—kissing me, laying me out on the bed, tearing off his clothes, grabbing my hips to flip me over onto my stomach, hauling me to the edge of the bed, and sinking into me with one big thrust.

“Fuuuuuuck.” His groan is loud, etched with the same pain that shone in his eyes earlier.

As usual, he’s my undoing, and my orgasm hits me with the power of a cracking lightning bolt.

His bandage grazes my hips, but I’m too far gone to worry about it right now. This, he, feels too good.

Every thrust hits home, his thighs slapping against mine, his balls creating extra friction. He moves one of his hands to my butt crack and circles my hole once more. It puckers, the anticipation, the forbidden aspect of whether he will do anything more, sending a zap straight to my clit.

“Come again for me.”

Smack .

The slap to my butt is so unexpected, I freeze momentarily and then let out a long moan. The memory of what we shared in his office comes back to me, of how hard he made me come, how much I enjoyed that experience with him, even though I shouldn’t have.

Things have changed so much between us since that moment, and now—just as then—he knows exactly what my body needs, maybe even better than I do.

A smack lands on my other cheek, and my eyes roll back.

“Look how well you take me, Angel. Your pussy was made for me.” His breathing is labored, his movements frantic. “Fuck, come on my cock like the good girl you are. Now.”

The last word comes out in a growl just as he brings his hands down on my ass cheeks again.

Smack.

Smack.

He makes some kind of spitting noise, and something wet hits my ass crack. Before I know what’s happening, one of his fingers slides through it and pushes past my tight ring of muscle.

The foreign invasion is as surprising as it is intense, and I don’t just come, I detonate.

My orgasm hits me so hard, I lose all feeling in my limbs and scream, my entire focus on that pulsing explosion in my core.

“Fuck, fuck, fuuuuuck.” Phoenix comes with a roar.

His cock pulses inside me to the point where I’m not even sure where I end and he begins.

He collapses on top of me, his weight forcing me into the mattress without apology.

A huff of air escapes me.

“Sorry.” He slowly detaches himself from me and withdraws.

The air smells of sex, and I inhale it like an addict .

There’s only us. Nothing else matters.

Phoenix trails a finger up my inner thigh until he gets to where his cum has run down. He pauses, and I glance at him over my shoulder and how his gaze is zoned in on the spot he’s touching.

My entire body shivers at the picture.

He moves his hand upward, tracing the wetness to where it came from. My eyes widen when the pressure on my skin increases, and he shoves his fingers inside me.

My brain short-circuits. Is he pushing his cum back in?

His expression is focused, and he keeps repeating the motion. Over and over until I squirm under his touch.

“Be still, Angel. I don’t want you to waste a single drop.”

His gaze meets mine, and time stops.

There’s something in his eyes I’ve never seen before. I’m unsure what it is, but it tugs at an invisible string in my chest. It’s the same feeling I used to get when I went on stage to perform. It’s this electrifying and dizzying mix of excitement and anxiety.

Phoenix severs our connection to focus back on the spot between my legs. Not too long after, he stops, seemingly satisfied with his results. His arms gingerly move around my body, and he shifts me until we’re both lying on the bed and I’m tightly in his arms.

I could stay here forever.

And for a moment, I allow myself to believe that’s a possibility.

Ever since Holden came with the news earlier that they’d found the person, my Freddy, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it would somehow mean the end of Phoenix and me .

“Is it really over?” My words are muffled against his warm chest, but I know he heard them because he stiffens.

The question is out of my mouth, and my breathing hitches.

What if he takes the question the wrong way?

His heart speeds up under my ear, so mine does too, always wanting to be in sync with his.

“I mean, Ben . . . Freddy. Was it really him?”

Phoenix lets out a sigh. “The police seem to think so, and he admitted it.”

“Wow.” I swallow. “That will take some getting used to. Does that . . . does that mean we can go back to our normal lives now?”

Phoenix is quiet for several long beats. “Is that what you want? To go back to your normal life?”

Panic squeezes my throat. Why does everything come out so wrong today?

“Yes, I guess? I mean, I’d really like to go back to school, meet my friends at the café, and return to the shelter. Those sorts of things. Back to how things were before.”

His hand tightens on my waist. “Before when?”

The elephant in the room keeps growing, and I’m unsure who will be the first to break. I want to know his answer to the question circling our heads too, but I don’t want to be the first one to answer it.

What if I put my heart out there and he doesn’t want it? After everything that happened, I’m not sure I’d survive it if he told me he didn’t want me anymore, that I should go back to the way things were before he barged back into my life.

There’s one thing he doesn’t understand: there’s no before him. There’s only with him and after him .

“Before when, Angel?”

I gnaw on my lip before giving him a morsel of truth. “The explosion.”

I close my eyes.

I wait for him to tell me that’s not what he wants.

“How fast can you get ready for a trip?” His breath whispers across my head. A moment later, his lips ghost over mine.

When my brain catches up with his question, I back away until I can see him. It’s gotten dark outside, but the lamp on the nightstand illuminates the room with warm light. Phoenix watches me, his intense gaze unwavering.

“You want to go on a trip?”

He nods. “Just to lie low for a little while. I’d rather be safe than sorry. It’ll also give the team and the police the chance to make sure Ben is really Freddy. Right now, it feels too good to be true.”

I think about it for two seconds and say, “Depending on where you’re planning to take me, I can be ready in less than an hour.”

Because he isn’t wrong. All of this happened so quickly, it still seems surreal. It will take some time to fully process the fact that the police caught Freddy. Right now, it still feels odd that Ben is my devil.

“I’ll make the necessary calls so we can leave tomorrow.”

Maybe we’re both a bit crazy right now.

When we finally get to a point where we can go back to our normal lives without stalkers, psychopaths, and explosions, we escape.

The little voice in my head whispers, “What if that’s why he’s doing this? Maybe he wants to stay in this bubble with you for a while longer too. Maybe he’s just as afraid as you are of what’s waiting on the other side, or that the police have the wrong guy despite the confession.”

Because what are we without all the secrets, lies, pain, and hurt?

Is there even an us without all of that?