Chapter 45
Addie
Iwake slowly.
Cocooned in warmth, I don’t want to open my eyes. I’m comfortable against Michael’s chest, and the second I move, reality will come crashing in.
I don’t want to think about all the things that happened last night. I wish pretending like it didn’t happen was a solid option. I could move forward with my life without needing to talk about the effect it will absolutely have on my mental health.
Michael’s hand roams my bare skin, pushing those thoughts away for just a bit longer.
I didn’t want a single thing between us after we got home.
Every touch of that other man’s hands needed to be erased from my skin.
Despite the boiling shower I took, the memory still hovers in the back of my mind. I want it gone.
The thought spurs me forward.
I sit up and roll over onto Michael’s chest. Pushing my luck, I slide down to press a kiss to his hip bone before moving closer to his rapidly filling cock.
“Adalaide?” Michael’s dark gaze silently asks what I’m doing.
“I need to replace every bad memory with a new one. Please let me have this.” I don’t wait for his permission. Instead, I lick the underside of his dick from base to tip. He sucks in a breath as his abs flex.
I take him into my mouth, flicking my tongue against all the places that make him crazy. Then I dive down, taking him as far into my throat as I can. I jack him off while simultaneously putting my all into this blow job.
He’s letting me control this for now, knowing I need to be the one in charge, but I have no illusion it will last. I don’t want it to, but I appreciate the effort he’s putting in to give me this for as long as he can.
I manage to go for several more minutes before he’s spearing his hand into my wild curls and pulling me off.
He guides me to straddle his lap while holding his dick for me. I line him up and sink down slowly. It takes several pumps before my ass lands on his hips.
“So beautiful,” Michael breathes with reverence.
His hands glide up my sides to cup my breasts.
When he pinches my nipples between his fingers, my hips stutter.
The movement grinds my clit into his pelvis, and I abandon all thoughts of trying to seduce him.
Instead, I focus on my pleasure, using him to chase my orgasm first.
“That’s it, Trouble. Use me. Take what you need.” He drops one hand down to my hip and helps me move my body in the exact way I need. It’s hard to focus on the movements when the pleasure is so overwhelming.
My eyes blink open to stare down at Michael. Somehow, he reads me and knows what I need without me having to ask.
He smiles at me—a look that seems to come easy for him now—before flipping me onto my back. He angles his hips so that every thrust into me rubs against my G-spot, proving he’s still solely focused on my pleasure instead of his own.
I reach for him without touching, telling him I want him closer. He slides his arm under me to grip the back of my neck while the other hand laces through my fingers above my head—not to restrain me, just to connect.
With each thrust, he rubs against my clit until I’m coming hard around him. The squeeze of my inner muscles sends him over the edge with a groan, and we both end up panting.
Michael rolls us to our sides, pulling me into his chest while we try to catch our breath.
“Was it okay that I held your hand over your head?” he asks after a minute.
“Yeah. It felt more like we were connected in every way we could be. We’re going to have to play around with that, you know.”
“Mmm.” He grunts, clearly unhappy with the idea. “I hate that binding you might’ve been ruined by someone else’s evil choices.”
“It’s not ruined. We’ll just try things out, and if I get triggered, we’ll stop and do something else. It’ll be no different than the way we’ve been working on you recognizing my touch first.”
Michael slides a strand of hair off my forehead. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes. I won’t always be. I’m sure I’ll have a flashback or a nightmare that will remind me of how terrified I was, but I know you’ll be by my side to guide me through it.”
“I will be, I swear. Do you promise to talk to me when you’re struggling, though?”
“As long as you’ll promise to do the same.”
He gives me a bland look. “We weren’t talking about me, but I suppose that’s fair.”
I giggle. “I promise to talk to you whenever I need extra support.”
“Then I’ll do the same.”
I lean forward to kiss him. I know that concession wasn’t easy. He’s gotten so much better at talking to me, but it’s something we’ll both have to work at.
When we pull away, Michael cringes. “We need to decide what we’re going to tell our family.”
“About what?”
“Adalaide, your face is swollen, and you have a black eye. There’s no way we can hide that.”
“I can’t tell my family what happened! My dad will never look at me the same.”
“How do you think I feel?” he throws back at me. He has a point too. We cannot tell our families that I was tied up by a stranger because one of his BDSM partners was jealous.
“What if we tell them without going into detail?”
“They’re going to ask questions.”
“So we say that we went to a club in Greensboro and ran into one of your exes there. She clocked me hard in the restroom and knocked me out. You found her, and we’re pressing charges for assault. We’ll skip over the part where she tied me up.”
“What happens if she pleads not guilty?”
I shrug. “She won’t. There’s too much evidence, and she won’t want to get the maximum prison sentence, but if she doesn’t, then we’ll be honest and tell our parents the whole story.”
“I don’t love that plan.”
“It’s the only viable one we’ve got, unless you’d like to explain to my dad how you enjoy spanking my ass until it’s bruised.”
Michael smacks said ass.
“Ouch!”
“Don’t be a brat.”
I huff. “If you have any other ideas, I’m all ears.”
“No. It’s the only option that doesn’t involve flat-out lying.”
“Good. So we tell Ryan after we get up. If he buys the story, then we’ll tell Mom and Dad and your parents. After that, we can have them tell the rest of the family.”
“And it’ll spread like wildfire.”
“Exactly.”
My phone starts ringing on the nightstand. My stomach drops when I see Greensboro Police on the caller ID. I show Michael before I answer it and put it on speaker phone.
“Hello, this is Adalaide.”
“Hi, this is Officer Peters. How are you feeling today?”
“I’m doing okay. Thank you for asking. What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to let you know that we served an arrest warrant for Miss Hoffer this morning, and she has now been detained. The bond hearing for both her and Veronica is scheduled for next week.”
“Will they be able to bond out?” I ask.
“I can’t say. It will depend on a multitude of factors.”
“Okay. Thank you for calling.”
“Of course. Have a good afternoon.”
I hang up with Officer Peters and look at Michael. “What happens if she gets out of prison and comes after me?”
“I’ll ensure that you’re safe and we’re kept up-to-date on everything. I can tell them I’m a cop. It might afford us a few luxuries when it comes to getting information.”
“And we don’t live in Greensboro, so maybe that will insulate us a little.”
“True. I can’t imagine Ronnie going to such extremes, but we’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”