21. Theo
TWENTY-ONE
THEO
In sorrow we must stand.
Rage burned a path through my being as I tried to process the horror that had been left on Piper’s body.
The second I’d brushed my fingers over them, I knew exactly what they were.
Two deep wounds.
Puncture marks that I recognized easily from the mayhem that was my life.
Puncture marks delivered by a knife.
A blade that had been driven deep into her body in what no question had been a savage attack.
I wanted to go on a rampage.
Murder in the fucking first degree.
Piper trembled beneath the growl that I tried to keep locked in my chest, though she straightened the way she always did, putting up a barricade around who she was. Like she thought she had to keep everyone out.
And fuck, I didn’t want her to feel that way with me.
She was only wearing that bra and panties, the rest of her tempting, tight body bare and so fucking gorgeous beneath the glow of the light that I might have been distracted if violence wasn’t currently thundering through my veins at a mind-altering clip.
Knocking me from those few moments of bliss into the riot that I felt the first time I saw her.
When my instinct had told me she was in trouble, something inside me wanting to wrap her up and keep her whole.
Protect her with everything I had.
And I’d never felt the urge to guard and defend more powerfully than right then.
“This what you’re running from?” I just laid it out.
Staring at my reflection through the mirror, she lifted that fiery chin. “Who said I was running?”
“You think I don’t know? You think I can’t feel that you’re afraid? Hiding from something?”
Someone was the more apt question.
“It’s nothing. Just an old injury that doesn’t mean anything.” She clearly had to force the words out.
My arm looped farther around her, my fingertips fluttering over her left hip before I flattened my palm against her trembling belly.
I angled in close to her ear, words a gruff murmur that I exhaled. “Little Liar. Haven’t you figured it out yet? You don’t have to keep your secrets from me. I’ll hold them. Not going to let anyone hurt you.”
Piper’s eyes dropped closed for a beat, obscuring the bottomless oasis. Concealing the truth that glimmered in their depths.
Finally, they opened and found mine in the mirror.
Reticence warred with the barest flicker of belief.
“Yes, someone hurt me, Theo. Someone hurt me in the most horrible way.”
“Finn’s father?” Rage gritted through my teeth.
Her head shook as she forced out a ragged, “No.”
Her tongue swept across her lips as she seemed to gather whatever she was trying to say.
“It was a long time ago, and I’m trying to find a way to move beyond it.
Trying to find a way to live when I never believed I would have the chance to do that.
To have a home. A safe place for my son to grow and learn and thrive. ”
Moisture bleared her eyes, and I could tell she was terrified of giving me the little that she had.
This woman so clearly fighting this alone for so long.
“And I still don’t see how it’s possible,” she continued. “Sometimes, I think I’m forcing myself to believe in something that doesn’t exist. But I’m trying.”
My insides toiled. Protectiveness bashing at my being in a way that I shouldn’t feel.
In a way I couldn’t.
I already crossed a line tonight that I promised myself I wouldn’t, and I couldn’t seem to stop myself from busting further through those barriers. “Let me help you do it.”
I didn’t even know what I was offering her.
How I would make that happen.
Only thing I knew was I wanted to erase the grief and fear that was scarred so deep on her it sent another bolt of rage blistering through my body.
“Told you before if you were afraid, I was the exact kind of trouble you needed in your life. I see that fear lingering in you, Piper. Feel it seeping from your flesh.” My lips brushed over the shell of her ear. “Can taste it in your kiss.”
Old wounds blazed through her features. So distinct I thought I might be able to reach out and trace them with my fingers.
“I’m not sure I can give you what you’re asking me.” It was a bare, vulnerable whisper.
“Your trust.” I guess it was a clarification. A quiet, prodding murmur that begged her to open up to me.
“I don’t even know you, and I’m pretty sure you’re hanging onto as many secrets as I am.” It was her own challenge.
Guilt twisted my guts.
She was right. There were so many things she couldn’t know about me. My life was nothing but deceit. My scars and sins ugly and deep.
My greatest failure burned like a thousand-degree coal inside me. One that would never go out. A sentence of permanent agony.
And still, I tightened my hold around her waist. My other hand glided up over the soft flesh of her abdomen and chest, riding all the way up to curl around the front of her neck.
Woman plastered to me as I kept her bound.
Her pulse fluttered like hummingbird wings against my palm.
Frantic and wild.
As wild as her eyes that met mine in the mirror.
My voice was hoarse as I offered her a piece of myself that I shouldn’t.
“And all those secrets are exactly why you should come to me.”
A tremor rocked down her spine. “I think you’re giving me every reason why I should stay away from you.”
My lips ran the length of her neck. “Is that what you want, Piper? You want to stay away from me?”
A heavy rush of air gushed from her lungs. “I should.”
“But you want this, don’t you?”
Didn’t even know what the fuck I was saying.
This woman winding her way into all the places I couldn’t allow.
“I want this. While I’m here.” It was tremulous, though I could tell what she was trying to insinuate.
This thing could only be temporary.
“And how long is that going to be?”
I shouldn’t care. I shouldn’t want to beg her to stay.
I knew I couldn’t make good on the promises that wanted to spill from my mouth.
My footing quickly slipping.
But I could be here for her while she was. Show her what it was like to be cherished. Show her that she deserved to be adored.
Maybe hunt down the motherfucker who hurt her and wipe his stain from the earth so she didn’t ever have to think of him again.
She breathed out a labored sigh, and she barely shook her head, the scent of cherry filling my senses as her hair brushed across my chest. “I don’t know.
I get…antsy if I stay in one place for too long.
But Nelly has been begging me to find a place for us to stay.
And I know she’s right. Somehow, I need to find a way to give Finn a good life.
A home. Security. But I’m not sure I can ever give it to him. ”
No question, whatever she was running from wasn’t so far in the distance. Wasn’t relegated to the past.
I ran my nose along the angle of her jaw. “And what could I do to convince you to make it permanent? To give him that here?”
Clearly, I didn’t know how to stop the betrayals from dropping from my mouth.
Not when this goddess was standing in front of me like this.
“I don’t think we’re talking in permanents, Theo Mallin.” It was soft and wistful and tinged in regret.
“Think you’re forgetting that you have me.”
Except she couldn’t.
Not completely.
Still, I pressed, “I could help you make that happen. Make this place your home.”
“You think I don’t see those ghosts in your eyes?” she whispered. “You think I can’t tell you have your own mess you’re dealing with?”
Unease wound through my being. A clash of greed and restraint and a clattering of the chains that forever kept me trapped.
“Maybe that’s the one thing I could give you. Safety.”
She wavered for a moment before a coy grin tweaked at the edge of her seductive mouth.
“I don’t know, I kind of like the orgasms, if I’m being honest.”
No question, the words were delivered as a distraction.
Our conversation was getting too deep. Our spirits becoming too attached when it was clear neither of us were in the position to fall. The hand I had on her neck slipped downward, smoothing over her chest and between her tits until both my hands were splayed across her trembling belly.
“That what you need from me, Little Liar? Orgasms?”
“I guess I wouldn’t mind so much.” It was a shivery tease.
“And here I thought I was a sure one-star?”
She bit down on her bottom lip. “Well, that review might need to be amended.”
“Guess I’ll have to whip up a package deal that is too good to pass by. Quaint cabin in the woods. Amenities included…orgasms for your entire stay.”
A quiver rolled through her. “Is that package offered to all the guests?”
“Nah, baby. Limited time offer for the stunning woman staying in Unit B.”
A bit of the easiness pilfered out of her, and her words turned wispy. “I’m afraid if I give myself to you, then I’m never going to get that piece of myself back.”
“No sex. Just all the orgasms you can handle in every other way.”
My dick thrashed in protest.
But it was for the best.
Because I was pretty sure if I had her that way, I’d never let her go.
And I couldn’t keep her.
“I’m not sure how to handle any of you.”
A smirk pulled to my mouth, and I hugged her closer, loving the heat of her bare flesh against mine.
This connection that thrummed and glowed and pulsed.
Something that didn’t feel so superficial.
Something I had never felt.
Not once in my fuckin’ life.
That old voice whispered in the periphery of my mind. Where she would forever haunt me. A reminder of who I was. Your black heart is too sick and twisted and selfish to love, and you’re never going to know what that really means.
I ignored the clutching of my guts and muttered, “You just let go, baby, and let me send you soaring time and again.”
“And what if I get bored?” A smile pranced across her pink, plush lips.
Lightness swept through my chest. “Get bored, huh?”
“I mean, you are kind of…” She lifted a shoulder as those eyes sparked in the mirror. “Meh.”
Laughter threatening to erupt, I swept her up and off her feet.
She squealed as I tossed her over my shoulder.