11. Cassius
eleven
Tossing Belle onto my bed, I bury my face between her breasts and kiss my way up her sternum, along her collar bone until finally reaching her ear.
“You good?” I whisper, praying I’m only audible to her. She pinches my thigh twice, a signal we worked out in the car that means she’s okay, and we can keep going. I roll us over, and she lifts up on to her knees, sinking down on my dick. She works her hips back and forth, rolling them in circles, trying to find a rhythm. This is her show now. I let her find her own pleasure. When she finally does, she rides me like a fucking bull. Like the true Southern belle she is. Rough and without remorse. I tease her clit with my fingers, and she bucks harder and faster, chasing her own release.
I flip us again, pulling one leg over my shoulder. I move her own hand to work her clit while I pound into her. Skin slapping skin, the muscles in my ass clench with each thrust. I pull a nipple in between my teeth and give it a tug. She whimpers, and I release it.
“Come for me, baby,” I whisper. “Come for me, Ruby.” It’s a command.
Her legs tighten, her toes curl, and her face contorts into one of pain and pleasure until finally her entire body relaxes, and she peers up at me through hooded eyes.
I remove myself from her clenches and remove the condom from my still hard dick. She’s not Ruby. I need Ruby. My dick needs Ruby. I go to the bathroom and turn on the shower, letting it warm before I get in. I wash Cadence’s scent off me, wishing it were a metallic vanilla instead. My balls ache, but I don’t relieve myself, preferring the punishment.
I close my eyes, a lifetime of indiscretions flooding me. The rich fucks I cheated as a teen. The girl caught in the middle, dead on my doorstep. The blood. Garrett’s screams. My silence. It all comes back, fresh as the day it happened. Years of blackmail, torture, and death. The sound of Isabella’s scream as I pushed her in my trunk. The fear in her eyes when I opened it again.
Fucking masochist. That’s what I am. Reliving the shit that haunts me day in and day out. I roll my shoulders and turn my back to the water. The heat from the water eases the tension in my body, and I start to relax.
When I get out of the shower, Cadence is no longer in my bed. I get dressed quickly and find her sitting on my kitchen counter, clothed, eating an apple.
She shrugs when she sees me. “Sorry sugar, I was hungry.”
I raise my hands in a no problem gesture. “You ready to go?” I ask. She nods in answer, and I grab her hips, lifting her off the counter. Gentleman, see?
In the safety of the car, under the cover of the moon, we’re quiet. The only sound to be heard is the car purring beneath us.
“Back to Garrett's then?” I ask.
Cadence sighs, doing so with her whole chest, like she’s been waiting for me to ask but didn’t want to break the silence herself.
“Nah, I think I’m gonna go home.” She pauses for effect or because she’s still deciding, I can’t tell. “Yeah, I’m gonna go home and pack.”
I tilt my head in her direction, leaving the question unspoken between us.
“I’m gonna go with her, my sister. I think she’s gonna need me.”
I don’t tell her, because I don’t think she’s the kind of girl who needs validation for her actions, but I think she’s doing the right thing. Her sister will need all the support she can get, especially in a town where she’ll have no one.
“You got it, sugar,” I say, trying to imitate her accent. She laughs and other than Ruby coming, I think it’s the sweetest sound I’ve heard in a really long time.
We drive the rest of the way in companionable silence. Sometimes people need the quiet. Sometimes the quiet helps us heal. It’s in this moment, sitting in a car with a woman who quite literally just sold her body to save her sister, that I finally decide I don’t want to live a lie anymore. I want to be able to forgive myself, and I can’t without others forgiveness first.
Twenty minutes later, I pull up to a small apartment complex, and Cadence turns to look at me. She leans in, brushing a soft kiss on my cheek. “Call me if you need me again,” she says softly, and then climbs out of the car, closing the door behind her.
“Cadence, if you ever need anything, you get a hold of G. Got it?” I tell her through the open window.
She nods and gives a small wave before walking up a set of stairs. She walks to her apartment door and unlocks it to let herself in. The door closes behind her, and I pull out of the lot.
I drive through the city and out the other side. Past the outskirts and into the mountains. The car glides around the curves, like I imagine my hands gliding over Ruby’s. Slow and with purpose. I pull into a scenic view pullover on the side of the mountain and turn off the engine.
And then I wait. I wait beneath the stars for Ruby to find me.