Chapter 9 #2
Saw the weight of everything she carried. My gut twisted; rage surged through me, but I wasn’t angry at her. How could I be? I was the one who had done this.
“You got up early. I’ll take your watch. You should go rest.”
I don’t know if Asia agreed, but she walked away without responding.
I should have let her go.
I followed her instead.
The slight hesitation in her steps told me she heard me, but she didn’t look back. She didn’t slow down, just weaved through the kitchen to the parlor and disappeared inside.
Left the door open behind her.
I stepped inside before she could change her mind, my eyes finding her in the dimness.
She rifled through her plastic tote, and I easily imagined her doing the same thing before. Before, the plastic tote would have been some frou-frou matching furniture from a builder that used sustainably sourced wood, and she wouldn’t sift through salvaged rags.
A moment’s regret for all she’d lost stilled me. But only for a moment.
Because she was here. Alive.
Mine.
A darker thought drove me to her. I settled my hand on her hip, right over the spot where Christopher had touched her. Curled my fingers to dig in slightly. Let her warmth spread through my palm, breathed in deep, filling my lungs with her scent.
“I’m fine, Jack,” she whispered, her voice at the octave that told me she was a hairbreadth away from being pissed.
“I didn’t ask.”
I squeezed her hip and then centered my hand at the back of her neck and pushed forward.
She grabbed the wooden chest in front of her and used it to steady herself. Her fingers flexed, and I knew it was unconscious. Hoped it was the tension leaving her body. Because she was afraid.
And not of Christopher.
Of me, and what I would do. What it would cost.
She should have been.
He’d touched her and that should have meant his death. It didn’t, and I was left to deal with that.
“Has he touched you before?”
“Touched me?”
To anyone else, she might sound confused, but I wasn’t anyone else.
“His hand was here.” I reached down and put my hand on her hip again. “Touching you. Touching what’s mine like he had a right to.”
“I’m not yours, Jack.”
She didn’t even sound like she believed it, but I still had a point to prove.
I pressed my lips to her skin, right next to her ear. “Why are you trying to lie to me?”
She shivered, and I took the moment to push her pants down and bury my hand between her thighs.
Stroked her slit and then pushed my fingers between her lower lips. “Your mouth says you’re not mine. Your pussy has a different opinion.”
I eased one finger into her hole, barely breaching her entrance. She breathed in sharply, gripping the chest harder.
“I didn’t kill him, and I should have.”
I pushed a little deeper.
“It’s okay. We can handle it.”
“You can. I can’t.” I went deeper, fucking her with one finger as I panted against her ear. “I told you before. You’re mine.”
“We need—” She cried out when I added two more fingers and fucked her with all three.
I pressed my lips against her neck, right over her pulse.
“Jack…” she said on a moan. “I need…”
I grazed my lips against her skin, not a kiss, but not not a kiss either.
She whimpered when I pulled my fingers out, then sighed when I leaned forward and kissed that spot on her hip, then licked at her skin.
Mine.
She was mine.
Nothing, not Christopher, not the dead, not even Asia would change that.
I turned and lifted Asia until her ass rested on the edge of the chest. The book that was on top fell to the floor. I didn’t give it a second glance and focused on her. She lifted her hips enough to shimmy her pants down around her ankles.
I didn’t let a second pass before I had my cock out and lined up and pushed inside her. She buried her face against my shoulder and held me tight. I grabbed her hips and drove deeper, not caring about the rhythmic thud of the chest against the wall.
Part of me liked it, wanting everyone to know exactly who she belonged to.
She met my thrusts with her own, the motions jerky and uncoordinated but oh so effective. I panted out a hard breath then anchored my hands on her hips, holding her steady as I fucked her relentlessly.
Her face was close to mine, and I shifted my head. I moved to kiss her, but she turned her head, my lips grazing her ear.
I breathed out hard, her hair tickling my nose, then reached between us and pressed my thumb against her clit. She tried to arch off the dresser , but my hands held her down, and the pressure on her clit was her undoing.
She came hard, her pussy clamping on my shaft like a vise. It sent me hurdling over the edge, my hips rocking jerkily as I came so hard, my body rocked.
We stayed like that for a long moment, long enough that I felt her stiffen and start to pull away.
I held her tighter, ignoring the tension in her body, instead focused on the steady thud of her heart.
Held her for a few seconds longer, my tongue incapable of forming the words that my arms were intent on displaying.
When she pressed her hands flat against my chest, I finally stepped back and looked down at her cum-soaked thighs.
She pushed off the dresser and pulled her pants up.
Left the room without looking back.