Chapter 28 Everly
EVERLY
I laid down in the backseat and closed my eyes.
Grave weaved us through town, and every once in a while, I heard him grunting.
Cussing. Slamming his hands against the wheel of the car.
I wasn’t sure why he was upset. It could’ve been a number of reasons.
The only thing I was excited about was to be out of there.
Away from The Black Saddles and back with the only person I trusted.
I heard the door open before a pair of arms draped around my body. I was heaved into the air, my tired form planted into one of the strongest things I’d ever felt in my life. I laid my head onto Grave’s shoulder, feeling the way his arms cradled me.
And I recognized where we were.
He walked us into his house and it seemed completely untouched.
The furniture was there, sitting in the same places we had left them.
My car was outside, sitting and waiting like I hadn’t disappeared.
The kitchen was stocked full of foods we’d left behind and the night had settled heavily over the house.
The stars were out in droves, the Milky Way hung lowly in the sky, and all I wanted was to lay outside and look at the stars.
“Grave?”
“Yes, Everly?”
“Can we go outside?”
“We can do anything you want,” he said.
I heard the sliding door give way before we stepped out onto the porch.
He placed me down in one of the lounge chairs and my eyes peeled open.
They throbbed with the pain in my head. I could feel bruises rising on my face and my back.
But the beauty above me washed away all those sins.
The beauty of the night sky above my body at the back of Grave’s secluded desert home made me forget about the terrors of the night.
About the enemies lurking in the shadows. About the things my brother had done.
“I need to go get a first aid kit,” Grave said. “Stay here, okay?”
I nodded my head, my tongue darting out to lick my lips.
They were chapped. Slightly bloodied. I didn’t want to look at myself.
If I looked as bad as I felt, then I wanted no part of it.
My body slumped against the lounge chair and molded into the cushions as Grave’s footsteps backtracked.
I focused on the sound. On the rhythmic thumping of his body I’d become so familiar with.
He had a distinct walk. A distinct way his feet fell against the floor.
I’d be able to recognize his walk anywhere. In any scenario.
Amidst anyone walking around with him.
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath as Grave settled next to me.
His burly form was hulking against mine, but his touch was soft.
Careful. Held purpose. He pulled out alcohol pads and gauze.
Tape and bandages. He began to clean my wrists and I grimaced at the pain.
Tears rose to my eyes as his hands held my arm steady.
It hurt. It felt like my entire arm was on fire.
He smoothed something sticky onto the wounds of my wrists and wrapped them up with gaze, and suddenly a cool effect cascaded through my arms.
It felt so good it brought tears to my eyes.
I watched him carefully as he moved to my feet.
Grave looked up at me with his worried stare and I nodded for him to continue.
He was concerned about hurting me. About putting me in anymore pain than I already was.
I knew my ankles would be bad, but nothing could’ve prepared me for when Grave saw them.
He slipped my shoes off and peeled away my socks, and the look on his face made my stomach drop.
But when his eyes glistened over with tears, I looked down.
“Oh my gosh,” I said breathlessly.
“Everly, look away.”
“I don’t… they’re-”
“Close your eyes. Everly, look at me.”
My eyes slowly panned up to Grave’s as a tear leaked down my cheek.
“Close your eyes and lean back. Look up at the stars. Remind yourself of the beauty around you.”
My hands shook. My legs quaked. My knees felt weak and I wasn’t even standing. I heard Grave pop open a cap, and I knew it was going to hurt. Burn. Make me want to rip my legs off. I closed my eyes and drew in a shaking breath, then wrapped my fingers around the arm of the lounge chair.
“One… two…”
He poured the peroxide onto my skinless ankles and I roared.
My back arched and my mouth peeled open and my throat became sore.
The pain was blinding. White hot agony laced with an anger I’d never felt in my entire life.
Breathing became hard as Grave’s hands tightened around the whole of my calf, steadying my leg so I wouldn’t pull away from him.
I fought against him. Tried to tear my legs away from him.
The second he clamped down onto my other leg I cried.
Sobbed. Begged him to let me go. My legs jumped with the sharp electricity shooting through my system and I thought I was going to pass out.
Then, it was over, and that same soothing salve was spread on my ankles before being wrapped in gauze.
My back fell against the lounge chair and I gasped for air.
Tears rolled down my neck as Grave wrapped my ankles up.
He came back up to my face and cleaned me up with more alcohol wipes.
Sliding over small cuts I didn’t even know I had.
I looked up into his eyes with my teary ones and he avoided my gaze.
He wouldn’t look at me, and it made things that much harder.
“Grave.”
“Yep?”
“Look at me.”
He paused his movements, but his eyes didn’t find mine.
“Am I that awful to look at?” I asked with a snicker.
His eyes whipped down to me and I watched his Adam’s apple bob.
“Never,” he said.
“Then why won’t you look at me?” I asked.
“Because I’m at fault for all this.”
I furrowed my brow as I brought my hand up to cup his cheek.
“No you’re not,” I said. “My brother is.”
“I never should’ve left you at that cabin by yourself. Never. You asked me. Begged to come with me. I could’ve found another way, and I didn’t. My mind was too one-tracked and you paid the price for that.”
“I paid the price for ratting on my brother. I knew the danger that could come to me if I came to you guys for help.”
“I’m sorry, Everly,” he said as he pressed a kiss into my palm.
“But I swear to you, on everything I hold dear in my life, that I will never let anything like that ever happen again to you. You won’t leave my sight.
You won’t go anywhere without me. And tomorrow, we’re going to get you to a doctor.
Someone who can help with the pain you’re in.
You’ll need antibiotics and proper disinfecting and-”
I brought my lips up to his to silence him and his body fell to mine.
His hands braced his strong body against the arms of the lounge chair as my tongue danced along his.
He tasted so sweet. Like freedom and passion and the night time sky.
I slid my hand through his hair, grabbing onto his locks and pulling him closer.
I needed to be close to him. To feel his body blanket mine.
I needed Grave to taste me. To hold me close and not let me go tonight.
“I love you,” I said into his lips.
My eyes fluttered open and I found him staring back at me.
“I love you, Grave. And in the back of my mind, I knew you’d come for me. You aren’t responsible for what’s happened. None of you are. My brother is. The Black Saddles are. No one else is responsible but them.”
His hand came up to cup my cheek. His thumb ran over my skin.
Our foreheads fell together and I breathed his air.
Smelled his breath. Felt his heat radiating against my body.
His arms wrapped around me and picked me up from the chair.
I clung to him, burying my face into the crook of his neck.
My legs wrapped around him as his hands cupped my ass, maneuvering me so he could sit back in the lounge chair.
I relaxed into him, feeling his hands sliding up and down my back.
“I love you too, Everly.”
Tears rose to my eyes again, but they weren’t tears of sorrow.
I kissed his neck. Lined his jaw with my lips.
I nuzzled my nose against his as his hands slipped up my shirt, and I could feel him dancing his fingertips over every bruise.
Over every swollen part of me. I pressed my lips against his.
A soft, sensual, warm kiss. His tongue darted out and licked my lips, ridding them of their chapped nature as his hands slid beyond my pants.
My hips ground into his pelvis, feeling his cock grow to the occasion.
His hands slipped my baggy jeans over my body and slid them down my legs.
He was careful to remove me of them. Careful not to hurt me anymore than I’d already been hurt.
I peppered his neck with kisses. Nibbled at his pulse point.
Slid his shirt off to the side to rake my teeth along the pads of muscle that stretched across his shoulders.
“Everly, I don’t think-”
I brought my lips back up to his and silenced any issues he had.
I wanted him. Needed him. I didn’t want to go to sleep with thoughts of that disgusting crew in my head.
How they’d beaten me and scarred me and marred me for life.
I didn’t want the last person that touched me to be one of them.
I didn’t want the last thing I experienced that night to be fear.
I wanted it to be passion.
I wanted it to be beauty.
I wanted it to be love.
I reached down to his pants, working them off his body.
I felt his cock spring from behind his pants and I took it in the palm of my hand.
Grave was hard. Leaking. Dripping from his tip as our tongues collided.
I kicked my jeans the rest of the way off and dragged his pants to his knees, then crawled up and straddled his lap.
My lips crashed to his as his hands rushed up my shirt.
His touch was so gentle. So caring about the state my body was in.
His lips fled down my neck, kissing every inch of me he could touch.
Then his hand dipped between my legs and slid my panties to the side.
“Oh Grave. Yes.”
“I thought you were dead,” Grave said.
Our eyes connected as his cock filled me to the brim, my body trembling against his.
“I thought you were gone,” he said breathlessly.
“I’m right here,” I said as I rolled my hips.
He grunted, his teeth biting down onto his lower lip.
“I’m right here,” I said with a whisper.
His hand fell between my legs and I rocked against it.
Against his throbbing cock and his thumb that knew exactly how to work my body.
I gripped his hair, holding onto every inch of him I could as his free arm slid around my waist. He held me to him, rocking into me as I sat there straddling him.
The night sky was twinkling. Clapping and cheering us on.
His lips fell to my breasts and I pressed him closer, feeling how he panted into my skin.
“Grave,” I said. “More.”
His thumb sped up and my legs began to lock.
I twisted my fingers into his hair as his cock pulsed against my walls.
I bucked against him, exchanging pain for pleasure as electricity shot through my veins.
Fire sparked in my toes and I pulled Grave’s head back, colliding our lips together.
Our tongues battled for dominance as his thumb worked faster, pressing into my swollen clit.
I ground against him. Felt my juices dripping down his cock.
My hands trembled and my body locked up and my backed arched my chest into him.
“Yes. Grave. Yes. Oh, fuck. Oh, please. Oh, don’t stop.”
His hips rose to meet mine as the lounge chair underneath our bodies rocked.
Creaked. Threatened to give way underneath our movements.
Grave held me to him with his arm, pressing my hips deeply into his pelvis.
He sank deeper into my pussy. Deeper into my warmth.
He pressed further into my body than I’d ever felt and colors sizzled in my vision.
Silver streaks burst towards the sky and my tits bounced.
I felt Grave’s lips nipping at every piece of exposed skin he could find.
“I love you,” I said breathlessly. “I love you. I love you. I love y-”
He sent me over the edge, careening into the most fragrant pit of pleasure I’d ever experienced.
His thumb swirled around my clit as my pussy clamped his cock.
Pulled him deeper and milked him for all he was worth.
Grave grunted. Groaned. Sighed into my skin.
My body fell to his and I collapsed into him, shaking around his thickening dick.
He pulsed inside of me, coating me with pumps of his cum.
Hot threads that marked me as his own while he nibbled on the shell of my ear.
“I… love you, Everly. So… so… much…”
I smiled into his neck as his body collapsed to the lounge chair.
His hand slipped from between my legs and automatically threaded around my body.
He pulled me into him, his cock still sheathed in my pussy.
My head fell to his shoulder and I nuzzled into his neck, feeling how he held me close to him.
I panted for air. I struggled for words.
My mind was an ever-swirling cave of desire, and my body was alight with electricity.
I snuggled deeply into his body. Never wanting to remove myself from him.
We laid there underneath the stars, surrounded by the desert, and connected at the hips.
My Grave. In my arms. Underneath my body.
And I never wanted to move from that spot.